‘Vaccine Passport’ checks have arrived at football stadiums in Glasgow, with the first roll-out underway at Parkhead this afternoon providing an indication of what to expect an Ibrox on Thursday.
Today’s game between Celtic and Ferencvaros has the benefit of a reduced crowd and daylight in terms of helping the checks, but things will be much different under the night sky, later this week.
Taken from Twitter, a Celtic fan made some remarks in terms of what was witnessed on approach to the stadium.
A sign of what's to come at Ibrox on Thursday.
Celtic fan report from Parkhead on VP checks. 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/LFTcB3VPOr
— Vital Rangers (@vitalrangers) October 19, 2021
The observations include:
“Vaccine Passports in place all the way around the perimeter of the stadium footprint. Not at turnstiles. Actively checking passport status and also actively turning people away.”
“There’s no scanning of QR codes. I didn’t use the app and instead used my letter (digital version). They eyeballed it and moved us on through. Easy done early before kick off but not sure it’s manageable when busy.”
“No. Just a physical look at your device, no scanning.”
With the ‘grace period’ having passed, the clubs along with the authorities are now tasked with this responsibility the the behest of the Scottish government, at a time when the Health Secretary Humza Yousaf is under further scrutiny for the handling of the initiative and roll-out of the app with claims that “SNP’s vaccine passport scheme in chaos as it can be ‘outfoxed by a screenshot’. “
The whole purpose of vaccine passports is yet to be fully explained, given that is does nothing to prove that a person is not currently infected or carrying the virus, it merely appears to be a coercive deterrent to push people toward getting vaccinated if they are not already.
Rangers and the fans will look on with interest at what is happening in the east-end of the city today, ahead of the implementation at Ibrox for the visit of Brondby in the Europa League on Thursday.