• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Our Services
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Top Nav Social Icons

Mobile ID World

Mobile ID World

Identification Revolution

  • Mobile ID
    • What Is Mobile ID?
    • Identity Associations
    • Premier Partners
    • FAQ
  • News
  • Solutions
    • Behavioral
    • Facial Recognition
    • Fingerprint Biometrics
    • Iris Biometrics
    • Second Factor
    • Smart Cards
    • Smartphones
    • Vital
    • Voice
    • Wearable Tech
    • Other
  • Applications
    • Access Control
    • Cloud Technology
    • Commerce
    • Enterprise
    • Healthcare
    • Identification
    • Internet of Things
    • Law Enforcement
    • Strong Online Authentication
  • Exclusive
    • Interviews
    • Featured Articles
    • Podcasts
  • Companies
  • Events

What You Need to Know About Mobile Vaccine Passports

August 20, 2021

Public health experts have emphasized the importance of vaccines since the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines give us the ability to inoculate large portions of the global population, which in turn stops the spread of the virus and allows us get back to some semblance of normal life.

What You Need to Know About Mobile Vaccine Passports

The problem is that vaccines are only effective if people actually get them. The virus can continue to spread (and mutate) amongst those who have not received their shots, making it unsafe to mingle until we reach a critical vaccine threshold.

That’s why there’s been an increasing emphasis on vaccine passports in the past few months. Now that the vaccines are here, venues that want to support public health need a way to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Vaccine passports are well-suited to that purpose, and the debate around them is only going to intensify as jurisdictions like San Francisco and New York try to counter vaccine hesitancy with stricter vaccine requirements in public settings.

Of course, it can be difficult to sort fact from fiction given the amount of scaremongering and misinformation surrounding COVID-19. Many people who have been vaccinated may still be reluctant to use a vaccine passport app. So what is a vaccine passport, and should you be worried about putting one on your phone?

What is a Vaccine Passport?

At the most basic level, a vaccine passport is a digital version of a vaccine card. It is a credential that states that you have received your full round of COVID-19 shots, and are therefore less likely to have and spread the disease. You can then present that credential to prove that you are vaccinated (and presumably healthy) when entering a restaurant or another establishment, in much the same way that you would present a driver’s license at the checkout counter to purchase alcohol or some other restricted good.

Vaccine passports are novel only in the sense that you can store them on your phone rather than in your wallet. Since people carry their phones everywhere, a digital vaccine passport is less likely to be misplaced, making them more convenient for many consumers.

How Does a Vaccine Passport Work?

A vaccine passport will typically take the form of an app or a digital wallet. When you sign up, the app will ask you for proof of identity, a process that may include both a document check and some form of identity verification, such as facial recognition. In many cases, you may be able to complete that process remotely with the camera on a standard mobile phone, though the specifics will vary depending on the app you choose.

What You Need to Know About Mobile Vaccine Passports

Once your identity has been verified, you will be able to go through the app to access and download your vaccination record from your healthcare provider. That record will then be stored offline in your wallet, so you will still have access to the document even when you do not have an internet connection.

Who Makes The App?

That depends. Some vaccine passports – such as CLEAR’s Health Pass and Daon’s VeriFLY – are developed by private companies that liaise with other public and private stakeholders in the healthcare industry. Others – like Northern Ireland’s new CovidCertNI app – are provided directly by the government. Both kinds of apps function in a similar matter, and can be equally secure, assuming that the app is built in accordance with the latest cybersecurity best practices.

Are Vaccine Passports Safe to Use?

As with any digital service, you will likely need to share some personal information when downloading a vaccine passport, so you do need to trust your provider to keep that information safe. In that regard, getting a vaccine passport is no different from opening a bank account or signing up for a rewards program, and in the case of government apps, you may only be sharing information that the government already has on file.

Meanwhile, a well-designed third-party app will protect your personal information, and will not share it with other parties. Any digital platform can be vulnerable to cybercriminals, but vaccine passports are ultimately just as safe as many of the other services you are already using.

Does This Violate My HIPAA Rights?

In a word, no. HIPAA laws (and their international equivalents) prevent doctors from sharing your personal information without your consent. The do not place any such restrictions on what you tell people about yourself. In the case of a vaccine passport, you are downloading your own health record, and you are voluntarily choosing to present it to gain access to a specific venue, or in exchange for a specific service. Those venues are also allowed to set their own health policies and deny service to those who do not meet those requirements.

Having said that, it is worth noting that many vaccine passports will give you more privacy than more conventional IDs. A driver’s license, for example, will often include details like your address in addition to your date of birth, all of which are visible when you present your card.

A vaccine passport, on the other hand, can simply state whether or not you have received your vaccine, and fulfill the binary yes/no requirement. It will not necessarily tell the other person when or where you were vaccinated, or reveal any other identifying details from your private life. The credential itself can usually be verified with a QR code or some other form of scan, which lets the other party know that it is authentic even in the absence of other data.

With that in mind, vaccine passports are an extremely convenient and effective way to ensure a safe and healthy recreational and/or professional environment. No app will be perfect, but vaccine passports can be an integral part of the global recovery, and make us feel more comfortable now that we’re finally able to see one another face-to-face.

–

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)

Filed Under: Industry News Tagged With: Biometric, biometrics, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, Health Pass, health pass apps, mobile apps, vaccine credentials, vaccine passports

Related News & Articles

Gemalto Biometric Payment Card Trials Feature Zwipe Technology

Survey Finds Americans Accept More Responsibility to Protect Their Privacy

Mobile Biometrics Enable ‘Proof of Existence’ On Ambitious Humanode Blockchain

Primary Sidebar

Learn About Mobile ID and Aviation

Tweets

Sponsored Links

facetec logo

FaceTec’s patented, industry-leading 3D Face Authentication software anchors digital identity, creating a chain of trust from user onboarding to ongoing authentication on all modern smart devices and webcams. FaceTec’s 3D FaceMaps™ make trusted, remote identity verification finally possible. As the only technology backed by a persistent spoof bounty program and NIST/iBeta Certified Liveness Detection, FaceTec is the global standard for Liveness and 3D Face Matching with millions of users on six continents in financial services, border security, transportation, blockchain, e-voting, social networks, online dating and more. www.facetec.com

FACEPHI is a global leader in Facial Recognition technology and in Mobile Biometrics technologies. With a strong concentration in the financial sector, FacePhi’s product is rapidly becoming a service used by banks all over the world. Its implementation doesn’t just save money, it is also a way to attract clients and build loyalty, while increasing the security of transactions for both the customer and the business. To learn more about FacePhi, visit https://www.facephi.com/en/

Recent Posts

  • NordPass, Yahoo! Japan, and Regula Keep Up Mobile Biometrics Momentum
  • NordPass Enables Biometric, TOTP-secured 2FA for Business Users
  • Mastercard Solution Certified Under UK’s Digital ID Framework
  • Transatlantic Digital Traveler Identity Project Gets High-Profile Tech Partner
  • Digital Identity Tech Demo Online Event

Footer

  • About Us
  • Company Directory
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Archives
  • CCPA: Do not sell my personal info.

Follow Us

Copyright © 2023 MobileIDWorld