Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Boris Johnson urges caution on summer holidays

(Getty images)

Will Brits be able to enjoy a summer holiday after the pandemic? Just a few months ago, Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested they would, telling MPs that he had already booked his summer break to Cornwall. But today, Boris Johnson joined in with the rather less cheerful messaging coming out of government that it was ‘just too soon’ to say whether people could book time away, whether in the UK or abroad.

The Prime Minister gave a press conference this afternoon which was largely aimed at getting more people to take up the vaccine – but he found himself answering questions about what might happen once sufficient numbers had got the jab, and whether those who are vaccinated will get the chance to go away using an app that sounds suspiciously like the sort of vaccine passport ministers say they don’t want to introduce. 

Johnson dodged questions about holidays from journalists

Johnson dodged questions about holidays from journalists, saying he would give more information in the week beginning 22 February and that it was ‘just too early’ to be certain about what people will and won’t be able to do in the summer. Asked about an app to record people’s vaccinations, Johnson responded that ministers were ‘looking at all sorts of things that we may wish to do in the months ahead’. He added: ‘When we are in that different world, which I hope will be as soon as possible, then all kinds of apps and possibilities will be open to us.’

His vaccine message was aimed at the two million people in the phase one priority groups who haven’t yet had their jabs. The Prime Minister said: 

‘Now is the moment to do it, wherever you are – you won’t be more than about 10 miles away from a vaccination centre.

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