Tech Companies Join Effort Focused on Covid-19 Vaccine Records

By Micah Maidenberg 

Businesses including Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and Cerner Corp. are working with health groups on an effort to help people easily show they have received a Covid-19 vaccine.

The companies and organizations, including Mayo Clinic, are behind the Vaccination Credential Initiative, which aims to ensure consumers can access their vaccination records as the economy opens back up and daily life returns to more normal conditions following the pandemic.

The effort is meant to help people demonstrate their vaccination status so they can "safely return to travel, work, school, and life, while protecting their data privacy," said Paul Meyer, chief executive of the Commons Project Foundation, another group involved in the project.

People who don't have smartphones could receive printouts that have QR codes that can be scanned to show their vaccination status, he said.

Health groups that participate in the effort will agree to provide people with digital access to the records using common software standards. Mike Sicilia, executive vice president of Oracle's Global Business Units, said accessing data for vaccinations, testing and other medical records needs to be as simple as online banking.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 14, 2021 11:15 ET (16:15 GMT)

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