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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Fionnula Hainey

Most countries will require double vaccination for travel 'forevermore', transport secretary says

Most countries will require full vaccination for travel "forevermore", the transport secretary has suggested.

Grant Shapps made the claim as he defended the government's traffic light system, which is set to be updated this weekend with several European countries moving to the green list.

He said the “simplified system” will allow people to “enjoy their holidays” abroad this year without fear of the rules changing suddenly.

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The rollout of vaccinations in the UK and overseas means changes to the travel lists are being made every three weeks, compared with once a week last summer, he said.

Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have certainly lived with coronavirus long enough to know that it can be unpredictable; however, we have also lived with it long enough to get the majority of the population vaccinated, other countries are doing the same thing.

“That does mean that this summer we are able to set out a three-week programme rather than a one-week programme which was the situation last year.

“I hope people will be able to go away under this simplified system, enjoy their breaks and not be looking over their shoulders the whole time, and as long as they follow the processes then they can have a great time and I hope they are able to enjoy their holidays.”

However, Mr Shapps admitted that the double vaccination requirement for entry to certain countries was likely to continue.

Responding to a point about people booking holidays in September still facing uncertainty around restrictions, Mr Shapps said: "It is a reality in this new world we are living with coronavirus… I think double vaccination is going to be a feature forevermore and most countries, probably all countries, will require full vaccination in order for you to enter."

Under the latest changes, seven nations - Austria, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia - will be added to the quarantine-free green list, while India is among four countries being removed from the red list.

India, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are being moved out of the red list, while Mexico, Georgia and the French overseas territories of La Reunion and Mayotte are being added to that tier.

The changes will come into effect for England from 4am on Sunday, August 8.

The devolved administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland said they will match the decisions, but the Welsh government has not confirmed whether it will take the same action.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer criticised the government’s handling of the coronavirus travel restrictions.

Speaking on the final day of a two-day visit to Scotland, he told broadcasters: “Anybody who has been trying to organise a holiday this summer has got their head in their hands because almost on a daily basis we’ve had a changing system, changing colours, U-turns left right and centre.

“We’ve been saying since the beginning of the summer have a simplified system. We may be edging towards it and I feel very strongly for those families and I hope that that helps them going forward.

“But the big question I have for the government is why on earth have we had to go through this chaos to get there?"

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