A coalition of health and technology organizations is developing a digital COVID-19 vaccination passport to enable businesses, airlines and countries to see if people have received the vaccine.
The vaccination initiative, announced Thursday, is formulating technology to confirm vaccinations, likely that some governments will give a mandate to provide proof of their shots to enter the country.
The organization hopes the technology will enable people to “demonstrate their health status to safely return to travel, work, school and life while protecting their privacy on the data.”
The Financial Times reports the initiative, which includes members such as Microsoft, Oracle and the U.S. nonprofit Mayo Clinic, uses the work from the membership Commons Project’s international digital document confirming that someone tested negative for COVID-19.
The technology of the Commons project, created in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, is used by three major airline alliances.
The coalition is reportedly in talks with several governments to create a program that requires negative testing or proof of vaccination to enter, The Commons Project CEO Paul Meyer told Times.
“The goal of the vaccination initiative is to empower individuals with digital access to their vaccination records so that they can use tools like CommonPass to safely return to travel, work, school and life while protecting their privacy from data,” he said. said Meyer release.
The people who were vaccinated are currently receiving a piece of paper confirming that they have been vaccinated, but the coalition can develop a digital certificate using electronic medical records.
The technology should enable patients to keep their data safe while available in a digital wallet or a physical QR code to regulate who sees the information.
According to the Times, the vaccination initiative will require certain businesses, such as event planners and universities, to provide proof to their consumers, students and workers that they are being vaccinated.
Mike Sicilia, executive vice president of Oracle’s Global Business Units, said in a statement that the passport should be “as easy as online banking.”
“We are committed to working with technology and medical communities, as well as global governments, to ensure that people have secure access to this information wherever and whenever they need it,” he added.
The project is also evolving as new strains of COVID-19 emerge worldwide, including spreading the variant that is believed to be more contagious to be discovered in the UK.