Beginning Friday (March 26) local Time, New Yorkers will be able to prove they have received the COVID-19 vaccine or recently tested negative for the new coronavirus through a code on their phone or a printout, according to foreign media reports. The nation’s first-ever authentication system, called Excelsior Pass, will be used first at large venues such as Madison Square Garden and will be extended next week to dozens of event, arts and entertainment venues across the state. It has already enabled people to increase the size of a wedding party or other catered event.
The App is said to be backed by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo to support the recovery of the industries most affected by the pandemic. Funded by New York State, the app is free to New York State businesses and anyone with a vaccination record or test results.
Like airline boarding passes, people can prove their health status with a digital QR code – or “quick response” machine-readable tag. They will need to download the Excelsior Pass app, enter their name, date of birth, zip code and answer a series of personal questions to confirm their identity. The data will come from the state’s vaccine registry and will also be linked to testing data from a number of pre-approved testing companies.
New York’s system is built on IBM’s Digital Health Pass platform, available through blockchain technology, so neither IBM nor any business has access to private medical information. Entertainment venues only need to scan QR codes.
The new pass means people don’t have to hold a piece of paper with a folded corner, worry about privacy issues or forgeries, or pay extra cash to prove that vaccines are not contagious.
In addition to IBM, open-source computer experts are developing such systems, as are retailers like Walmart, which is also offering digital vaccine certificates to anyone who has been vaccinated at its pharmacies.
The biggest challenge is to connect these systems together so that people don’t need to use different applications for different places or purposes.
Open source computer proponents have begun to collaborate to “figure out how to put together different pieces of the puzzle,” said Brian Behlendorf, executive director of the Linux Foundation for Public Health. The foundation is an industry-driven consortium for open-source software development.
New York hasn’t solved these connectivity issues yet, but hopes to eventually solve them and connect the results to Excelsior Pass so people can connect their admission tickets to their health certificates without having to switch between multiple applications.
Another obstacle will be finding a consistent set of standards, so a test or vaccine that counts as acceptable in one state or country will count as acceptable in another. At least two competing sets of standards are currently being developed globally to ensure safe access to information about vaccination status, especially for international travel.
Currently, New York State is using its own certification system established by its state health department, but it is unclear what will happen if Connecticut, New Jersey and other states establish their own certification systems.
Amy Fairchild, dean, historian and ethicist at Ohio State University, noted that the biggest challenges to such certification would be cultural rather than technical. “IBM, Abbott or others could develop the application, but the question is what would it be? Is it realistic to see it being used?” She asks.
Such a situation is particularly evident in international travel. Countries, including the United States, will deny entry to those who cannot prove they will not contract the COVID-19 virus.
But she noted that it’s less clear that U.S. consumers and businesses will accept the idea of providing proof before entering the country. Just as many Americans refuse to wear masks during an outbreak, some people will refuse to show proof when entering baseball viewing areas or nightclubs.
Fairchild said the practice would be very useful from a public health perspective, and it would eventually extend to flu and measles vaccinations if public opinion allows. “If it can be used to help build our public health infrastructure that would be great.”
But cultural resistance to being asked to do something makes these efforts usually fail. “Ideologically, our Culture is very resistant to the idea of enforcement, unless it’s a child,” Fairchild said.
That’s why developers use blockchain technology to protect privacy, and why – although the Biden administration has said it wants to leave vaccine passports to the private and nonprofit sectors – the White House says any authentication process must be free, fair, secure and private.
Preventing forgery is also key.
Chad Anderson, a senior security researcher at Domaintools, a group that tracks cyber threats, told Chicago-based NBC affiliate WMAQ that scammers have been selling fake CDC vaccination ID cards on sites such as Craigslist, eBay and OfferUp. Some cards are selling for as much as $200.
Other methods of vaccine authentication may include posting notices on driver’s licenses.
Cimaron Buser, president and CEO of the Appointment Scheduling & Booking Industry Association, said, “This is probably the only piece of authentic identification that we get that is relatively commonly used.”
He noted that the state immunization registry must send the information to the state DMV and obtain a new driver’s license, which isn’t simple, but at least it doesn’t require a separate ID.
Many companies will now race to create their own certification systems.
Vaccine passport standards?
The standardization issue may be more difficult to solve. Everyone agrees there should be common standards among applications, but whose standards are actually used?Fairchild says solving this problem will be challenging without federal involvement.
A standard for vaccine passports will be released next month, according to Dr. Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at MITRE Corporation, a nonprofit healthcare infrastructure company that helped create the organization.
The Vaccine Credential Initiative, which has been working together since September, includes household names such as Microsoft, Mayo Clinic, Oracle, Walmart, CVS and Salesforce, as well as lesser-known nonprofits that work to ensure that people’s health information is freely and securely accessible.
Once standards are established, companies and nonprofits can use them to build systems that allow people to prove they have been vaccinated. They are like the growing number of electronic boarding passes on airlines.
To achieve full security, people may also have to show photo ID, although not every place requires such dual identification.
“Restaurants may just have customers scan their passwords instead of requiring ‘secure levels of identity management,'” Anderson said.
People could also print out QR codes so that everyone can confirm, not just those with smartphones.
Anderson said, “Vaccination is a human right, and these types of credentials should be seen as equally important.”
The goal of creating the vaccine voucher is to create a set of guidelines that major companies or nonprofits can use to create a digital vaccine passport.
“We all want a product that is trustworthy, reliable, interoperable and easy to use,” Anderson stated.
Excelsior Pass will continue to evolve
IBM also plans to eventually use the same technology platform to deliver other health data, said Eric Piscini, IBM vice president for emerging business networks. IBM has been working on the idea for years.
The goal, Piscini said, is to “enable everyone on the planet to collect information through their own cell phone and expose that information to the right party with consent.” The data will remain in the hands of the health care provider, not IBM or its partners.
Behlendorf, who has been working on such technology, notes that such a system would allow data to be “patient-centric, not healthcare providers or insurance companies.”
The first large-scale test of such a system is now under way in New York.
Tests at several sites, including Buffalo Bills, have shown that the Pass system works and can be used by people from a variety of backgrounds. And for those who don’t have smartphones can print QR codes on paper.
New York State is reported to have paid $2.5 million for the system, which will be provided free of charge to businesses and individuals.
Businesses will not be required to use the passes, but if they do, they may be allowed to fill more seats or accommodate more customers.
People will be able to store multiple Excelsior passes on a single phone, so Parents can save their children’s credentials, for example.
It will not require a constant connection to the Internet or cell phone system.
Anyone who receives a state-approved COVID-19 test at one of the participating laboratories will have their results accelerated through the Excelsior Pass system. results for PCR testing will be valid for 72 hours and results for antigen testing will be valid for 6 hours.
The Excelsior Pass app for individuals can be downloaded for Android or iOS, and for businesses, there is a scanning app for both systems.
Several state officials involved in the effort said they will continue to improve the Excelsior Pass system as time goes on.
The innovative Excelsior Pass is another tool in our new toolbox to fight viruses and allow more sectors of the economy to safely reopen and secure personal information,” Gov. Cuomo said in a prepared statement. ‘Public health or economics’ has always been a false choice – the answer must be both.”
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