Boris Johnson suggested today that coronavirus jabs might eventually become compulsory. Covid passes could also be expanded in society if there is a substantial population still not vaccinated.
The Prime Minister announced the Government is now triggering its Plan B to reimpose work from home guidance, make masks compulsory in more indoor settings and require people to show a Covid pass to go to nightclubs.
These measures will be implemented across England to stop the spread of Omicron disease.
Johnson stated that a “national conversation” is necessary to discuss how the country will deal with the virus in the future.
His statement that he believes the government cannot ‘keep on indefinitely with no-pharmaceutical interventions’ was a sign that mandatory jabs or restricted access could be considered for the unvaccinated.
Boris Johnson hinted today at the possibility that mandatory coronavirus vaccinations or Covid passes might be made mandatory if an’substantial portion’ of the population is not currently vaccinated
Johnson stated that a “national conversation” is needed to discuss how the country will deal with the virus in the future.
Johnson hosted a Downing Street press conference and was asked by the public whether the government could follow some European countries’ lead by mandating vaccinations.
Mr Johnson said that ‘as soon as we were really talking about vaccinations seriously’ at the start of the pandemic he had made clear that ‘I didn’t want us to have a society and a culture where we force people to get vaccinated’.
The PM said ‘I don’t think that has ever been the way we do things in this country’ and the vaccine rollout had demonstrated much of the population’s ‘willingness to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated’.
However, he stated that it will take a “national conversation” to determine the best way forward if vaccines for Omicron are effective in combating the disease.
He said: ‘I think that there is going to come a point if we can show that the vaccines are capable of holding Omicron… I do think that we are going to have to have a conversation about ways in which we deal with this pandemic because, I want to be absolutely clear with you, I don’t believe we can keep going indefinitely with non-pharmaceutical interventions, I mean restrictions on people’s way of life, just because a substantial proportion of the population still sadly has not got vaccinated.
‘I think we are going to need to have a national conversation about the way forward and the other things that we can do to protect those who are hard to reach, who haven’t got vaccinated for one reason or another, medical reasons why they can’t get vaccinated, other ways of protecting them.’
Johnson stated that he believed that ‘that stage is one that we will reach if and when… we establish… that boosters are effective against Omicron.”
He added: ‘It is at that moment that I think we will have to talk seriously about moving on from the way we, from thinking about further NPIs and thinking about other ways in which we protect people.’