THE vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has insisted there are “no plans” to introduce controversial “vaccine passports”, following a report suggesting government-funded trials of such technology are due to begin this month.
According to The Daily Telegraph, trials of a free app allowing users to easily show they have had the coronavirus vaccine will be rolled out in two as-yet-undecided parts of the UK in January.
Thousands of people will take part in the trials, which will be supervised by two directors of public health in local authorities, and aim to show how the app could help the NHS keep track how many people have been given one or two vaccine doses, the paper reported.
Facial biometrics firm iProov and cybersecurity company Mvine – which co-developed the “passport” – have reportedly received £75,000 towards the project from the government funding agency, Innovate UK.
But responding to the article on Twitter, Mr Zahawi said there were “no plans to introduce vaccine passports”, adding: “No one has been given or will be required to have a vaccine passport.”
Morrisons said for the majority of its workers the pay increase will be approximately 9%.
Part of the increase will result from changing the company’s annual bonus scheme from a discretionary yearly payment into a guaranteed amount in workers’ hourly rates.
It will boost the weekly pay of someone working 36.75 hours a week from £330.10 to £367.50.