New York Launches the “Vaccine Passport”

New York launched Excelsior Pass, the US’ first state-administered digital health app. The vaccine passport program runs on an IBM blockchain and cross-references patient data with state health records.

• IBM can’t access personally identifiable data, nor can other businesses, which will just need to scan a QR code for vaccination verification.

Over on the West Coast, Carbon Health is helping the cities of LA and San Mateo administer vaccines. The California startup recently became one of the first organizations to launch a HIPAA-compliant digital vaccine card.

“As vaccinations ramp up, we anticipate that more organizations will request proof of vaccination to allow people inside buildings or businesses, travel, or go to concerts and festivals,” Carbon Health CEO Eren Bali told us.

Déjà vu? Remember digital contract tracing? Despite assurances of secure encryption and anonymity protection, these tools raised privacy concerns. They didn’t reach sufficient population-level penetration rates. Adding to the confusion, a patchwork of providers created different services.

Upshot: If reentry to certain spaces in a partially vaccinated world is preconditioned on flashing digital proof of vaccination, passports could see more adoption.