Scotland’s vaccine passport chaos: Pub bosses brand first weekend of Covid IDs a ‘disaster’
Scotland’s vaccine passport chaos: Pub and club bosses brand first weekend of Covid IDs an ‘unmitigated disaster’ with 550 revellers refused entry, staff abused and footfall down 40% forcing venues to close early
Scottish hospitality bosses have branded Nicola Sturgeon’s Covid passport scheme an ‘unmitigated disaster’Pub and club managers warned that staff faced abuse and 550 revellers were refused entry at their doorsVenues were even forced to close early because of footfall declining by a staggering 40 per cent The Scottish Hospitality Group has now called on Scottish Government to scrap the new scheme
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Scottish hospitality bosses have branded Nicola Sturgeon’s controversial Covid vaccine passport scheme an ‘unmitigated disaster’, with 550 revellers refused entry, staff receiving abuse and venues forced to close early due to footfall declining by 40 per cent.
Rules on entry to venues including nightclubs were approved by MSPs in a crunch vote in Edinburgh last month and have been legally enforceable since October 18. Though the measures technically came into effect from October 1, a 17-day grace period was announced following backlash from affected industries and significant problems with the new app.
The Scottish Hospitality Group has now warned that staff faced ‘intolerable levels of abuse’ at the weekend when revellers were refused entry if they did not show proof of vaccination, and is now calling on the Scottish Government to scrap the scheme.
Proof of full vaccination is required to enter nightclubs and large events as part of the Scottish Government’s efforts to limit the spread of Covid and increase vaccine take-up. Details of the scheme were released just hours before the vote, and confirmed firms must ‘take all reasonable measures’ to ensure compliance.
A QR code has been made available through a smartphone app – along with a paper alternative for those who need it – which will be scanned before entry is allowed to nightclubs or similar venues, adult entertainment, unseated indoor events with more than 500 people, outdoor unseated events with more than 4,000 people or any event with more than 10,000 in attendance.
Though such a scheme appears to have been ruled out in England for now, the Government in Westminster is coming under increasing political and scientific pressure to impose Covid restrictions including domestic vaccine passports, compulsory facemasks and advice to work from home – despite official modelling suggesting the curbs are unnecessary.
Stephen Montgomery, spokesman for the beleaguered hospitality body, said: ‘The first weekend of the vaccine passports scheme has been one of unmitigated disaster and that responsibility lies entirely at the door of the Scottish Government.
‘The Scottish Hospitality Group has been warning the government for weeks that their vaccine passports scheme is not ready but the government’s attitude has been to tell us to ”get on with it” whilst offering no safety net of support for businesses or our hard-working staff.
‘The experience of this weekend shows that the result has been intolerable levels of abuse of our staff, and the creation of an atmosphere that will totally undermine anyone’s enjoyment of our night-time venues.’
The Scottish Conservatives said the scheme was ‘unworkable and unreasonable’ with no financial support for businesses or their staff. The party’s Covid recovery spokesman, Murdo Fraser, said: ‘What is most concerning is the levels of abuse hospitality workers have been subjected to, caused by a lack of public engagement, and a frustrating and unreliable app.’
Pub and nightclub bosses have slammed the Scottish Government over the requirement of Covid vaccine passports for entry to certain venues in Scotland, branding it a ‘disaster’
Nightclub bosses said staff faced an unacceptable level of abuse over rejections at the door
SHG spokesman Stephen Montgomery, left, described the first weekend of Covid passports in Scotland as a ‘disaster’. Right, Nicola Sturgeon visiting a Dynamic Power Systems Lab in the Technology and Innovation Centre during a visit to the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
The Scottish Hospitality Group comprises many restaurant and bar businesses, including the DRG Group, Buzzworks Holdings, Signature Pubs, Montpeliers and Manorview Group.
It said that over the weekend members reported more than 550 instances where venue staff had to refuse entry to a customer because they had no vaccine passport, an ineligible vaccine passport, or a potentially fraudulent vaccine passport.
There were also a ‘concerning number’ of reports of abuse of hospitality staff over rejections and queues at venues, and continuing problems were reported with the vaccine passport app and its update.
The vaccine certification scheme applies to late-night premises with music, alcohol and dancing between midnight and 5am.
Mr Montgomery said the SHG is seeing some venues closing at midnight to ‘take themselves out of scope of the regulation for reasons around recruitment and staff welfare’.
He said: ‘The Scottish hospitality industry as a whole has paid enough for government failures in this pandemic, and it’s time the Scottish Government scrapped this scheme altogether.’
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: ‘Covid-19 certification is a proportionate way of encouraging people to get vaccinated, and also of helping large events and night-time hospitality to keep operating during what will potentially be a very difficult winter.
‘This means many businesses will not have to close and can continue to trade whilst making necessary adjustments to ensure their premises are as safe as possible for staff and customers.
‘Officials continue to engage regularly with the sector to discuss implementation of the scheme.’
Scotland has recorded 2,240 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data.
The figures published by the Scottish Government indicate no Covid-19 linked deaths were recorded in the period, although registry offices are generally closed at the weekend. It means the death toll under this daily measure, of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days, remains at 9,052.
The daily test positivity rate was 10.3 per cent, up from 9.9 per cent the previous day. There were 902 people in hospital on Sunday with recently confirmed Covid-19, up three in 24 hours, with 57 in intensive care, down one.
So far, 4,308,371 people have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination and 3,895,239 have received a second dose.
It comes as appointments for coronavirus vaccine booster jabs are being offered to the over-60s in Scotland and adults with health conditions.
