With both Whitehall and Holyrood pushing ahead with plans to implement vaccine passports at large venues by the end of the month, even the most dovish are beginning to express doubts. Speaking to the Institute for Government today, Professor Neil Ferguson responded to questions over the plans by saying:

“Restricting entry…to people who’ve only had two vaccine shots will reduce transmission in those venues…if the main goal of those measures is to encourage people to get vaccinated who otherwise wouldn’t, whether that’s an effective strategy. In some sense coercion often hardens people’s views. And if somebody is resistant to being vaccinated, these sort of measures may well not be very effective at increasing vaccine uptake…The evidence is very mixed.”

On this one, it looks like Ferguson might be right…