The biggest challenge the world faces today is absolute economic decimation for a large number of its population as we attempt to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic and the havoc it has wrought on economies, businesses, communities and individuals around the world.
Like many we surmised the critical difference between the approach to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic and what we should employ today must be driven by our technology protocols and should include comprehensive testing for the virus and validation of the test results or vaccination as a condition for circulation among the general public.
Essentially, if members of the public want to use public spaces, there should be a safe reliable and inexpensive way to acquire a high quality rapid test, have those results securely posted to a mobile device – for ubiquity and utility, and present those test result as an evidenced based criteria for entry into offices, parks, schools, colleges and restaurants etc.
The way to address this challenge is with an end to end solution that shares records securely with the user having full control of their health data; levels up supply chain management and serialization of the test and vaccines; prevents fraud, and streamlines epidemiology by comprehensive reporting and can even incorporate scheduling for testing and inoculation against the virus with automated reminders for the second dose
Privacy concerns
With growing consumer privacy concerns, intricate global supply chains, and an infinite pool of sensitive data to manage, a tech solution with the potential to address all of these concerns would be the most important innovation of the decade.
We propose a blockchain digital evidence certificate that can be used as a ‘Travel Health Passport’. The blockchain ensures the data is immutable, secure and cannot be tampered with and that it’s controlled by the individual. Labs and medical providers can upload test results and vaccine status, but only the owner can give access to the data, making it natively HIPAA and GDPR compliant.
This technology has the potential to help businesses get back to normal as more people get vaccinated and workers start to return to the office. It can help organizations coordinate re-entry policies and workflows by requesting and verifying employees, contractors and patrons meet site requirements before entering their facilities. This has practical applications for education, corporations, sports and entertainment facilities, and, of course, travel and transportation.
Even without the test and vaccine modalities, we have clients who are gearing up to use the application as a ‘single source of truth’.. Having all entrants create a valid identity profile and maintaining a digital registry with date and time, allows for a far more efficient contact tracing process than the current process many entities have deployed.
A blockchain-based solution could be integrated into any platform in the world, and remain a properly decentralized and secure form of verification.
A decentralized solution works in the form of issuing a digital token over the blockchain, which contains personal information of the consumer. Upon providing this token, by using it to digitally sign the login process for example, the user is then authenticated to access the platform. Because every token would only be deemed valid through its private key, which is owned by the user, no one else can access the platform through their credentials
Our goal is to create a movement and ecosystem that allows the citizens of the world to enjoy lives that are as close to normal as what we enjoyed pre-pandemic. We want accurate, verified health status data shared to ensure we reduce our risk of contraction and take early action to treat those amongst us who might be positive, even if asymptomatic.
In a time of fear and uncertainty, it is important to have a single source of truth with an integrated solution that helps cities reopen safely.
