A QR code to reopen the door to the world and travel?
This is the question posed in Estonia which, together with the World Health Organization (WHO), is leading efforts to develop digital vaccine passports, recognized worldwide.
The problem is whether anyone who verifies such a certificate can
"trust the source"
of the document, argues Marten Kaevats, Estonian government adviser on technological issues.
"The solution will have to work as well in Eritrea as in
Singapore,
"
he said.
Estonia already has its own electronic health record system containing information on vaccines.
But most countries in the world do not have one, and there are no methods of mutual recognition of such national documents.
To read also: Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne: "The debate on the vaccine passport for travel is premature"
"Yellow card with chip"
The project is one of many digital vaccine passport initiatives launched around the world, all of which raise pressing privacy and human rights questions.
WHO is also cautious and does not recommend vaccination passports for travel at this time, not considering them as a sufficient guarantee of protection against transmission.
Nonetheless, digital certificates open up an attractive prospect, especially for industries affected by a pandemic such as airlines.
Emirates and Etihad last month announced tests on an app to check vaccinations before boarding.
Read also: Tourism: Greece bets on the vaccine to save its summer
An agreement between the WHO and Estonia is to develop a 'yellow smart card' - a digital version of an existing paper document system to prove vaccination against yellow fever.
"Impossible"
to create a global digital identification system
According to Marten Kaevats, who also advises the WHO on digital health issues, it is
"impossible"
to create a global digital identification system in the coming months, and a mix of paper and electronic certificates seems more likely. .
Read also: Sweden and Denmark will develop vaccine "passports"
The work is focused on the elaboration of global principles with a view to developing
“a single common solution to verify the existence of the care providers”
who issue the certificates in question.
Private life and human rights?
Estonia, a country of 1.3 million people, has made a name for itself as a technological pioneer, with Estonians contributing to projects such as Skype, electronic voting or transport robots.
Guardtime, an Estonian company that is working on Covid-19 digital certificates, is also working with Iceland, Hungary and Lithuania, as well as with AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical group making one of the coronavirus vaccines.
According to Ain Aaviksoo, Guardtime's chief medical officer, the first countries will start using digital passports nationally
"in the coming weeks"
.
He dismisses concerns about privacy by pointing out that his group uses blockchain technology to protect data.
Personal and health-related data remains protected in its original location and the system provides only
"cryptographic proof of the certificate and the process of its issuance, as well as the authenticity of the vaccine"
.
In response to similar concerns, the joint WHO-Estonia project is based on the principles that people should be allowed to delete their data, and tech groups should not be allowed to profit from the processed data.
Read also: Roselyne Bachelot opposes the vaccine passport and hopes for a return to festivals this summer
However, according to Ana Beduschi, associate professor of law at the University of Exeter in Great Britain, similar initiatives still raise
"essential questions of data protection and privacy"
.
These certificates risk creating "a new distinction between people, depending on their state of health," she told AFP.
According to her, before widely deploying the new system, it is first necessary to make vaccines available everywhere and to provide alternatives for those who cannot be vaccinated, such as pregnant women.
“It is not enough to develop technical solutions for verifying the state of people's health
,
”
insisted the professor, adding that
“the risks of deploying such technologies must be anticipated and reduced as much as possible”
.
