Vaccine passports could be ‘counterproductive’, government adviser warns
Forcing punters to show vaccine passports to gain access to pubs could be counterproductive, a top government adviser has warned.
Professor Stephen Reicher, a behavioural scientist, said the policy could make the problem of vaccine hesitancy even worse and lead to “social apartheid”.
Ministers are considering the use of vaccine passports for hospitality venues such as pubs. Entry would also be granted with a negative Covid or antibody test.
However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted there were potential ethical problems that would need to be addressed.
Reicher today said there was a lack of support for using vaccine passports to exclude people from social activities.
“People actually aren’t averse to vaccine passports to be able to travel internationally,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.
“But when it comes to negative incentives — to, in effect, barring people from their everyday lives, from social activity, then actually they work in a very different way.”
He added that this could lead to “social apartheid” and “destroy any sense of community that has been so positive in the pandemic”.
Reicher pointed to studies carried out in Israel showing that while incentives increased vaccination rates, the idea of compulsory vaccines “does indeed put people off” having a jab.
It comes after vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the government was planning drive-through vaccination sites to help counteract vaccine hesitancy among people in their 30s, 40s and 50s.
Ministers are yet to reach a verdict on whether to introduce vaccine passports and the prime minister said a review of evidence would be concluded in June.
But pubs and restaurants have hit out at the plans, branding the scheme “unworkable”.
“Even introduced on a voluntary basis, vaccine passports have the potential to cause huge amounts of confusion among businesses, customers and staff,” said UK Hospitality boss Kate Nicholls.
“It could potentially give rise to a two-tier system of viability among businesses and a situation in which young staff members, due to be vaccinated last, are able to work in a pub, but not able to visit it socially.”