PRIME Minister Boris Johnson confirmed there was “absolutely no question” of people having to show a vaccine passport to go to the pub or hairdresser when lockdown eases further on Monday, and said Government was “some way off finalising any plans”

He told a Downing Street briefing on Monday: “On Covid status certification, as we prefer to call it, the most important thing to say to everybody listening and watching is there’s absolutely no question of people being asked to produce certification or a Covid status report when they go to the shops or to the pub garden or to their hairdressers or whatever on Monday.

“And indeed we are not planning that for stage three either, May 17 as you know we are hoping to go for the opening up of indoor hospitality and so on. We are not planning for anything of that kind at that stage.

“The principle of requiring some people to have a certificate to prove they are not passing on the disease, like surgeons who have to prove they are vaccinated against hep B or whatever, that can be a sensible one,” he told a press conference.

“But I want to stress that we are some way off finalising any plans for Covid certification in the UK.

“The crucial thing is for everyone to get out and get their vaccination when you’re asked to come forward and get your second dose when you are asked to come forward.

“The uptake at the moment is fantastic and that is very important that it should continue.

“We are seeing something like 99 point – I can’t remember what it is – 99.7% uptake for the second doses which is terrific and that’s what we want to see.”

Mr Johnson said there were “ethical and practical issues” with vaccine passports but some test events will be launched in the next few weeks.

He said: “I want to stress there are complicated ethical and practical issues as I think I said last time raised by the idea of Covid status certification using vaccination alone.

“Many people will be for one reason or another unable to get a vaccine, for medical reasons for instance, or perhaps because they’re pregnant.

“So you have to be very careful how you handle this and don’t start a system that is discriminatory.

“But obviously we are looking at it – we want to be going ahead in the next few weeks with some test events, some pilot events. Big events, getting 20,000 people into Wembley on May 15, that kind of thing.

“Getting people back into theatre, that will unquestionably involve testing to allow the audience really to participate in the numbers that people want.”

Asked whether children will be required to have vaccine passports should they be implemented, Boris Johnson said: “We’re a way off implementing or enacting anything of the kind for anybody, let alone children.

“I’ve spelt out the ways in which we might think of doing that but it’s not for steps two or three in any event.”

Mr Johnson said if there was a proposal on vaccine passports to put to Parliament then it would be.

When asked if there will be a vote on the issue in Parliament Mr Johnson told a Downing Street briefing on Monday: “We are taking too many fences at once, first we need to work out what exactly the proposal might be, but certainly if there is something to put to Parliament I am certain we will do that.”

Mr Johnson said a future involving continuous Covid-19 testing would not be “too onerous”.

Asked what the future will look like after June 21, Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference: “I think a great deal depends on the continuing success of the vaccine rollout and us continuing to satisfy the four tests.

“If things continue to go well, I do think for many people in many ways, life will begin to get back to at least some semblance of normality.”

He added: “A world in which we continue to have testing is not going to be too onerous.”

It is “vital” that people take up the offer of a second vaccine dose to increase their level of protection against Covid-19, England’s chief medical officer has said.

Professor Chris Whitty told a Downing Street press conference on Monday that data from across the UK showed an estimated 60% reduction in symptomatic disease in those who had been vaccinated.

He added there was also an 80% reduction in hospitalisations among those who had received their first dose.

Prof Whitty said: “That makes two points, firstly that these vaccines are highly effective, but secondly, they are not completely effective.

“And it is absolutely essential that everybody, as the Prime Minister has said, who is called for a second booster dose goes to take that offer up because it will increase the level of protection and almost certainly increase the duration of protection as well.”