Vaccination passports a compromise

Another day, another set of Covid controls. And another issue to divide a weary and fractious population. To some, the vaccine passports announced yesterday by Nicola Sturgeon are a workable proposal to combat rocketing infection rates.

To others, they are an infringement of civil liberties, a burden on organisers of events and creeping authoritarianism.

The reality is probably somewhere in the middle.

Certainly the passports – in effect an app which people can download on to their mobile phones to prove they have had both doses of the vaccine – will introduce another layer of Covid-related red tape for the public and event organisers.

They will also penalise those who have chosen not to be vaccinated for reasons which are not medical.

But with Covid rates rising sharply in Scotland – and divisions over whether it’s down to schools going back – we can’t go on as we are.

“People can refuse it. They just won’t be able to go to events

There were 6,170 new cases yesterday. There were also nine deaths, taking the total number of Scots who have died after testing positive for the coronavirus to 8,127.

The numbers in hospital rose by 40, to 629, and the numbers in intensive care were up by five to 59.

Even the most cautious among us would be reluctant to see another lockdown, or the kind of strict controls of the last 18 months.

At this stage it’s unlikely the public would even comply.

Measures which allow large scale, non-essential events to go ahead, while providing some certainty over the status of those who attend, feel like an acceptable compromise.

It will be tricky for organisers. But it’s less crippling than closures and if this keeps the economy going without heaping pressure on an exhausted NHS so be it.

Only the most extreme would deny vaccination is a success.

People can still refuse it. They just won’t be able to go to events where their freedom risks others’ lives.