Nicola Sturgeon will hold her first covid briefing of the week at 12.15pm today as experts debate whether or not to introduce vaccine passports for large indoor events.
The First Minister will announce the latest daily statistics before taking questions as usual - with the prospect of vaccine passports likely to feature prominently.
It comes as Boris Johnson last night announced that nightclubs and other indoor events with large crowds in England will be required from September to check in advance whether ticket holders have been double jabbed before being allowed in.
Clubs, backbench Tories and opposition MPs criticised Johnson’s announcement on Monday – the day that clubs in England were allowed to open for the first time since March last year.
No decision has been made by the Scottish Government on whether to follow suit, but one Holyrood adviser today raised questions over how such a scheme would work.
Dr Nicola Steadman, the country's deputy chief medical officer, said such a scheme could "in theory" encourage more younger Scots to get vaccinated - but questioned whether it would be "the right and equal thing to do".
She said a decision would be made by ministers only after all evidence had been considered and businesses consulted with.
Johnson declined to rule out extending vaccination passports to pubs in England as he attended the briefing virtually from his country residence of Chequers.
Mark Harper, the Conservative former chief whip who chairs the Covid Recovery Group of Tory lockdown-sceptics, criticised the plans as “effectively moving to compulsory vaccination”.
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee, questioned why the Government was delaying the plans until the autumn.
Labour’s shadow health minister Justin Madders said: “How can it be safe to go to nightclubs now, with no protective measures, if in September it will require double jab status? It makes no sense.
“This proposal is more confusion and incompetence from the heart of Government at the expense of public health. They need to get a grip.”
