Vaccinated Britons will be able to travel ‘very, very soon,’ says health secretary

‘The guidance is really asking people to use their common sense’ – Sajid Javid on face masks

Opening soon? Arrivals at Heathrow airport (Simon Calder)

The new health secretary has promised MPs that vaccinated British travellers will be able to travel more freely “very, very soon”.

Sajid Javid was answering questions in the Commons at the same time as the Downing Street briefing was under way.

At present travellers from all but a handful of “green list” locations must quarantine and pay for multiple tests.

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, asked: “Given we were promised a vaccine dividend, when can the millions of British families separated from loved ones, or simply who want a foreign holiday, expect to receive the same freedoms back that other Europeans and Americans already enjoy?”

Mr Javid said: “Very, very soon, and the secretary of state for transport [Grant Shapps] will have more to say on this very shortly.”

It is believed that fully vaccinated arrivals to the UK from “amber list” countries will not need to self-isolate – but will still need to test.

Dr Luke Evans, Conservative MP for Bosworth, was concerned about batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India that have not yet received approval from the European Medicines Agency.

Newspaper articles had suggested British travellers who have had been jabbed from those batches could be barred from European countries.

Dr Evans said he had “vaccinated many people with this batch, and indeed had the batch myself”.

He asked the health secretary: “Can he confirm that this is purely a bureaucratic issue, that the vaccines are exactly the same, and update the House over what talks he’s had with the EU to resolve this problem?”

Mr Javid did not directly address the question. He said: “All doses that are used in the UK have been subject to a very rigorous safety and quality check, including individual batch testing and physical site inspections.

“This is all done by the medical regulator, MRHA.”

Huw Merriman, the Conservative chair of the Transport Select Committee and MP for Bexhill & Battle, wanted to know whether the health secretary intends to put out guidance on wearing face masks. He asked: “What will he do to ensure that private operators can’t mandate it outside of that guidance?”

Mr Javid replied: “The guidance is really asking people to use their common sense. If there are many people around them, particularly more vulnerable, older people, then we’re really just saying, ‘Use your common sense’.

“I think everyone in Britain will do just that. In terms of private settings it will be up to private businesses, shops for example, to decide what they wish to do.”

A number of airlines, including British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair, have indicated they will continue to ask passengers to wear face masks.

Train operators say they are waiting for guidance to be issued.