No vaccination certificate, no drink at the pub

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested this week that some pubs might require customers to produce vaccine certificates, an idea that he had previously deemed unlikely.

Almost 29 million people have received their first vaccine dose in Britain already in the fastest rollout in Europe, and there have been calls to open up the economy faster because of the success of the vaccination programme.

Appearing before a committee of senior lawmakers, Johnson said the "basic concept of a vaccine certification should not be totally alien to us", citing how surgeons were required to have a Hepatitis B shot.

Asked whether ordinary citizens going to the pub might need one, he said: "I think that that's the kind of thing that may be up to an individual publicans, it may be up to the landlord."

He told the committee the public had been "thinking very deeply" about such issues.

"People, human beings, instinctively recognise when something is dangerous and nasty to them, and they can see that Covid-19 is collectively a threat and they want us as their government, and me as the Prime Minister to take all the actions I can to protect them."

Steve Baker, the deputy chairman of a group of Conservative lawmakers who have opposed what they call a cycle of lockdowns, said that vaccine passports for pubs are a "dangerous path" to what he called a two-tier Britain.

From Monday, Britons could face a £5 000 fine if they leave the UK without a reasonable excuse under new coronavirus rules.

International travel is already banned under most circumstances in the current lockdown, but according to the new laws non-essential foreign travel will be banned until June 30.