Remember "Freedom Day" 19th July? That was when Boris Johnson announced that vaccine passports would be mandatory for nightclubs and similar venues, despite the severe judgement of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee that they had not made a good enough case for them:
"Given the significance and seriousness of introducing such a Covid-status certification system, the Committee was surprised at the lack of consideration by the Government of a number of issues and concerns with their suggested approach, in particular the scientific case for that system. It is imperative that if the Government seeks to bring forward any proposals for a Covid-status certification system, the criteria against which the efficacy of that system has been assessed, together with a cost-benefit analysis of the system, and full financial costings, are published in advance of those proposals. We would also expect detailed modelling of the potential impacts of the introduction or non-introduction of such a system in the context of the different scenarios for unlocking to be published alongside any such announcement. The Committee was struck by the fact that the best assessment the Minister could make in favour of certificates was to say that it was a “finely balanced judgement”." (1). The Council of Europe raised concerns about data privacy and discriminatory access. (2)
Remember last Sunday? That was when Sajid Javid said "No vaccine passports in England" before this was walked back to "they are not ruled out forever". Today Johnson says they are “an important part of our repertoire”. "We reserve the right to come back to you and say we think that’s going to be necessary." Perhaps the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee needs to have a word.
It's clear that we are never going to get a straight answer out of this lot. Maybe we should accept that every statement made by Johnson, Gove, Zahawi or any of the rest of them has a shelf life measured in weeks or days, and it's going stink pretty soon after they say it. Vaccine passports are now going to happen for nightclubs in Scotland. This will be closely watched for how viable they are for the rest of the UK - some commentators have said that they may not be workable in practice. (3) However, don't blink just yet - it's not over.
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Victoria Friedman (4) has summarised how the UK Government's narrative about vaccine passports has developed over the last 10 months, from "No plans for vaccine passports" to "Passports at end of September" and back again.
December 1st 2020 - Zahawi: Passports might happen.
Gove: Passports not being planned "I don't know anyone in Government who is working on them"
January 2021 Gove: Leading a review of vaccine passports
January 12th Zahawi : No plans vaccine passports... "You can hold me to that"
February 8th: Zahawi: rejected the introduction of vaccine passports, saying: “…vaccines are not mandated in this country…that’s not how we do things in the UK. We do them by consent… and it would be discriminatory.”
February 22/23rd Johnson: "Open to covid status certification"
March 25th Johnson "passports should not be alien concepts"
March 31st Council of Europe: Vaccine passports "... must be accompanied by strict measures to protect personal data... The use of the same certification or immunisation data to grant privileged and exclusive access to rights creates risks of discrimination and arbitrariness." (2)
April 4th Johnson "no passports for pubs" when restrictions lifted in April
June Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee: "No scientific case for passports; Disproportionately discriminate on basis of race, religion and socio-economic background; Concerns over data protection." (3)
July 6th / 16th Johnson "not mandatory - might happen though NHS app"
July 19th "Freedom day" : Johnson "passports mandatory for nightclubs etc"
July 27th Gove "some sort of certification is the right way to go"
September 5th / 9th Zahawi : "Passports at end of September" "It pains me."
September 12th Javid : "No vaccine passports for England."
September 13th Coffrey : "Vaccine passports not ruled out forever"
September 14th Johnson : Vaccine passports “an important part of our repertoire”
2) https://rm.coe.int/protection-of-human-rights-and-the-vaccine-pass/1680a1fac4
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