Nightclubs enforcing double-jab policy could avoid capacity caps
NIGHTCLUBS and concert venues could avoid social distancing rules in future Covid surges by agreeing to only admit customers who are double jabbed, under plans being explored by the Government.
The idea is being looked at as an alternative to changing the law to mandate vaccine passports, which is a tougher stance that Boris Johnson warned could be adopted next month.
Under the latest proposal, venues with large indoor crowds would not be forced to adopt vaccine passports but would be offered incentives to adopt them instead.
This could include being able to stay open at full capacity rather than only being allowed to conduct table service and have no punters at bars if there is a new Covid wave this autumn.
One adviser to a Cabinet minister said the idea was being discussed, saying that there was now momentum inside the Government behind some form of Covid certification this autumn.
A similar proposal had been considered by a review led by Michael Gove into Covid certification earlier in the year but was dropped as daily cases fell during the spring.
The vaccine passport plan studied in that review had three elements, with people allowed to show proof of either two jabs, a negative Covid test or natural antibodies after having the virus.
But last month Mr Johnson went one step further, announcing not just that he would mandate vaccine passports for nightclubs but that only proof of being double jabbed would be allowed for entry.
The proposal, which could also include other unspecified venues with large crowds, has triggered a parliamentary rebellion, with Tory backbench critics joining liberal MPS in Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Opposition is also emerging from around the Cabinet table, with multiple press reports of Conservative frontbenchers being unhappy with Mr Johnson’s version of vaccine passports.
But there are parts of the business world who could back the idea of linking vaccine passports to social distancing rules, including the music industry.
A senior source at one music association body stressed that nightclubs and concert venues were more concerned about a return of capacity limits than adopting vaccine passports.
“We are absolutely terrified of social distancing coming back in.
“The thing that will really kill the sector is if they start reintroducing capacity limits,” the source said.
“If things get to a point where the Government thinks, ‘Right, we need to reintroduce restrictions’, we want them to think about enforced Covid certification not capacity limits.”
But Mark Harper, who leads the Covid Recovery Group of lockdownsceptic Tory MPS, criticised the Government for considering any form of vaccine passport in a domestic setting.
Mr Harper said: “Given our very high uptake of vaccination, especially among the groups vulnerable to Covid, what problem are these disproportionate ideas trying to solve?”