(2021-07-31) Review Youre Going To Be Asked To Prove Your Vaccination Status Heres How To Do It

Review: You’re going to be asked to prove your covid-19 vaccination status (vaccine passport). How do you do that without carrying your white card from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention everywhere you go?

There is a growing number of ways to store your vaccination record on your smartphone, though unfortunately no be-all-end-all app or system. We’re here to make sense of how different options approach your privacy, ensure security and try to spot counterfeits.

you still might want to carry that physical card with you when you’re headed somewhere super important.

The first state-sponsored app, New York’s Excelsior Pass, failed to pick up wide traction this spring after infection rates dropped among other concerns.

Now states including California, Louisiana and New York offer portals to download fully authenticated vaccination information, and more are on the way. And millions across the United States have access to digital records from Walmart, CVS and Walgreens.

Why bother going digital? One concern is that as mandates increase, so might fraudulent paper records. A bouncer can scan an app a lot quicker than validate paper cards. An app is harder to lose than one super-valuable piece of paper that could slip out of your pocket

But there are downsides to digital, too. Many of the apps we’ve seen are made by companies for whom creating secure health passes isn’t a sole focus.

For an upcoming trip to Hawaii, the all-digital vaccine proof process required us to navigate two different websites and a third app.

Of all the services we tested, the free Clear Health Pass was the most flexible and likely the most useful right now. (We just wish it didn’t come from a company that’s also in the business of selling subscriptions to get through airport security.)

Keep a shot of your CDC card in your photo album

You could stop right there if convenience is your main concern, but remember: Those images contain your date of birth and the location of your vaccination site. A hacker might not be able to break into your accounts with just that information, but it’s just personal enough to make it easier for that person

Store your scanned CDC card in an app

Use this: Clear, VaxYes and Airside.

Cons: It’s still mostly an honor system, and it’s hard to tell where they’ll be accepted

Clear is the only service we tested that works just as well on Android phones as it does on iPhones. It’s hard to tell where the proof from these apps will be accepted.

Download an official digital health record

Use this: CommonPass, Excelsior Pass, Clear.

Pros: It’s 100 percent verified. Cons: Every state and provider does it differently, and setup can be complicated.

California helped lead the way by introducing digital health records in June, and now they’re available from at least three states as well as at Walmart, CVS and Walgreens and health-care providers using medical records from Epic and Cerner.

Once you have this digital record, though, what do you do with it? Enter health verification and wallet apps such as CommonPass and Clear, which can confirm your information and store it so you can share it as needed.