The vaccine passport, which the government said it had no intention of developing, and once developed, was never supposed to be used within the UK is now an entity for those who have had the vaccine and also have the NHS app. And now we are undoubtedly being nudged towards its use. The vaccine passport did not feature in the recent Coronavirus update from Downing Street, but less than a week after the update its use by bars and restaurants is being ‘encouraged’. There are plenty of objections to the use of a vaccine passport within the shores of our native country. Apart from the general affront to and infringement of our—admittedly diminishing—civil liberties there is also the likelihood that the use of a vaccine passport for entry to social and entertainment venues will lead to a two-tier society. But this will have a disproportionate effect on various ethnic minority groups among whom there is a disproportionately reduced uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines. Is this really what we want?
The government cannot be unaware of the fact that vaccine uptake is generally lower among BAME groups generally. Furthermore, there is a differential effect within BAME groups with uptake among Black Caribbean and Black African being markedly lower (66.8% & 71.2%, respectively) than, for example, among people from Pakistani backgrounds (78.4%). The Runnymede Trust, typically, attribute this to ‘institutional racism’ but considerable efforts have been made to encourage vaccine uptake among BAME groups, by leading BAME figures, to no apparent effect.
The concept of ‘vaccine apartheid’ is already out there. Initially the concerns were around a divide between developed and less developed countries and between rich and poor based on the availability of vaccines to different social and economic groups across the world. Indeed, Kenya has already accused the UK of ‘vaccine apartheid’ and indicated that vaccine passports will exacerbate global inequalities. Over a thousand Christian leaders have spoken out against the use of vaccine passports within the borders of the UK. The outcry would, justifiably, be loud and sustained if bars and restaurants were to return to the days of signs saying, ‘no Blacks’ or ‘no Coloured’. But with the implementation of and insistence on vaccine passports they may as well, as this is de facto what it will amount to.
Our society has been deeply divided by the coronavirus pandemic. We are divided between the professional classes, who can work largely work from home on full salary, and the working classes who, if lucky enough still to be in a job, cannot. The divide between the global elite and the rest of us is more obvious than ever and the confusing messages from our government are likely to lead to people fighting it out in the streets over wearing masks. Now we risk adding an even greater divide between largely white vaccinated and ethnic groups where vaccine uptake is lower. The Runnymede Trust has already expressed its concerns about the effect that vaccine passports may have on ethnic minorities and would be better devoting its energies towards banning the use of vaccine passports than futile efforts to increase vaccine uptake. If they think the UK is institutionally racist, they have seen nothing yet.
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
