Digital Health Passport: What are the Different Countries Doing?

The road back to normal from the pandemic is slowly taking shape. The key, experts say, is an efficient vaccination drive with the aim of global herd immunity. This involves inoculating upto 70% of the world’s population to go back to the way things were before the pandemic. The digital health passport solutions also seem to be promising to control the pandemic.

The world has come up with the idea of health certificates/passes to facilitate safer human movement. However, it’s more complicated than it sounds. Vaccine procurement and logistical issues continue to bother some countries.

For now, the promise of a full economic reopening still comes with some caveats. Interestingly, out of all the proposals, it seems that health passes are the way to a quicker recovery. With it, vaccinated people can safely help restart sectors that pandemic experts have deemed high-risk. These sectors include tourism, entertainment, leisure, and even office settings. With an effective digital health passport solution, we can all be in a shared space safely again.

What is a Digital Health Passport?

Health passes are not a new idea. Even before the 2020’s pandemic, some of the world’s airports were already using health screening equipment. These solutions help identify potential carriers of diseases such as Swine Flu, MERS-Cov. People showing symptoms were either sent to quarantine or denied entry into their country or state. Some countries even required travelers to present an International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP), at entry points.

However, because of the scale and impact of the recent pandemic, traditional ICVPs might not be effective. They’re replicable and tamper-prone. This enables potential virus carriers to enter regions and spread the virus.

Modern technologies enable a convenient and counterfeit, tamper-proof health certificate. Health passes are easily accessible via mobile devices- something that most of us own.

Health passes allow people to prove that they’re not disease carriers by showing vaccination certificates or negative test reports. People can display verifiable digital health credentials through their smartphones.

Currently, many digital health certificate solution providers are already in talks with governments and businesses. The goal is to provide a way to reopen the economy. However, there are still inequities in distribution. The best solution is to ensure that participants are either vaccinated or have a negative test report.

How Some Countries, States, and Organizations Are Implementing Digital Health Passports

Right now, the implementation of health passports across regions varies. For instance, the Federal government in The US has left the decision on individual states. This may result in different states employing different providers.
As for the EU, there are possibilities of implementing a unified health pass solution for all the members of the Schengen Zone.

Here’s a quick overview of how digital health status certificates are being implemented:

New York

In April 2021, New York state finalized a deal with IBM to launch a digital health pass. The program’s goal is to safeguard events and other occasions where large crowds gather.

The program is also for the state’s biggest event venues. The venues include the Barclay’s Center, Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium, and Citi Field. Other popular locations include museums and art galleries in NY, which may also require health passes.

Also, the state recommends digital verification of health credentials for people willing to host large private gatherings. For instance, the event organizers might need to provide vaccination or test reports for their guests.

European Union

The global pandemic affected economic activity between European Union members. However, restarting the activities is a priority for the member nations.

EU also agreed on implementing a Digital Health Passport solution for its members. The guidelines include encoding processes, privacy stipulations, and verification standards.

The target for a full roll-out is as early as June 2021. So, the pilot testing period for the program will be May 2021.

The Commission said that “Digital Health Passport” should not hamper freedom of movement for people. The program aims at creating a hassle-free border crossing process. People without a green pass will need to follow additional protocols such as quarantines or on-the-spot tests.

Israel

Israel is an inspiration for its pandemic response. It is one of the first countries to inoculate more than half of its population. Additionally, it’s one of the first nations to implement a nationwide health certification process.

The program has been in operation since February 21, after a month-long lockdown.
The initiative gives newly recovered individuals and people who’ve already gotten their second dose of vaccine access to an impressive list of establishments. These private and public establishments include gyms, studios, hotels, stadiums, cinemas, etc.

So, Israel’s strategies have empowered its citizens to reopen economic activity quickly.

Singapore

The strategies Singapore implemented to control the outbreak worked efficiently. The efforts helped keep the infection rate to a minimum.

With almost half of the population with the first dose of vaccination, Singapore became a world leader. This has also enabled the government to reopen the economy partially. However, the government remains vigilant about allowing entry to foreigners.

The government has decided to create a travel bubble with countries that controlled the pandemic using IATA’s Travel Pass. Initially, Singapore would allow travel to and from the United Kingdom and Australia.

How HealthMatriX Can Make a Difference

HealthMatriX is a Singapore-based start-up dedicated to helping economies reopen safely. The company innovated a secure and reliable digital health passport solution- MatriX-iPass™. It is a one-stop solution for efficient health credential management and verification.

Modular and Scalable

MatriX-iPass™ is a fully modular solution. One can deploy it as the primary digital health pass solution or integrate it as part of a larger system.
Currently, the airline industry is using IATA Travel Pass. For instance, it can verify digital health passes created within the MatriX-iPass™ platform.

HealthMatriX also offers a Flexi Subscription plan. It enables clients to have the option to use only some parts of the MatriX-iPass™ platform. It lets the clients save on subscription fees while getting the service they expect from HealthMatriX.

HealthMatriX has also made sure that the platform is ready to take on health pass projects of all scales. From government contracts to small and large enterprises, MatriX-iPass™ can be scaled easily.

High-security Features That Prioritize User Privacy

The MatriX-iPass™ platform uses advanced technologies to protect user privacy. The solution is GDPR compliant for secure health credential verification.

Additionally, our AI-powered cloud-hosted servers are designed to check for: 

• System inconsistencies
• Possible signs of illegitimate use of our app and the printed physical Health Pass

These measures protect user privacy from potential data breaches and hacks. Clients can add another layer of privacy to our platform using secure blockchain encryption.

The use of blockchain, A.I. security, and cloud-hosted servers shows how serious HealthMatriX is in protecting user data.

The Bottom Line about digital health passport

With a modular and scalable solution like MatriX-iPass™, we can protect people from infectious diseases.
HealthMatriX has fully equipped MatriX-iPass with security provisions. It helps overcome the challenges of the data theft epidemic that afflicts the digital world as well.

Want to know how HealthMatriX works? Schedule a demo today!