English Conservatives explode over vaccine passport scheme (The Telegraph, 4 April)

Michael Gove has asked readers of his article in the Telegraph today to “keep sharing their views on the way ahead” regarding Covid vaccine passports.

Certification will be an inevitability for international travel. It could be a valuable aid to opening up our domestic economy and society faster. Unless the Government takes a lead we risk others establishing the rules of the road. So where should the lines be drawn to help protect freedoms, respect privacy, promote equality and get us back to normality? And how can we ensure our approach is proportionate and time-limited? Those are the questions we need to ask in the days ahead – and I know Telegraph readers will help us find common-sense answers.

Judging from some of the top-rated comments, Gove may regret having asked!

Sam Spencer (761 likes at the time of publication): Absolutely abhorrent idea, forcing a vaccine on people for a virus so deadly most people need to be tested to know that they have it… 

89 deaths for people under 40 in England without pre-existing health conditions (according to NHS statistics) – why on EARTH should we tolerate any more of this dictatorship?!

You and your party have completely misjudged the mood of the nation and to be quite frank with you most people aren’t listening to the “rules” anymore. You’ve become obsessed with Covid to the point where no other death matters, we’re all sick to death of the goalposts constantly shifting and the barrage of lies.

I, like clearly every other Tory voter here will be voting with our feet. You’re a disgrace.

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Nick Jones (790 likes): Why do we need any of this if 99% of those at risk of dying are now vaccinated?!

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David Barlett (780 likes): It’s a disgraceful idea without justification.

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Jane Kerr (217 likes): If the aim is to “get us back to normality”, then there is absolutely no role for Covid certification of any type. It absolutely is not normal to have to prove you’re not infected with any particular disease in order to participate in normal life.

Your own Government is warning vaccinated people they mustn’t meet indoors because the vaccine is not 100% effective, so it would be utterly nonsensical to allow/exclude people from anything on the basis of whether they are vaccinated or not. Vaccinated people can still catch/transmit Covid.

If this is allowed, don’t imagine it’ll stop with Covid: how long before everyone is being tested for flu twice a week, or any other virus the Government cares to conjure up as the new bogeyman?

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James Wright (303 likes): You needed to address in your article why you were previously against vaccine passports whereas now you are in favour of them.

And don’t pretend this is some kind of consultation – we all know you are pushing it through, regardless of what anyone says, and regardless of your previous public commitments.

Can’t you see you are the epitome of why politicians are distrusted?

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Peta Seel (911 likes): I didn’t get past the first paragraph. The average age of death worldwide of (or with) Covid is 82. Almost all of them were either very old, had severe underlying conditions or both. That hasn’t changed from the start. Children almost never get it. Few young people who get it even show symptoms. Worldwide deaths are under three million since the beginning of last year. Spanish flu killed 50 million, mostly young people, in the same time span. Now just go away, you lying, deceitful, power-hungry and power-grabbing charlatan.

Perhaps most plainly stated:

Clare Spencer (833 likes): No, no, no. That clear enough for you?

Read more comments at the bottom of Gove’s article here.

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SELECTIONS FROM 7747 READERS' COMMENTS IN THE TELEGRAPH UNANIMOUSLY CONDEMNING THE VACCINE SCHEME

julian faull5 Apr 2021 2:00PM

More totalitarian nonsense from a government for whom folly is a byword and another extension of the COVID 'project fear'.  I'm completely fed up being told what to do by Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Prime Minister and Health Secretary) and by an unelected cabal of scientists just feathering their own nests.

I've no intention of having a vaccine for which the initial clinical trials are not due to be completed until the end of 2022/beginning of 2023 at the earliest.  Neither will I be disclosing my medical records to any jobsworth.  If I want a vaccine passport I'll contact a computer genius and have him produce a hard copy or a computerised version.

If the vulnerable have been vaccinated against COVID, why is it necessary to continue wearing masks - the efficacy of which has never been definitively proven.?

I'd like to nominate Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson for Prime Minister and Deputy with Sir Graham Brady, Steve Baker and Mark Harper included in the Cabinet.

