Several media outlets have wrongly described the new NHS Covid-19 vaccination card as a “vaccine passport” which proves who has been vaccinated and must be carried around at all times.

In truth, Public Health England has confirmed to us that it is simply a printed card with space for someone’s name and vaccination details to be written by hand. This makes it very unreliable evidence that someone has been vaccinated, and certainly not proof.

PHE told us that the card is intended as a vaccine record card. It records details of the Covid-19 vaccination someone has received, along with the appointment date for their second injection. According to PHE, it’s similar to those already used for other NHS vaccinations that involve more than one dose - such as one for HPV - and is not intended for any other purpose.

There is no requirement for people to carry the card. Michael Gove said last week that there is no plan to introduce a “vaccine passport” though we can’t say whether such “passports” may become government policy eventually. 

However we can say that the NHS vaccination card launched earlier this week is not a vaccine passport or identity card, and wouldn’t work very well as one, because it doesn’t have any secure personally identifying details.

The Express corrected their headline after we contacted them.