WhyCovidpassports
aregrounded
A
fteralmosttwolostsummers,international
travelis slowly getting back to something
approachingnormal,buttravellingabroadis
stillnoteasy.There arecomplexdemandsfor
tests,longqueuesattheairportandmountainsof
paperwork.Surely,theremustbeanappforthat?
Thisiswhy,sincetheearlydaysof thepandemic,
governments,thetravelindustryandairlineshaveall
talkedaboutdigitalCovid health passes.So whyaren’twe
thereyet?Andhowlonguntilproving ourvaccination
statusatthe airportisaseasyasscanning a passport?
“Theairportistoolate”
“Bythetimewegettotheairport,that’sfartoolate,”said
DrEdgarWhitley, whospecialisesindigitalidentityatthe
LondonSchoolof Economics.“Airportsdon’t want to have
topaypeopletostandatdesks checking documents,and
themoreofthatyoucan do in advance,the better.”
That’swhystreamliningtheprocessissomething
everyonewantsto do.“Datacouldbeshared up and
downthelineinexactly thesamewayasyourpassport
details,yourvisadetails,yournameandaddress,the
firsthotelyou’regoingtostayat,etc,etc.That’sthe
grandvision,”saidDrWhitley.
Theproblemisgettingthere.“Ithinktheoptimal
solutionwouldbethatyouwouldhaveaninternationally
agreedsetofstandardsforwhatvaccinationortesting
and/orrecoverystatusisacceptable,”saidKirstyInnes,
headofdigitalgovernmentattheTonyBlairInstitute
forGlobalChange.
“Ifyouhavethat thenthedatathatyoushareandprove
atthe border doesn’tneedtobe
muchatall.Youcan justhavean
appthatisconnectedtoyour
domestichealthauthoritydata,
whichgeneratesa QR codeanda
resulttosay,‘yes,goodtogo,this
personmeetsthestandard’.”
TheBlair Instituteis part of an
alliance of companiescalledthe
GoodHealthPassCollaborative,
whichisworkingtodevelopsuch a system.InAugust,the
grouppublisheda blueprint, arguingthat thereareseveral
principlesthatshouldunderpinanyhealthpasssystem:
thattheexchangeofdatashouldbeprivatebetweenthe
travellerandtheorganisationreceivingit, thatitcannot
betrackedbythirdparties, thatdatasharingisminimised,
andthatthereistransparencyoverhowthedataisused.
JamesO’Malleyinvestigatestheknottytechnical
andpoliticalissuesaroundhealthpassesfortravel
Thoughaninternationalsetofstandardshave
notyetbeenagreed,companiesandappsare
alreadyfillingthegap.Veriflyisonesuch
example.Theideaisthatit’sadigitalwallet
forallofyourCovidcredentials,storing
vaccinerecordsandtestresultsin
oneplacetostreamlinethecheck-in
process.It’scurrentlybeingusedby
BritishAirways,Virgin,American
andseveralotherairlines.
“Itwasanightmareforthe
airlinestocomplywithallofthetravel
formrequirements,”saidBourke.
Heexplainshowtheairlinesfacea
myriadofdifferentrulesfordifferent
countries,withpassengersneeding
todeclaredifferentinformationat
differentpoints.Hiscompany’sapp
aimstobringeverythingtogether.
Forsomeplaces,suchasthe
UKandtheEU,Veriflyhooks
directlyintohealthsystemsusingAPIs,
meaningthatvaccinestatuscanbe
automaticallychecked.Butthecomplexityof
thetestingsystemmeansthatthere’sno
centraldatabaseoftests.
“Thereare20,000differentprovidersof
testingfacilities,frontinglabs,providingthe
PDFreportsintheirownformat,”saidBourke.
HedescribeshowVeriflyusesAPIaccesswith
someproviders,butmostsimplysupplyaPDF
containingtheresults.SoVeriflyhas
beenbuilttouseAIandmachinelearning
toreadPDFsandpickoutallofthe
expectedfields,suchasdateofbirth,the
typeoftestandsoon.AndiftheAIfails?
Documentsareautomaticallysenttoa
humantolookover,aprocessthathe
saystakesanaverageoffiveminutes.
Attheheartoftheappisarules
enginesimilartowhathasbeenproposed
above,andthecompanyhasconfiguredit
tomatchthetravelrulesforthecountries
itoperatesin.Atthetimeofwriting,
Veriflyisbeingusedby27,000people
everyday,perhapsshowinghowitcould
bedoneonawiderscaleinthefuture.
Verifly’sstop-gapsolution
PCProbe
Exclusiveinvestigationsintotechnologypractices.Emailprobe@pcpro.co.ukifyouhaveastory
Airportsdon’twant
tohavetopaypeopleto
checkdocuments...the
moreofthatyoucandoin
advance,thebetter
