A large coalition of technology and health organizations are creating a way for people to access their vaccination records digitally while preserving security and privacy.
The group, the Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI) includes several tech and health giants, like Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, Epic, Mayo Clinic and several others. They aim to develop a standard model for organizations administering vaccines for COVID-19 to make credentials available in accessible in a digital format.
Currently, vaccination record systems don’t support convenient access, control and sharing of verifiable vaccination records, according to VCI’s press release.
The group wants to enable digital access to vaccination records using the open, interoperable SMART Health Cards specification, based on the W3C Verifiable Credential and HL7 FHIR standards, according to VCI.
The end goal is for people to obtain an encrypted digital copy of their immunization credentials to store in a digital wallet. For people without smartphones, this could include paper printed with QR codes containing W3C credentials.
In a statement, Bill Patterson, executive vice president and general manager, CRM Applications at Salesforce, said the company is proud to join the effort to help organizations customize all aspects of the vaccination management lifecycle and integrate with the offerings of other coalition members.
Notably, Salesforce has been working on new platforms designed to help organizations return to work safely, and that includes vaccination management software.
“With a single platform to help deliver safe and continuous operations and deepen trust with customers and employees, this coalition will be crucial to support public health and wellbeing,” Patterson said.
Meanwhile, Oracle’s executive vice president of global business units Mike Sicilia said electronic vaccination, testing and other records will be vital to resuming pre-pandemic activities.
“This process needs to be as easy as online banking,” he said. “We are committed to working collectively with the technology and medical communities, as well as global governments, to ensure people will have secure access to this information where and when they need it.”
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