YES, IT WOULD BE DISCRIMINATORY, THAT’S THE POINT
■ Labour’s Baroness Chakrabarti – and others – say a Covid vaccination passport to enter entertainment or hospitality venues would be ‘discriminatory’. Of course it would be, that’s exactly the point!
We don’t let just anyone turn up at Heathrow and fly a jet full of passengers – we discriminate and insist on a fully trained, experienced and licensed pilot.
We don’t just let anyone drive an HGV – we discriminate and insist on a fully trained, tested and licensed lorry driver.
We don’t let people smoke inside workplaces – we discriminate.
‘Discriminate’ isn’t a dirty word. We used to ‘discriminate’ against people carrying the smallpox virus – now that disease has been eradicated worldwide.
Perhaps if we discriminate a little more, Covid-19 will stop spreading.
Steve Knight, Greenwich
■ I’ve seen venues that ban people wearing hoodies, trainers or even Gucci shoes. I also went to a walk-in centre last week for a Covid test to find it virtually empty and I got my result within the hour. So if the alternative to showing a Covid test or vaccine is to keep pubs and restaurants closed, which would the majority prefer?
J Pedersen, Haringey
■ The Covid passport idea is ridiculous. First, it discriminates against nonpriority groups who have not been vaccinated through no fault of their own, as well as those who have valid reasons for not having the vaccine, such as allergic reaction.
Second, it’s considered safe for non-essential workers to go back to work while being exposed to people for hours on end. A good example would be a bar worker who would be working in a pub they might not be allowed to drink in, even though the risk would be the same.
Third, if these passports are based on antibodies that have developed by catching Covid, is it fair to reward the people who may have caught it because they were not following lockdown rules, while punishing those who followed the rules and did not catch the virus?
And finally, we all went into the lockdown together so we should all come out together. To do anything else would be unfair. This is another one of Johnson’s half-thought-out schemes.
Lauren, Jarrow
■ The answer is to recall parliament. If the idea of Covid passports is passed then that is the end of the argument and we may be able to get back to some sort of normality sooner.
But if it fails to pass – with many MPs voting against it – the only option left is for Boris to say, right, we’re cancelling the rest of the roadmap and we stay as we are until June 21, and then only if things carry on falling do we open up everything that day. But with what is happening in the EU, this may well change anyway.
Another thing – how can they say it’s good that infection figures are falling steadily when for the week ending March 12 the R rate was 0.6 to 0.8, for March 26 it was 0.7 to 0.9, and for April 2 it was 0.8 to 1?
Nigel, Newark
■ Giving everyone in England free, twice-weekly lateral flow Covid tests from Friday will be a waste of money (Metro, Tue). There are too many breaking the law. Government needs to open its eyes and see all the rulebreakers visiting people in their homes and staying overnight, visiting families indoors, not keeping to social distancing in open spaces… the list goes on.
Only those who bother to abide by the rules will bother with the tests. Those who don’t respect the rules at the moment won’t.
Christina, Chesterfield
■ How does the government expect to make people comply with these twice-weekly Covid tests? It cannot even force people to have the vaccine. Also, people who do test positive might not self-isolate because of work.
Phil Brand, London
■ Please can we consider not only the financial implication of this step forward in the roadmap but the sheer volume of clinical plastic waste that will be generated?
Is this really worth it? Will the end justify the means or is it a continuation of the ‘get rich for some’ PPE scandal?
Simon Platt, Huddersfield
■ To all the persons reluctant to have their vaccinations – if you wish to put your own health, and that of your family, at risk, I have no problem with that. However, I’m furious that you are also putting at risk the lives of the remaining population, who have endured 12 months of hell while sticking to all of Boris’s rules for reasons that do not stack up scientifically. Anne, Chadderton