• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
Yorkshire Bylines
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home Affairs
    • Transport
    • World
    The small number of trees shows that even the high uplands of the Dales was a woodland environment. Much has been nibbled down to the ground by heavy populations of sheep. Photo by Andy Brown

    Government policies destroying upland Yorkshire farming with no regard for the land or our health

    schools bill

    Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

    Emmanuel Macron

    French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

    Rail strikes

    Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

    cost of living march london

    Trade union movement marches to demand better

    European Union

    After the seismic shocks of Brexit and Covid, what next for the European Union?

    Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

    What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

    Refugee Week

    Refugee week: a chance to celebrate refugees

    Yorkshire cows

    British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

    Trending Tags

    • Johnson
    • Coronavirus
    • Labour
    • Starmer
    • NI Protocol
    • Brexit
    • Culture
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Home Affairs
    • Transport
    • World
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Culture
    • Dance
    • Food
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Recipes
    • Sport
    Nostell Priory, Wakefield

    Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

    Headingley Cricket Stadium

    A view from the Roses match: is everything ‘rosey’ in English cricket?

    Bettys' Fat Rascals

    Scallywags, scoundrels and rascals abound in Yorkshire (we do like our scones)

    'Woke' beliefs

    Woke and proud: Compassion must never be allowed to go out of fashion

    Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

    What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

    Red Ladder

    Climbing the Red Ladder – bringing theatre to the community

    Kaiser Chiefs in Doncaster

    Kaiser Chiefs never miss a beat in Doncaster

    Bradford Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, second from right, is joined by Keighley Creative representatives, from left, Georgina Webster, Jan Smithies and Gemma Hobbs.

    Bradford announced as City of Culture 2025

    Queen cakes fit for a Queen

    Queen Cakes fit for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

    • Food
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Sport
  • Business
    • All
    • Economy
    • Technology
    • Trade
    Freya Osment from Northern Gas Networks

    International Women in Engineering Day 2022

    Rail strikes

    Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

    conservative party

    The Conservative Party: fiscally irresponsible and ideologically incapable of addressing the current crises

    Yorkshire cows

    British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

    cost-of-living-crisis-in-voluntary-sector

    Cost-of-living crisis looming for the voluntary sector

    Money on the floor - £20 notes

    The huge cost of Brexit is being seriously understated

    Financial problems

    Surge in bad debt and late payments indicate mounting business distress in Yorkshire

    An evening photo tour of Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, with excellent light towards sunset.

    Winter blackouts and rationing for six million homes as government plans for disruption to energy supply

    Jar with money cascading out of it

    Boosterism doesn’t put food on the table

    Trending Tags

      • Economy
      • Technology
      • Trade
    • Region
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • News
      • All
      • Brexit
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Health
      • Home Affairs
      • Transport
      • World
      The small number of trees shows that even the high uplands of the Dales was a woodland environment. Much has been nibbled down to the ground by heavy populations of sheep. Photo by Andy Brown

      Government policies destroying upland Yorkshire farming with no regard for the land or our health

      schools bill

      Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

      Emmanuel Macron

      French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

      Rail strikes

      Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

      cost of living march london

      Trade union movement marches to demand better

      European Union

      After the seismic shocks of Brexit and Covid, what next for the European Union?

      Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

      What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

      Refugee Week

      Refugee week: a chance to celebrate refugees

      Yorkshire cows

      British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

      Trending Tags

      • Johnson
      • Coronavirus
      • Labour
      • Starmer
      • NI Protocol
      • Brexit
      • Culture
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Home Affairs
      • Transport
      • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Lifestyle
      • All
      • Culture
      • Dance
      • Food
      • Music
      • Poetry
      • Recipes
      • Sport
      Nostell Priory, Wakefield

      Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

      Headingley Cricket Stadium

      A view from the Roses match: is everything ‘rosey’ in English cricket?

