Michael Gove has ruled out a mandatory vaccine.
The senior Minister revealed that the public will not need to be vaccinated in order to go to leisure events, such as sporting events, the theatre or the pub.
Mr Gove said in a statement to Sky News: “I certainly am not planning to introduce any vaccine passports, and I don’t know anyone else in government who is.”
Nadhim Zahawi, the Government’s new Minister for overseeing the Covid-19 vaccine deployment, is in support of this.
Mr Zahawi disclosed that the Government was instead looking at the possibility of issuing ‘immunity passports’, adding that bars and cinemas “will probably use that system”.
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Source: Raimond Spekking
Several MP’s, including Marcus Fysh, have described such a move as “ignorant” and “authoritarian”. They were joined by Big Brother, a civil liberties group, which cautioned against a “health apartheid”.
Michael Gove stated that: “There are three vaccines that are going through appropriate testing now to make sure that they’re absolutely safe and the most important thing is to make sure we get as many people as possible … vaccinated effectively.”
He added that a major challenge to the Government’s plan is the number of conspiracy theories that are circulating about the lockdown and the virus.
He was confident that it would nonetheless be achievable because “they’re not really based on science”, reiterating that “there’s a very rigorous process we undergo to make sure vaccines are safe”.
On the topic of another national lockdown, due to scientists saying that Covid-19 cases could increase as a result of Christmas, Mr Gove said: “I’m as confident as confident can be that we won’t need one”.
