Pubs voice opposition to Covid passports
BORIS JOHNSON has said it may not be feasible to implement coronavirus health certificates until everyone has been offered a vaccine, as publicans criticised his plans.
The Prime Minister said yesterday that the Government will say more on their possible use in early April, and suggested they could also be based on whether individuals have developed antibodies through infection, as well as vaccinations and negative tests.
Landlords rejected their use, after his earlier suggestion it could be up to them to decide whether to screen customers’ certificates on entry, ahead of fresh details emerging of a possible incentive for pubs to adopt the measure.
Mr Johnson also defended his credentials as a “freedom lover” as some lockdown-sceptic Conservative backbenchers prepared to rebel in a Commons vote to extend coronavirus laws for a further six months.
The boss of the Shepherd Neame chain said making jabs mandatory for entry to pubs is a “fairly poorly thoughtout idea”, as trade bodies suggested the idea was “simply unworkable”.
Mr Johnson insisted “no decisions have been taken at all”, saying that there will be an update on the review into their possible use on either April 5 or 12, and said that “whatever happens” the April 12 reopening of pub gardens will be unaffected.
The Prime Minister said: “I do think there is going to be a role for certification.” However, it is possible this will be limited to foreign travel.
“There are three basic components. There’s the vaccine, there’s your immunity you might have had after you’ve had Covid and there’s testing – they are three things that could work together,” Mr Johnson told broadcasters during a visit to Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery in Greenford, London. But he acknowledged there are “moral complexities” and “ethical problems” that must be addressed, raising concerns that pregnant women and those with medical reasons cannot be vaccinated.
“You might only be able to implement a thoroughgoing vaccination passport scheme, even if you wanted such a thing, in the context of when absolutely everybody had been offered a vaccine,” Mr Johnson added.
Ministers have insisted that their target of offering all adults a vaccine by the end of July will be met, despite the European Union’s threat to control supplies from the continent.
EU leaders were due to discuss proposals aimed at tightening restrictions on vaccine exports at a virtual European Council summit yesterday.
MPs later voted through approval of regulations for the route out of lockdown and an extension of emergency powers in the Coronavirus Act until September, by a majority of 408. Conservative backbenchers had lined up in the Commons to voice their concerns – which were exacerbated by Matt Hancock’s inability to rule out extending the powers in another six months.
The Health Secretary said he “cannot answer whether we will be retiring it in six months. My preference would be yes, but, given the last year, I think a prediction would be hasty”.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister said it “may be up to individual publicans” whether they carry out health certificate checks on punters.
Jonathan Neame, the chief executive of Shepherd Neame pub group, ruled out making vaccines mandatory for entry to his premises, warning bar staff could be “subject to intimidation”.
He added: “This is fraught with difficulty, I think, and it is, in my view, a fairly poorly thought-out idea.”