      Bettys' Fat Rascals

      Scallywags, scoundrels and rascals abound in Yorkshire (we do like our scones)

      'Woke' beliefs

      Woke and proud: Compassion must never be allowed to go out of fashion

      Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

      What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

      Red Ladder

      Climbing the Red Ladder – bringing theatre to the community

      Kaiser Chiefs in Doncaster

      Kaiser Chiefs never miss a beat in Doncaster

      Bradford Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, second from right, is joined by Keighley Creative representatives, from left, Georgina Webster, Jan Smithies and Gemma Hobbs.

      Bradford announced as City of Culture 2025

      Queen cakes fit for a Queen

      Queen Cakes fit for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

      • Food
      • Music
      • Poetry
      • Sport
    • Business
      • All
      • Economy
      • Technology
      • Trade
      Freya Osment from Northern Gas Networks

      International Women in Engineering Day 2022

      Rail strikes

      Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

      conservative party

      The Conservative Party: fiscally irresponsible and ideologically incapable of addressing the current crises

      Yorkshire cows

      British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

      cost-of-living-crisis-in-voluntary-sector

      Cost-of-living crisis looming for the voluntary sector

      Money on the floor - £20 notes

      The huge cost of Brexit is being seriously understated

      Financial problems

      Surge in bad debt and late payments indicate mounting business distress in Yorkshire

      An evening photo tour of Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, with excellent light towards sunset.

      Winter blackouts and rationing for six million homes as government plans for disruption to energy supply

      Jar with money cascading out of it

      Boosterism doesn’t put food on the table

      Trending Tags

        • Economy
        • Technology
        • Trade
      • Region
      No Result
      View All Result
      Yorkshire Bylines
      No Result
      View All Result
      Home Politics

      Covid passports: access to heaven or hell?

      Martin Brooks questions how covid passports will work with new variants and new vaccines. There are multiple medical questions to be answered and the government must address the issue.

      Martin BrooksbyMartin Brooks
      04-05-2021 06:03
      in Politics
      “travel vaccination record” by mksphotos is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

      “travel vaccination record” by mksphotos is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

      7
      VIEWS
      Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Today, 11:30 am, the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus will hold an expert evidence session, discussing the use of covid passports, for both domestic use and international travel. This comes ahead of the government’s expected announcement on Friday, of a ‘green list’ of countries we will be allowed to travel to. Watch the session livestreamed via social media. Here, Martin Brooks looks at the many questions still unanswered.

      Yorkshire is significantly the worst performing English region for infection rates, at 1 in 530, according to ONS data from 28 April. In fact, Yorkshire has four of the remaining 11 hotspots. Will covid passports help with establishing new freedoms, and are they the right way to go?

      The general relief that covid regulations are being relaxed is palpable. Like prisoners jailed for someone else’s crime, we are now celebrating after our two previous applications for parole were rejected.

      Partly returning to the ‘old normal’

      Drivers are jostling for road space again; traffic jams have reappeared along with ‘old normal’ levels of CO2 emissions. Hairdressers are setting about their clients’ locks with a blade-flashing zeal not seen since the fencing competition at the 2012 Olympics. Getting drunk outside the home is a favourite way of asserting that the new normal will be the old normal but with more booze. Wearing masks is in rapid decline, and closely mingling groups are enjoying their release back into the wild.

      To signal the pandemic restrictions are over, we crave the restoration of old freedoms to be social beings, leisure-seekers or business people. For all those purposes, we are desperate to come and go as we please, at home or abroad.

      Many triumphant survivors of the pandemic, especially the double-jabbed ones, want a place at the front of the queue for a rapid return to a familiar, functioning world. We hanker for a rite of passage undeterred by the possibility we are vulnerable to the virus or capable of spreading it.

      Covid passports: an obstacle to normality?

      Suddenly, a covid passport has become the gateway to the future. New normal or old normal, who cares as long as it bestows on us the right to sail through pub doors, travel bookings, restaurant queues or border controls?

