The Welsh Government's chief medical officer has described the "actual direct impact" of Covid passes as "probably quite small".
The Labour Government only just got the Covid passes through the Senedd after Tory MS Gareth Davies was unable to vote. The policy aims to help tackle Wales' high rates of the virus but has been controversial for several reasons.
Some have argued that allowing people to enter events with simply a negative lateral flow tests means that the passes fail to act as a carrot for people to get jabbed. There has also been critics arguing that the lateral flow tests are very easy to fake and therefore do not have a meaningful impact on controlling the virus. On top of this there are civil liberty arguments against their use.
Mark Drakeford has also warned pubs and restaurants that if there is not a decline in Covid cases by the next three week review he may expand Covid passes to all hospitality instead of the current rules which just cover large events and nightclubs.
In an interview with Wales' chief medical officer, Dr Frank Atherton, WalesOnline asked what the scientific underpinnings were for the passes.
The CMO did not offer a ringing endorsement saying that one of the bigger advantages of the pass was it reminded people that Covid existed.
He said: "The evidence is still building around Covid passes. Lots of other countries around the world have adopted them. Wales decided to adopt them as well. The actual direct impact is probably quite small. But there are bigger impacts in terms of the messages that gives and the reminder to people that we're not out of the woods yet that we really are still at a difficult stage in the pandemic, and that we need to do everything so.
"So it's probably a small positive benefit to Covid passes. What we have to do when we have such high rates of community transmission is to take anything which gives us more benefit. So face coverings give us a small benefit, social distancing gives a larger benefit. Covid passes probably give a small benefit and we've got to add those things up. All taken together, they can help to drive down the rates."
In an interview with WalesOnline last Friday First Minister Mark Drakeford said it was too early to tell if Covid passes had improved the virus situation in Wales.
You can read the full interview with Dr Atherton here.
