British foreign secretary Dominic Raab predicted on Sunday that businesses in the United Kingdom will begin requiring a form of vaccine passport for their customers.
In the latest example of the mixed messages coming from Prime Minister Boris Johnsonâs government on the issue of vaccine passports, Mr Raab said that the government is considering the implementation of such a scheme on the âdomestic or local levelâ.
While the government previously came out against the use of vaccine passports, the foreign secretary told LBC Radio that in places such as supermarkets the idea: âhasnât been ruled out and itâs under consideration, but of course youâve got to make it workable.â
âWhether itâs at an international, domestic or local level, youâve got to know that the document being presented is something that you can rely on and that itâs an accurate reflection of the status of the individual,â he said.
âIâm not sure thereâs a foolproof answer in the way that itâs sometimes presented but of course weâll look at all the options,â Raab added.
However, a government spokesman later told the radio station:Â âThere are no plans to introduce immunity passports for use domestically.â
The director of the civil liberties watchdog, Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo criticised the idea in an interview with BBC Radio 4, saying: âWe have to ask ourselves, what really is the purpose of a vaccine passport? Well, the core purpose is to afford more rights to vaccinated people than to everyone else.â
She claimed that the introduction of vaccine passports will create a âhealth apartheidâ state in the UK, which Carlo said is âcompletely wrong for a country where rights and equality matterâ.
Q: Will you need âa domestic vaccine passport to go into a supermarketâ?
A: âItâs something that hasnât been ruled out, itâs under considerationâ – @DominicRaab
A dangerously irrational and draconian response from one of the highest offices of state.
— Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch) February 14, 2021
Britainâs vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi previously predicted that businesses in the UK would require immunity passports for their customers, however, this month the Conservative MP ruled out the use of the health passes, describing the system as âdiscriminatory.â
Yet, the British government has reportedly been funding projects that would create QR code smartphone applications that could serve as a basis for such a scheme.
Several countries within the European Union have already announced their intentions to roll out health passes, with the government of Denmark planning to become the first country to introduce a passport this month.
Last week, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis â one of the leading champions of the idea in the EU â announced that his government would be partnering with Israel to introduce a âtrial runâ vaccine passport system between the two countries.
On Sunday, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair â the most outspoken proponent of vaccine passports in the UK â said that they will become inevitable and that Britain should lead the way in adopting the programme.
âThis is not about discrimination, or hostility towards those not vaccinated or tested. It is a completely understandable desire to know whether those we mix with might be carrying the disease,â Blair wrote in the Daily Mail.
Mr Blair said that his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, is currently involved in helping craft health passport models, including the CommonPass initiative being pushed by the architects of the so-called âGreat Resetâ, the World Economic Forum.
âWe have the technology which allows us to do this securely and effectively. The need is obvious. The world is moving in this direction,â the former Labour leader said, adding: âWe should plan for an agreed âpassportâ now. The arguments against it really donât add up.â
British government sources believe bosses will be able to use Health and Safety regulations to fire workers who do not get vaccinated. https://t.co/sFgMFKjp8D
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 8, 2021