Vaccine passes locked in for events in England

The UK politician overseeing the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has confirmed that people will have to share their vaccine status in order to gain entry to certain venues in England starting this month.

Under the so-called vaccine passport program, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said individuals looking to enter nightclubs and other venues with large crowds will need to provide proof of double vaccinations.

Zahawi confirmed the initiative will go live at the end of this month.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson first announced that the government was considering such a health pass system in July, but the idea was met with strong opposition from several politicians and nightlife industry heads.

Zahawi said the time is right to launch vaccine passports because the United Kingdom has begun offering jabs to young adults. He said the move is necessary to avoid further lockdowns.

"When the evidence that you are presented is so clear-cut and that we want to make sure the industry doesn't have to go through an open-shut, open-shut sort of strategy, then the right thing to do is to introduce that by the end of September when all over 18-year-olds have had their two jabs," said Zahawi to the BBC.

Last week, the prime minister's spokesman said the initiative will include nightclubs and some other settings.

Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats party, has been an outspoken critic of vaccine passports.

"As predicted, the government has reheated their COVID-ID card scheme," wrote Davey on Twitter. "They are divisive, unworkable and expensive, and the Liberal Democrats will oppose them."

Michael Kill, chief executive of trade body Night Time Industries Association, said the vaccine passports could "cripple" the nightclub industry. He predicted the move will encourage a rise in illegal parties and events, which he claimed will "place further pressure on emergency services and policing".

Heated protests

But more than a dozen countries in Europe have already launched similar programs, requiring either proof of vaccination or a negative test result for entry into public venues.

Unrest linked to such programs has occurred in France and Germany, where protesters argue that the system discriminates against people who do not wish to get vaccinated. Even so, both testing and vaccine rates have increased markedly in France, which implemented a health pass program earlier this summer.

Britain has recorded more than 7 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest official data released on Monday.

The country reported another 41,192 coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 7,018,921, official figures showed.