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?

@mars2 I'm saying in this case there's no way of avoiding it. Privileged kids got much better home schooling than most deprived kids. People who weren't shielding, work from home and have nice houses largely enjoyed the lockdowns. As opposed to those who can't even do their work from home. What you suggest is wrecking the travel industry completely and ruining another summer for people. Why not ban working from home too? Who cares about less emissions and reduced commutes if some people don't get to benefit from homeworking?

@Cupcakegirl13
really don’t understand the obsession with the ‘need’ to holiday abroad ! It’s seriously down the priority list right now. It’s not just about you as an individual being vaccinated and therefore ‘safe’. It’s not safe until the majority of the world has been vaccinated
This exactly! The whole world is still in the midst of a pandemic and some people are absolutely about getting their holiday abroad this Summer. Bloody stupid IMO, it’s not a priority whatsoever.

It’s certainly possible to do it in the UK if we want to. Passport has your name and DOB, NHS register
has your name, DOB and vaccine status. You have your NHS number and passport number. An app to link the two securely should be extremely simple.

The risk of new variants is too high for people to be allowed to travel without quarantine on return yet, imo. I don't trust the bunch of buffoons running this shitshow to introduce quarantine promptly for travellers returning from areas where a new variant has emerged.

If we had a more competent government, I might feel differently.

I can't bear the thought of having to go through all this again a few months down the line because people had been allowed to travel. It would mean that all the hardship and heartache had been for nothing.

@Moomin12345 What you suggest is wrecking the travel industry completely and ruining another summer for people.

Where did I suggest that?! I simply expressed the point that I feel uncomfortable with expecting younger unvaccinated people to work & be happy about it so I who is vaccinated can go on a plane.

Plus there is the question of bringing new variants back. It's not quite the same as having a bigger house or working from home is it?

The original NHS numbers were those of wartime ID cards, which were abolished in 1952, but numbers kept just for health.

Not everyone has a passport, so if you assume that vaccination status will need to be proven within UK, that's not really a starter - especially as they are quite expensive. But if it will only be a reaction to requirements imposed by other countries as an entry condition, then that might be workable.

Limited transfer of personal information between the two separate datasets, and only with permission of the individual?

More useful would be a way to capture all relevant vaccination information (eg include yellow fever as that's already an entry requirement for some countries) in a machine-readable 'yellow book' section within the passport.

But as most travel jabs are done privately in UK, and as people are (rightly) nervous about the security of massive government databases, then looking for a different way to attest to vaccine status might be useful (especially as passports are 10 year issue, and only updated for a fee - if it turns out vaccines need boosting more frequently than that, it gets complicated again)

I’d rather we prioritised vaccines and stopping the spread of new variants so highly limited travel for exceptional circumstances only.

People can holiday here if they want to and boost the economy.

People can holiday here if they want to and boost the economy

Yes we could defo do with the boost here.

I don't understand why there is a debate on this?

Why covid is covid so obviously 'bad' that we don't need to decide why it's so bad, we don't need to discuss and decide what specific 'bad' threshold has been crossed between (say) measles & covid that makes covid so bad that you need a covid passport without the discussion then requirements for covid passports are knee jerk. That's why there is discussion. To make decisions for rational reasons, not kneejerk ones.

It's done for yellow fever

Not consistently, far from everywhere, not even for countries where YF is endemic or high risk. Even countries that say it's required may not actually check when you arrive at the border. It may be required by countries themselves for entry but not by the airline, the travel companies or the countries that people travel from.

And I've never heard anyone complaining about it

Policy should not be decided based on anecdote

Very few people have had both vaccines. It’s entirely possible to catch covid even if you’ve been vaccinated and if your holidays with lots of people from other countries who are not vaccinated and people are not social distancing (eg on a plane) then it’s much more likely you will catch covid and return to the U.K. with a new strain.

If you use an app like Patient Access then your COVID vaccinations are already listed there on the acute medications list, so that could be used as proof.

It’s not just about holidays though

The UK is so multicultural

Millions of people can’t see their families , miss funerals
My DC haven’t seen their parent

Can we talk about July - august when many more will have had it?

[quote MacDuffsMuff]@Sidney no room to holiday in this country? Are you not in the UK? There's plenty of room to holiday here if you wish to do so. Unless you're trying to make some other point?[/quote]
Quite!

From my front window, I can see almost 15 miles of virtually uninterrupted countryside. Approx 200 yards from my front door, I can walk for about 5 miles through fields before I have to cross a road.
And this isn't anywhere remote, it's 50 miles/60 minutes by train from London.

We have around 3,000 miles of coastline. We have 10 or more national parks, with thousands of acres of unspoilt open space. We have stunning beaches in areas that aren't crowded, as long as people are prepared to go to places that aren't Devon, Cornwall and the south coast. In Northumberland on a bank holiday weekend in August, we had the magnificent beach at Bamburgh practically to ourselves - there were about 5 people and a couple of dogs on it. Scotland and Wales have amazing beaches.

And it's possible to access all this simply by going out of your front door and getting in your car. No sitting on the floor of a crowded airport full of overtired and over-excited children, or cramming yourself into a flying petri dish with people who seem determined to get pissed before it lands.

What's not to like? Oh, the weather.

If heat and sunshine is all you want, stay at home and hire a sunbed.

Oooohbehave Well if the roll out continues to plan then they will have been vaccinated by July. I'm not one to flash holidays around and inflict my photos on people anyway.

Anyway emergency travel funerals and work travel is allowed
Yes with multiple PCR tests and possible quarantine
But it’s allowed

[quote LadyPenelope68]@Cupcakegirl13
really don’t understand the obsession with the ‘need’ to holiday abroad ! It’s seriously down the priority list right now. It’s not just about you as an individual being vaccinated and therefore ‘safe’. It’s not safe until the majority of the world has been vaccinated
This exactly! The whole world is still in the midst of a pandemic and some people are absolutely about getting their holiday abroad this Summer. Bloody stupid IMO, it’s not a priority whatsoever.[/quote]
@LadyPenelope68

My children live in different countries and I haven't seen them or my grandchildren for over a year.

It absolutely is a priority for me.

Not all travel is for a holiday.

Well if the roll out continues to plan then they will have been vaccinated by July.
For both jabs?

There will be absolute uproar if the older and vulnerable get to go holiday because they have had the vaccine, but, the healthy (no underlying conditions) and younger people can’t because they are still waiting for the vaccine.

This assumption that it’s all
About ‘holidays ‘ and that the IK has ‘great beaches’

Are there no foreign people where you live !!?!

My children live in different countries and I haven't seen them or my grandchildren for over a year.

My dad lives in a different country & i'm desperate to see him. However he's still awaiting a vaccine so I also don't want to harm him.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

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.

The inequalities existed long before the pandemic, but the pandemic has highlighted them and made them worse.

But I do wonder how many of the people saying how dreadful it must be to have to homeschool your children in a cramped tower block would be happy to have a big council estate built on their doorstep.

And how many people will still vote for the party that has consistently made things more unequal every time they've been in government.

@mars2

My children live in different countries and I haven't seen them or my grandchildren for over a year.

My dad lives in a different country & i'm desperate to see him. However he's still awaiting a vaccine so I also don't want to harm him.

Sending sympathies @mars2

We feel the same.
My OH hasn't seen his Mum for over a year.
She lives alone in the UK.
I hope you get to see your Dad soon

fingers x, he is vulnerable too. 😢