      We should all care, especially in Yorkshire.

      The politicians’ initial response to the idea of a covid passport in the UK was guarded to say the least. Objections range from the potential cost; the view ‘it’s not very British’; the social discrimination it would create. In just two months, all caution has evaporated.

      Politicians and business are now keen to get the economy rolling again. Having made inroads into vaccinating their populations, most European countries have seized on a ‘covid passport’ as the way to get their economies back on track for the summer. Since 21st April, over 300,000 people per day have tested positive in India, for what is clearly a highly infectious variant.

      The immediate issues raised about a covid passport were trivial. What’s the best name for it? What colour will it be? Will it be just digital, a laminated thingy or a booklet, ideal for recording future vaccinations?

      Key questions about covid passports

      The more fundamental questions are:

      • What reliable ‘viral status’ can a covid passport give the holder based on current scientific knowledge?
      • Is the passport a good idea from a national and international public health perspective?

      During this pandemic, a huge number of issues emerged to show how much we still need to learn.

      The obvious medical questions are:

      • How do some people act as carriers without showing symptoms?
      • How immune are we, and for how long, after we receive the vaccine?
      • Is the level of immunity achieved a function of the virus variant, the vaccine used, or the biochemistry of the individual themselves?
      • After we’ve been vaccinated, can we still be carriers?
      • How long does it take for immunity to decline below a safe level after a full course of vaccine, and how do we define safe?
      • What level of immunity do the available vaccines achieve across different age ranges?
      • Can long covid sufferers pass on the infection for the whole period before and after their symptoms appear or reappear?
      • What is the optimum re-vaccination frequency to maintain a dependable level of mass immunity against known variants?
      • Will passport holders ‘own up’ if they experience symptoms, rather than cancel their travel plans?
      • Will passports help or hinder the suppression of the UK’s persistent infection hotspots?

      There are also logistical questions about sustaining the immunity we need our passports to confer:

      • Can manufacturers respond to the demands for both replenishment of old vaccines and the additional production of new ones?
      • Will enough staff be available to administer the vaccines, to maintain a constantly rolling vaccination programme to keep up with emerging variants?
      • Given that renewal dates built into passports will lapse, can prompt re-vaccinations be assured?

      New variants, vaccines and passports

      It now seems certain that new variants will need new vaccines for which the answers to all the above questions cannot yet be known. The Indian variant is pointing in that direction.

      In the context of these partially answered or unanswered questions, can anyone be sure they are free of infection today and immune from infection tomorrow? Creating the illusion of broad-spectrum covid immunity based on a digital or other licence is not only dangerous, it is irresponsible. It could hasten the time when precautionary behaviour is so lax that we are back in another wave of deaths and serious illnesses.

      This is not doom-mongering or over-caution. It’s respecting what we’ve learnt so far and adopting an intelligent, mature response as we try again to emerge from the pandemic.

      In the days when the medical experts were giving daily briefings from Downing Street on the progress of the virus and our response to it, these issues might have been raised, if not by the experts themselves, by the media. Since June 2020 the government cancelled daily briefings. They are now scheduled as needed in the government’s judgment and kept to their agenda.

      Given the government’s track record, it’s understandable they would want to avoid the daily scrutiny of the horrors we were going through because of their inept handling of the virus during most of 2020.

      The current silence from the experts about the merits and meaning of a covid passport is noticeable and unnerving. There’s a danger that we unwittingly collaborate in the Johnsonian delusion of believing that what we wish for can be willed into existence.

      In our rush to get into heaven, let’s not find ourselves back in hell. Steady away, as we say in Yorkshire.

