Vaccination certificates may be the bridge towards helping economies recover from the burden of COVID-19. Countries all over are implementing different systems as their COVID-19 vaccination verification systems. These range from physical certificates to digital health certificates. What are the essential features for these certificates?
Israel is one of the countries that have successfully implemented vaccination and the use of digital certificates. As other countries and even the WHO consider developing a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate, here are some of the essential features of a successful certificate:
Essential Feature: Minimum Data
Data is a valuable asset for businesses and criminals alike. We have covered some of the ways criminals have exploited data during the pandemic on the RKN Global blog. Healthcare data is especially sensitive. This is because it contains personal and medical information that criminals can exploit for different types of fraud.
Therefore, COVID-19 vaccination certificates need to provide access only to information that proves the holder is vaccinated without disclosing other sensitive information. The European Commission and the World Health Organization offer recommendations on the biographical information to include and to leave out.
1st of the Essential Features: Inclusive Formats
One consistent concern that has arisen over the use of digital vaccination certificates is how they alienate people without access to technology. A good vaccination certificate needs to provide citizens and users with alternative formats of their vaccination certificates. This would include both e- and hard-copy formats.
Additionally, vaccine certificates should be portable to allow citizens to prove their vaccination status wherever they are.
COVID-19 vaccine passports should also accommodate differences between and changes in the effectiveness of different vaccines. This includes effectiveness in preventing infection and transmission. It also includes the duration of immunity and the frequency of vaccine passport renewal.
2nd of the Essential Features: Remote Verification
Remote verification is important in COVID-19 vaccination certificates. Certificates should allow for a secure, contactless remote verification using smartphones or tablets as verification devices.
Standardized
Standardization is an important feature in COVID-19 vaccine certificates. Ideally, COVID-19 vaccination certificates should be built for interoperable technologies that allow different verification bodies to determine a person’s vaccinated status.
In addition, these vaccine passports should have verifiable credentials across the board. The Common Pass and the COVID-19 Credentials initiatives are working towards developing standardized digital solutions in this regard.
Affordable
Affordability for governments and individuals is another key feature of vaccine certificates. Governments must have sufficient resources to develop and maintain a vaccination passport. In addition, the individuals of that nation must be in a position to afford the vaccination passport to prevent issues with the marginalization of low-income groups.
Meet Legal and Ethical Standards
The legality and ethics of vaccine passports have caused divisions across stakeholders and other experts. For vaccine passports to work, they must meet both legal and ethical standards. These include international, regional, and national human rights laws, data protection laws, COVID-19 legislation, and equality and anti-discrimination laws.
Vaccine passports should be inclusive, have defined uses, and avoid worsening existing inequalities. They should protect users’ privacy and offer them control over their own data.
Bottom Line
Vaccine passports are established to serve different purposes including vaccination status and COVID-19 infection status.
These certificates have certain features that are essential to their function and integrity. Examples include the ability to maintain the privacy of the vaccinated person, to remain standardized, and to prevent exacerbating existing inequalities such as differential rollout access.
