Everywhere people are looking longingly forward to the end of lockdown and to taking the first few steps towards a new normality. But given that the disease spread by the coronavirus is far from vanquished and may never be, the new normal will come with difficult questions. Should those who have been vaccinated be required to prove it, for instance before admission to crowded places like football stadia, night clubs or even church services? Should vaccination be made a condition of employment in certain cases, and if so by what criteria and how might it be enforced? And how should we regard people who refuse any vaccination, or who have been medically advised against it? Is there such a thing as a human right to refuse? Or is there a risk of turning the unvaccinated into second class citizens?

There is already a growing practice of requiring certain individuals such as airline passengers to prove they have recently had a negative test, and this category is about to expand when schools reopen in England on 8 March. Passengers who test positive are not allowed to board, and children who do so will be sent home. There is some precedent for a limited degree of coercion, for instance the requirement that surgeons should have a hepatitis test before being allowed to operate. But testing and vaccination are not the same. The latter is an invasion of bodily integrity, albeit for a good cause. To do so without consent is legally an assault.