https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1401281366185160708?s=20
Tony Blair has called for only vaccinated Britons to be released from coronavirus restrictions and said it is now “time to distinguish for the purposes of freedom between those who have been jabbed and those who have not”. Mr Blair described the NHS app which proves vaccination as “inadequate”, and said “it makes no sense at all to treat those who have had vaccination as the same as those who haven’t”.
As the UK emerges from lockdown, a Covid Pass can help to build confidence and incentivise vaccinations, enabling the country to end #COVID19 restrictions & reopen for business.
Read more in our new report: https://t.co/KbLCSxhLS3 pic.twitter.com/W9H0vCFL2K
— Tony Blair Institute (@InstituteGC) June 6, 2021
“It is time to distinguish for the purposes of freedom from restriction between the vaccinated and unvaccinated” – Tony Blair.
He also said: “I remain even more convinced today, particularly with biometric technology. The world will move to biometric ID, and they will do it because in the end, it is better for people.” – Tony Blair
"I remain even more convinced today, particularly with #biometric technology. The world will move to #biometric ID, and they will do it because in the end, it is better for people." – Tony Blair pic.twitter.com/KUkRn6ST60
— Sikh For Truth (@SikhForTruth) June 6, 2021
It was on 24.04.2020, when Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change first announced: “A digital credential – perhaps biometrically secured and stored on a person’s smartphone – may be the best way for people to be able to carry secure, verifiable proof of their status without leaking other personal information”
And that we must “Develop a digital credential to assist the selective lifting of restrictions. A secure digital credential is harder to forge and faster to distribute than paper certificates. There must be a practical alternative and no discrimination for people who do not have a smartphone.”
Then in June 2020 he said similer things. “Digital ID for me is a very big part of the future […] Inevitably, governments are going to move in this direction — absolutely, inevitably” — Tony Blair.
COVID-19 lockdowns can be safely lifted to return economies to some form of normality, but governments will have to get to roll out a digital ID scheme built on a “user-centric model of digital identity that puts individuals in control and protects their privacy”.
Vaccine status matters.
With a secure Covid Pass that shows vaccine and test status, we can move beyond blunt, catch-all tools to manage transmission of the virus.
We urge the government to adjust its restrictions across travel and domestic settings. https://t.co/AGHSorvMAw
— Tony Blair Institute (@InstituteGC) June 6, 2021
Now in his latest new White Paper titled ‘Less Risk, More Freedom’, published by Kirsty Innes, the Head of the Digital Government Unit on the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change published on the 6th of June 2021. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change is a non-profit organisation set up by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair which proclaims its ambition as being to help make globalisation work for the many, not the few.
Here are some of the most important parts of the report in relation to Covid Passes / Digital IDs:
The paper says: ‘Any business venue or setting choosing to become vaccine only should be free to remove all restrictions enabled through the robust use of Covid passes that allows individuals to prove their vaccine and/or testing status. And that the “same principle should apply to travel.’
Simply Put: Vaccine Status Matters.
- ‘It is critical that individuals can prove their vaccine status. We set out the digital health pass infrastructure that will need to be introduced to enable an individual to prove their vaccine status. This goes beyond the current NHS App: a globally interoperable system of health passes is required to allow citizens to prove their status.’
- ‘The health pass needs to be usable both by national border authorities and other organisations within countries. It should also include the ability to demonstrate time-restricted testing status for those who are not able to be vaccinated.’
- ‘For travel, we propose that anyone who is fully vaccinated should be free to travel to and from any country currently designated as green without any quarantine period or testing required.’
- ‘Domestically, we propose that any venue or setting that wants to admit only those who have been vaccinated should be permitted to do so – and this should be enabled through the Covid pass.’
- ‘It may even be that a Covid pass is turned on and off as new variants emerge that threaten particular types of vaccines are identified.’
The paper is calling for removing all domestic restrictions for the fully vaccinated only:
- ‘The approach of restricting entry to public spaces based on health status has been shown to be effective at reducing transmission. To implement this conditional relaxation of restrictions for those at reduced risk, an effective digital-health pass solution will be needed.’
- The institute recommends ‘that businesses be given the choice to relax social-distancing rules for those who can demonstrate they are at reduced risk of transmitting the virus.’
- ‘Several large firms have already announced that they will require their employees and/or their customers to be vaccinated. To make this work efficiently, a digital health pass will be needed.’
- ‘In the medium term, over the next 12 months, we believe the country should move to a more durable position. This is based on the UK being fully vaccinated, and only relying on boosters, during this time. Such a shift in approach would have to fit alongside global coordination on travel requirements and a Covid ID being used.’
