The Econmist - USA (2021-10-30)

74 International TheEconomistOctober30th 2021

than  designing  a  travel  document.  Pass­

ports  may  reveal  age,  but  vaccine  passes

are  gateways  to  personal  health  informa­

tion,  potentially  a  great  deal  of  it.  That

scares people. Even among countries with

relatively  high  vaccination  rates,  support

for  vaccine  passports  varies,  from  52%  in

Hungary  to  84%  in  Britain  (see  chart).  In

India people are used to sharing their fin­

gerprints and iris scans as part of the Aad­

haar  biometric  idsystem.  Yet  many,  like

Debjani Mazumder, a publishing executive

in  Delhi,  worry  about  pharmaceutical

companies  and  insurers  getting  hold  of

their  health  records.  “I  feel  like  a  guinea

pig,” Ms Mazumder says.

In  theory,  digital  technology  should

make  it  easy  to  verify vaccination  status.

Yet  because  verifying  apps  cannot  recog­

nise all qrcodes, many verifiers take what

Edgar Whitley at the London School of Eco­

nomics  calls  a  “flash­and­go”  approach,

simply eyeballing them. A black market is

thriving. Oded Vanunu at Check Point Soft­

ware  Technologies,  a  cyber­security  com­

pany,  has  posed  as  a  buyer  and  sourced

fake  French  vaccine  certificates  for  €75

($87), Russian ones for 9,500 roubles ($134)

and  Singaporean  alternatives  for  €250  on

the  dark  web  and  Telegram,  a  messaging

app.  These  sham  passes  look  the  part  but

would fall short if properly scanned. 

When airline agents, employers and bar

staff  scan  qrcodes,  they  check  for  two

things:  confirmation  that  the  bearer  has

been  vaccinated  or  tested  for  covidand  a

digital  signature  proving  the  information

comes  from  a  trusted  issuer.  Uniformity

across digital health passes would require

broad  agreement  on  exactly  what  health

information  to  include,  and  how  to  label

and package it. That ought to be relatively

easy. In August, the World Health Organi­

sation  (who)  published  guidance  recom­

mending  the  minimum  data  for  a  certifi­

cate.  The  name  and  date  of  birth  of  the

bearer plus the brand and batch number of

a jab are considered necessary. Identifying

who  administered  a  jab—information

some passes include—is not.

What  is  trickier  is  creating  a  unified

system for checking the digital signatures

of health authorities. Creating a repository

of  all  trusted  signatures  is  an  expensive

and politically fraught task. Countries with

a national health service, like Britain, have

just  one  issuer.  But  in  America,  there  are

around 300, including state governments,

hospitals and pharmacies. 

Without  a  trusted  way  to  verify  certifi­

cates  across  borders,  even  the  most  ad­

vanced technology falters. George Connol­

ly  is  chief  executive  of  OneLedger,  a  firm

that designed OnePass, a blockchain­based

vaccine  passport.  He  says  it  has  access  to

data from only around 20 jurisdictions. So

he  gets  contractors  to  check  passes  from

elsewhere  by  phoning  and  e­mailing

healthauthorities. DakotaGruener,head

ofid2020,a public­privatepartnershipfo­

cusedondigitalids,rollshereyes.“Doyou

needblockchain?No,”shesays.“Isblock­

chaina distraction?Yes.”

Ludditeshavereasontofeelsmug.As

AlbertFoxCahnoftheSurveillanceTech­

nology Oversight Project, an advocacy

group,putsit:“Thereissomuchmoney

beingspentonbuildingthisreallyshiny

newmetalfencearoundoursocietywhen

thewoodengate wasworkingjustfine.”

Bitsofpapersigned byclinicians,likethe

who’s“yellowcard”,havesufficedasim­

munisationrecordsfordecades.Theseare

moregloballyinclusive,giventhatmany

people in poor countries do not have

smartphones. Judging by black­market

prices,paperpassesarenotmucheasierto

forge. Fakeversionsofpapervaccinecer­

tificatesissuedbyAmerica’sCentres for

DiseaseControlandPreventiongofor$150

apieceonTelegram,morethansomedigi­

talalternatives.

Overtheborderline

Thebiggestimpedimenttosensiblevac­

cinepassportsisnottechnologybutgeo­

politics.Itwouldtakea universallytrusted

organisation with sophistication in

health,technologyanddiplomacytoget

countries to agree on globalstandards.

