Vaccine passports in Scotland: We must guard against potential threat to civil liberties – Scotsman comment

‘Vaccine certificates’, otherwise known as vaccine passports, may soon be introduced in Scotland in an attempt to tackle the rising numbers of Covid infections, following Nicola Sturgeon’s call for MSPs to support the idea.

MSPs must make sure that Covid passports do not morph into something close to national ID cards (Picture: Andrew Milligan/pool/Getty Images)

The First Minister was keen to stress that such documents would not be required for “any key services or in settings where people have no choice over attendance – for example, public transport, education, access to medical services or shops”, but she added that “limited use” could help control the spread of Covid.

Under the government’s plans, certificates would be required for venues like nightclubs, unseated indoor live events with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor live events with more than 4,000, and any event involving more than 10,000.

Many will agree with Sturgeon that this is a reasonable and “proportionate” step to counter the increasing spread of the virus, with 6,170 new cases reported over the latest 24-hour monitoring period and 629 people in hospital.

However, the problem is an age-old one: that once a government acquires a new form of power over its people, it tends to be reluctant to relinquish it and eager to extend its scope.

For example, the requirement to carry identity papers introduced in 1939 because of the Second World War was not removed until seven years after the war had ended. A Liberal politician, Harry Willcock, became the last person prosecuted for refusing to show his ID card to a police officer after he was stopped for speeding in London in December 1950.

So MSPs need to make sure the government sticks to its commitment that vaccine passports will be “subject to parliamentary review every three weeks” and that they do not morph into a longer term measure.

And given this passport, which comes in paper and digital forms, contains some medical information, the public also needs to be reassured that the data will be securely stored and used only for the intended purposes. The rush to introduce this system will be no excuse if cybercriminals find a way to exploit it.

A citizen going about their business in a law-abiding way should not be required to produce any kind of ‘papers’ in normal times. Covid will be a temporary problem and therefore it requires no permanent solutions.

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