Nicola Sturgeon says vaccine passports are a “reasonable response to a very difficult situation”, as opposition builds against the scheme.
The First Minister said a paper would be published on Thursday, ahead of a debate on the implementation of vaccine certification in the Scottish Parliament.
If MSPs sign off the scheme, nightclubs and many large events will only be able to allow entry to people who can show they have had two Covid jabs.
It comes after a surge in the number of cases across Scotland although Ms Sturgeon told MSPs on Wednesday the rate of cases appears to be slowing down.
‘Certification can help us’
Ms Sturgeon said MSPs will debate and vote on Thursday on the “principle of a limited, targeted and proportionate system of certification”.
This will follow the publication of a paper detailing how the system will operate.
The First Minister told MSPs “Scotland is far from alone” in considering such a scheme, with Covid certification already introduced by several governments across Europe.
She added: “Fundamentally, we believe that certification can help us reduce the overall harms caused by the pandemic.
“It will not eradicate transmission completely but it will help reduce it in some higher risk settings, and it will maximise protection against serious illness.
“And we believe – as we have seen already in some other countries – it will help encourage take-up of the vaccine.
“It also represents a targeted way in which we can – we hope – enable certain events and venues to continue to operate, even at times when rates of Covid may be high and even rising.”
‘Not good enough’
However, opposition is building against the scheme, with Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats opposed to the scheme.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross criticised the Scottish Government for failing to provide details on the scheme, including how it will be enforced .
This is despite Boris Johnson’s government intending to press ahead with their own plans to introduce Covid vaccine passports for nightclubs from the end of September.
Mr Ross said: “The First Minister has just promised a paper but publishing it just hours before parliament is expected to vote on vaccine passports is not good enough.
“So far, there is no details and no answers to the SNP’s plans.
“We wanted to look at the content of the First Minister’s proposals and quite frankly there is nothing to scrutinise.”
However, Ms Sturgeon hit back at the Scottish Conservative leader for the “ridiculous position he is going to end up in where the scheme he is opposing in Scotland is exactly the same one that he is supporting when a Conservative government introduces it in England”.
Vaccines for 12-15-year-olds
Ms Sturgeon also updated MSPs on the upcoming decision on vaccines for young people aged 12-15 was expected within days.
The JCVI, the UK’s vaccines body, decided not to recommend the rollout of the Covid jab to the younger age group.
However, the Scottish Government has asked the chief medical officer to make a final decision.
A total of 5,810 cases were recorded across Scotland in the past 24 hours, representing 10.8% of the total number of tests carried out.
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