Revellers using their vaccination status to get into nightclubs will have to show they have had a booster jab as part of future plans, the Health Secretary has said.
MPs are due to vote on Tuesday on the requirement for NHS Covid passes in England, which would come into effect from Wednesday.
Currently, these show a person’s vaccine details or test results.
Once all adults have had a reasonable chance to get their booster jab, we intend to change this exemption to require a booster dose.
Sajid Javid told Parliament on Monday that it is the Government’s intention to include proof of a booster jab, once all adults have had a chance to get theirs.
He said: “From Wednesday – subject to this House’s approval – you’ll need to show a negative lateral flow test to get into nightclubs and large events, with an exemption for the double vaccinated.
“Once all adults have had a reasonable chance to get their booster jab, we intend to change this exemption to require a booster dose.”
He said it is “misleading” to say MPs are being asked to vote on “vaccine passports”.
He told the Commons: “The Government has been absolutely clear about when it talks about access to nightclubs or to very large gatherings … that the requirement is to take a free lateral flow test and make sure it’s negative.
“And if you don’t want to do that then you can prove your vaccine status. It’s up to that individual. That’s not a vaccine passport and the sooner we get rid of this misleading description of what the Government is proposing, the better.”
On Sunday night in a televised address to the nation, Boris Johnson told the public that, in the face of “a tidal wave of Omicron” it is “now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need”.
He added that scientists are “confident” that, with a booster, “we can all bring our level of protection back up”.
