Christopher BarrettVenue and event operators in Scotland have reported failing in the country’s Covid vaccine passport app.
People attending nightclubs and shows at many other venues in Scotland are now required to show proof of having been vaccinated twice against Covid-19 in order to gain entry.
The requirements mean venue operators must either scan a QR code on the NHS Covid Passport app or check a printed paper copy of a ticket holder’s vaccine status.
NTIA Scotland said it had become clear the Scottish app was not fit for purpose and the vast majority of people were experiencing repeated problems in registering and uploading their personal vaccine status to the app.
The organisation said it had repeatedly warned the Scottish Government of how “unworkable” its vaccine passport plan is, and called its launch “disastrous”. It said venues all over Scotland had reported high levels of customer frustration over the lack of information from government and chaotic roll out of the app.
NTIA Scotland chair & Sub Club director Mike Grieve said, “As anticipated, the roll out of this ill-conceived policy led to chaos and confusion in the street last night with only a handful of our customers in possession of a functioning app passport. Around 50-60 others had a photocopy or screenshot of the wrong vaccination information or other spurious evidence of vaccination. Despite this we successfully checked all attendees for same day LFTs to protect the health and safety of our customers and staff.”
Club Tropicana director Tony Cochrane said, “The majority of customers at my clubs throughout Scotland told us they were annoyed and frustrated at multiple failed attempts to download the vaccine app and lost all faith in it. Others found no guidance on how to get it. You only get one chance to launch anything and this one must be one of the greatest failures ever. Public confidence in this has gone.”
Michael Kill, CEO NTIA UK, said: “Businesses across Scotland felt the real weight of confusion and frustration from members of the public on the first trading session where operators were expected to implement Covid passports, this ill-conceived, unworkable mitigation which has been poorly communicated will only lead to further chaos and potentially irreversible damage to a sector which is still extremely fragile, and is fundamental to the recovery of Scotland’s economy.”
A Scottish government spokesman told the BBC that huge demand led to some people experiencing delays: “We have now increased the capacity of the NHS systems that sit behind the app – where most of the issues causing delays have occurred – in order to deal with demand and, as a result, we are seeing increasing numbers of people now able to access their records.”