Surely a vaccination certificate for international travel should be implemented as soon as possible?

[wintertime6]

I don't understand why there is a debate on this? Surely it should be implemented as soon as possible (taking into consideration the availability of vaccines for all those who want to travel). The government need to step up and make some tough decisions and make sure that the fabulous work down with our vaccination programme isn't undone. It's done for yellow fever and that's a vaccine people have to pay for. If there's a valid reason people can't have the vaccine they can get an exemption certificate. And I've never heard anyone complaining about it?

I can’t think of anything worse than having to spend every holiday in U.K....

Plus going abroad is to see people too.

@Abraxan

And to be honest after spending test day trying to find a decent holiday for a decent price within England I can definitely see why many people want to go abroad, especially as there is far less guarantee of nice, dry and warm weather here.

I’ve just checked. 1 week in st Ives in August between 1-2.5k. yeah not going to happen for myself

I have a parent abroad, they almost died last week. They were intensive care and I thought I'd never see them again, there are no guarantees. I am desperate to be able to visit

I think it's quite a difficult situation. I would like to fly to see a parent however I will have had the vaccine.

I'm not sure i'm entirely comfortable with staff having to facilitate my holiday because they need to keep their jobs but are yet to be vaccinated. I wouldn't want to risk my health.

I don't see what good a vaccination certificate will do - even after both jabs you can still catch and pass on covid? Do we really want people leaving here with the UK variant, and allow others to come in with whatever variant they have?

@EasterIssland there are other places. Have you looked at the Welsh coast? Look at hotels / B&B places.
My sister and her family are going to Gower for a week and paying £750 (dsis, bil, Dn 5 and Dn 3) with breakfast. I know it's not the same as a self catering property, but it's much cheaper than the prices you have seen.

EasterIssland we always holiday in the UK but St Ives is about one of the most expensive areas. We enjoy Jersey its beautiful and can do this far cheaper than Cornwall even taking into account the very expensive ferry
Admittedly we dont use self catering accommodation find hotels much better value

I am overseas and have had 2 vaccines and have a certificate and a QR code on my app. This doesn't seem to have stopped people bringing us back the Kent strain and causing a second wave so I agree it's not necessarily a ticket to travel. In fact, I have been quarantined twice after exposure to a positive case at work, both times positive case was healthy and vaccinated.

[quote HotelCaliforniaOnRepeat]@EasterIssland there are other places. Have you looked at the Welsh coast? Look at hotels / B&B places.
My sister and her family are going to Gower for a week and paying £750 (dsis, bil, Dn 5 and Dn 3) with breakfast. I know it's not the same as a self catering property, but it's much cheaper than the prices you have seen.[/quote]
Will Wales be opened.? It’s another country as per COVID with different rules.
Pembrokeshire 500-1.2k for a week. Much better.

I have a holiday booked from last year (due to go in August). I am not sure if I want to fo regardless. I have had my first vaccine and so has my husband.
I don't want to be in a position where I have to quarantine on my return or worse bring a variant home.
We have decided that when we need to wither pay or cancel we will defer to next year.
A trip to London a couple of times this year will suffice. I can also catch up with relatives too.

@Ifailed

I don't see what good a vaccination certificate will do - even after both jabs you can still catch and pass on covid? Do we really want people leaving here with the UK variant, and allow others to come in with whatever variant they have?

If that’s the case then we’d never open again the country as there will always be other variants ... the vaccines have proof to reduce tve transmission in the last month so if do you want the country to be closed forever ? And do you want to have the country in lockdown every time there is a case ? Balance needs to be found. And vaccines bring that balance

At the risk of bursting your bubble : if foreign travel stays restricted despite the vaccines because the jabs aren't protecting people against other variants, we might as well theow in the towel and go with Johnson's initial herd immunity plan. The alternative is never travelling again because there will be countless new variants.

Speaking as someone who has had the first dose, I don’t think we should be doing this until everyone has been offered a vaccine, or at least all adults with children’s vaccines on the horizon.

