Tony Blair demands Boris Johnson drop self-isolation order for double-jabbed
TONY Blair has called on ministers to drop the requirement for people who are fully vaccinated to self-isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Tony Blair calls for introduction of a 'simple vaccine pass'
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend Tony Blair demanded Britons with two doses of a coronavirus vaccine should not be subject to self-isolation. He explained how the NHS Test&Trace system is failing millions of Britons and urged action to combat unnecessary numbers of people self-isolating.
Mr Blair explained how the current system was "not rational" and took pity with Brits who are deleting the NHS Covid app from their mobile phones.
He said: "We're at risk of moving in two contradictory directions.
"On the one hand we're going to open everything up, free restriction altogether.
"And on the other hand, we've still got this pinging track and trace system...
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"Where people have got to go into complete isolation if they're pinged.
"In circumstances where probably the vast majority of those people do not need to do so."
Mr Blair added how he wants an "easy covid pass" introduced in Britain which would make "major events" easier to carry out as they would allow for a person's vaccine status to be proved.
He accepted that many feel his suggestion is an "intrusion" on civil liberties and privacy but insisted that it was a necessary precaution to avoid risk of further spread of the virus.
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He explained: "The whole of our risk calculus should be based on the distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated people."
And following the news Boris Johnson has been forced into self-isolation after his close contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid who tested positive for covid on Saturday, Mr Blair used Mr Johnson as example as to why the double jabbed should not be forced to isolate.
He said: “I don’t want the Prime Minister of the country to be in isolation at the moment - I need him at his desk doing his job.
“If he is testing, he’s double vaccinated, he’s actually had covid - the point is to do this for everyone."
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Mr Blair's comments follow a chaotic day for the government which has seen them pull a drastic U-Turn on the possibility of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak self-isolating.
The pair were pinged by the NHS Test&Trace App after they had come into close contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid who tested positive for Coronavirus on Saturday but it was confirmed by Downing Street on Sunday morning that the pair would take part in a pilot programme where daily tests replace self-isolation - therefore meaning they would not have to self-isolate.
But a mere two hours and forty minutes later after a ferocious backlash from the media and public, N.10 performed a drastic U-turn issuing a second statement saying the pair WILL self-isolate and not be taking part in the pilot scheme which supposedly "randomly" chooses participants to take part.
Mr Sunak tweeted following the chaos, saying: "I recognise that even the sense that the rules aren’t the same for everyone is wrong."