And so it begins - with pubs?

[MistressoftheDarkSide]

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/24/pubs-should-decide-whether-to-demand-vaccine-passports-pm-says

Some rather good points raised in the article to be fair

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

I can’t imagine going back to a crowded place and can’t imagine everyone will be so it will be interesting to see what happens and if things will change to entice customers back.

I agree. I honestly couldn't care less about pubs though obviously have sympathy for pub owners at this time, as for any type of business. This is such a difficult time for everyone.

It will be so good when we have this virus under control and get back to some sort of 'normality',

But what about the people who don't have smartphones? Which is 60% of the over 65s.

Is this really worth it? Why penalise pubs? I can't wait to get out to a restaurant and a pub again.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

How are they going to sort out vaccine passports? The ship has sailed on that one. They don't have the wherewithal to sort it out in retrospect- should have been given them with the vaxx.

They gave me a card with the record of both jabs on. I wouldn't be carrying it around with me, though. Plus, I can't prove it's mine- it just has my name on! Anyone could claim to be me (and the days of needing ID to enter a pub are long past, sadly...)

What's wrong with just flashing the card to show you've had the vaccines? I am sure those who want to will find a way of cheating the system anyway. Of course, being 'micro-chipped' to show you've been vaccinated would be one solution.

This is all getting very dystopian future only in our present!

@LadyCatStark

^ that was sarcasm by the way. I’d give my vaccination status if I could but I’m not old enough or vulnerable enough to have had it yet. So I’ll just sit at home I guess while all the people I stayed at home to protect go out partying 🙄

Well like I said, if this becomes an actual thing, we do have a choice with what we continue to comply with right now don't we?

I really don't give a shit if anyone comes along and flames me for that btw. Long past caring. If I can't go to the pub, I can easily go to my friends houses, and that's something I can do immediately. I feel so much less likely to comply with any restrictions when they continue to treat young people as they do.

Surely pubs are going to be reluctant to do anything that potentially turns customers away? They have no idea of knowing whether there will be another wave/lockdown when they hopefully re-open in a fortnight or so. Surely, they'll just be keen to make as much money as possible - make hay while the sun shines?

i experienced a mere3months of complete lockdown/curfew..moved up to QLD and spentover$5000to spend2 weeks in quarantine hotel before being released into what seemed like wierd parallel universe where i started a new job after attending face2face interviews,went apartment hunting-and generally threw ourselves into joing local clubs,swimming the pool in our complex&meeting other resi's and trying the local resturaunts&pubs..ive never felt so alive!Apparently 20,000 other Victorians moved interstate during the same period-all determined to grab some normality&just live..Im sure itll be business as usual for the majority&i really hope it happens over there soon

Also, that's really unfair. Some younger people have somehow managed to leapfrog the descending age roll-out of the vaccination programme (and I'm not talking about those who are vulnerable and/or working in health and social care).

Small independents may not go along with it but the likes of Wetherspoons and Marstons may decide that reputationally it’s better to introduce some form of control to entry

*Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Jonathan Neame, chief executive of the Shepherd Neame pub chain, said his company would not insist on vaccine certificates.

*
He said: "The whole essence of a pub is that they are diverse and inclusive environments, where everybody, and families in particular, are extremely welcome."

Well there's one pub chain that has ruled this out. Maybe it'll be good PR for the ones that take this line!

I would be very surprised if the owner of Wetherspoons toes the Govt line. He is a maverick and seems to be a law unto himself!

I was going to say, I can't imagine the owner of Wetherspoons being particularly keen on the idea of vaccine passports tbh! The Wetherspoons near me have a very young customer base, why would they want to alienate them?

It will be interesting to see if businesses think demanding proof of vaccine is going to get them more business or prevent them getting business. Eg cruises, traditionally an older audience, i bet knowing everyone’s had a jab is going to encourage business. But pubs looking for a broad-age clientele who may not have been jabbed yet? If I was running a pub I wouldn’t demand a vaccine.

Just checked - my jab is visible on my PatientAccess app.

@StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind

I was going to say, I can't imagine the owner of Wetherspoons being particularly keen on the idea of vaccine passports tbh! The Wetherspoons near me have a very young customer base, why would they want to alienate them?

Same here. We are near several universities and everytime I've been into any of our local spoons it's been predominantly young people ot families. I imagine this id similar up and down the country. If they required everyone to be vaccinated they would be significantly restricting their customer base.

As a previous poster said they will all want to make as much money as possible before they inevitably get told to close again.

It's a non-story.

Pubs refuse entry or service to anyone they please, they're private businesses. Nobody has to drink there either.

If they're forced by law to then it's a different matter.

I personally won't feel comfortable sitting/standing in a crowded put for quite a while. However, surely we have to work towards getting back the life we had - in regards to pubs/restaurants for some that's having the atmosphere of lots of people around and actually being able to get in when you're on a night out (DD only went out three times last year and twice came home as couldn't get in due to reduced numbers) and importantly for some it's making a living and being able to pay overheads.

I'm sure they'll be a card with your ID on and for those that want it evidence can be given on their phones. We might have to accept there's a small number who get the certificate despite the fact they can't have the vaccine, but LFT are easily done for those that haven't got the required evidence.

I've spoken to DD (19) about this today and she said she happily do a LFT and even pay for it if it means she can get together with some friends.

Surely vaccination only gives a false sense of security as it does not 100% guarantee that you will not have or pass on to others.

Also just doesn't sit well that everyone should be forced into vaccination

The idea might be viable by about November, I guess. Will be old people restaurants/pubs that serve substantial meals (carveries), that mostly implement idea, they might make it viable by about September for lunch meals in term time.

You're in a gang of 6 young guys who want to go drinking, only 3 of you have had the jab. 1 of them doesn't have the NHS App set up & another has dead battery on his phone. You'll go to the pub that doesn't require LFTs or NHS Apps. No brainer. I bet no night clubs, and no Wetherspoons will bring this in.

It just doesn’t make sense - pubs business will suffer, it unfairly excludes the vulnerable groups the vaccine herd immunity is supposed to protect (those who can’t have the vaccine - pregnant women, immune compromised etc), and I genuinely don’t believe the majority of the public want this. I’ll fight this tooth and nail as a pregnant woman. Good news is that the timeline isn’t there - pubs open in three weeks, no way will they have it sorted by then, by the time it is organised no one will care any more as we’ll all be used to it.

Glad I'm tee total.

my local news are reporting, as I thought it'd be an app

The myGP TICKet feature – which will enable anyone in England who is registered with a GP to communicate their vaccination status, simply and securely, via their smartphone – is being piloted next week with care homes across the UK, including the second largest private care home group, Barchester Healthcare, and Lillian Faithful, a care home charity based in Cheltenham and Stroud.

This is just another coercion tactic. Tell yourself they are doing it for our own good as it’s not like a government have ever been wrong or lied before now is it. Or scientists for that matter.

Non vulnerable and younger people are assessing the vaccine on the balance of risk which is extremely low for covid and unknown for any effects of vaccines . They should not be demonised or limited to what they can access and where they should go

My husband said all this would happen a year ago, his family pretty much all stopped talking to him, calling him a conspiracy theorist. Now they're all talking worriedly about it like my husband never said a word about it, no acknowledgement that he was right.

People are sleepwalking into this, the implications of all this will go further than anyone realises. I am not an anti-vaxxer (hate that term!), whole family up to date with them all, but being coerced into medical treatment and having it forced by means of denying you access to employment, leisure, possibly even education, leads me to the conclusion that something is very very off about it all!

@EasterIssland

my local news are reporting, as I thought it'd be an app

The myGP TICKet feature – which will enable anyone in England who is registered with a GP to communicate their vaccination status, simply and securely, via their smartphone – is being piloted next week with care homes across the UK, including the second largest private care home group, Barchester Healthcare, and Lillian Faithful, a care home charity based in Cheltenham and Stroud.

I wonder who has connections/shares in that company?