Forum Topic

Covid Pass - NHS app

I had my two Covid jams in January and April this year. I see that my Covid Pass shown on the NHS App expires on the 15th of December 2021. My booster which I had on the 16th of October does not even appear.I understand that incompetent Johnson is saying today that the NHS App might feature the booster “soon”. Well he’s got just 4 weeks to sort out my pass. What are the odds? Will I be able to go skiing on the 17th of January?Nick

Nicholas Evans ● 1308d13 Comments

@ Sean. Thanks for the update.

Patricia Poulter ● 1304d

The NHS app now generates a Travel Q-code that includes the booster. I checked mine this morning. It's only on the 'Travel Passport' not on the 'Domestic Passport', but the first Q-code says '3 of 3' and has all the correct details for the booster

Sean Hodges ● 1304d

The point that should be made is "who's job is it to police COVID passports"?  Who pays for it, who is responsible?  What are the consequences? Are venues getting paid more for the extra effort required for this check? (no)  If a venue's entrance employee finds a non-compliant COVID passport, what are they meant to do? (Nothing) Subjugating COIVD passport compliance checking to a venue makes a farce of the system.  It's box-ticking at its best and reaks of virtue signaling at its worst.  I suspect the latter in the main. How are venues themselves patrolled for this checking?  What agency is meant to check on the checkers (whose basic job description is not in policing)? It's down to the individual venue concerned.  Will they refuse entry (money) for someone with a "non-compliant" COVID passport? I think not — no one is watching. If the venues aren't going to put the extra effort (money) into the checks, and of the checks cannot really be enforceable, then the scheme is not working. It is only where venues take the scheme seriously that it actually makes sense. Hense what France is doing, everyone checks — but you can still have those that cheat the system.  Here we don't really even have checks in the first place.  So it's not fit for purpose and another waste of public money. Good news though.  It will all be done and dusted by April!

John Kingdon ● 1305d

In the last few weeks I have been to 4 major London venues, including Hammersmith Odeon (as I like to call it). Covid pass QR codes are asked for but they do not SCAN them. So either the people employed have extremely clever eyes, or these venues are just paying lip service to the idea.

Michael Winstanley ● 1306d

Of course to do a full validation check one would need to check photo id as well to ensure someone hadn't copied another person's covid pass. I've only been asked to bring identity proof along with my covid pass on one occaision. That was a business infosec event; in the end they did scan the QR code on my pass but didn't want to see my id as they knew who I was anyway :-)

Michael Ixer ● 1306d

I know what you mean about the lack of checking here! I went to a gig last week where an NHS Covid pass was a requirement. The checks were practically non-existent. Security asked everyone to have their passes ready, but were waving people through who hadn't even got past the welcome screen of the NHS app. No QR codes were being scanned.

Carl Broadley ● 1306d

Additional info — the French TousAntiCovid app is free and can be downloaded and used by anyone (ie — even those without European passports).  The QRCode it generates for presentation to venues etc is harmonised for use throughout Europe (so it will work in Italy, Spain, Germany etc). It is a bit fiddly in scanning the UK QRCode — how do you show a QR code on your phone to another app on the same phone? — We ended up taking screenshots of the QR code, sharing them amongst our group, and scanning them into the app.

John Kingdon ● 1306d

The QR code generated by the app (NHS App) expires after 30 days (to combat fraudulent use).  You can also have a letter from the NHS (which can be furnished with translations into many languages) that has no expiration date.  You can request a letter by dialing 119, giving your NHS number, name, and address and you should receive it in about 5 days. I can report that the French COVID app (TousAntiCovid) will work in English on your phone and accepts our NHS QRCode (you need to add both 1st and 2nd dose QRcodes). I am hoping that the QRCode for Booster jabs is sorted in the next few weeks and that it will be France/EU compatible. I traveled throughout France (6 weeks on a motorbike, 4000 miles — no motorways — staying with friends, camping, and some hotels) in August.  The Pass Sanitaire was very necessary as it was checked everywhere.  Popping into a cafe for a coffee? — Pass Sanitaire SVP!  Restaurant, bar, campsite, hotel? All the same!  80% of the time it was actually scanned, the other 20% just asked "Do you have the Pass Sanitaire?", and you said "Yes". In contrast to here, where I have been to — Isle of Wight Festival, Latitude Festival, London Marathon, theatre, football matches, cricket and more.  All show in the fine print for sale, that they require the NHS pass, but I have never been asked to show it, nor have I seen anyone asked to produce it. Just a personal observation.

John Kingdon ● 1306d

Tge other issue with requiring proof of booster is that those under 40 will probably not qualify until feb or March ( depending when they had no2 jab), so would be grossly unfair until everyone has had the opportunity.How long will it take to walk to the ski ing holiday or will travel be by a noisy aircraft over other folks houses and burning all those fossil fuels. Some people eh!

Andy Pike ● 1308d

It's a different app though. The NHS App is the one used to generate the Covid Pass, whereas the NHS Covid-19 App is the one to use daily to check into venues and for contact tracing.

Carl Broadley ● 1308d

From 15 December, the French pass sanitaire requires all over 65s to evidence not only 2 jabs but the booster too.Told that the NHS are working on it but no implementation date.I listened to Macron's speech announcing this last week but can't find this information showing in any uk info for travellers. This may cause issues if not resolved.

Patricia Poulter ● 1308d

How incompetent of the govt to limit its life to 1 month to stop people printing them out for use by others as forged documents. If you use the app its life increases daily so it seems to me to be a very good systemThe booster is nowt to do ( at the moment) with the covid pass, but it probably will at some point soon and will no doubt be added to the record.

Andy Pike ● 1308d

So does mine, in fact, all of them. The Covid passes are valid a month from when they're generated by the app. If you go into the app tomorrow and request another pass it will expire on 16th December :-)

Michael Ixer ● 1308d