      Tags: Coronavirus
      ADVERTISEMENT
      Previous Post

      Fishing: Norway, Brexit, and unfulfilled promises

      Next Post

      The government’s new plan for immigration: the hostile environment is becoming more hostile

      Martin Brooks

      Martin Brooks

      Martin spent his early working life in Europe, Australia and the US as a consultant loss prevention engineer. He founded two businesses enabling organisations to cultivate their innovation expertise, focusing particularly on the creative and collaborative aspects of cultures conducive to innovation. He is alert to vested interests and politicians who claim to know what’s best for us while preventing public scrutiny of their actions. He lives in York.

      Related Posts

      Conservative Party Meeting
      Politics

      Hypocrisy, desperation and excuses: Conservative Party clutch at straws over by-election losses

      bySue Wilson MBE
      27 June 2022
      10/05/2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the House of Commons. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street
      Politics

      The country needs more than just ‘Booting Boris out of Downing Street’

      byDr Stella Perrott
      26 June 2022
      Emmanuel Macron
      Politics

      French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

      byAnn Moody
      25 June 2022
      March for women
      Politics

      Women of Wakefield: people power only works if the people use that power

      byProfessor Juliet Lodge
      24 June 2022
      your vote matters wakefield by-election
      Politics

      Spotlight on some of the smaller parties in the Wakefield by-election

      byWill Barber Taylor
      22 June 2022
      Next Post
      immigration hostile environment

      The government’s new plan for immigration: the hostile environment is becoming more hostile

      Want to support us?

      Can you help Yorkshire Bylines to grow and become more sustainable with a regular donation, no matter how small?  

      DONATE

      Sign up to our newsletter

      If you would like to receive the Yorkshire Bylines regular newsletter, straight talking direct to your inbox, click the button below.

      NEWSLETTER

      LATEST

      The small number of trees shows that even the high uplands of the Dales was a woodland environment. Much has been nibbled down to the ground by heavy populations of sheep. Photo by Andy Brown

      Government policies destroying upland Yorkshire farming with no regard for the land or our health

      27 June 2022
      schools bill

      Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

      27 June 2022
      Conservative Party Meeting

      Hypocrisy, desperation and excuses: Conservative Party clutch at straws over by-election losses

      27 June 2022
      Nostell Priory, Wakefield

      Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

      26 June 2022

      MOST READ

      Conservative Party Meeting

      Hypocrisy, desperation and excuses: Conservative Party clutch at straws over by-election losses

      27 June 2022
      schools bill

      Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

      27 June 2022
      10/05/2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the House of Commons. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

      The country needs more than just ‘Booting Boris out of Downing Street’

      26 June 2022
      Photo credit Robert Sharp / englishpenLicensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

      The Davis Downside Dossier

      1 January 2021

      BROWSE BY TAGS

      antivaxxers Charity climate change Coronavirus Cost of living Creative industries Crime Cummings Democracy Devolution education Equality Farming Fishing hgv History Immigration Johnson Journalism Labour Local Democracy Mental Health mining money NHS NI Protocol omicron Pies pollution poverty PPE Public Health Review shortage social media Starmer tax travel Ukraine Yorkshire
      Yorkshire Bylines

      Yorkshire Bylines is a regional online newspaper that supports citizen journalism. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in Yorkshire and beyond.

      Learn more about us

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Contact
      • About
      • Letters
      • Donate
      • Privacy
      • Bylines network
      • Shop

      © 2022 Yorkshire Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Home
      • News
        • Brexit
        • Education
        • Environment
        • Health
        • Home Affairs
        • Transport
        • World
      • Politics
      • Opinion
      • Lifestyle
        • Culture
        • Dance
        • Food
        • Music
        • Poetry
        • Recipes
        • Sport
      • Business
        • Economy
        • Technology
        • Trade
      • Donate
      • The Compendium of Cabinet Codebreakers
      • The Davis Downside Dossier
      • The Digby Jones Index
      • Newsletter sign up
      • Cartoons by Stan
      • Authors

      © 2022 Yorkshire Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

      Welcome Back!

      Login to your account below

      Forgotten Password?

      Retrieve your password

      Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

      Log In