Gov’t. tracked millions of people post vaccination

Official documents released by the U.K. government reveal that over 18 million people were subjected to secret phone tracking earlier this year, in an attempt to “provide behaviourally-informed evidence” on the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out and changes in behavior after vaccination.

Conducted in February, the report - from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), which advises the ardently pro-lockdown government advisory body, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) in the U.K. - aimed to examine data connected to the vaccine rollout, including issues such as behavioral changes post-vaccination with regard to adherence to the lockdown restrictions.

In order to do this, mobile phone data was analyzed, to determine whether people traveled further from home, or took part in larger gatherings, post vaccination.

“Using cell phone mobility data for 10% of the British population, linked to vaccination centres for February 2021, and difference-in-difference modelling that mimics a randomised control trial, we find that vaccinated users increase their mobility range compared to pre-vaccination mobility,” the report noted.

Thus, the SPI-B employed data company CKDelta, which collated data for 18,273,297 cell phone users from February 1 through February 28. No information was given about what group of phone users were involved, merely that CKDelta took information from “a large British mobile network operator.”

CKDelta took the call data records, and then reportedly “cleaned, and anonymized the mobile phone location data.”

SPI-B stated that the details were dealt with in accordance with privacy procedures under the U.K. GDPR policy.

From that set of over 18 million people, the SPI-B analysts identified 4,254 people who had received their COVID-19 experimental injection. This group of people had an average of 40 daily call data records “with corresponding location observations.”

The location data accuracy was such that people were categorized as vaccinated or not, based on whether they were detected to be at the vaccination center. With the location data being on the “cell phone tower level,” users could be located with an accuracy of down to 300 meters in urban areas, or around 1–2 kilometers in rural areas.

After being identified as having been vaccinated, the 4,254 people were then monitored to examine their location movement.

However, when examining the process used, the methodology employed used a considerable amount of data. First the researchers compiled a list of the vaccination centers existing at the time, linking them to the nearby cell phone towers. Then, the data was analysed to assess whether people had been in the vicinity of a cell phone tower closest to a vaccination site on one specific day, according to their age, and their availability for the injection as per the government’s priority list. If the person was in the correct age bracket, and cell phone tower data placed them at the vaccination site on a specific day, they were judged to have received their vaccine.

The advertised underlying purpose of such research was to determine how much habits changed following the vaccination. Findings revealed that “average pre-vaccination mobility increased by 218 meters.”

Privacy campaigners have expressed concern regarding the use of cell phone data by the government, without the knowledge of those who were under surveillance. Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, described it as “deeply chilling.”

But this is not the first time that such a surveillance event has been document in relation to COVID-19. Last November, the country’s espionage and intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), was revealed to have tracked the public’s movements and then provided that data to the Prime Minister.

It is becoming increasingly evident that Ministers are using the pandemic as a pretext to turn the UK into a police state. This scandal is more evidence that vaccine passports are about mass surveillance and control, not health.