US Government Looking to Develop Vaccine Passports as Proof of Vaccination

The US government is looking to develop a system that would manage the credentials and verify the proof of vaccination for the people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19. These credentials are referred to as vaccine passport and they are now available as a smartphone application or printed document. Many companies and public facilities say that they will now ask for proof of vaccination before they allow people to enter their premises like travelling or attending concerts. 

A system for the development of proof vaccination will be complex and complicated, however, it is still needed. The system should be consistent as having the inconsistent options for this system will not only be confusing but can also cause damage to the public health efforts. 

A discussion was held in the meeting of the Federal Health IT Coordinating Council and officials said, “A chaotic and ineffective vaccine credential approach could hamper our pandemic response by undercutting health safety measures, slowing economic recovery, and undermining public trust and confidence.” 

Different groups are already working on their own version of the vaccine passport including the World Health Organization and some IT companies. New York State is also looking to use a digital pass that will verify the authentication of the vaccine passport and the COVID-19 test results. 

Government officials and groups working on developing credentials for proof of vaccine are facing various issues including technical issues and ethical issues as the need for the credentials rises. Another thing the developers must be extra vigilant is about privacy protection and how to resist hackers or doctored vaccine passport. The verification of the proof of vaccination is also required as the vaccine is not yet available to anyone and people are already forging the paper-based vaccination card given at the site of vaccination. People who have been vaccinated can use the vaccine passport as a ticket to resume their normal activities but those who have yet to be vaccinated must still remain cautious. This is why the fraudsters are making and selling fake vaccine passports for people who have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19. 

The government is also concerned about how to manage the vaccine passport depending on the number of boosters shot the person got and how much is the duration of the vaccine protection. The administration of President Biden claims that it will soon have more information available and they are working on developing vaccine credentials soon. About 30% of the people in the USA have gotten their first shot of the coronavirus vaccine. The governments must take a very cautious approach to this management of vaccine passport as this could result in a mess if it’s developed wrong.