This pandemic has been nothing but a litany of inequalities, starting from the unequal sacrifices involved in locking down through job losses and unequal payouts to different sectors etc. Let’s not add another one.

All of DH’s family are abroad mostly in his home country. It’s not just about popping off on a holiday.

If you’re willing to pay the British price then it’s up to you

If I can I’ll go to a country on holidays which has had 6k casss in the whole pandemic and is planning on planning the whole country vaccinated by June.
Will I be more at risk there or in Dorset in summer?

@EasterIssland Um ... have you tagged me by mistake? My response was to a poster saying there was no room to holiday in this country. I said that there was if you 'wish to do so'.

I didn't say that people should (I don't particularly want to) and I didn't mention anything about being more at risk anywhere in particular. I don't really know which part of my post you're talking about to be honest.

Inequality is ingrained into our society. Only tip cornflakes, float to the top as some wise English leader once said but seriously, you'll prevent people from travelling until everyone has been fully vaccinated so Christmas 2021? What about you the people working for the travel industry? What about airlines and people whose livelihoods depend on tourism? There is no way you're going to eradicate covid and there is no way you're going to make the world equal.

@NellWilsonsWhiteHair

I agree it's not yet a priority and we should be minimising foreign travel (crap as I know that is for those with family abroad).

I also think it's politically unpalatable to talk about at this time, when the truth is that those for whom lockdown has been a far greater trial than covid itself would have been (ie. the young and healthy who have spent months sacrificing their pleasure/mental health for the vulnerable) will be those unable to travel because they haven't yet reached the front of the vaccine queue. It's divisive.

Absolutely this. I know I'm being selfish and probably irrational, but I'll be pissed off if I see the people we've all been protecting for the past year jetting off abroad because they're now vaccinated.

@MacDuffsMuff apologies

It’s a bit shit for those patiently waiting their turn for the vaccine though isn’t it?

Does it include kids? As kids will be last to be vaccinated so no family holidays.

Many of my acquaintances have queue jumped by lying that they have caring responsibilities. I was sent the link last week and told to “just tick the carers box and you’ll get an appointment”.

People were complaining not so long ago we hadn’t shut the borders quickly enough and thats why we are in this mess. Yet once they have their vaccine it’s i’m alright, reopen the borders for me!

If dh (vaccinated) goes abroad and brings back a variant to me and the kids (unvaccinated) we’ll end up in the same shit again.

We need to see the vaccination programme at a point where covid is under control worldwide.

They should have it all in place ready to go so that the very day that the last person in the UK has been given a vaccine (excluding those who have been offered one and refused it, or who can’t have it), we are all free to leave the country if we want to, and return without quarantine.

We can’t get into a situation where out of luck, some people are allowed to travel and others aren’t.

"We need to see the vaccination programme at a point where covid is under control worldwide."

May never happen if the variants require boosters.

Inequality is ingrained into our society.

So we should create more? and be happy about it?

So what's the answer then? We alm stay cooped up in the UK on crowded beaches when the weather allows and paying for overpriced cottages? The goal posts keep moving. The people that say we should all stay in the UK for our holidays probably did that anyway. I have a holiday booked in Aug rolled over from last year. Both my Dh and I will have had our two shots so if its allowed will definitely be going. Life has to go on.

@Cupcakegirl13 my family lives in another country. I miss my mum more with every breath I take. And no end in sight.

@Rollmopsrule

So what's the answer then? We alm stay cooped up in the UK on crowded beaches when the weather allows and paying for overpriced cottages? The goal posts keep moving. The people that say we should all stay in the UK for our holidays probably did that anyway. I have a holiday booked in Aug rolled over from last year. Both my Dh and I will have had our two shots so if its allowed will definitely be going. Life has to go on.

Bully for you. I'm sure your younger friends and relatives who haven't yet been vaccinated will enjoy seeing the photos of your lovely holiday.