Building a path to restore safe international travel and kickstart the global economy is a challenge so broad that no company or country can solve it alone.
Cross-border movement is essential to the economy, and the key to building confidence, both for those who want to be able to travel safely, and for governments who want to protect the health of their citizens, is through digital health credentials which display vaccination or test certificates.
Multiple needs and requirements worldwide mean no one size will fit all, and so it is inevitable that many health pass solutions will make it to market.
What will be essential, however, is that all these differing solutions can work together, not only with each other, but across borders and cultures – and that is where the Good Health Pass Collaborative comes in.
Digi.me is delighted to have signed up as a contributing member to this new, open, inclusive and cross-sector initiative, which aims to build a blueprint for interoperable digital health pass systems.
We have done so because the Good Health Pass Collaborative’s core principles – built around enhanced data privacy, security and user control – align seamlessly with our own.
We also bring our own extensive knowledge of operating an active health pass, which is in daily use in the Netherlands, including with an elite sports team. This is not a proof of concept, but a functioning live service which is adding new users daily. And it gives us a unique insight into both the challenges and opportunities facing digital health services.
These are not insignificant. Technology is needed that not only ensures the safe and reliable flow of accurate data from test centres to individuals, but can also be tied to identity. An app or service also needs to allow the necessary certificate or test result to be presented easily when needed, anywhere around the world. The test or vaccine data itself, meanwhile, needs to be private and secure which means it cannot be held centrally – it needs to be held by the individual.
In the UK, for example, the most obvious way for users to access test or vaccine data is via GP records, but this requires mechanisms and permissions from the NHS to be in place. Digi.me already has this, and so knows how stringent the data standards are.
Building an ecosystem of interoperable health passes will not be simple, but the rewards will be substantial. We look forward to working with the Good Health Pass Collaborative to share skills and knowledge for the benefit of all.