Skip to main content
On Air Now

Vaccine passports will result in groups being indirectly discriminated against, says academic

Share

By Sam Sholli

Vaccine passports will result in indirect discrimination against groups in society, a Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has told LBC.

Dr Alex de Figueiredo made the remark to LBC's Maajid Nawaz, after he co-authored a research paper published on Thursday on the potential impact of vaccine passports on the inclination of people to accept Covid-19 vaccines in the UK.

He told LBC: "If you look at the social demographic breakdowns of people who are pro or anti-vaccine passports, it correlates extremely strongly with your confidence in a Covid-19 vaccine.

"So the groups that haven't been taking Covid-19 vaccines are those who generally are more suspicious and more against Covid-19 vaccines.

"And that, in the UK at least, is younger communities, black and black British communities and people who don't speak English as their first language."

Maajid then asked: "And that's where the discriminatory point comes in, does it?"

Dr Alex de Figueiredo replied: "I think the policy on the surface doesn't seem like it would be a discriminatory policy.

"But I think...I mean the result of this policy will mean that you are indirectly discriminating against these groups, which I think is a big problem."

READ MORE: Scotland to introduce Covid vaccine passports after Nicola Sturgeon wins vote