The WHO has a similar initiative, the Smart Vaccination Certificate.That means going out to eat in Chicago will soon require people to bring not just their mask, but also proof of vaccination if they are going to be inside for more than 10 minutes. Many technology and health care entities have banded together as the Vaccine Credential Initiative, to develop a broadly agreed-upon set of open standards, meaning that the software underlying a verification system is transparent and it can adapt easily to other systems, while safeguarding privacy. “You shouldn’t have to hand over your health record to Yankee Stadium or an airline,” Meyer said. If a participating airline needs to know whether a passenger has had a negative test or inoculation, and a participating pharmacy has the information, CommonPass can communicate with both and return a simple yes or no answer, without transmitting any specific data. Q: What are the obstacles and objections?Ī: Many of the objections that have been raised are about privacy, but people developing the systems say those can be addressed.ĬommonPass and its app, for example, do not hold any of the user’s health records, said Paul Meyer, CEO of the Commons Project Foundation. That does not, however, rule out a federal agency using a privately developed electronic health credential to screen international travelers. “There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said this week. The Biden administration acknowledges that private entities will use such systems, but says the federal government will not be involved in creating one. Iceland this month eased entry restrictions for people who have been vaccinated, and Britain is about to start experimenting with a vaccine verification requirement to attend sporting events, though so far neither country has adopted a digital system. The governors of Florida and Texas have vowed to block any such system in their states, calling it government overreach and an invasion of privacy. The same month, Singapore Airlines became the first carrier to make limited use of Travel Pass for people flying between Singapore and London, and will put it into wide use in May.Īlso in March, New York state became the first government in the United States to implement a system, the Excelsior Pass, developed with IBM, which some venues have used to prove vaccination. Lufthansa passengers flying into the United States can also use it. In March, Aruba and JetBlue began allowing passengers from the United States to show a negative test using CommonPass, developed by the Commons Project, a Swiss-based nonprofit, with support from the World Economic Forum. The systems are designed to show proof of vaccination, as well, if that is required. Most are using the systems - including one called CommonPass and the International Air Transport Association’s own system, Travel Pass - on a trial basis, to verify negative coronavirus tests. In the past month, hundreds more entities around the world - airlines, governments, drugstore chains and others - began using privately controlled digital systems to verify health credentials. Q: Who is using it?Ī: In February, Israel’s government began issuing its digital Green Pass or a physical certificate to people who had been vaccinated, and it is required to enter places like hotels and theaters. Requiring organizations to spend a lot of money or adopt new software would be a barrier. That, in turn, means it would have to be easy to use, and relatively inexpensive. To be most useful, a digital record would have to be widely adopted - by governments checking travelers, by airlines and ship lines screening passengers, by businesses restricting admission and by the hodgepodge of health care providers, government agencies and pharmacies that are giving the shots. But some governments and businesses already require proof of a negative coronavirus test for entry to certain crowded locations, and a few have started demanding proof of vaccination, increasing the desire for an electronic alternative. No major country has publicly floated vaccine verification for domestic travel. The concept of documenting vaccinations is being taken to new levels of sophistication, and experts predict that electronic verification will soon become commonplace. A woman shows her Green Pass before entering a show at an opera house in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 19, 2021.
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