WORLD / Science & Health

A look at the COVID age’s wannabe platinum cards (and apps)

Digital and old-fashioned approaches being used to confirm vaccination for entry to public places

In an image provided by the state, New York State's Excelsior Pass, which tracks vaccination records. A variety of digital and old-fashioned approaches are being used around the globe to confirm COVID-19 vaccination. But the world is still far from a universal standard of proof. | NEW YORK STATE VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES

By Heather Murphy
The New York Times

Apr 27, 2021

It is the latest status symbol. Flash it at the people, and you can get access to concerts, sports arenas or long-forbidden restaurant tables. Some day, it may even help you cross a border without having to quarantine.

The new platinum card of the COVID age is the vaccine certificate. It is a document that has existed for more than two centuries, but it has rarely promised to hold so much power over culture and commerce. Many versions of these certificates now come with a digital twist.

"It’s been a long time since we’ve had a pandemic that has impacted every facet of society so thoroughly, and then a vaccine,” said Carmel Shachar, the executive director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. "There is no precedent since 1918, and we definitely didn’t have smartphones in 1918.”