Paper-first Vaccination Journey
We present an end-to-end decentralized protocol developed by MIT for the secure and privacy-preserving workflow of phased vaccination, vaccination status verification, and adverse reactions or symptoms reporting. The proposed system improves efficiency, privacy, equity, and effectiveness by augmenting the existing systems such as VAMS, VAERS, v-safe, and IIS.
Our solution starts with a Paper-first Verifiable Credentials specification for COVID-19 offline testing and vaccination workflows using digitally-signed QR Code stickers on paper cards. Due to its physical nature and simplicity, QR codes may be a convenient and nonintrusive modality for some users seeking vaccination while enabling verification of paper-based user-controlled immunization records. The protocol expects the verifier app to be off-line and that the user doesn't need anything more than a Paper Card (no electronic devices). All personally identifiable information, contact, and health information are stored on the QR Codes themselves, allowing a user to go through the vaccination procedures in a Peer-to-Peer fashion, without the need to ever transfer the user's information to any centralized, private, or public blockchain system. The proposed system improves efficiency, privacy, equity, and effectiveness by augmenting the existing protocols to work with fully off-line information flows.
We propose two user-facing solutions: (i) a modified vaccination card that carries digitally signed (QR) codes and a scanner app for health officials for data aggregation, (ii) a mobile phone app for the user that interfaces with existing databases directly. We believe a user-centric design is critical in the micro-planning and last mile issues.
The user’s journey is divided into four parts: (i) Digitally enhanced enrollment system for phased vaccination, (ii) A privacy-preserving smartphone app to interface with vaccination sites without revealing any personally identifiable information to centralized servers, (iii) Proof of vaccination in a privacy-preserving and secure manner, (iv) Monitoring and alert systems for adverse reactions that enable users to upload their symptoms in a cryptographically secure manner. In addition, the ecosystem provides the ability to perform data aggregation for analytics without revealing raw data.
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This repository is a compilation of PathCheck Foundation's efforts to design digital solutions that engage citizens in four core areas — Logistics, Health Outcomes, User-centric impact, and Communication. Our mission is to help public health professionals instantly overcome challenging barriers they encounter as they engage citizens as active participants in digital solutions for fighting COVID-19 and future pandemics.
Today, the Vaccine Program at the PathCheck Foundation is focused on creating citizen-centric solutions for the digital management of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, testing, and health verification. Previously the program worked with public health officials as they designed and deployed exposure notification and digital contact tracing solutions. Subsequent initiatives under consideration include surveillance, monitoring, and predictive modeling to better prepare us, as a society, for future pandemics.
