Just as Brits were let out of lockdown mask-free on ‘Freedom Day’, and nightclubs were reopened after 16 months, Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the announcement that people will have to get two doses of COVID vaccines to attend nightclubs and other crowded venues by the end of September.
The PM expressed concern that more than a third of 18-30 year olds – some three million people – still haven’t taken the jab. Many nightclub owners say they will refuse to enforce this. The National Health System (NHS) in the UK has a contact-tracing app that has caused a ‘pingdemic’ that is grinding the economy to a halt by pinging large numbers of people who supposedly were exposed to someone with COVID-19, alerting them to self-isolate. Ministers are desperate to get as many jabs into arms as possible before self-isolation rules are eased on August 16. Key workers in food factories, transport, and national security jobs will be able to skip self isolation. But, in a blow to millions others, Downing Street said there are “no plans” to let the rest of the country escape the directive if they are pinged.