Alan Levi5 Apr 2021 1:58PM

I am strongly opposed to the concept and potential execution of a COVID status certification scheme. This is on the basis that I think it is undemocratic, authoritarian, coercive and intrusive.

As a democratic society we need to respect the decisions, autonomy and self responsibility of the individual

Implementing a two tier society based on COVID status is a dangerous precedent and may force or coerce people who are vaccine hesitant to have a medical intervention that they are reluctant to have, but do so because they fear they will be excluded from all that society has to offer including concerts, sporting events, and travel.

Given that the vast majority of the populace have received the vaccine and are therefore hypothetically “immune” , what concern is it of the Government that a small percentage of the public choose not to have experimental gene therapy for a virus that they are 99% likely to survive should they get it ?

These same people will not be able to pass on the virus to the vulnerable as those same vulnerable members of society have been vaccinated, so why is it an issue that they are then somehow tarnished by choosing not to undergo this treatment?

I feel that the public have a right to decide if they want to use man made pharmaceuticals and to take that choice away from them would be a breach of basic human rights and their birth right as a human being.

Surely a person’s body is their own responsibility and how they choose to medicate should be personal choice. Most of my clients choose alternative healthcare because they cannot tolerate modern medicines allopathic approach and would rather utilise more natural remedies.

I fail to see how a vaccine could be made mandatory when there is a risk of fatality and forcing a vaccine would go against the Nuremburg code.

I myself have survived Lymes disease and fear that the ingredients in the vaccine could potentially trigger a relapse. There is inadequate testing or research to assure me of any evidence to the contrary.

With this in mind, I would not choose to have the vaccine, so should I be penalised and have my movements restricted for having a condition that could be triggered or exacerbated by it? This would be inhumane and discriminatory ,not to mention completely unjust and unethical.

If peoples eligibility and freedom of movement relied on a covid status certification I would consider it as a form of coercion, something that the UK has been campaigning against for years. It would be the actions of a totalitarian and authoritarian regime, not the home of democracy, of that much I am sure

This level of authoritarian ultimatum would be considered deceitful force and no human should be forced to medicate against their will or bribed into doing so in order to be able to go about their lives freely.

No Government has the right or ability to restrict these God given and inalienable rights

Mr S Duncan5 Apr 2021 1:55PM

Mr Gove, you ask for the views of the public in a poor bid to appear democratic. I doubt there's anyone here who believes they can alter your trajectory on this creeping communist nightmare merely by sharing their opinion. 

It's the same every time I have attempted to appeal to my local Tory MP who was elected with the thanks to my vote (regrettably). Such contempt he must hold for us serfs that most of the time he doesn't reply, and when he does, it's a copy/paste list of lies and falsehoods that support your scam.

In symmetry with the rest of the globalist UN nations, you have successfully terrified the majority of this country into obedient captives. A sizeable number demonstrate signs of Stockholm Syndrome when they scorn others for not strictly following your 'rules'.

It is perhaps these people you should have approached for their views on your evil passport system to get the reply you wanted. The BBC/Sky forums are a good starting point.

Luke Evans5 Apr 2021 1:17PM

3 weeks to flatten the curve. Give up September to save Christmas. Give up Christmas to save easter. Vaccinations are way out of it... And now vaccine passports?! The endless power grabbing and mission creep has to stop. The vaccine roll out has been a brilliant success, and I look forward to receiving mine. But the intrusion of privacy cannot be allowed with domestic passports. The vaccines WORK. Take up is already well over 90%, why on earth would we need a passport scheme given we know there will be so few unvaccinated anyway? Cases continue to drop and we have essentially already jabbed our way out of this. Absolutely awful idea and I hope it's not proposed, or if it is then its swiftly defeated!

Angus Law5 Apr 2021 12:42PM

Michael,

It’s a resounding NO from me (and my wife - with her permission!). You and your advisors admit that Covid vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission, as with most vaccines they merely provide enhanced protection from serious illness or death. A vaccine passport is therefore meaningless. It has no purpose in relation to public safety. None whatsoever. If I need one to go abroad because the destination requires it, then so be it. I still have the choice whether to travel or not. But to suggest that my own government will legislate or coerce me into having a passport in order to have a pint and a Sunday roast in my local pub is unacceptable. The same applies to mass testing. Pointless. If you want to protect yourself, get vaccinated. All other non pharmaceutical lockdown measures need to stop now and never return.

