UK health secretary Sajid Javid has announced that mooted plans for vaccine passports for access into nightclubs and large events in England will not go ahead.
The BBC reports quotes Javid as saying: ‘We shouldn’t be doing things for the sake of it.’
It had been thought likely the plan would be introduced at the end of this month. Now the government says it will be kept ‘in reserve’, should the need for it arise over autumn or winter.
Under the scheme, people would have been required to show proof – whether of double vaccination, a negative Covid test or finishing self-isolating after a positive PCR test – in order to gain entry to clubs and other crowded events.
Javid, who acknowledged he had ‘never liked the idea of saying to people you must show your papers (to) do what is just an everyday activity’, said: ‘We just shouldn’t be doing things for the sake of it or because others are doing, and we should look at every possible intervention properly.’
Britain’s Night Time Industries Association, which had warned that the plans could have crippled the industry and led to nightclubs facing discrimination cases, welcomed the announcement, saying it hoped businesses could now plan with some certainty and start to rebuild the sector.
[Image: Chatham House, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51546357]