Skip to main content

'Just give us a red list' says ex-vaccines chief

Government
Will Payne
9 August 2021

The traffic light system for overseas travel should be scrapped and replaced with a single red list of countries, the former head of the government’s vaccine taskforce reportedly said. 

The traffic light system has now been dismantled after being in operation since 17 May (credit benn-mcguinness-34oZS8nstfI-unsplash)

Clive Dix, the interim chairman of the taskforce from January to April, told The Telegraph that the current border arrangements are too complicated given the number of UK adults who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

He said the current green, amber and red system should be replaced with a list of countries that people would have to quarantine from when returning to the UK.

"It’s simple and it’s not too onerous. It allows for people to have more freedom, basically," Dix told The Telegraph.

"I think the current system probably means people who are slightly poorer in society struggle to be able to do any travel abroad and I think that’s unfair."