Crowds of anti-vaccine protesters gathered in front of Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre last Saturday during the World Snooker Championships.
The protest is a response to the government’s tentative plan for a Covid-19 ‘vaccination passport’ scheme.
The passport will allow large-scale activities like sports matches, and will allow people to travel to other countries.
Cinemas will also be allowed to reopen.
The championship is one of a few pilot events to test the controversial scheme.
But not everyone supports the government’s plan.
“I believe in freedom and I believe that people should have a choice in all medical interventions. So my medical decisions are mine and only mine,” Almudena, an anti-vaccine passport protester, said.
Almudena worries the rare vaccine side effects will put more people at risk.
Almudena and her son with their homemade T-shirts
“To say that you’re not going to let a non-vaccinated person into a bank? You can’t do so. It is discrimination,” said Amanda, 58, another protester at the scene.
Amanda lives in Portugal. She came to Sheffield to take care of her mother last Christmas, but can’t get back without being vaccinated.
Amanda, in front of the Crucible Theatre
However, there is a group of people who are willing to be vaccinated earlier.
Celia Zhang, an international student from the University of Sheffield, was vaccinated a month ago.
“With the increasing rate of vaccination and the sharp decreasing rate of infection, we have reason to believe that after being vaccinated we don’t need to worry about being infected,” Zhang explained.
“This is a way to protect ourselves and others as well,” she added.
Zhang is an asthma sufferer who worries wearing face masks may bring discomfort or cause people to have trouble breathing.
Having had the Covid-19 vaccine, Zhang feels safer while out and about.
As of yet, the government has made no concrete decisions on the vaccine passport scheme.
