Tony Blair calls for vaccinated people to have more travel freedoms after lockdown

The former prime minister has said people who have been vaccinated against Covid should have more travel and domestic freedoms.

It means people who have had both doses of the Covid jab will be able to travel abroad easily by using a new digital vaccine passport.

Blair described the NHS app that proves vaccination as “inadequate”.

He said it makes “no sense at all to treat those who have had vaccination as the same as those who haven’t”.

He wants to champions the idea of health passes “to allow citizens to prove their status in a secure, privacy-preserving way”.

‘Time to distinguish vaccinated and unvaccinated’

It follows a report published by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change which wants the vaccine passes to be used at home and abroad.

It said: “With this ability to securely prove vaccination status, we can move beyond blunt, catch-all tools and align with other countries by removing certain restrictions for the fully vaccinated, thereby enabling us to sustainably reopen the economy.”

It went on: “For as long as the world goes largely unvaccinated and the risk of a new variant remains significant, it’s vital that we have an alternative to the blunt tool of lockdowns to enable the country to live freely and safely.”

Blair said: “It is time to distinguish for the purposes of freedom from restriction between the vaccinated and unvaccinated, both for citizens here for domestic purposes; but also for our citizens and those from other countries in respect of travel on the basis that being vaccinated substantially reduces risk.

“It therefore makes no sense at all to treat those who have had vaccination as the same as those who haven’t.”

‘Vaccination is so important’

He pointed to the report which says “why the current NHS app for proving vaccination is inadequate and should be changed to be simpler and more effective” and later went on: “Of course we are discriminating between vaccinated and unvaccinated.

“But the whole of risk management is based on discriminating between different types and levels of risk.

“Nothing matters more to risk than vaccination, which is precisely why we’re doing it,” Blair said.

“Yes by allowing greater freedom and fewer restrictions to the vaccinated we’re providing a powerful incentive to take up vaccination, but this is a perfectly valid public policy objective.

“Other than for medical reasons, people should be vaccinated.”

A senior Government source said: “Once again Mr Blair appears to have learned of things already in the pipeline with the NHS app and decided to publicly call for them.

“Nonetheless we thank him for his continued support.”

Additional reporting by PA.