Sajid Javid’s elevation to UK Health Secretary ushered in a new tone on the part of all government ministers in respect of coronavirus. In a flash, the ambiguity and equivocation that had typified official statements about lockdown for so long vanished, and swaggering confidence about a full and permanent reopening …
Read More »Macron delivers bad news to France: Vaccine passports, mandatory shots for health workers, AND unpopular pension reform
In a televised address on Monday, Macron announced that coronavirus vaccinations will be mandatory for healthcare workers in France, and a “health pass” proving vaccination status, or a negative test for Covid-19, will be necessary to board a train or visit restaurants, theaters, bars and cinemas from August. All French …
Read More »UK govt gave contract to IT firm that is ‘openly plotting’ to turn vaccine passports into a national ID card, privacy groups warns
Entrust, an IT firm that bills itself as a “global leader in identities, payments, and data protection,” was awarded a contract by the Department of Health and Social Care last month to work on the UK’s Covid-19 vaccine certificate system. The company was given £250,000 ($346,000) to provide cloud-computing services …
Read More »Texas becomes latest state to ban Covid vaccine passports after Gov. Abbott signs bill
“Texas is open 100%. Texans should have the freedom to go where they want without any limits, restrictions, or requirements,” Abbott said in a tweet before signing the bill on Monday, adding that the legislation prohibits any business or government entity from “requiring vaccine passports or any vaccine information.” Companies …
Read More »No passports for ‘anti-Semites’? German MP suggests barring those questioning ‘Israel’s existence’ from getting German citizenship
“The Citizenship law should expressly prohibit naturalization of people who have committed anti-Semitic acts,” Mathias Middelberg, a lawmaker from Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told the German NOZ newspaper ahead of the parliamentary debate on the amendments to the citizenship law that are to be voted on later this week. …
Read More »Vaccine passports for cross border travel take off in Europe as US looks ‘very closely’ at concept, but promises ‘no mandates’
The two countries rolled out the new passes on Friday in separate press conferences, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis calling them a “fast lane to facilitate travel” in Europe and help “restore freedom of movement.” While some EU states, including Denmark, had already implemented their own internal vaccine certificates, …
Read More »EU reaches provisional deal for Covid-19 test & jab passports in major step for summer travel restart
The documentation will show if people have been vaccinated against the virus and if they’ve recently tested negative or recovered from infection, lawmakers said on Thursday, after a fourth round of negotiations. All EU nations will accept the passport, valid for 12 months, although it will not be a prerequisite …
Read More »Vaccine passports, voter ID and anti-protest laws are marching the UK into authoritarianism, but why should I bother resisting?
We’re all feeling a bit jaded, aren’t we, after the year we’ve had? Bless us. We barely have the motivation to start wearing jeans again, let alone summon the energy to resist a nation’s slow and subtle march towards authoritarianism. Perhaps that’s why the people of my country, the much-less-United …
Read More »Normalising the abnormal: From ‘We’re not planning Covid passports’ to ‘They may be needed long term’ in 3 easy months
There is nothing more permanent than a temporary government programme, the old saying goes, but in light of the past 13 months, we should actually update that to “there is nothing more permanent than a temporary government programme which the government denies it is planning to introduce in the first …
Read More »Vaccine passports? EU to reopen to American tourists this summer, but travelers must have proof of ‘APPROVED’ jabs, Brussels says
In what seems to be an indication of how lives will never return to pre-pandemic norms, the European Commission president on Sunday suggested that some sort of Covid-19 vaccination certificates will indeed be necessary for would-be travelers from the US. “All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who …
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