A scoping review of global vaccine certificate solutions for COVID-19

Abstract

Globally, measures, such as lockdown, quarantining, and physical distancing, have been implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19. As the vaccines are now available and reintegration into society is beginning, measures such as vaccine certificates are being implemented around the world. We conducted a scoping review to identify the initial digital solutions for COVID-19 vaccine certificates and evaluate them on the basis of purpose and use case, technological architecture, and ethical and legal implications. Articles identified from a Google search and a search of MEDLINE, Ovid and preprint servers were reviewed in duplicate, and data were extracted using a data extraction form. Data were extracted for date, location, type of article, source, companies identified for creating vaccine certificates, technology used, type of evidence provided (article quoting research study or an expert opinion), digital architecture, security and privacy measures, and use cases. Technology emerged as the most dominant theme followed by ethics, travel, legal concerns, public policy, and scientific concerns. Our review identified eight solutions that are working toward COVID-19 vaccine certificates world-wide, all optimizing blockchain technology. COVID-19 vaccine certificates are being considered in 11 countries and are in place in 5 others. Many issues concerning the themes we identified remain to be addressed to facilitate successful implementation.

A comparative analysis of COVID-19 vaccination certificates in 12 countries/regions around the world: Rationalising health policies for international travel and domestic social activities during the pandemic

“…Previous studies mostly focus on the necessity and possible issues to consider in COVID passes or vaccination certificates, or the perceptions of vaccine certificates among the general public [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. As Mithani et al’s [15] preliminary study found out, most online articles on COVID-19 vaccine certificates centred around six themes, i.e., legality, technology, ethics, travel, policy and science. Most studies in the field of vaccination certificates have dealt with the functions and mechanisms of vaccination certificates in different countries/regions [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

Vaccine Passport and Traveler Behaviors in the New Market of the Domestic and International Tourism Industry Facing the With-Corona Era

“…The introduction of vaccine passports will not only boost the travel industry (Shaikh et al, 2021), but will also encourage more people to get vaccinated (Guidi et al, 2021). Vaccine passports will be widely used in the travel industry and other large gatherings such as sporting events, experts say (Walker, 2021;Mithani et al, 2022). China had achieved immunization of 86.73% of the population by 12May 2022 (Our World in Data, 2022).…”

“…Although there are many studies on the use of vaccine passports in the tourism industry, studies on consumers' awareness of vaccine passports are lacking (Shin et al, 2021;Mithani et al, 2022). Thus, this study extracted people's perception of vaccine passports/certificates into four factors.…”

Persistence of Vaccine Hesitancy and Acceptance of the EU Covid Certificate Among French Students

“…First, acceptance of the EU Covid-19 certificate had been rarely studied before, especially among young people. Prior manuscripts have been limited to argue the ethical, legal, and policy validity of the EU Covid certificate [27,33,34]. In our study, we explored the opinions about the application of this certificate through a field investigation and found that it played a key role in factual vaccine uptake among students.…”