I have had many constituents contact me about the government’s review into whether “COVID-status certificates” could play a role in reopening parts of our economy, including restrictions on social contact. The review is expected to report before 21 June 2021. As a proposal it raises fundamental issues of fairness, power and liberty which I will weigh very carefully before coming to a conclusion.
First let me say that I firmly believe that vaccines are the most effective public health intervention against COVID-19. Vaccines protect us as individuals against the virus and they protect society by enabling restrictions to be lifted.
Approval is only given to a vaccine in the UK if the regulator – the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) – is satisfied that the vaccine is both safe and effective. I am convinced that the vaccines currently authorized for use against Covid-19 are an important weapon in our fight against this disease and I believe it is important that everyone who is offered a vaccination should take it for their own sake and for the sake of their wider community.
BUT Vaccines are not mandatory. Nor should they be. The Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, which applies to England and Wales, is clear that any health protection regulations “may not include provision requiring a person to undergo medical treatment”. This includes vaccinations. So the Covid status-certificates issue raises important matters of autonomy.
I may disagree with someone who refuses to be vaccinated, but I respect their right to control their own body and their own health regime. Equally I am concerned that their right to refuse medication that might safeguard them, does not give them a right to expose other people to greater risk of infection because of their personal decision. People who choose not to be immunized against a dangerous and communicable disease have a corresponding obligation to ensure that they are not putting others at increased danger.
Issues of fairness are vital. Not everyone has been offered a vaccination. I think especially of young people who have been at least personal risk of getting the disease but have been some of the most disadvantaged by the lockdown. It would be particularly unfair if they were now to be doubly penalized and have their social lives curtailed yet further when they have not been given the opportunity to be vaccinated. Others, such as pregnant women have been told on medical advice that they should not be vaccinated. It would be wrong to discriminate against those who would be at risk medically from having the vaccine and exclude them from the workplace, public events or other social settings where people congregate. This would not be “getting life back to normal” it would be entrenching discrimination into our lives in an entirely unacceptable manner.
Those who argue for Vaccine status-certificates claim that they could provide businesses with the confidence they need to reopen and resume operations. However, they might also be used by employers as a mechanism for discriminating unfairly amongst members of their workforce. This is why the consultation must address issues of power and control. Our world is increasingly becoming dominated by data and the issue of who controls it. Personal data can help us to take more informed decisions and manage our own lives better, but if that data is used by others as a mechanism of restricting our freedoms then we face an increasingly dystopian future.
The idea of a vaccination passport suggests – falsely – that immunity is a binary matter. Vaccination is not a one-off event: immunity fades over time and people will need booster vaccinations and new vaccinations against new variants of the virus. This means the simple fact of being vaccinated is not a guarantee. It is also clear that supplies of the vaccines may not always be able to keep pace with the need to keep everyone’s immunity levels up to date. This could lead to certain already disadvantaged groups in society becoming further discriminated against.
Our government is becoming increasingly authoritarian. It has sidelined parliament and I am deeply troubled by recent measures on Covert Human Intelligence, Police Powers and the undermining of the Refugee Convention. If government introduces a two-tier system in which those who are not vaccinated are blocked from essential public services, work, or housing then the balance of power in our country will have definitively shifted in an alarming way.
Whilst I believe it right to listen carefully to the arguments put forward during the consultation period. I have tried in this email to indicate some of the issues which I consider any such scheme for Covid-Status Certificates must be able to answer satisfactorily. At present I am not persuaded that such answers are available.