Over 220,000 Britons have signed a petition against the introduction of coronavirus vaccine passports, potentially forcing Parliament to publicly debate the merits of such a scheme.
The petition warns that vaccine passports would limit the rights of people who havenât or canât have, or refused a Covid-19 vaccine. Such government-enabled discrimination would be âunacceptableâ, those behind the claim said. At the time of publication, the petition had attracted 222,000 signatures.
The petitioners demanded, therefore, that the government commits âto not rolling out any e-vaccination status/immunity passport to the British public.â
Westminster Hall debates on public petitions had been suspended during the lockdown, supposedly to help Members of Parliament social distance. That was reversed this week, however, as Parliament voted Thursday to restore the process for the first time in months.
Under the terms of the governmentâs petition system, 10,000 signatures earns a response on the matter from the government. Once the signatures hit 100,000, the matter becomes eligible for a debate in Parliament itself. This petition means Parliament will likely debate vaccine passports for the first time.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he would be tasking Cabinet Minister Michale Gove with heading up the governmentâs research on the logistics of a vaccine passport system. The appointment has raised some eyebrows, given Mr Gove himself stridently denied that the government was planning to introduce health passes as recently as December.
Asked on live television whether Britons would need a pass to go to the pub, Gove gave a one-word answer: âno.â
Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi has also denied that the government would force the public to carry vaccine passports, saying that such a measure would be discriminatory against those who canât take the jab for medical or religious purposes.
Yet, Boris Johnson signalled this week that the government is considering vaccine passports domestically as well as internationally, meaning that Britons could be forced to present their âCOVID statusâ papers before entering pubs, theatres, and other public venues.
Vaccine Passports Could be Used in Supermarkets Suggests UK Foreign Secretary https://t.co/I6BWrbvLZd
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 16, 2021
The head of policy and campaigns for the human rights pressure group Liberty, Sam Grant told the BBC that vaccine passports could âcreate a two-tier society where some people can access support and freedoms, while others are shut out â with the most marginalised among us hardest hitâ.
âThe road out of lockdown canât ride roughshod over our rights,â Grant said, adding: âThatâs why we need the Coronavirus Act to be repealed, and replaced with strategies that provide support to help people to follow health guidance.â
âThat means rejecting proposals like immunity passports which are based on exclusion and division. Instead, we must work to bridge divides with strategies that protect everyone,â he concluded.
Mark Johnson of Big Brother Watch said:Â âThe British public rejected ID cards. Weâre not a papers-carrying country. A vaccine passport is like an ID card via the backdoor â especially if you have to carry it on your person for day to day activities.â
The notion of vaccine passports has taken off in Europe, which unlike Britain has an established recent history of authoritarianism and routine official paper-carrying, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel declaring on Thursday that the EU was in âagreementâ over the issue and could implement the scheme by as early as the summer.
âCovid Status Certificationâ: Boris Signals U-Turn on Domestic Vaccine Passports for Pubs and Theatres https://t.co/5smvtfDOWs
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 24, 2021