Invitation letters are being sent to the 60-69 age group for a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Vaccination boosters are already being administered to Scots aged 70 and over, those at the highest risk from infection, care home residents and frontline health and social care workers.
Scotland’s Health Secretary Humza Yousaf insisted the booster programme is ‘on track’ despite calls from opposition parties to speed up the rollout.
Mr Yousaf said: ‘For those eligible for the Covid-19 boosters, appointments can only take place six months (24 weeks) after your second dose. As such, it may take several weeks before you receive your invitation letter. We remain on track with Scotland’s booster programme, prioritising those at the highest risk for both Covid-19 and flu.
‘We started this as soon as possible following the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) advice that the booster dose should be offered no earlier than six months after completion of the primary vaccine course.’
The Scottish Government has said it intends to allow over-50s, unpaid carers and household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals to book booster appointments online from mid-November.
Many Scots, including those with underlying health conditions, will be offered a flu vaccination at the same time.
The Department of Health reported 36,657 new cases in the past 24 hours, down a quarter on the figure last week and the second day in a row there has been a week-on-week drop. There were also 38 coronavirus deaths registered today, down around 16 per cent on the toll last Monday. UK-wide hospital data isn’t due until tomorrow
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon delivers a keynote speech in the Technology and Innovation Centre during a visit to the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, on October 25, 2021
It comes amid an escalating row about how the epidemic will unfold in the coming months and whether compulsory face masks, working from home and vaccine passports are necessary (shown left on Boris’ winter plan). Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, has promised a ‘normal Christmas’ this year
Mr Yousaf added: ‘In addition to delivering the Covid-19 vaccine boosters, this year we are offering a record number of free flu vaccines to help protect the people of Scotland. It is the biggest ever flu vaccination programme in Scotland reaching over four million people.
‘Appointments for both vaccines are being scheduled based on clinical need and age and it will take until the middle of January for everyone to be offered their vaccines.
‘Boosters will be offered to many of the groups who routinely have the flu vaccine to protect people from both illnesses. To support this, we are ensuring those most vulnerable are vaccinated first.
‘But I would like to stress, everyone who is eligible will be offered a vaccination.
‘If you haven’t received your appointment letter yet, please be patient. You do not have to do anything now – you will be contacted notifying you of your appointment.’
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘I can only imagine Humza Yousaf’s persistent lateness must be a consistent pain to others if his idea of ‘on track’ is six weeks late.
‘I am getting a barrage of complaints from older constituents warning that they are either unable to receive the flu vaccine at the same time as their booster jab or are being sent hours away by public transport.
‘We should be treating these booster jabs with the same importance as we treated the first round of jabs. That means walk-in centres and a joined-up approach to the winter flu programme.
‘There can be no excuses from the Health Secretary. He needs to tell the public what steps he will take to speed up this rollout.’
Meanwhile, the Government in Westminster faces growing pressure to impose Plan B restrictions – reserved for if the NHS comes under unsustainable pressure. Under current measures, the Government is focusing on the rollout of booster jabs and vaccines to 12 to 15-year-olds in a bid to curb rising cases.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today called for Downing Street to reintroduce tough curbs because it was ‘common sense’ and they protect ‘yourself and everybody else’.
Unlike in Wales and Scotland, people in England have not been encouraged to work from home or required wear face masks indoors since all legal Covid restrictions were lifted in July on ‘Freedom Day’. Yet Wales is still recording more infections per head than England and Scotland suffered the largest outbreak of any home nation this autumn.
Many people in England continue to work remotely at least part-time. A YouGov poll shows seven in 10 people would support advice to WFH, while 76 per cent were in favour of compulsory face masks in shops and public transport.
LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE: These charts show the impact of returning to normal level of social mixing in three months (bottom) versus remaining cautious for a year – and the impact this would have on infections (left), admissions (middle) and deaths (right). The models show cases plummeting by November in both scenarios thanks to natural immunity but rising in spring (bottom) when vaccine protection is expected to wane
Modelling by SAGE predicted that the combination of vaccine-acquired immunity and natural protection would be enough to keep hospital rates below levels seen in the second wave. Even in the most pessimistic scenarios, the group estimated that daily Covid hospital admissions would not rise above 1,500. More optimistic models had them peaking at below 1,000 in winter. The above charts are based on modelling by Warwick University and look at how quickly people go back to pre-pandemic social contacts. It was based on the booster doses given ‘sustained’ immunity
Other SAGE modelling took into account ‘repeated’ waning from booster doses, and projected that hospital admissions could breach levels seen during the second wave in January under the worst-case projections
And there are signs that voluntary mask-wearing in England has already increased in response to rising cases.
Ministers have taken confidence from unusually optimistic SAGE modelling, which estimated the epidemic will shrink or stay well below pervious waves this winter even without the Government’s Plan B of face masks, vaccine passports and WFH.
Other unpublished models have also shown similar drops, with experts indicating that cases could fall to around 5,000 cases a day during the festive period.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has promised a ‘normal Christmas’ this year as long as over-50s and vulnerable Brits get their booster vaccines. During a round of interviews this morning, he said: ‘The facts right now are we don’t think the data requires us to move to Plan B.
‘For all those people like me that are hoping and planning for a normal Christmas – which I do by the way, I think that’s where we’ll be, we’ll have a normal Christmas… Let’s just keep playing our part.’
But Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of an influential subcommittee of SAGE, argued enacting ‘Plan B’ now would be a ‘sensible’ safeguard that’s ‘not very disruptive’.
Professor Adam Finn, who advises ministers on Covid jabs, went a step further, claiming compulsory masks and other curbs were needed ‘to get things under control’.
