Over the summer, the UK government made considerable efforts urging all youth over the age of 18 to get their COVID vaccinations as vaccine passports would eventually be introduced to access large venues and nightclubs. Popular spot Heaven even hosted a pop-up vaccine drive for their patrons, while other clubs have been echoing the need for vaccination online.
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Vaccine passports will be needed for club entry in Britain
UK vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has now confirmed that vaccine passportswill be introduced by the end of the month for large scale venues as by then, all those over 18 would have been offered their second dose. From then, all those who wish to go clubbing will need to show proof that they have been double-jabbed.
Zahawi told Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday: ‘We are looking at, by the end of September when everyone has had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated, for the large venues, venues that could end up causing a real spike in infections, where we need to use the certification process.’
He went on: ‘The worst thing we can do for those venues is to have a sort of open-shut-open-shut strategy because we see infection rates rise because of the close interaction of people, that’s how the virus spreads if people are in close spaces in large numbers we see spikes appearing.’
The best thing to do then is to work with the industry to make sure that they can open safely and sustainably in the long term, and the best way to do that is to check vaccine status.
Vaccine passport plans vary across the UK
While Brits can expect to be fully jabbed to access nightclubsby the end of the month, these plans may vary across the UK.
Scotland isn’t set to vote on Nicola Sturgeon’s vaccine passport plan for nightclubs until the 9th of September. However, the Scottish Labour party is already opposed to the scheme. Labour leader Anas Sarwar told the BBC Scotland's Sunday Show that the party supported vaccines but believed that passports might have a deterrent effect and contribute to vaccine hesitancy:
We all agree the vaccine is working in helping to reduce hospitalisations and reduce deaths but there is a fear that using vaccine passports might actually entrench vaccine hesitancy rather than encourage uptake.
In Northern Ireland, discussions on vaccine passports are still underway, with officials assessing how the scheme would work and the ethical dilemmas involved. Last week the Prime Minister’s official spokesman explained that more information on the subject would be available in the following weeks.
On the other hand, Wales has no plans to introduce vaccine passports due to ‘ethical and equality considerations.’
