Health expert describes vaccine passports as ‘discriminatory’ and says they make no sense

One of the UK’s most respected public health experts has called on the Scottish Government to scrap its “ridiculous and discriminatory” vaccine passport scheme.

Professor Allyson Pollock spoke out after a study by The Lancet medical bible found double-jabbed people can be just as likely to pass on Covid-19.

The research appears to blow a hole in the argument for controversial new laws in Scotland requiring proof of vaccination to enter football grounds and nightclubs.

The Scottish Government forged ahead with the scheme, along with a mobile phone app, despite Westminster ditching its plans.

Pollock, a clinical professor of public health at Newcastle University, said: “Vaccine passports don’t make public health sense. Your vaccination status tells us nothing about whether you’re infectious or transmitting at that moment in time.

“Even if you’re vaccinated, you may well become infected or re-infected and you may also transmit the virus.

“So passports make no sense. They are a ridiculous, discriminatory and disproportionate measure because they tell you nothing about the individual’s risk or what the background prevalence of infection is.

“It is very surprising that Scotland has chosen to introduce them given the First Minister claims to be a strong believer in human rights. When you are imposing a measure which restricts liberty and undermines human rights, the measure should be necessary and proportionate. Vaccine passports are not.”

Pollock – an ex-member of Covid advisory panel Independent SAGE – spoke out in the wake of the Lancet study last week.

Researchers discovered that while vaccines do an excellent job of preventing serious Covid illness and deaths, they are less good at stopping infections.

This is understood to be particularly true since the emergence of the more infectious Delta variant, which is dominant in the UK.

Pollock added: “The question that has to be asked is why has the Scottish Government implemented vaccine passports.

“Is it to stop transmission and infection or is it a coercive measure to make people have a vaccine.

“You really need to be very clear about why are you doing this and that is what parliaments in Edinburgh and Westminster should be debating.

“My advice to Nicola Sturgeon would be simple – stop using passports.

“If you think that having lots of mass gatherings – nightclubs and things like that – are going to be to too dangerous, then you need to take a decision not to have them.

“Clearly there has been pressure to open up the economy and perhaps it is thought vaccine passports offer a reassurance but it is a false reassurance, not a public health measure.

“It is very expensive and there are huge issues with asking people to share their personal medical data, which is supposed to be confidential.”

The Sunday Mail previously revealed that the Scottish Government’s passport app shares the personal data of users with private firms.

The NHS mobile phone app shares the data with Amazon, Microsoft, ServiceNow, Royal Mail and an AI facial recognition firm. Civil rights campaign group Liberty has joined opposition parties in condemning the scheme.

Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Following the Sunday Mail expose, the Government must come clean about how it shares your private data. Nobody should ever have to provide part of their medical history to a bouncer or private firms.”

Meanwhile, it emerged last week a special Crown Office unit set up to probe Covid-linked deaths in care homes is considering 827 cases in hospitals.

Figures up until October 7 show the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow has the highest number of reported Covid-linked deaths at 113.

This was followed by the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and Glasgow Royal Infirmary, which both had 71 deaths referred to the Crown Office.