With vaccines now being distributed and administered in the United States and around the world to combat the coronavirus pandemic, plans are said to be underway to produce technologies that can assess who has and who has not been inoculated.
According to a new CNN report, several international organizations and large companies – including the World Economic Forum and IBM – have begun “developing smartphone applications or systems for people to upload details of their COVID-19 tests and vaccinations, creating credentials. digital that could be displayed to enter concert venues, stadiums, cinemas, offices or even countries. “
One of the emerging technologies, known as the CommonPass application, being developed by the World Economic Forum and The Commons Project, a non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, allows users to upload medical data, such as a COVID-19 test or, Finally, a proof of vaccination. The application then generates a certificate in the form of a QR code, which users can show to officials without disclosing sensitive information.
Well-known technology company IBM has also created its own application, called Digital Health Pass, which works the same way, but would store credentials in a mobile wallet.
Future accreditation systems could function as “vaccine passports,” the CNN report said, allowing vaccinated people to provide a record showing they had been shot to enter places or travel abroad.
But new technologies also raise several questions, such as whether those who choose not to be vaccinated or may simply choose not to allow their medical information to be disclosed will be barred from entering participating places or countries. Not even to mention the fact that a large part of the world’s population still does not have access to smartphones or the internet.
The news will almost certainly spark a new round of debate on the extent to which individual freedom and privacy can be invaded in the name of public health, especially as many may still be cautious about administering a vaccine.
However, the development of such technologies continues. Two large groups are even working to set universal standards for accreditation systems.
According to CNN, “The Linux Foundation collaborated with the Covid-19 Accreditation Initiative, a team of more than 300 people representing dozens of organizations on five continents,” to make standardized vaccination passports a reality.