<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><div dir="ltr"><div><a href="https://www.techrepublic.com/article/microsoft-mayo-clinic-oracle-among-coalition-to-develop-digital-covid-19-vaccination-passport/?ftag=TREe331754&bhid=21705472342553730652466585470811&mid=13236353&cid=712551238" target="_blank">https://www.techrepublic.com/article/microsoft-mayo-clinic-oracle-among-coalition-to-develop-digital-covid-19-vaccination-passport/?ftag=TREe331754&bhid=21705472342553730652466585470811&mid=13236353&cid=712551238</a></div><div><br></div><div>
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<h1>Microsoft, Mayo Clinic, Oracle among coalition to develop digital COVID-19 vaccination passport</h1>
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Every immunization recipient worldwide will have access to the
credential, which will speed the return to travel, school, or work.
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<a href="https://tr1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/01/15/d057d296-bd5c-45b4-af85-97629cc2364c/resize/770x/e2e29d492955ac89a0a3a5844034d994/passport-health-immune-doble-d.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="padding-bottom:62%"><img src="https://tr1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/01/15/d057d296-bd5c-45b4-af85-97629cc2364c/resize/770x/e2e29d492955ac89a0a3a5844034d994/passport-health-immune-doble-d.jpg" alt="passport-health-immune-doble-d.jpg" style="margin-right:0px" width="368" height="229"></span></a><div>
Image: iStock/dobled
</div><p>Managing the coronavirus is finally about to get better.<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210114005294/en/Broad-Coalition-of-Health-and-Technology-Industry-Leaders-Announce-Vaccination-Credential-Initiative-to-Accelerate-Digital-Access-to-COVID-19-Vaccination-Records" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> In New York on Thursday</a>, a newly formed coalition of health and technology leaders announced <a href="https://vaccinationcredential.org/news" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">an initiative </a>to
streamline COVID-19 tracking in the effort to allow for the return to
the safety and comfort of pre-pandemic living through the development of
immunization credentialing. The credentials are being referred to as
"vaccination passports," conjuring up images of literal plastic and
paper booklets, but will primarily be QR-code style digital certificates
for smartphones.</p>The global goal of the Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI) is to enable those vaccinated for<a href="https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-covid-19-is-disrupting-the-enterprise-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/" target="_blank"> COVID-19</a>
to digitally access their immunization records in an easily accessible,
secure, verifiable, and privacy-preserving way and using it to provide
proof to governments, travel officials, and others who soon may make
this proof a requirement. The VCI coalition includes partners such as
Microsoft, the Mayo Clinic, and Oracle, among others. <p>The
challenge the VCI faces is that the current vaccination record system
does not support convenient access, control, sharing, and
standardization of verifiable vaccination records. </p><p><b>SEE</b>:<a href="https://www.techrepublic.com/article/coronavirus-critical-it-policies-and-tools-every-business-needs/" target="_blank"> Coronavirus: Critical IT policies and tools every business needs </a> (<b>TechRepublic</b>)</p>
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</div><p>The announcement emphasized: "Trustworthy, traceable,
verifiable, and universally recognized digital record of vaccination
status is urgently needed worldwide to safely enable people to return to
work, school, events, and travel."</p>
<p>"We are kicking off the most significant vaccination effort in the
history of the United States. Now more than ever, individuals need
access to their own vaccination and health information in a portable
format to begin to move about the country safely and comfortably," said
Ryan Howells, principal, Leavitt Partners, and program manager of the
CARIN Alliance, a coalition partner. </p><p>Another coalition partner,
The Commons Project, developed health-sharing apps CommonHealth (sharing
personal health information) and CommonPass (secure and verifiable way
to document health status while traveling). </p><p>"VCI coalition members are working to enable digital access to vaccination records using the open, interoperable <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fhealthwallet.cards%2F&esheet=52361719&newsitemid=20210114005294&lan=en-US&anchor=SMART+Health+Cards+specification&index=1&md5=3296afab453bb6bf1878812fc3b527a1" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">SMART Health Cards specification</a>,"
the announcement noted. "VCI's vision is to empower individuals to
obtain an encrypted digital copy of their immunization credentials to
store in a digital wallet of their choice. Those without smartphones
could receive paper printed with QR codes containing W3C verifiable
credentials"</p><p>The coalition is working with the World Health
Organization and the partners want to be clear that the certification
will be available to everyone, worldwide. "As we explore the many use
cases for the vaccination credential, we are working to ensure that
underserved populations have access to this verification," said Brian
Anderson, MD, chief digital health physician at coalition member MITRE. </p><p>"Just
as COVID-19 does not discriminate based on socio-economic status, we
must ensure that convenient access to records crosses the digital
divide." They have every intention, Anderson said, "to deliver an
open-source credential."</p><p>The Broad Coalition of Health and
Technology Industry added that additional coalition partners not
previously mentioned include Cerner, Change Healthcare, The Commons
Project Foundation, Epic, Evernorth, Safe Health, and Salesforce.</p><p>"Open
standards and interoperability are at the heart of VCI's efforts and we
look forward to supporting the World Health Organization and other
global stakeholders in implementing and scaling open global standards
for health data interoperability," said Paul Meyer, CEO of the
nonprofit, public trust <a href="https://thecommonsproject.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The Commons Project Foundation</a>, which aims to "unlock the full potential of technology and data for the common good."</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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