Immunity passports ruled out but GPS can give out records needed for holidays
State-issued immunity passports will not be given out – but those inoculated against coronavirus will be able to ask their GP for written proof of their vaccine status if needed for travel, a minister has said.
Downing Street has been adamant that it does not plan to issue so-called “vaccine passports" to allow people to travel once they have had both doses of a vaccine.
But with countries such as Greece stating that they will waive quarantine requirements for those who have been jabbed, ministers are facilitating a way in which UK residents with protection can travel once the lockdown is over.
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi, asked about whether the government was considering issuing immunity passports, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "No, we're not.
"One, we don't know the impact of the vaccines on transmission.
"Two, it would be discriminatory and I think the right thing to do is to make sure that
people come forward to be vaccinated because they want to rather than it be made in some way mandatory through a passport.
"If other countries obviously require some form of proof, then you can ask your GP because your GP will hold your records and that will then be able to be used as your proof you've had the vaccine.
"But we are not planning to have a passport in the UK."
Labour's shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said vaccinepassports"maybenecessary" but questioned how they would be used.
"I am saying we should be open to this but there are complications to do this vaccine passport. Is it just for international
travel? Is it for as you go about your business in your society?" the former party leader queried.
It comes as Government data up to February 6 confirmed that more than 12 million people have received their first dose – a rise of 549,078 on the previous day.
Mr Zahawi disclosed that nearly 1,000 vaccines a minute were provided in an hour on Saturday morning as the government strove to meet its target of giving all over-70s and frontline healthcare workers their first dose by February 15.
During his Sunday broadcast interviews, the government's vaccine tsar looked to allay fears about the more infectious South African variant of coronavirus – which is being hunted in England by doorto-door testing teams – after a study found the Oxford/ Astrazeneca vaccine offered only limited protection against mild disease caused by the mutation.
The study, first reported by the Financial Times, into the E484K mutation involved some 2,000 people, most of whom were young and healthy, meaning further data is required.
Mr Zahawi said the research showed the Oxford jab "does protect against severe disease", a claim backed up by Astrazeneca in a statement.
But a Covid-19 researcher at Imperial College London, Professor Robin Shattock, said that even though the Astrazeneca variant study was small, it brought with it fresh worries about the South Africa variant.
"It is concerning to some extent that we're seeing that it's not effective against mild or moderate disease," he told BBC Breakfast.
As the virus continues to adapt against the current vaccines on offer, Mr Zahawi suggested an annual roll-out of booster jabs was likely to be required, with the first to come in the autumn.
Oxford vaccine lead researcher Professor Sarah Gilbert said that even if the vaccine proved less effective against emerging variants, the protection afforded would still take the pressure off the NHS.
"Maybe we won't be reducing the number of cases as much, but we still won't be seeing the deaths, hospitalisations and severe disease," she told The Andrew Marr Show. "That's really important for healthcare systems – even if we are having mild and asymptomatic infections, to prevent people going into hospital with Covid would have a major effect."
Prof Gilbert said her team was working on having an adapted version of the Oxford jab that could tackle the South Africa mutation "available for the autumn".
The Prime Minister is due to give an update this month on how the lockdown will be lifted in England. The target is for schools to return on March 8 and reports have suggested non-essential shops could reopen in April, followed by pubs in May.
Mr Zahawi said Boris Johnson's “road map” would be influenced by the data he is due to be shown on what protection vaccines have afforded people in terms of preventing transmission of the disease.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, a critic of the tier system of restrictions, said he supported the Prime Minister's comments that there will be a national approach to releasing the lockdown.
"The better approach we think would be a phased national release from lockdown where other sectors can return after schools when it's judged right to do so," he told Sky News.