People who are unable to be vaccinated against coronavirus will be able to have temporary QR code passes in a matter of weeks, health minister Hugo de Jonge has told parliament.

De Jonge stressed that the facility would only be available to the small number of people – thought to number in the thousands – who cannot have the vaccine for medical reasons.

Until now unvaccinated people have been able to go into bars, restaurants and sports stadiums with a negative coronavirus test, but with the cabinet looking to restrict entry to people who have been vaccinated or have recovered from corona, they face being excluded from many venues.

A pilot scheme to certify people who are unable to be vaccinated began last spring at the request of the ChristenUnie party. De Jonge said independent assessors should be brought in to avoid family doctors being placed in a ‘difficult position’.

He added that experts had found that many people who thought they were at risk from the coronavirus vaccine because of their medical condition would in fact be better protected by taking it.