Thank you for contacting me about vaccine passports and COVID status certification.
As set out in the Government’s Roadmap towards easing restrictions, four programmes of work have been established to consider different aspects of how the UK should handle COVID-19 from summer onwards. One of these is a review into whether COVID-status certification could play a role in reopening our economy, reducing restrictions on social contact and improving safety.
On 5 April, an update was published into the reviews outlined in the Roadmap, including the COVID-status Certification Review. I understand that the review has so far gathered evidence from clinical and ethical experts as well as businesses and their representative organisations. In addition, the public call for evidence has generated over 50,000 responses representing a wide range of opinions.
Conclusions and the outcome of the review will be set out in advance of Step Four of the Roadmap. As the Prime Minister has said, it may be that there is a role for certification in the future, but for now the emphasis is rightly on our vaccination and testing programmes.