A video shared widely on Twitter and Facebook shows a member of the public filming inside Sainsbury’s, claiming that new gates installed in the store’s entrance are for Covid-19 vaccine passports.
This is not true. The video is from a shop in Holborn, London, where the supermarket giant has set up its first ever checkout-free store, in partnership with Amazon who have set up several similar stores in London. This shop is currently only for Sainsbury’s employees, as part of a trial run.
The gates at the entrance of the store are designed to open when presented with a relevant QR code, generated through the Sainsbury’s SmartShop app. In the video, a large sign saying “SmartShop Pick & Go: The checkout free way to shop” can clearly be seen.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told Full Fact that claims the gates have been installed in preparation for Covid-19 vaccine passports are “simply not true”.
They added: “We regularly trial new and convenient ways for customers to shop with us and we’re currently testing an upgraded version of SmartShop with colleagues at one of our Holborn stores.”
In response to questions about the gates on Twitter, a Sainsbury’s spokesperson confirmed multiple times that they were nothing to do with Covid-19 vaccine passports, explaining that they were part of the SmartShop trial.
Vaccine passports are part of the government’s ‘Plan B’ Covid-19 planning—to be introduced if data suggests the NHS “is likely to come under unsustainable pressure”—but the proposals suggest they would only be mandatory in settings such as nightclubs, music venues or large receptions of more than 500 people or stadiums holding more than 10,000 people.
At the time of writing they are not being suggested for supermarkets or other shops.