The comments have been made as experts are raising concerns over the push to force people in their late teens and 20s to take the Covid vaccine even though the disease statistically does not pose a serious threat to them.
One ministerial source pointed to the recent cabinet committee meeting chaired by Mr Gove where it was decided to pursue vaccine passports for nightclubs against the majority view of ministers attending.
According to the source, business minister Paul Scully, whose brief includes nightclubs, was first asked for his view and he described the proposal as “unworkable”.
This was supported by health secretary Sajid Javid and work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey.
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was also at the meeting but is understood to have left early.
However, transport secretary Grant Shapps is said to have suggested that the passports would push young people into having the jab and according to the source, Mr Gove concluded: “I will go with the minority view.”
One senior minister said: “It was almost like it didn’t matter what we all said and Gove had made up his mind already. He has far too much power.”
A source close to Mr Gove insisted that he was acting on behalf of the Prime Minister and that other ministers supported his view on going ahead with vaccine passports.
The source said: “Others were in favour, and MG was acting on a direct No10 steer. Policy was also announced by the PM at a presser.”
The row has arisen again amid continued concerns that young people are being forced to bear the brunt of measures to tackle a disease which is unlikely to be a long term problem for them.
The Sunday Express has launched the Generation Lockdown crusade to demand more support for young people coming out of the pandemic.
Speaking to the Sunday Express, 16-year-old India Johnson attacked the way that government policy has discriminated against her generation.
She said: “The lockdown made things so much worse.
“Why is it that the last things to open are things that are for our generation? Why is it that theatres and restaurants are open and yet we are told that we may not be able to go to a lecture theatre or a nightclub without a vaccine passport.”
She went on: “The policy has always been unfair on children. We’ve never been a priority. I don’t expect to be a priority but this just shows where the government’s priorities are.
“It lies in wealthy people and themselves.
“Have they ever put us first? Obviously, the threat of not being able to go to a nightclub or a lecture theatre without a vaccine passport is to coerce or blackmail as many people as they can to get a vaccine.”
She added: “Policies should not be based on coercion.
“They are doing everything in their power to force us to get the vaccine by any means. But this is like blackmail and it terrifies people into doing something that they may not otherwise agree with.”
Writing for the Sunday Express, Jennie Bristow, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University, warned of long term harm caused by some government policies.
She said: “The school prom, the driving test, the clubbing experience, the group holiday, the University graduation ceremony.
“All of these things have been callously snatched from their grasp, presented as dangerous luxuries rather than important moments in their development.
“And if young people have complained or failed to comply, we have responded by scaring them more: about their own health, about their loved ones, about the opportunities that will be forever denied to them if they don’t do what they are told.
“To add insult to injury, we have ignored the role they have played in getting us through the pandemic.”
