Vaccine passports could pose data privacy risks, watchdog warns

The head of the UK’s data privacy watchdog has told MPs she can see the benefit of Covid-19 immunity passports, but warned they could pose data privacy risks and create a ‘two-tier’ society based on who has had the jab. 

Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham told MPs such a system would raise concerns about how health data was being shared. 

And she argued immunity passports could infringe on people’s human rights and undermine trust in government. 

Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham told MPs that immunity passports would raise concerns about how health data was being shared

‘We would approach a detailed proposal around a vaccination passport or a freedom passport in the way that we do any initiative,’ Denham told MPs. 

‘That is, is it necessary? Does it work – does it do what it says on the tin? Is it proportionate? And is there transparency?’ 

‘We’re talking about personal health information, which is a special category of data that requires controls.

‘So at the outset, we would ask the Government the same questions that we asked them about the contact tracing app.’

At least eight companies have been awarded government grants to develop vaccination passport schemes, it emerged this weekend. 

The projects, worth a total of £450,000, could allow users to securely carry digital proof that they have received an approved Covid-19 vaccine.

It is hoped such a scheme would help get people back to work and also allow for the reopening of international travel. 

She argued immunity passports could infringe on people's human rights and undermine trust in government. Pictured is a patient receiving the jab in Birmingham yesterday

She argued immunity passports could infringe on people’s human rights and undermine trust in government. Pictured is a patient receiving the jab in Birmingham yesterday 

Speaking to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation, she argued that the issues with immunity passports ‘go beyond data protection’. 

‘They touch on human rights, they touch on whether or not we’re going to create a two-tier society based on whether you have a jab in the arm, and the concerns over whether or not this is ‘identity by the back door’,’ she said. 

‘So those are some of the concerns I would have.

‘When we start talking about immunity passports that are digital or tacked on to the contact tracing application then I think those are real questions for policymakers.’

She added that trust in the system among the public would be vital.

‘I could see that vaccine passports, of some sort, would be useful. I can see that,’ she said.

‘But people have to trust the Government when they bring in these initiatives to understand what’s the purpose, to narrow it as much as possible, and make sure at the end of the day, that their civil liberties, human rights and data protection are respected.’

Today it emerged that some London hospitals are giving coronavirus vaccines to people without appointments so unused shots are not wasted.

Early figures show there were 220,000 vaccinations in the UK yesterday. The number will be updated later today by the Department of Health to include jabs in all settings 

NHS sources involved with the rollout in the capital told MailOnline there is so often a surplus of doses their current approach is ‘if there’s a free arm, we’ll jab it’.

One hospital official said: ‘At the moment we’ve got more vaccines than recipients.

‘Chances are if you turn up on the day without an appointment we’ll give you the jab anyway – there’s no point in wasting a valuable resource.’

They said a frontline worker’s healthy partner in their 20s even got inoculated because ‘there was no one else available’.

Others arriving without an appointment have also allegedly been waved through without checking if they are in one of the priority groups due for vaccination.

The surplus in supplies stems in part from no-shows failing to turn up for their appointments.

Doses of the Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines are currently being administered in the UK.

Fears of a possible kink in the supply line were sparked today after the EU threatened to block exports of the Pfizer vaccine amid a row over the slow rollout across the bloc.

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said this morning he was ‘confident’ the UK would be able to procure enough supplies to meet the Government’s target of vaccinating 15million people in the top four priority groups by February 15.