Britain 'may scrap vaccine passport plan for large events'

BRITAIN may drop the idea of making the Covid-19 vaccine status certificate a legal requirement to attend the mass gatherings, a report released on Sunday (30) said.

Officials working on a review of Covid-19 status certificates or vaccine passports believe there is no chance the law will become mandatory.

“It’s not a case of ‘it’s finely balanced’. It’s not going to happen, everyone says it’s dead,” The Daily Telegraph said, quoting a source. “No one is talking about it still as a potential thing … It has been killed off really.”

Although proof of Covid-19 vaccination has been accepted as a possible requirement for international travel, there has been mounting concern over the prospect of domestic use of similar certificates as "passports" to mass gathering events.

In April, the Equality and Human Rights Commission reportedly told the MPs that the use of Covid status certificates could be discriminatory as they risked creating a “two-tier society” in the UK. More than 70 MPs also joined the campaign to protest against the idea of domestic use of vaccine passports saying certificates should not be used to “deny individuals access to general services, businesses or jobs”.

Another reason for diminishing interest in the plans was the issue of people who have medical exemptions from getting a Covid jab, such as those with allergic reactions.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, who is overseeing the review, earlier said a vaccine passport scheme could help large events, such as football matches and musical concerts, to resume at full capacity in the coming months.