In a session with the House of Commons liaison committee yesterday ( 24th March), when asked if a vaccine certificate could be required to enter a pub, Johnson said: "It may be up to individual publicans, it may be up to the landlord."

Johnson also said the concept of vaccine certificates "should not be totally alien to us" as doctors already need hepatitis B jabs.

The government is currently reviewing whether Covid-19 vaccination certificates or so-called ‘vaccine passports’ could be used to allow people access to settings and reduce restrictions on social contact.

Hospitality industry trade body UKHospitality cautioned against either a voluntary or mandatory vaccine certificate scheme for businesses.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive, UKHospitality, said: "It is crucial that visiting the pub and other parts of hospitality should not be subject to mandatory vaccination certification. It is simply unworkable, would cause conflict between staff and customers and almost certainty result in breaches of equality rules.

"Even introduced on a voluntary basis, vaccine passports have the potential to cause huge amounts of confusion among businesses, customers and staff."

The government issued a call for evidence to inform its review earlier this month and it is set to conclude the review ahead of the fourth step of the UK government plan to ease lockdown restrictions, coming into effect no earlier than 21st June.

Last week, the European Commission announced a proposal to introduce a ‘digital green certificate’ that will allow people who have had the vaccine, or recently had a negative Covid-19 test, to travel freely within the European Union.

Privacy rights groups have raised concerns over the development of certification around Covid-19 vaccination status, citing implications for data privacy, human rights and the potential for a two-tier system in which some people are able to access services, and some are not.