Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that the British government should begin vaccinating nursery age children and begin imposing vaccine passports in order to supposedly prevent another lockdown in the winter.
In written comments in the foreword to a coronavirus report from the Tony Blair Institute, which has been attempting to steer decision-making in the United Kingdom and across the world from the outset of the pandemic, the former Prime Minister argued children are becoming a significant source of the spread of the virus.
While the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) did not recommend vaccinating children on health grounds, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has decided to push forward with vaccinating children over the age of 12-years-old, even without parental consent in some cases.
The former Labour leader went further, arguing that the government should now look to start vaccinating nursery-age children.
“To avoid being behind the curve again on vaccination groups, the government should take urgent steps to consider vaccinating children under 12 as well. Evidence shows that young children, particularly those in nurseries, are transmitting the virus and putting at-risk groups in danger,” Blair claimed.
The report from his organisation went on to say: “Careful consideration of data to make these decisions is essential and cannot be rushed. Therefore, it is important that the government now turns its attention to exploring whether vaccination can be extended to children under 12 in order to further reduce transmission in schools and between young children and at home.”
Mr Blair also called for the government to implement vaccine passports in order to slow the spread of the virus and to pressure people into taking the vaccine.
“A viable Covid Pass, displaying both rapid testing and vaccine status, would mean that, even with higher case numbers, a person free of the virus would be free to move around in public,” Blair wrote.
“This step, alongside further action on measures like mask-wearing, needs to be taken urgently to give businesses confidence that avoiding further lockdowns is more than an aspiration but is deliverable,” he added.
Critics of vaccine passports have said that, alongside concerns over personal liberty, they may provide a false sense of security, as being vaccinated is not a guarantee that an individual will not contract or indeed spread the Chinese virus.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has said that it hopes not to re-introduce lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine passports, or stay-at-home orders. However, the British government has been consistently inconsistent during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.
The devolved governments of Scotland and Wales have both decided to begin introducing vaccine passports locally for nightclubs and other large indoor events.
In a joint letter, the civil liberty campaign groups Big Brother Watch and Liberty called on the Scottish government to scrap the “discriminatory” vaccine passports.
“Despite vaccine passports being set to become mandatory on October 1, little information is available publicly on the details of the scheme and any associated offences,” they wrote.
“We are particularly concerned about the effect on certain groups, as on our analysis, it is inevitable and unavoidable that a mandatory vaccine passport scheme will adversely impact marginalised groups.
“Covid passports sacrifice equality, privacy and liberty, with no public health benefit. They would turn Scotland into a two-tier, checkpoint society.”
Appearing on the BBC on Sunday, the leftist Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said that he doesn’t believe vaccine passports are currently necessary, however, he added that he supports the government having the ability to impose them if an undefined threshold is reached.
Refusing to say whether he was against the draconian measure in principle, Mr Khan said: “We are not there yet, but we may need them,” adding that he wants a return of mask-wearing mandates on London transport.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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