It’s 2021. We deserve better than paper vaccine receipts

By Dana O’Born, CCI Director of Strategic Initiatives

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This week, Quebec announced it would be the first province in Canada to restrict unvaccinated people from entering movie theatres, bars, restaurants and other non-essential places.

To enter these businesses, people will need to show proof of vaccination through a new digital system the Quebec government is rolling out September 1. This has been hailed by Quebec business owners as an important tool that will help keep businesses open if a potential fourth wave hits and further public health restrictions are ordered.

However, across the Ottawa River in Ontario, local restaurant owners aren’t so well equipped. Currently, there are no plans for Queen’s Park to enable business owners to authenticate the vaccine status of patrons. Instead, the Health Minister said this week that the paper receipt you stuff into your pocket after you get your shot is good enough.

To be fair, at this point in the pandemic, the term “vaccine passports” carries more baggage than a conveyer belt at an airport. So instead of calling it a vaccine passport, maybe people would feel better about the situation if we just called it what it is: “Allowing citizens to access their own medical data in a secure fashion.”

If a business wants to ask people for proof of vaccination, and an individual is willing to provide proof of vaccination, why shouldn’t they both be allowed to do that?

And even if we try to live in denial, eventually we will be dragged into some reasonable proof-of-vaccination system because Canadians will need it to travel internationally. Last Friday, Ottawa tapped Canada’s cyber chief Scott Jones to become Canada’s ‘vaccine credentials’ lead, and on Wednesday, Canada’s Immigration Minister finally announced that Canada would be moving forward with an proof of vaccination for international travel. Absent from the news release, any mention of the neologism “vaccine passport.”

What’s so frustrating about the current situation is that it’s astonishingly familiar to the innovators who closely follow issues involving patient privacy, electronic medical records and health data.

Millions of people wear Apple Watches, with built-in heart rate monitors, electrocardiograms, and pedometers. Apple also makes an app that allows women to track their menstrual cycle. From exercise to sleep tracking to diet apps, people are using internet-connected software to stream vast amounts of data to private corporations, because people are hungry to use 21st century technology to manage their health.

But in Canada, the overwhelming majority of our health data remains off limits, because it is held by public health authorities, and we have not invested in the systems to allow individuals to access their own data and use it as they see fit.

Today, COVID-19 immunization records for Ontarian’s are still paper based and can be easily forged.I can renew my driver’s licence, pay my taxes, and book my vaccination appointment online, but I can’t securely verify and share my COVID-19 vaccine status online. Something’s not right.

Digital proof of vaccination could be a golden opportunity to start building serious infrastructure to allow citizens to access their health data, in the ways that advanced countries like Estonia, Finland and Denmark have done.

In Ontario, COVID-19 vaccination data is stored in a system called COVaxON, and opening up access to this kind of data in a secure way could be a game-changer. If companies can understand where data sits, and access it in a secure, responsible, privacy-driven fashion based on individuals’ consent, that data can be used to help support and protect public health. At the very least, Ontario should ensure this data is accessible through whatever digital verification tool the federal government creates, which the Intergovernmental Affairs minister has said can be used domestically.

The fact of the matter is some sort of system for proof of vaccination is nearly inevitable. Looking at the situation in Ontario, John Michael McGrath at TVO laid out the numbers in an excellent column recently, and it adds up to this: the unvaccinated minority could still overwhelm our hospital ICUs, with would be disastrous for the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike.

Millions of citizens who did the right thing and got their two vaccine doses are not going to suffer through more sweeping lockdowns while a small group of people who refuse to get their shots can collapse the health care system.

Parents are not going to suffer through another year of online schooling knowing full well that schools across Canada already require proof of vaccination for mumps, measles, chickenpox and half a dozen other diseases.

One good thing is that when the Canadian government and other provinces that eventually roll out digital verifications, they will not need to look far for the companies that are able to help. Canada is home to many companies who already have experience with digital identity, privacy, cybersecurity and medical data.

The only real question is whether we will slap something together, rushed and imperfect, or if we will use the COVID-19 proof-of-vaccination to begin building the technology infrastructure to give citizens the ability to access their medical data.

Across so many areas of our lives, COVID-19 has already accelerated digital adoption, from remote work to e-commerce. The vaccines can be another opportunity to take a step forward.

In 2021, we deserve better than paper proof that we did the right thing.

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Dana O’Born leads CCI’s national and health policy initiatives, and can be reached at doborn@canadianinnovators.org.

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