LONDON – “A vaccination passport to enter the pub? Horror!”. For two days nothing else has been talked about in London and the United Kingdom, at least in the newspapers. Because last Wednesday Boris Johnson he did not exclude it: “You might need some certification to go to the pub, restaurant or cinema”. From that moment, there have been rumors, tensions, protests of deputies, in a country where citizens do not even have an identity card. The coronavirus has also upset this long tradition: Brits may have to prove their Covid status before entering public places.
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by our correspondent Antonello Guerrera
Last night the Johnson government’s emergency special powers in the battle against the pandemic were renewed for another six months by the Westminster Parliament, which drew harsh criticism from the more traditional conservatives, around thirty, such as the influential MP Steve Baker e Charles Walker, who launched the protest late at night with a symbolic bottle of milk in his hand. Baker, who for some time has spoken of a “Big Brother” climate in defense of British traditions, commented yesterday to Times Radio on the possible obligation to carry an identification document: “It would be a really depressing way of life”.
However, to restart the country and reopen pubs (the second home of the British), restaurants, discos, concerts and all public places, a mix of sweep tests and vaccination passports will almost certainly be inevitable. Which, however, despite the reluctance of the government in recent months, are now increasingly gaining ground in the exit strategy of the executive of Boris Johnson, which provides for a substantial return to normal on 21 June thanks to the approximately 30 million people already vaccinated against the Covid with at least one dose.
One proposal that is filtering out of Downing Street is that of a three-sided Covid passport for British citizens. Which therefore, apparently, will be able to go to the pub or restaurant or cinema if they have one of three statuses: vaccine administered, a serological test that confirms the presence in the body of antibodies after contracting or passing Covid, or having the electronic certificate of a negative coronavirus test carried out in the last 24 hours. The technical basis for providing this Covid certificate to UK residents would be the Nhs App, similar to the Immuni one in Italy, served in recent months for tracking and now most likely updated.
We will know more in the coming weeks, given that between April and May the public places will reopen, first for the external service and then for the internal one. Of course, you will have to wait until all adults residing in the UK have been offered at least one dose of the vaccine before officially taking this step of Covid certifications. According to the government, as reported by the Guardian, a similar measure could also incentivize young people to get vaccinated, as they often go to pubs or clubs. Meanwhile, old phrases from Boris Johnson are now re-appearing, who more than ten years ago, to those who asked him for an opinion on the possibility of introducing an identity document for the British, replied: “I rather eat it and spit it, a paper identity”. Now he could be the first to introduce it, or something similar, due to Covid.
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