Music Venue Trust "welcome" news of vaccine passports being scrapped in England

As BBC reports, vaccine passports were due to be introduced as an entrance policy to nightclubs and large events later this month, but the health secretary Sajid Javid has since told BBC that the plans will no longer go ahead. He said, "We shouldn't be doing things for the sake of it."

The health secretary added, "We've looked at it properly and, whilst we should keep it in reserve as a potential option, I'm pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports."

Music Venue Trust has since responded to the health secretary's news with a statement that reads: "The double vaccine certification programme proposed by the government contained a number of challenges around deliverability, practicality, equality and potential discrimination. MVT has been describing those problems to Ministers and departments for the last two months, and we therefore welcome the decision to not move forward with this policy."

"It is important to reiterate that grassroots music venues want the tools to be able to create safe events," Music Venue Trust continued. "They are experts in risk mitigation, and there is ample evidence that working alongside the live community a great deal has already been achieved to reopen every venue safely. Our issue with double vaccination certification as a sole requirement of entry was that it was highly unlikely to achieve improved safety above and beyond those measures already in place and highly likely to create a two tier night time economy which divided venues and customers."

The statement added, "We await formal confirmation from the government of the scrapping of these problematic passports. Meanwhile we continue to encourage everyone in the live music community to please take a test before attending an event, a personal approach to risk mitigation that is highly effective and makes a real difference to the safety of gigs."

GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCEMENT OF SCRAPPING OF VACCINE PASSPORT POLICY: STATEMENT

The Government has this morning informally announced that it does not intend to pursue the policy of "vaccine passports" in England that it announced in August. https://t.co/n8Tu4nFQ4Q

THREAD//

— Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust) September 12, 2021