The idea of a “vaccine passport” that would allow people to prove that they are inoculated against Covid was included in a political debate on personal freedom. But this misunderstands how these applications are likely to be used. Passports would empower consumers, giving them more control over their own health information.
Millions of Americans now have vaccine leaflets and data. But your doctor and your health plan do not necessarily have this information. The card may be lost and easy to counterfeit. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention require states to maintain databases as a condition for vaccine shipments. But there are more than 60 separate systems – some large states like Texas have a few, and New York City has its own systems. The record system uses an existing arrangement for childhood vaccination programs: it was set up years ago so that pediatricians can request records from these sites that a child has been vaccinated.
The federal government had to set up a fast registration system before the country could reach a consensus on how consumers should store this information. Instead, states were asked to abandon the existing system without an obvious plan for consumer access; the priority was to obtain gunfire.
In some cases, health plans are notified that you have received a vaccine, at least if you offer your voluntary insurance card when you are vaccinated. But this does not help millions who are uninsured or who are shot in a mass vaccination site or other non-standard place, such as an optometrist’s office.
Therefore, there is no easy way to prove that you have been vaccinated. You would need cryptographically signed data that cannot be easily falsified – a digital card that allows you to retrieve and store test and vaccination information in a secure and verifiable way, either through an application or through a code QR.