According to an administrative officer, the Biden administration is working to create a set of standards to prove that it was vaccinated against Covid-19.
The official said that she is currently working with a variety of companies on standards and that they are probably still weeks from their final conclusion, including non-profit and technology companies.
Multiple government agencies, co-ordinated by The White House, are involved in conversation and planning as such a system will have a role in several aspects of life, including potential workers.
President Joe Biden has projected that life in the United States will return to normal by Christmas, and with more Americans being vaccinated every day, these vaccination certificates, also known as “vaccine passports,” may be critical in restoring normalcy by the end of the year.
In the meantime, certain sectors, like the travel industry, have called for the development of a uniform system to achieve a return to normality. Governments across the globe can seek evidence of vaccination before foreigners can reentry.
The administration of Biden said that the federal government should not take part in efforts to develop a passport vaccine system to check vaccines for persons.
The campaign “has been directed primarily by arms of the Department of Health and Human Services, including an office dedicated to health information technology,” according to the Post, citing five officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
According to the Post, White House coronavirus coordinator Zients has led the White House’s position in organizing the project.
“Our role is to help ensure that any solutions in this area should be simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and on paper, and designed from the start to protect people’s privacy,” Zients said earlier this month, according to the newspaper.
The requirements are still in the early stages of development, according to an administration official, but they should look similar to what Zients outlined, which is that the final product should be free, private, and unreplicable or forged.
Several companies and technology organizations have begun developing mobile applications or programs that enable people to upload details of their Covid-19 tests and vaccines, creating digital credentials that could be used to gain access to concert halls, stadiums, movie theaters, workplaces, and even countries, according to CNN.
However, taking into account the vast percentage of the global population who do not use or have access to smartphones is an important part of ensuring vaccine passports’ widespread use. A smart card is also being developed by a few companies in the Covid-19 Credentials Initiative as a middle ground between conventional paper vaccine certificates and an online version that is easier to store and replicate.
