Scotland's Covid vaccine passport could help counter anti-vaxxers' conspiracy theories – Steve Cardownie

The enforcement of Scotland’s vaccine passport scheme came into effect on Monday and now proof of vaccination will be required to enter nightclubs and large events.

A smartphone displaying NHS Scotland's Covid status app (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA)

Indoor unseated events with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor events with over 4,000 and any event with more than 10,000 will all have to comply with the new policy and, as I am planning to go to Tynecastle Park this Saturday, it will be interesting to see how it is effectively applied.

Scotland is by no means alone in bringing in such measures with a vaccine “passport” introduced in all 27 member nations of the European Union and other countries throughout the world adopting similar schemes.

There is still a contingent of people who are vaccine resistant, many of whom have been influenced by the false claims of the anti-vaxxers that are prevalent throughout social media platforms.

All too ready to believe the nonsensical claims made by such conspiracy theorists, they steadfastly refuse to be vaccinated despite the overwhelming evidence that vaccines are safe and effective.

I recently contracted Covid but my symptoms were mild and, had I not had both jabs, I believe that they would have been a lot worse – and I have no problem in telling people so.

The vaccine passport is another weapon in the armoury in the fight against this pandemic and should introduce an additional layer of safety for the public.

The Covid vaccine passport is another weapon in the fight against the pandemic (Picture: Paul Barrena/Getty Images)

The Scottish government hopes that their introduction will convince many of those that haven’t done so to get the jabs – here’s hoping that their assumption is correct.

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