Counter-terror protection for Covid vaccination centres

Exclusive: Pandemic has changed nature of ‘crowded places’ that may become targets, head of counter-terror police warns

Counterterror protections are being installed around coronavirus vaccination centres to safeguard them from potential attacks in Britain.

Medical facilities have become the “new crowded places” as a result of lockdown measures, leaving previous terror targets empty of potential victims.

Police are also concerned about the potential for anti-vaccination conspiracy theories to inspire violence targeting medical professionals.

Hospitals and GPs started delivering the Pfizer-BioNTech jab earlier this month, and more than 500,000 people have so far been given their first dose.

The head of UK counterterrorism policing, Neil Basu, told The Independent he expected security to be a “a big issue with vaccination centres”.

He said they were being subjected to “all counterterror measures”, adding: “We have protective security operations and counterterrorism security advisers are available to offer advice on how people should deal with their security.

“We are making sure they understand how to protect themselves properly. That might be a protest issue as much as it might be a counterterror issue.”

Mr Basu said protections had also been installed around temporary Nightingale facilities as, with coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions, hospitals had become one of the few “crowded places”.

Counterterror police are working to ensure that businesses and authorities “aren’t complacent in areas that are seeing high footfall”, he said, adding: “We are doing work at hospitals with vaccination centres, with retail premises that are allowed to be open.

“We’ve been doing all that work since April and May when this terrible disease first came upon us and we realised that the nature of crowded places had changed.”

The pandemic has changed the nature of ‘crowded places’ deemed vulnerable to attack, Neil Basu said

New vaccination centres are operating from doctors’ surgeries and community hubs in villages, towns and cities, after more than 70 UK hospitals began administering jabs. 

The programme is crucial to slowing coronavirus transmission and allowing the easing of restrictions, which were tightened following the discovery of a fast-spreading new strain.

But thousands of people have attended protests led by anti-vax groups in London and other UK cities in recent months, where speakers have claimed coronavirus jabs are harmful.

Conspiracy theories have linked them to surveillance, the “new world order” and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Research by King’s College London and Ipsos Mori suggested that a third of British people have seen or heard messages discouraging the public from getting a coronavirus vaccine.

Polling showed that one in seven people “believe the real purpose of a mass vaccination programme against coronavirus is simply to track and control the population”, one in eight do not think the government has ensured the vaccine is safe and significant numbers fear it may cause autism and infertility.

Mr Basu warned that conspiracy theories have the “potential to radicalise a small group to mobilise towards violence”.

He said Gilles de Kerchove, the EU counterterrorism coordinator, was “absolutely right” to warn in September that new forms of terrorism rooted in conspiracy theories could emerge.

“No one is saying that no-one has the right to voice an opinion, it is where that opinion becomes an incitement to violence and hatred,” Mr Basu added.

“My biggest concern is the growth of online radicalisation, which has allowed those conspiracy theories, and existing Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorism, and all kinds of other single-issue terrorism, to thrive 24/7 internationally.”

He said the coronavirus had created a “perfect storm” for radicalisation, because of mounting grievances, isolation and mental illness.

The UK’s terror threat level was increased to severe, meaning attacks are highly likely, on 3 November following a spate of attacks in France and Austria.

Mr Basu said the decision was taken because the Vienna shooting and Nice stabbing had both taken place on the eve of national lockdowns, which England was about to head into two days later.

He said the threat level had been maintained because of crowding around shopping areas, Christmas markets and town centres during the festive period.

The senior officer urged businesses and members of the public “not to be complacent” about the threat level, and to remain vigilant.

“The Streatham attack proved that it’s not necessarily the iconic Oxford Street locations or the big crowded spaces that we need to worry about, we need to worry about terrorists being prepared to commit an atrocity anywhere,” Mr Basu said.

A free online counterterror training course for business is available here, and anyone worried that someone is being radicalised can seek support on the Act Early website.