London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 16, 2025

Vaccine passports for UK pubs 'not a good idea', says behaviour expert

Vaccine passports for UK pubs 'not a good idea', says behaviour expert

Restrictions being considered by the government could add to hestancy and feelings of social exclusion

The idea of forcing people to show vaccine passports to enter pubs is likely to be counterproductive and is “not a good idea”, a social psychologist advising the government has warned.

The sweeping restriction being considered by the government could compound hesitancy among those already sceptical of vaccines and depress jab uptake, said Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B).

“I don’t think that the idea of vaccine passports to get into the pub is a good idea and I think in many ways they could be counterproductive,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He said “the notion of in effect making [vaccines] compulsory led to anger and to lowered uptake” among those who were already hesitant in a small survey in Israel, which is backed up in other international studies.

“One of the main factors in being against the vaccine is the sense that it’s not being done for our health but it’s being done to us, and to control us. And therefore you have lower uptake in communities who are more suspicious and have a more troubled relationship with the state. The problem is that by making things compulsory, you feed into that fear, you increase that sense of this is being done to us.”

Boris Johnson has sought to calm fears over the possible introduction of domestic and international coronavirus health certificates amid criticism. Ministers are reviewing the potential use of the former, which if imposed could result in access to hospitality venues being granted only if customers have been vaccinated, received negative tests, or developed antibodies through past infection.

Last month, the prime minister said: “There are deep and complex ethical issues we need to explore about what the role is for government in mandating … or indeed banning people from doing such a thing. We can’t be discriminatory against people who for whatever reason can’t have the vaccine, there might be medical reasons.”

However, he called for a review led by cabinet minister Michael Gove to assess the “scientific, moral, philosophical and ethical viewpoints” of the measures.

This week Johnson said no decisions had been taken yet and that in any case no such measures would be in place as early as the opening of pub gardens on 12 April.

“There are some people who for medical reasons can’t get a vaccination, pregnant women can’t get a vaccination at the moment, you’ve got to be careful about how you do this,” he said.

“You might only be able to implement a thorough-going vaccination passport scheme even if you wanted such a thing in the context of when absolutely everybody had been offered a vaccine.”

But while Reicher drew a distinction between domestic certificates and vaccine passports, he said “negative incentives” barring people from their everyday lives would lead people to behave “very negatively”.

“When it comes to excluding people from everyday lives things swap around,” he said. “And what’s more it leads to other problems like social division and social apartheid.

“We’d be in a position where those communities who are less likely to get vaccinated begin to be excluded from our city centres, from social life, and that would create a whole swath of social problems, it would destroy any sense of community which has been so positive in the pandemic. A [vaccine passport] in the UK is not a good idea.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
×