Vaccine passports: Humza Yousaf 'regrets' app problems

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has said he "regrets any inconvenience caused" by problems with Scotland's Covid vaccine passport app.

Many people have said they were unable to get their vaccination status through the app when the scheme came into effect on Friday.

Mr Yousaf said he hoped the issues would be fixed "in a matter of hours, but it may be a matter of days".

Aberdeen FC has announced it will postpone introducing the new scheme.

The club had been due to spot check fans before its game against Celtic on Sunday, but said "unanswered questions on implementation" of vaccine passports had forced the postponement.

Spot checks will be carried out as a trial run at Hearts' stadium on Saturday but no fans will be refused entry for the match with Motherwell. Rangers has also said the match with Hibs on Sunday at Ibrox will be used as a "test event" and no supporters will be refused entry due to vaccine status.

The new rules came into effect at 05:00 on Friday - but the government announced earlier this week that they would not actually be enforced until 18 October.

The NHS Scotland Covid Status app only became available to download on Apple and Android devices at about 17:30 on Thursday.

Opposition parties have described the rollout as a "shambles", and questioned why the government had launched the app when it did not work.

The Scottish government said that by the end of Thursday more than 70,000 people had downloaded the app, which is used to show proof that people have had two doses of vaccine in order to enter nightclubs and many other large events.

It said it had since increased the capacity of the NHS systems that sit behind the app.

Mr Yousaf told BBC Scotland: "I know it is frustrating because a lot of people have downloaded the app.

"I regret any inconvenience caused to anybody, be it an individual or business, but that shouldn't stop you from going about your activities over the course of the next few days.

"Largely, the issues are down to volume of traffic but what I would say if you're having persistent problems do feel free to call the Covid helpline."

He added: "We always stress test these things before they go live and we have done so but actually, once it goes live, in the real world there can be these glitches and my hope is those glitches should be resolved - we hope in a matter of hours, but it may be a matter of days."

The vaccine certification scheme will require venues to put in place a "reasonable system" to check the status of customers over the age of 18, with certain exemptions on medical grounds.

Venues affected include nightclubs, unseated indoor events with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor events with more than 4,000 people, and any event with more than 10,000 people in attendance.

'Weekend of chaos'

Many people experienced problems with the app when they tried to use their NHS CHI number to register.

This step comes after users are asked to take a picture of their passport or driving licence.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said there should be an "indefinite delay" to the rollout of the new scheme to avoid a "weekend of chaos" at venues across the country.

He added: "Thousands of people will be at the football and going out to hospitality premises this weekend.

"This plan should really be scrapped altogether but, if the SNP insist on charging ahead, they must indefinitely delay the vaccine passport scheme until the most basic issues are ironed out."

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the launch of the app had been a "complete shambles", adding: "It is typical of the SNP to rush this out when it clearly doesn't work."

People have been sharing their experiences of trying to download the new vaccine passport app.

Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Roddy Dunlop QC, described the app as the "worst I have ever tried to use".

He wrote on Twitter: "I am not prone to hyperbole. I promise.

"And I instantly recognise that I was originally instructed to challenge the introduction of Covid passports and so am not neutral.

"But try the app. This is, literally, the worst app I have ever tried to use."

Another app user shared screenshots of his experience on Twitter during which he was told "no match found" followed by: "Something went wrong. We're working on it."

Others reported issues getting past the initial log in page, while a BBC Good Morning Scotland listener told the programme that he had tried twice to download the app without success.

He added: "It just isn't suitable for purpose at the moment, they should have known it was going to happen in the first place."

Mike Rhodes, of the IT firm ConsultMyApp, said he thought the servers being used for the app were being overloaded because of demand, but said this should have been anticipated.

He said: "It is highly likely that those developers that built the app shell also built the interface to the back-end servers that ended up failing.

"Secondly, this wasn't an unforeseen event - the developers absolutely knew this would be downloaded incredibly quickly and was likely to get hundreds of thousands of people attempting to register at the same time."

Mr Rhodes questioned why there was "so little time" between the app being launched and it being needed for entry into events.

Paul Banham, of Glasgow's Buff Club, told BBC Scotland's Lunchtime Live: "We'll be having a look at them over the next few weeks but we won't be refusing entry if someone doesn't have it - there's too many glitches at the moment.

"We've had a lot of students contact us and a lot of them are saying they have been vaccinated in other areas of the UK and that is not showing on their Covid status so there's a few gaps at the moment and hopefully they will be ironed out."