England scraps plans for vaccine passport

UK party-goers excitedly return to a Liverpool nightclub. Photo/Anthony Devlin, Getty Images

Vaccine passports are off the cards for the British according to England's Health Minister in an interview on Sunday.

Sajid Javid telling Nick Robinson on the BBC's The Andrew Marr show, "we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports."

Under the vaccine passport scheme, people heading to crowded events such as nightclubs would need to provide proof they've been vaccinated against Covid-19 to gain entry.

Javid said it was important to explore the option but asking people for documentation in order to participate in everyday activities didn't sit right.

"I've never liked the idea of saying to people you must show your papers or something to do what is just an everyday activity, but we were right to properly look at it."

While they were 'pleased' to not be going ahead, vaccine passports were not written off entirely. Javid saying they should keep the option 'in reserve' should they need it in the future.

Javid had told Sky News earlier that he did not like the idea, however in the recent BBC interview he explained how vaccine passports had been used in other countries as a tactic to boost vaccination rates; something he didn't see as an issue in the UK.

"We've been very successful with our vaccination rates, so far, obviously there's more to do, but just as an example – if I may – just last month, I announced that we were going to for the first time start vaccinating 16- and 17-year-olds. We're already at around 55% in a few weeks."

The announcement comes just days after Scotland's Government voted in favour of a vaccine passport scheme, which will be implemented from 1 October.

Welsh ministers are due to make a decision on vaccine passports next week.