COVID DIGITAL PASS: Common Trust Network | World Economic Forum

This is NOT going to be some piece of paper proving vaccination for long. This is going digital, and it’s going to be universal. It’s only a matter of time – technology is being developed and implemented worldwide.

As countries around the world work to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and restart their economies, they all face the challenge of how to reopen their borders and allow travel and commerce to resume while protecting their populations’ health. As they contemplate relaxing border restrictions, quarantine and lock-downs, governments and industry need a more trustworthy model for validating individuals’ health status.

At present, COVID-19 test results are frequently presented on printed paper – or photos of the paper – from unknown labs, often written in languages foreign to those inspecting them. There is no standard format or certification system for lab results. Similarly, vaccination records are still generally shared on easily-forged paper cards.

The availability of trusted, verifiable health status information, including test results and vaccination records, can help governments implement more flexible, risk-based policies and develop a more reliable assessment of individuals’ health status as a part of a multi-layered risk management approach. Several countries have implemented digital platforms for travellers to submit their health information prior to departure. However, given the interconnectedness of global travel and the global economy, it is not practical for each country or jurisdiction to implement its own independent methods for verifying the health information of incoming travellers from every other country or region. Such an approach would impose an overwhelming burden of complexity on governments, industries and individuals alike.