Government Plan To Mandate Venue ‘Vaccination Certification’ Announced
A plan to mandate ‘vaccination certification’ to access ‘venues where large crowds gather’ has been announced by the government.
It is yet to be confirmed what will constitute a ‘large crowd’ and if there will be different conditions for indoor and outdoor events but sports events with a 20,000 capacity may well be required to show proof of full vaccination from the end of September.
An official government spokesperson said: “We’re not seeking to draw lines around particular settings.
"I think Professor [Jonathan] van Tam and the PM talked about the sort of areas where we'd be looking at enclosed spaces where large groups of people are brought together.
"We're going to be looking at the latest data which currently is very focused on nightclubs, but we'll be looking at the data both here and globally to consider what's the best approach."
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said on Monday that nightclubs and other such venues could be ‘potential super-spreading events’ because of crowds in close contact.
It is known that The Racecourse Association (RCA) will be speaking to the government and industry stakeholders to understand the detail behind the plan as implementation would present a ‘significant logistical operation’.
The RCA has made it known that ‘it is vital that horse racing and the wider sports/leisure economies have contingency plans to avoid commercially damaging restrictions being re-imposed but equally allow us to host safe events’.
In the meantime a capacity crowd of 140,000 have attended the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last Sunday, the largest crowd for a sporting event in the UK since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, where all adults had to provide proof of full vaccination or be in possession of a negative test.
Whilst in Scotland, Rangers FC have been given permission to have 17,000 fans present at their Scottish Premiership opener against Livingston on 31st July.