Thismightseemanobviousroleforthe

who. But,embroiledintherivalrybetween

AmericaandChina,theorganisationhas

beenblastedfromallsidesforitshandling

ofthe pandemic. Ondigital passes, the

whohasgotitselfina muddle.Evenasit

haspublishedlengthydocumentsdescrib­

ing whatvaccine passportsshould look

like,ithasinsistedthatproofofvaccina­

tion shouldnotberequiredforinterna­

tionaltravelwhenvaccinedistributionis

soskewedtorichnations.

Crucially,thewhohasdeclinedtoin­

volveitselfinvalidationandverification.

Maintaininga registeroftrustedsignato­

rieswouldrequirea largestaff.Itwouldal­

sorequirepoliticallychargedchoices,like

whethertorecognisesignaturesfromPal­

estineorAfghanistan,andwhichvaccines

aregoodenough.Thewhowouldalsohave

totakesomekindofactionwhena state

broketherules.CarmenDolea,headofthe

InternationalHealthRegulationsSecretar­

iatatthewho, saysthistaskgoesbeyond

itsmandate. “Thereareliability issues,”

sheadds.

Still,clumsily, theworlddoesseemto

beconvergingona fewstandardsandtech­

nologies.TheEuropeanUnion’sstandards

fordigitalcovidcertificates,forexample,

arealsobeingusedbyTurkeyandSwitzer­

land.India’shavebeenpickedupbySri

LankaandthePhilippines.

Thenextstep,thewhosays,isforcoun­

triestonegotiatebilateralorregionalar­

rangements.Recentnegotiationsbetween

BritainandIndiaillustratehowmessythis

canbe.BritainhadrefusedtoacceptIndia’s

CoWINvaccinecertificates,inpartbecause

theydidnotstatethebearer’sprecisedate

ofbirth.ThegovernmentinNewDelhiin­

cludedonlytheyearofbirthbecausemany

poorIndiansdonotknowtheirexactbirth­

days.Atit­for­tatescalationintravelre­

strictionskeptfamiliesapartandbusiness

tripsonholdforweeks,beforeanagree­

mentwasreachedearlierthismonth.India

added the precise date, reasoning that

mostpeoplewhocanaffordinternational

travelknowtheirbirthdays.

Somewonksstillthinktheycanfixthe

problemsofpoorgovernancewithmore

technology.NandanNilekani,co­founder

ofInfosys, atechgiant,andthedriving

force behindIndia’s Aadhaarsystem, is

pinninghishopeson“adaptors”thatcon­

vertonetypeofpassintoanother.Creating

therightadaptorswouldbelikefindinga

waytosaveshoppersfromhavingtowalk

aroundwithAmericanExpresscards,Mas­

terCardsandVisacardsincaseshopsre­

quiredifferentkindsofpayment.Buttech­

nologythatbuildsbridgesbetweenpasses

wouldnotsolvetheproblemthatissuers

wouldhavetotrustoneanother—andus­

erswouldhavetotrusttheadaptorsfid­

dlingwiththeirhealthdata.

Perhaps,fromtheashesofthepandem­

ic,theworldwilldevisea seamlessdigital

vaccinepassportthatwillreplacetheyel­

lowcard.Butwhencovidisstillkilling

thousandsofpeoplea week,thebickering

over qr codes and digital signatures

among multilateral organisations, tech

groupsandstatesisa sideshow,if nota dis­

traction.Vaccinepassportswillnevercon­

tainthevirus. Onlyvaccines will.More

thanthree­quartersofpeopleinDenmark,

SingaporeandQatararefullyvaccinated,

accordingto JohnsHopkinsUniversity.Yet

lessthan1%ofthoseinEthiopiaandUgan­

daare.Someday,vaccinepassportsmight

help keep thepeace. Butright nowthe

worldmustfocusonwinningthewar.n

Vax populi

Sources:Ipsos;OurWorldinData;TheEconomist

*Orclosestavailable †April11th ‡April8th

§Surveyof12,797employedadultsaged16-74

across 28 countries,Mar26th-Apr9th2 21

1009080706050

Alltravellersenteringshouldberequiredtohave

a vaccinepassport,Mar-Apr2021,%agreeing§

Adult population with at least

first dose, April th 2021*, %

60

40

20

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Argentina

Chile

France Germany

Britain

Hungary

India

Italy

Japan Malaysia

Netherlands†

Poland‡

Russia

Spain

Tu r ke y

United States