​UK Government Rules Out Coronavirus Vaccine Passports

Instead, if countries insist on proof of vaccination as a condition of entry, travellers will be able to obtain 'some form of proof' from their GP to present to border officials.

Nadhim Zahawi, Minister for Business and Industry and Covid Vaccine Deployment, has said state-issued documentation is not being considered, and would be 'discriminatory'.

Asked by Sky News' Sophy Ridge if the government was considering the introduction of vaccine passports, Zahawi said: "No, we're not. One, we don't know the impact of the vaccines on transmission.

"Two, it would be discriminatory and I think the right thing to do is to make sure that people come forward to be vaccinated because they want to rather than it be made in some way mandatory through a passport.

"If other countries obviously require some form of proof, then you can ask your GP because your GP will hold your records and that will then be able to be used as your proof you've had the vaccine.

"But we are not planning to have a passport in the UK."

His comments come as government data up to 6 February shows that more than 12 million people in the UK have received their first dose of the vaccine, marking a rise of 549,078 on the previous day's figures.

Zahawi continued to explain that the UK's vaccine roll-out almost hit 1,000 jabs a minute at one point over the weekend, as the government aims to vaccinate all those over 50 by May.

"We got to 979 jabs a minute so the deployment infrastructure of which GPs are absolutely the backbone of this whole deployment with hospital hubs, national vaccination centres, now we have 100 national vaccination centres, and 200 pharmacies, the deployment infrastructure can do the volumes that we will get through.

"I am confident we will meet our mid-February target of the top four cohorts.

"I am also confident because I have enough line of sight of the deliveries that are coming through that we will also meet the one to nine cohorts by May and we will say more about that next week when we hit the first target, I hope all goes well."

He added that the 'limiting factor' is vaccine supply, which remains 'finite'.