Vaccine passports could save lives and ‘prevent future lockdowns,’ experts write in BMJ

Other experts say the passes ‘can’t guarantee safety’

A Pfizer vaccine being prepared. (PA)

Coronavirus vaccine passports could lower deaths from the virus “by as much as 30 per cent” in the UK, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change has suggested.

In an article published in the BMJ, researchers from the institution claimed the certificates were also “the most accurate tool” for reducing the spread of the disease and for lowering the chance of future lockdowns.

Kirsty Innes and Daniel Sleat, the authors of the opinion piece, wrote that if the government had made the passes mandatory from mid-July, it “could have reduced cases and deaths over the subsequent weeks by as much as 30 per cent”.