Incidentally, my wife is a Nursing Sister and has spent the winter period working on Covid wards and ICU in our local city hospital. We both caught Covid with mild symptoms one year ago (indeed my wife is tested twice weekly for natural antibodies and she still has them). We have both been vaccinated in anticipation of requiring a vaccine passport to travel abroad, NOT because we feel at risk from Covid.

I have voted Conservative at every local and national election for over 30 years. I’m afraid that, domestic passport or not, I will not be doing so in the future.

Michael Ling5 Apr 2021 12:41PM

Gove, you and your lying government with its psychological war against the British people, can take a hike.

The Vaccine is another pointless fear-stirring stupidity. Here’s why. 

1.  To effectively compel people to take any vaccine is a fundamental breach of human rights and Nuremburg Code. Hopefully we are not in a police state yet.

2.. Even worse, the vaccine is experimental and its long-term effects are unknown

3.  The vaccine doesn’t stop the spread of the virus, so it serves no purpose - except as a means of State control.

4.  We now know Covid is actually quite mild as far as the vast majority of the population is concerned. It almost exclusively harms the already dying, whether of old age or co-morbidities, although from the government terror campaign you would never know it.

5.  This is yet another abusive and infantilising act of this government. Stop lying. Give us the true facts and with the proper context. Then kindly leave us to decide for ourselves what action is appropriate.

6.  Why just Covid? There are plenty of other diseases out there just as infectious and lethal. People are pouring into this country from tropical countries with extremely deadly infectious diseases. Yet they pass through immigration with no checks and then sit on public transport, say the Underground, exposing thousands to risk. We have never got hysterical about this in the past and with good reason.

Start doing your job properly. We are not being protected by you. We are not getting infected in clubs, pubs or theatres, but in hospitals!  These are under your control and you should have done something about it. Do the job you are supposed to do. That’s what we elected you to do – not pointless bossing us around.

Ada Jones5 Apr 2021 12:40PM

The Covid passport is a revolting idea. Authoritarian. Discriminatory. Un-British. [...] the very point of vaccinations – or so we were repeatedly told – was that they would allow us to regain our rights as fast as possible. Instead, they are now being used as cover, even justification, for the introduction of a whole new architecture of mass surveillance – and I am sick of it. I’m sick of masks, of spying, of lectures, and sick to the back teeth of false promises and false starts. Last week, Chris Whitty told us that in the future Covid would be managed like flu, which I take to mean a disease that we avoid and resist but ultimately live with.

Carole Low5 Apr 2021 12:32PM

I am wholly opposed to any form of vaccine certification and I shall not comply with such a scheme.  

Quite apart from the horribly dangerous assault on civil liberties they do not work.

When I have had both vaccinations I will be much less likely to carry the virus but there is still a chance that I will do and as new variants emerge, as they will, the chance of my being infectious will increase.

This is idiotic nonsense. 

Graham Phillips5 Apr 2021 12:25PM

Dear Michael, A reminder, as you seem to have forgotten. In this Country we have long operated under a policy of “ informed consent” where invasive medical procedures are concerned. Clinical trials for these gene based vaccines that have never been used on humans before do not conclude until 2023. It is therefore not possible at this stage for anyone to give that “INFORMED consent”. Furthermore your Prime Minister has confirmed that these ‘vaccines’ do not confer immunity in the recipient or stop transmission to others. In addition reported adverse reaction exceed 494,000 and 704 deaths (source Government yellow card reporting system to 21.03.21). Therefore any attempt by Government to coerce and blackmail individuals into taking the “vaccines” to ‘buy’ their freedom to travel or work (care home workers as an example) is not only divisive, it is reckless, abhorrent and amounts to Government enforced medical tyranny, in blatant contravention of the Nuremberg Convention. Have a nice day! 

Michael Walsh5 Apr 2021 12:18PM

I have been a conservative voter all my life . . . I am strongly opposed to vaccine-passports to the extent I am considering attending the Unite for Freedom March on 24th April.

