“International travel is a luxury but participating in your own community is a fundamental right. Internal COVID passports are an authoritarian step too far,” said Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, a Labor Party peer and former director of Liberty.
Others have expressed concern that COVID-19 vaccine passports could create a “two-tier” system by entrenching existing inequalities. Marginalized groups in the UK who may face barriers to accessing the vaccine, such as migrants and asylum seekers, are considered to be most at risk.
Director of Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo, said: “COVID passes would be the first attempt at segregation in Britain for many decades. We are in real danger of becoming a check-point society where anyone from bouncers to bosses could demand to see our papers.”
The plans have already been met with backlash from parts of the UK’s entertainment and hospitality sector, with pub landlords and restaurant owners saying they could “scupper” plans to reopen in April.
Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has also weighed in to brand the plans a “dystopian nightmare.” In a radio appearance last month, he demanded to know: “What happens if I go to the pub with my son but because he’s only 30 has not yet been vaccinated? Do we have to show our dates of birth?”
More than 31 million people in the UK have already received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Under the government’s current “roadmap” for exiting lockdown, pubs will be allowed to serve people outdoors from April 12 and cinemas and theatres will reopen their doors in mid-May, with all legal restrictions set to be lifted on June 21.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he has instructed Senior Minister Michael Gove to review the possible ethical implications of such a passport scheme, the results of which are due to be published on Monday ahead of a final decision.
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