A petition against domestic vaccine passports - also known as 'freedom passes' or immunity certificates - has surpassed 250,000 signatures on the UK government website. The petition is currently one of the most popular on the site, but it took the government 39 days to respond. The response was so long in coming that in the meantime a date had already been set for a Parliamentary debate.
The government's response was provided on Wednesday and states that a decision would be made in advance of stage four of lockdown easing ie. when hospitality fully reopens. The fact that Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nadhim Zarhawi have all previously said that domestic passports would not be implemented shows that this government cannot be trusted.
The government response is carefully worded and leaves plenty of room for their original plan to be enacted. That plan dates back to at least November and will require non-vaccinated individuals to use an app on their phone to gain entry to venues. The individual will have to take regular Covid tests in order to receive a QR code via the app. Welcome to the Bulls Head - it's 1984.
The full government response to the petition is as follows.
"The Government is reviewing whether COVID-status certificates could play a role in reopening parts of our economy, reducing restrictions on social contact and improving safety.The Government is reviewing whether COVID-status certificates could play a role in reopening parts of our economy, reducing restrictions on social contact and improving safety.As set out in the roadmap by the Prime Minister, this review will include assessing to what extent certification would be effective in reducing risk, and the potential uses to enable access to settings or a relaxation of COVID-Secure mitigations. The Government will also consider the ethical, equalities, privacy, legal and operational aspects of this approach and what limits, if any, should be placed on organisations using certification. It will draw on external advice to develop recommendations that take into account any social and economic impacts, and implications for disproportionately impacted groups and individuals’ privacy and security. The Government will set out its conclusions in advance of Step 4 in order to inform the safe reopening of society and the economy.As the Prime Minister has said, there are complex ethical issues - and we can't discriminate against people who, for whatever reason, haven't had a vaccine".
Cabinet Office
Please sign the petition here. It's vital that we stop this Orwellian nonsense right now.