Advocacy Group Condemns UK Plan To Introduce Covid-19 Vaccine ID Cards
LAGOS DECEMBER 8TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Plans by UK government to hand over a Covid-19 vaccination identity card proving they have received the sought-after coronavirus jab and urged to keep it with them at all times has come under attack.
“Boris Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccination card could ‘pave the way’ for a full national ID system while creating a two-tier county where some Britons have freedom but those without immunity are ‘shut out”, a leading human rights group has claimed.
Advocacy group Liberty fear people without the card could be blocked from accessing ‘essential public services, work or housing’ – with the ‘most marginalised among us’ being hit the hardest.
But the cards have been widely-criticised with many fearing they could create a black market in fakes if pubs, theatres and restaurants demand to see them. Others have accused the Government of bringing in an immunity passport by stealth.
No 10 has denied any plans for a UK ‘vaccination passport’ – but businesses including airline Qantas have already said they will give preferential treatment to anyone who has had a jab and can prove it.
Liberty’s advocacy director Grey Collier told MailOnline: ‘We should all be able to live our lives free from unnecessary interference – but immunity cards risk creating a two-tier system in which some of us have access to freedoms and support while others are shut out.
‘Suggestions people must carry cards on them raise questions about whether we could be asked to use them to prove immunity. Beyond that it’s unclear what they’re for.
‘Once cards like these have been created it would be easy for their use to be extended so they can be used like an immunity passport. This could result in people who don’t have a card potentially being blocked from essential public services, work or housing – with the most marginalised among us hardest hit.
‘This has wider implications too because any form of immunity passport could pave the way for a full ID system – an idea which has repeatedly been rejected as incompatible with building a rights-respecting society.
‘We have always supported proportionate action to protect lives, but that must not come at the expense of our rights and freedoms.’
MailOnline has asked NHS England, which is managing the vaccine rollout, whether it will be mandatory to carry the card. They are yet to respond.
Daily Mail Online
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Posted by News Rangers
on Dec 8 2020. Filed under Health, International, National.
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