8 in 10 publicans oppose vaccine passport policy
Some 292 of the 365 publicans who voted said they disagreed with the idea that pubs would have to ask punters to prove their ‘Covid status’ in order to operate without social distancing requirements.
Just 16% said they supported the idea while 4% said they were unsure, in an online survey from The MA.
The trade has lambasted the idea, which is currently under Government review.
Two-tier system
The Prime Minister said the policy could be “up to individual landlords” but trade bodies said even on a voluntary basis, the measure proposed challenges.
It has been reported the Government is looking at modifying an existing NHS app so pubgoers could prove a recent negative result, vaccination or that they had recently had the virus and so were protected by anti bodies.
Pub bosses have pointed to the sector’s previous substantial investments into health measures, such as temperature checks and social distancing.
They said it was imperative that all restrictions be dropped from the final stage of the Goverment's roadmap to unlock the country, earmarked for 21 June at the earliest.
UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said the system could result in a “two-tier system of viability” and limit the lives of young pub workers.
Linking the removal of restrictions to the use of a vaccine passport scheme “cannot be allowed to happen,” she said.
“It would put businesses owners in a hugely invidious position and has the potential to effectively impose further unnecessary restrictions on businesses that cannot or will not operate a passport scheme.”
Careful approach
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there were many complex ethical issues to be considered when it came to vaccine passports.
Speaking to journalists yesterday (Thursday 25 March), he said: "There are some people who for medical reasons can't get a vaccination, pregnant women can't get a vaccination at the moment, you've got to be careful about how you do this.
"You might only be able to implement a thorough-going vaccination passport scheme even if you wanted such a thing in the context of when absolutely everybody had been offered a vaccine."
"There are three basic components. There's the vaccine, there's your immunity you might have had after you've had Covid, and there's testing – they are three things that could work together."
