As the Covid-19 vaccination programme continues to roll out worldwide (albeit at a much slower pace in many parts of the Global South, largely due to ‘vaccine hording’ in the Global North), it is critical for governments to keep track on exactly how many people have been vaccinated within their borders. Many governments have also started to make possession of a Covid-19 vaccination certificate a pre-requisite for participation in essential activities – such as international travel, or entry into public buildings. Subsequently, the assimilation of vaccination records as a competent of overall identity data, linking closely with functional ID systems, is becoming increasingly more important.
Depending on its existing civil registration system and the level of completeness of such registries, different governments have taken unique innovative measures in order to track the levels of vaccination. Some governments link the vaccination record to the foundational ID (birth certificate or national ID card), and others use biometrics to track records without necessarily linking them to the civil registry. While crucially important to track vaccination records as thoroughly as possible, many privacy concerns have been raised as vaccination records represent sensitive personal health information.
In this side event, different innovative approaches to Covid-19 vaccination record keeping, and its linkage with civil registration and national ID systems, will be shared.