- ‘The NHS App now allows users to log in securely, check their vaccine record and show proof of their vaccine status (type of vaccination, number of doses and date of vaccination). As this app is linked to NHS records, vaccine status will automatically be updated on it in the form of text and a 2D barcode (with an expiration date).’
- ‘In the UK, the Covid-19 vaccine status service in the NHS App is in principle designed to allow users to show their proof of vaccination easily for the purposes of international travel. However, several further improvements are needed if the NHS App is to function as a health pass either for international or domestic use.’
- ‘To allow for greater ease of movement in a secure manner, it is vital to ensure the global interoperability of digital health passes. Initiatives such as the Good Health Pass Collaborative are doing critical work to develop internationally recognised standards to facilitate interoperability – and, ultimately, universal acceptance – of digital health passes. It is crucial for global leaders to take collective and urgent action on standards harmonisation so that international travel can resume safely.’
Recommendations on the design and functionality of the health pass app:
- ‘The government should update the NHS App to include PCR and lateral flow test results in one place, along with vaccination status. This should ideally happen in a secure, automated manner (i.e. PCR test results should be sourced direct from testing centres. The technology also exists to upload home lateral flow test results directly into an app so that they cannot be deliberately or accidentally falsified).’
- ‘It should make available a partner-verifier app to organisations that want to take up the option to restrict access only to those at a reduced risk of spreading Covid-19.’ More detailed guidance should be made available to individuals and organisations, explaining operations and security measures to help build trust in the app.’
- ‘The UK should use its G7 presidency to coordinate mutual recognition of health passes, lending its weight to the work of the Good Health Pass Collaborative.’
- ‘A Covid pass should allow for testing data to give equivalent freedoms to the fully vaccinated for 24 hours. Take account of an individual’s vaccination status when determining what restrictions, they should be subject to. For as long as any restrictions are necessary, permit businesses and other organisations the option of removing certain restrictions for those who are at a reduced risk of transmitting Covid-19 (either because they are fully vaccinated or have a negative test).’
- ‘Update the NHS App to include PCR and lateral flow test results in one place, along with vaccination status. This should ideally happen in a secure, automated manner. Make available a partner-verifier app to organisations that want to take up the option to restrict access only to those at a reduced risk of spreading Covid-19.’
Tony Blair also appeared on the BBC’s Sunday Andrew Marr Show where he demanded the rollout of vaccine passports for all Britons, but the BBC’s Andrew Marr warned it could be “unworkable”.
#TonyBlair #MarrShow
"We should distinguish between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated & adjust freedoms to the unvaccinated."
“The world will move to #biometric #digitalidentity, a global infrastructure, technology is going to change everything”.#NoVaccinePassportsAnywhere pic.twitter.com/yr4OJFRpyh— Sikh For Truth (@SikhForTruth) June 6, 2021
In a discussion on the possibility of introducing vaccine passports to Britons, former Prime Minister Tony Blair pleaded that biometric IDs are the future. Speaking to Andrew Marr, Mr Blair stressed the move would be “completely sensible” and “in the end be better for people”. He explained how the information harvested by the Government would be “minimal” compared to places such as “local supermarkets” in a desperate plea to get the IDs rolled out.
Marr asked: “This is ID cards by the back door, isn’t it?”
Tony Blair replied: “I was then, I remain even more convinced today, particularly with biometric technology. The world will move to biometric ID, and they will do it because in the end, it is better for people. So, this is a completely sensible way to go. I think you will find people right around the world will go towards this. And by the way it will facilitate access to government services.”
Meanwhile an agreement on global vaccine passports has already been reached at the G7 earlier this week, Health ministers from around the world have agreed on the need to develop a “Mutual recognition of testing and vaccination certificates” across all countries.
“We are committed to work as G7 countries towards a process of mutual acceptance of COVID-19 certificates.” – the UK Government has also said.
Considering the political and economic developments which have transpired since Covid-19 was first declared a pandemic, it is becoming clearer by the day how this public health crisis is being exploited to usher in a new global system of technocratic control and compliance. We must wake from our stupor and identify what is shaping up to be an incredibly dystopian reality.
Vaccine Passports are not just to deny the unvaccinated of physical services. It is also a tool / functionality to collect, track and create a digital history using digitised tokens for every interaction or trip pass, each trip pass is a data source, with geo location, points and values, which are marked permanently on blockchain history, thus creating monetary value and asset scoring for our social impacts.
