‘Vaccine passports’ will not be ready for reopening of pubs to indoor drinkers, minister reveals

Smartphone app could provide proof of jabs and tests

A “pub passport” app to show coronavirus vaccination status will not be in place in time for 17 May, when pubs, restaurants and cinemas reopen doors for customers to come inside, a cabinet minister has confirmed.

There was a furious reaction from publicans and Tory MPs when Boris Johnson floated the idea of landlords being given powers to bar unvaccinated drinkers, and the prime minister yesterday said that any such plan might not be possible until everyone in the country had been offered the coronavirus jab.

Now cabinet minister Robert Jenrick has confirmed that domestic certification will not be in place by May, and said that ethical and practical concerns will be considered before deciding whether they it should be introduced in the longer term.

One option under consideration by a review being conducted by Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove is to use the existing NHS smartphone app as a “Covid status certificate”, with a QR code providing a link to details of jabs and tests and a photo of the holder to prevent certificates being shared. 

Mr Johnson has suggested that passports could be granted not only to those who have been vaccinated but also anyone who have developed antibodies as a result of being infected with and recovering from Covid-19, and people with a recent negative test for the disease. A negative test might provide rights of access to venues for as little as 24 hours.

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The prime minister said on Thursday: “I do think there is going to be a role for certification. There are three basic components. There’s the vaccine, there’s your immunity you might have after you’d had Covid and there’s testing - three things that could work together.”

But he stressed that no decisions had yet been taken, and said that such a scheme may only be possible “in the context of when absolutely everybody had been offered a vaccine”.

Mr Jenrick was asked on Times Radio whether a certification scheme could be in place in time for the 17 May date set down in Mr Johnson’s roadmap as the earliest possible time for indoor hospitality to reopen under social distancing rules and for theatres, concert halls and sports stadiums to open to limited audiences.

He replied: “No, we’re taking time to consider this issue carefully. It is a complex issue.”

Any rollout would not be until after the “whole country has been vaccinated”, he said.

The minister said that certification for international travel was “not entirely within our control”, but that the government would ensure citizens are able to travel to countries which demand proof of vaccination.

And he made clear that it was not yet certain that the government will opt for a passport scheme.

“Domestically, there are a range of issues we need to work through, that work is now happening and it will be reporting back later,” he said.

“But if we do go down that route, we don’t anticipate it being in the near term.”

Mr Jenrick said the government “completely understands” the reservations expressed by MPs and hospitality providers over a passport scheme.

Tory lockdown sceptic Steve Baker has warned the move could create a “two-tier Britain”, while the chief executive of the UK Hospitality trade body Kate Nicholls said it was “simply unworkable, would cause conflict between staff and customers and almost certainty result in breaches of equality rule“.

Mr Jenrick said: “We’re looking into the practical issues, the ethical concerns and we’re being guided by the best medical and scientific opinion and we will be bringing forward the outcome of that work in the coming weeks.

“We don’t have an immediate plan to take action. Our focus at the moment is the vaccine rollout – that has to be our priority.”

Subject to the government’s four tests - on the rollout of jabs, efficacy of vaccination, falling hospitalisation numbers and emergence of new variants - indoor hospitality venues will reopen from 17 May to seated guests, while theatres, concert halls and sports venues will be allowed to admit crowds of up to 1,000 indoors or 4,000 outdoors, so long as they do not exceed half of the maximum capacity.