Vaccine passport apps are being developed but face technical challenges

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Sat, 2021-04-03 16:52 — mike kraft

Vaccine passport apps are here. But the technical challenges are still coming. Vaccine passports need to be standardized to be useful. Several different organizations are creating different standards. Rachel Lerman Washington Post

SAN FRANCISCO — Coming soon to your smartphone: Digital codes that afford you access to airplanes, concert venues and even restaurants.

Vaccine passports are new apps that will carry pieces of your health information — most critically your coronavirus vaccination status. They may soon be required to travel internationally or even to enter some buildings.

But a growing list of tech companies, governments and open-source software groups are all attempting to tackle the problem, prompting some concerns about a lack of a standard approach that would make it possible to carry around just one pass. Plus, apps would need to pull and verify your vaccination records in an easy, safe and controlled format. And wide adoption would require the majority of countries, airlines and businesses to agree on one (or two or three) accepted standards.

It’s a technical headache that is becoming only more urgent as more people get vaccinated and businesses and borders begin to reopen.

Several different organizations developing apps and tapping into government databases acknowledge how critical a common standard is. Still, many different groups are all racing to create that standard, with some overlap. ...

The idea is that you will be able to carry a QR code on your phone, likely within a digital wallet app, that can be scanned by airlines or venues and give you the green light to enter. The code should contain only relevant information — in most cases, just a confirmation that you have been vaccinated with an approved vaccine within a valid time frame. It is scanned, and voilà, you are in. ...

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