As a teacher, I am also vehemently opposed to the use of face-masks in classrooms and would urge you to strongly reconsider your 'guidance' on this so that students can return to classrooms without further restrictions to their education after the Easter holidays.

Bruce Reed5 Apr 2021 11:56AM

What this thread shows (and it’s certainly the most commented article I’ve ever seen ) is how hollow the claims of the likes of Adam Hill are. People want an end to it all - no masks, no social distancing, no lockdowns, no vaccine passports - I’m also getting the impression the desire to seriously financially punish lockdown proponents is growing. With the repeal of the Human Rights Act we may even be able to inflict more severe punishment using a rope - that’s an enticing prospect for the victims of this crime, the greatest in history, to look forward to.

Neil Kernohan5 Apr 2021 11:51AM

This whole thing stopped being about health protection some time ago. The evidence is now in, that there never was a serious pandemic threatening the majority of healthy people.

Now big pharma, big biotech, in collusion with incompetent control obsessed nanny states, want to maintain the illusion of a health pandemic to centralise control of personal data. It's all a Trojan horse to rebalance the relationship between individual and state at the expense of hard won freedoms and liberties. They want to create biosecurity states, where people's health becomes both a commodity for profit and a lever for controlling their lives.

Gove represents this new trend in global health governance whereby people are no longer persons but data units to be measured and manipulated. Someone, like a biblical Satan, took Gove up a mountain and showed him something. Hence this charlatan is now pushing Covid passports along with that other rampant globalist snake oil salesman, Tony Blair.

I will NOT be compelled or coerced into declaring my private medical status in order to enjoy public entertainment or buy goods and services.

Waugh Eliza5 Apr 2021 11:39AM

We are being incarcerated unnecessarily and threatened with further restrictions on our freedoms. The vaccine/social credit style passport has always been the end goal of a lying and fear mongering government, and you, Michael Gove, lied when you once said vaccine passports or certificates were not under consideration. And we are being blackmailed. For example it has been suggested that social distancing restrictions in pubs might be lifted IF pubs introduce vaccine passports. Michael Gove, this is nothing to do with a “dangerous virus“. Travel need not be restricted to the vaccinated especially as the disease is everywhere so it cannot be contained. Other countries’ governments, like ours, are hell bent on control using fake “science”, so don’t cite other countries as examples to follow. The fact that you are pushing a vaccine that the government itself admits doesn’t control the transmission of a disease should make it obvious to all that your agenda has nothing to do with the health and happiness of our people but something to do with increasing control by a tiny but powerful elite.

alexandra frenkiel5 Apr 2021 11:33AM

I would like the telegraph to make more of these very articulate responses. Apparently the majority of the country backs government policies - if you believe the opinion polls (which I don’t). These comments indicate the anger, the strength of feeling among traditional and not so traditional Tory voters who were tricked into thinking that Conservative values protect individual freedoms. Who ever imagined that the Government would tell us whom we can hug? And threaten us with punishment if we disobey? Who ever imagined the police entering a church and threatening the congregation forcing them to stop their mass? What have you done to our country? Perhaps it takes an immigrant or a child of immigrants to know why our parents came here and why they loved their adopted country. I am in mourning for that country and our lost world. I have little hope we will ever get it back.

Damien Bush5 Apr 2021 11:20AM

When the music stops, Mr Gove, and the penny finally drops for those too terrified to question the utterly baseless incarceration of the healthy, you and your gullible, scientifically illiterate coterie shall be held accountable for this madness. A lengthy gaol term is the best you can expect. A public lynching is what you deserve.

John Steed5 Apr 2021 11:13AM

You in the Govt are liars.   If you hadn't falsified the stats from day one, we might have trusted your objectives.  But you exaggerated them upwards whenever you could. First thing needed to restore public trust is to explain WHY your death ticker was of people whose deaths were LINKED to covid - an obvious inflation of the numbers killed by covid. What purpose did that serve?  If you claim it was to get us to take covid seriously, its palpable falseness actually had the opposite effect, so that's nonsense.  Why was it done?

etc.