By Ben Kerrigan-
Matt Hancock appears to be pursuing a discriminatory system between Britons who have been vaccinated twice and those who have vaccinated only once.
Hancock said he wants to give the go-ahead within “weeks” for summer holidays in Mediterranean resorts without having to quarantine on their return. His announcement sounds like good news, but in actual fact, what he is doig is discriminating between two groups of people.
Under Hancock’s plans, brits who have been vaccinated twice will not have to quarantine when returning from trips abroad, while other brits who have been vaccinated just once or not at all would have to quarantine upon return from abroad. The rules change could see those who have been double-jabbed undergoing daily testing rather than quarantining before and after travelling to England from non-green list destinations this summer.
Such plans would begin a two tier system , moving towards the idea of compelling brits to receive extra vaccinations, despite being told repeatedly from the government themselves that being vaccinated does not guarantee full protection from covid variants.
It has been said several times that the vaccine reduces the chances of becoming infected, but discriminating between those who have received two vaccination than those who have received one jab is simply wrong.
This is a similar idea to vaccination passports, just in a different form, and the idea of vaccination passports has been quiet for a while but not disappeared.
When we consider Hancock’s recent actions in delaying presenting relevant papers about the effectiveness of the vaccine against the Delta variant, we must wonder how trust worthy our Health Secretary is.
The fact a recent report from PHE England suggested that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines were more effective on the Delta variant than they were on previous strains, were not presented in papers to Mr. Johnson, Mr Sunak and Mr Gove in advance of Freedom day meeting last Sunday, raises suspicions that Mr. Hancock may have a particular interest in seeing vaccination jabs increase as quickly as possible, besides protecting the public from the variant.
A later statement from a government official that the full easing of the lockdown was done to speed up more jabs appears to support this view. Vaccinations may be important to guard against the virus, but when there are still questions as to whether certain individuals are particularly gaining from the vaccine roll out. Let’s not forget this is the same Hancock who kept it quiet that he had been given shares in his sisters company that won Nhs contracts,and the same Mr. Hancock said to have been hopeless in a whassap message by Boris Johnson, and whom the Nhs boss would not express confidence in.
“It’s something we are taking clinical advice on and we will have more to say in the weeks to come,” he told Times Radio.
Mr Hancock emphasized that currently there had not yet been the clinical advice to lift quarantine for people, who have had both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, when they return from “amber” countries.
However, he told LBC Radio: “We are working on a plan for the double-vaccinated people, using tests, and to have that testing regime in place, instead of having to have the quarantine in some circumstances. I can’t give you a date, but what I can tell you is that I’m in favour of moving forward in this area.”
He added that the Government was determined not to jeopardize the freedoms “at home” which have been delivered by one of the fastest vaccine roll-outs in the world.
Pressed on whether the rules could change before August, with an exemption from quarantine for “amber list” countries for the double vaccinated, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I know that your viewers get the difference between the rules that are in place now and what might happen in the future.”
Mr Hancock said the Government was “worried” about flu this winter as “people’s natural immunity will be lower because we haven’t had any serious flu for 18 months now”.
The Health Secretary said the country was on “track” for lockdown to be fully eased on July 19, highlighting the very low number of Covid deaths and slow rise in hospitalizations, despite a surge in cases, as showing the vaccines were working.
Mental health minister Nadine Dorries said there had been a significant rise in demand for eating disorder services during the pandemic. She told the Health Select Committee: “It’s a very complex issue. It surrounds lots of things such as body image, social media, but lockdown brought a particular pressure and a particular strain on those young women who had been concealing, managing, living with eating disorders, and it kind of came to a crisis point during lockdown.
Vaccine Status
Mr Hancock said the main NHS app, which is different from the Covid-19 app and records vaccination status, is “important” as countries are likely to need proof that Britons travelling abroad have had their jabs. “We can now, all of us, see our vaccine status, see your testing status, on the NHS app,” he said. “Six million people have now downloaded the main NHS app and on that you can show whether you have had the jabs.
“It’s important because we know other countries are going to say that they want proof that you have been vaccinated before you go. So, when travel is opened up, we are going to make sure people have got that ability to prove it.” Those returning from a green list country are not required to quarantine, but there are no major viable tourist destinations in that tier following the removal of Portugal. The amber list includes most popular summer hotspots such as Spain, Italy, France and Greece.