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To reopen our economy, digital proof of vaccination is a game-changer

Vaccine credential apps can expedite our return to normal life. After a free download, they retrieve the user’s official vaccine record from a trusted registry or healthcare provider and generate a digital vaccine card that is securely stored on their smart phone.

Now that nearly 30 percent of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated, businesses are eager to return to pre-Covid revenue levels. Confirmation of vaccination has the potential to facilitate greater customer density in restaurants, concert halls and even healthcare facilities, without excluding unvaccinated patrons. The key is private, easy-to-use, digital vaccine records that allow businesses to effortlessly confirm vaccination and accelerate the pace of getting back to normal. Provided for free to all, this technology enables customers to carry proof of vaccination right on their mobile devices and share it momentarily with businesses without compromising personal data privacy.

Paper vaccine cards are easily lost or smudged and are very labor-intensive for businesses to manage or track. They also offer little evidence and reliability of truth—anyone can forge a signature and a date. In a digital world where we live by our mobile devices, a paper proof of vaccination delivers a dubious attempt at inspiring consumer confidence.

Digital proof of vaccination is central to restarting the economy.
Vaccine credential apps can expedite our return to normal life. After a free download, they retrieve the user’s official vaccine record from a trusted registry or healthcare provider and generate a digital vaccine card that is securely stored on their smartphone. By showing a special QR code, users can quickly and easily participate in health screenings. The business sees only a checkmark that verifies vaccination, which drastically reduces the complexity of dealing with private health information. Users retain complete control over their private health information, sharing only what they want to share.

An app developed within the healthcare industry takes the privacy idea even further by only sharing health data in the moment of verification—it cannot be saved by the business, somewhat like Snapchat. The app also is underpinned by open standards and a broad, impartial governance community that ensure the app data comes from reliable healthcare providers and is accurate.

Technology’s role in vaccine verification is to provide tools that imbue the information being shared with a high degree of trust and privacy; but the decision to share must reside with the individual, the same way they choose to show a paper vaccination card. Technology simplifies sharing and makes it more convenient and safer for everyone.

Vaccination sections offer a path to recovery while maintaining equal access for all.
The possible use cases and upsides for digital vaccine passes abound, including, “A table for two, please–vax seating.” Very soon, we could see “vax” sections at restaurants, theaters and other crowded venues, like the non-smoking sections of days gone by. Patrons would flash their phones on arrival to share a QR code, and get seated among others who are also immune to boost their sense of safety. The restaurant also may be allowed to seat vaccinated people closer together and accommodate larger groups to increase revenue.

In healthcare facilities, proof of vaccination will soon be used to bring some “normalcy” back to patients’ lives by allowing them to have companions and visitors and providing an alternative to pre-surgery Covid tests. Digital vaccine records will make the verification process much easier on both patients and caregivers.

The potential in the travel realm, where international arrivals alone plummeted 74% in 2020, is extraordinary. In Hawaii, for example, getting digital vaccine records into the hands of residents and visitors will streamline arrivals and inter-island travel and allow entertainment and tourism businesses to serve more customers. Like the TSA Pre-Check process that fast-tracks pre-screened travelers at the airport, digital vaccine records will expedite entry into virtually any place of business.

These solutions are a silver lining of the pandemic.
Digital vaccine records will serve to protect both businesses and customers as the world begins to return to pre-pandemic norms.

Beyond vaccinations, in the long-term, these digital solutions have the potential to radically transform the relationship between healthcare providers and patients by delivering a seamless data-sharing experience, built around the idea that good healthcare starts with empowering and informing patients. One initiative is the Good Health Pass Collaborative, which is leading the charge in creating a blueprint for interoperable digital health pass systems worldwide, with a focus on restoring international travel and restart the global economy. [Disclaimer: Lumedic, which I lead, is a partner of this collaborative along with scores of different companies in other indusries]

One silver lining of the pandemic is the launchpad it has provided for technologies that enable a patient-centric, patient-controlled experience. This is just the beginning of an entirely new way of owning, managing and sharing personal health data.

Photo: narvikk, Getty Images


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Mike Nash

Mike Nash is co-founder and CEO of Lumedic, creator of Lumedic Connect, a healthcare app whose first function is proof of vaccination. Lumedic is changing the healthcare system by redefining the role patients play in their healthcare journeys, allowing them to sit at the center of their healthcare information.

This post appears through the MedCity Influencers program. Anyone can publish their perspective on business and innovation in healthcare on MedCity News through MedCity Influencers. Click here to find out how.

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