Effects of the COVID-19 Period on ID Verification and Secure Document Technologies Translated and adapted from the original by Achim Hildebrandt, former Head of Passports and ID Cards, Federal Ministry of the Interior – Germany.
For an industry to have a sustainable future it must address a need in society and provide a practical solution to a problem. In 2021, the emerging problem for which ID and secure documents have a significant role to play is in providing proof-of-immunity status systems that will increase the mobility of citizens and allow a safe lifting of lockdown measures. There is a debate currently waging between governments, institutions and corporations around the practicalities and morality of so-called ‘immunity passports’. Israel will be the first country to issue a ‘green passport’ to residents who have received the COVID-19 vaccine. The passport will lift some restrictions, including mandatory quarantine following exposure to an infected person, and offer access to cultural events and restaurants, according to Israel's Ministry of Health. For some, there is an ethical question to be answered about whether it is unfair to allow vaccinated people to have additional rights and mobility over un-vaccinated people. But when judged against the strategies to ease lockdown restrictions the question is framed differently, as people who have been vaccinated pose a lower risk to public health than those that are unvaccinated. The discussion will soon reach the top EU leaders in Brussels, where it is recognised that having proof of a negative COVID-19 test result is already allowing travel privileges versus those that cannot demonstrate a negative test result. What is clear is that if the certification of a vaccination is to have real relevance for societal mobility, questions about the reliability and security of the document and the data it contains are inevitably on the agenda. If the vaccination information is important for public health policy then it must be protected. Then the connection between health information and the person must be secured. And it is here that the ID security industry has enough experience and practical, quickly deployable and manageable solutions to be of use. Some of the solutions under consideration will undoubtably be digital, as they can be implemented more quickly than conventional physical solutions. But, in the long run, conventional solutions may be more practical for both the issuing side and the controlling side as additional reading and testing devices are then not absolutely necessary. Control would be possible by visual inspection.
6
HEALTH STATUS PROOF | WHITE PAPER No.1
