Originally Posted by Internaut (Post 33167503)

Impossible to compare given the idiocy we had over the Easter Weekend?

Originally Posted by 13901 (Post 33167242)

So, with the weekend upon us, have the Rt Hon or Boris been asked anything about the need for being tested etc. for people who have been fully vaccinated? I mean, how daft is it that the new guidelines for returning to travel do not have any provision for vaccinated travellers, even if they’ve all blabbed for weeks about vaccination passports and so on?

Originally Posted by ahmetdouas (Post 33167776)

Can't do vaccine passports until everyone has been offered a vaccine,

Originally Posted by rockflyertalk (Post 33167898)

I find this line at odds with itself. To play devil’s advocate...Once a vaccine is offered to everyone, is the suggestion that a certificate (‘passport’) becomes a requirement regardless if the vaccine is taken or not because you’ve been offered it?

So once theres inevitably an amount of people that do not take a vaccine they can’t have a certificate and therefore can’t be allowed to do whatever that certificate is required for?

Originally Posted by ahmetdouas (Post 33167776)

Can't do vaccine passports until everyone has been offered a vaccine, we are far from that period and I am hoping by the time everyone is offered a vaccine the cases will be so low that it won't happen. Either way to have a passport, if they want me to test once a week with NHS test kit I have at home then that's fine by me.

Originally Posted by 8420PR (Post 33167968)

I think the concern is that implementing a vaccine passport now would place younger people at a disadvantage, as they haven't been offered a vaccine yet. For example, if being vaccinated would allow people to access cinemas then it would be perceived unfair to young people (so instead nobody can go to the cinema). The solution to this is to allow either vaccination or negative test, but I think the whole idea might be poisoned now in the UK so everyone has to wait until the vaccination program.has achieved it's targets (the so called herd immunity).

Originally Posted by 13901 (Post 33168617)

Why?

Other countries (from Iceland to Mongolia) are already preparing, or have already implemented, protocols for vaccinated travellers, either those who are returning or visiting. It's beyond daft, honestly, to ask Vaccinated Bob, UK citizen returning from Green Country No. 1, to get a pre-departure test and then a PCR. The NHS test kit you have at home is precisely useless, right now, according to HMG. It might be used to hauliers and crews but not for travellers (in itself an absurdity).



I'm a person in his mid 30s with no underlying health conditions, meaning I'm probably third to last for vaccines. But I'd find it useful, in the interest of facilitating a re-start of travel, to allow vaccinated folks to be able to skip quarantine and test on return. Maybe not for Red countries, but definitely for Green or Amber and definitely for those vaccinated by the NHS. I don't find it discriminatory, just smart. The likely reasons why they haven't introduced provisions for it, in my humble opinion, are that they just haven't thought had the time to think about it. Or, and the insistence on PCRs instead of LFDs for testing upon return plays to this, they either have been lobbied by the testing industry or they're trying to make travel still extremely inconvenient and costly. Or, finally, because they're inept.

I just don't find it likely that this government has suddenly decided that they don't want to appear as if they discriminated against a specific group. I can believe lots of things but that Priti, Shapps and Boris have all been blinded by the light of care and inclusion like Paul on the road to Damascus... nah.

Originally Posted by flashware (Post 33168637)

Of course May 17 is just over a month away so by the time the measures come into play the detail behind could change, but it makes sense they wouldn't go too open in the current announcement to not get hopes up in case we're not in a position to then actually meet what was said. I'd just sit tight and see what is actually implemented when the time comes...

Originally Posted by DYKWIA (Post 33165095)

OPEN THE PUBS NOW!!!

Originally Posted by rockflyertalk (Post 33167898)

I find this line at odds with itself. To play devil’s advocate...Once a vaccine is offered to everyone, is the suggestion that a certificate (‘passport’) becomes a requirement regardless if the vaccine is taken or not because you’ve been offered it?

So once theres inevitably an amount of people that do not take a vaccine they can’t have a certificate and therefore can’t be allowed to do whatever that certificate is required for?

Originally Posted by Misco60 (Post 33168714)

One of the greatest risks we face now is complacency, the mistaken belief that it is all over. There are still pockets of high infection rates in the UK, and the cohort most likely to be socialising is almost entirely unvaccinated. The current surges in several US states demonstrate what could happen here if we let our guard down and give in to demands to open up too quickly.

We've come a long way, and at a huge cost, and the steps we take along the road to normality need to be small and cautious ones.

Originally Posted by 13901 (Post 33168643)

I'm sorry but I just don't buy it. I get not sharing which countries will be in which category, that's understandable. But right now we have:

1. no clue of the thresholds according to which a country is RAG
2. no information as to why only PCRs are allowed for testing while for other categories of travellers they aren't
3. no information as to when countries are reviewed
4. no idea as to anything will be different for fully-vaccinated people

All of these four points could've (and in my opinion should've) been shared ahead of May 17th. They could've shared them yesterday, or on the 5th. This is just poor, sloppy policy making (of which there are plenty of other examples by this government but I don't want to climb higher on my soapbox).

Originally Posted by ahmetdouas (Post 33168724)

if it is brought in, they will likely ask for a test for anyone unvaccinated for whatever reason. I mean I have a bunch of tests at my house now, I can deal with it if I have to test as long as I don’t have to pay for it (directly at least in the end it’s us taxpayers funding the NHS test and trace programme!)

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave (Post 33168751)

It's good you took the trouble to get the LFD, and what's really good is that you have readily to hand something you can use tactically. You previously mentioned travel, but if for example you were going to see an older friend or relative - and this means anyone over 50 or a bit tubby - then you can check the day before how things are. You are aware of the limitations of LFD, so you still need to take other measures such as keeping your distance, but it's another barrier, and we need all the barriers we can get. You can easily get more LFD, if you go to a pharmacy or a Covid test centre they will probably give you packs of 14 tests but you have seen that the postal system is every bit as good as Amazon. It's a way you can contribute to keeping the disease under control, albeit imperfectly, so it's good citizenship of you to do this.

The first time anyone does an LFD it's a bit awkward and unpleasant, but by the time you do your third LFD it gets easy to do. Don't forget to register the results on the national website, if you set up an account it's a quick process.