MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

British Government backtracks on mandatory vaccination passes

“We will be making it clear that our vaccine program is working,” Javid said

The British Government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has decided Sunday not to enforce the use of a “vaccination pass.” Health Minister Sajid Javid said it “would be useless, [because the] vaccination rate is high.”

“These extraordinary times required necessary but intrusive measures. But I'm determined to get rid of any powers we no longer need because of our vaccine defences,” Johnson said in a statement.

“I am happy to say that we will not continue down this path,” Javid said. He added that the health passport has caused too much controversy across Europe and was in fact conceived to encourage people to get vaccinated.

Javid explained that more than 81% of Britain's population over 16 years old has already taken 2 doses of vaccine and 90% have received one and therefore the pass was not necessary at all to achieve those goals.

“Now that we're entering autumn and winter ... the prime minister this week will be setting out our plans to manage COVID over the coming few months, and in that, we will be making it clear that our vaccine program is working,” Javid added.

However, the government still believes it necessary to speed up vaccinating people aged 16 and 17, where so far immunization has reached “55-60%.”

On the parliamentary front, Keir Starmer's Labor Party had campaigned for weeks against any broad-spectrum extension of the vaccine passport by the Conservative government, while the Liberal Democrats have always come out against certification.