Are trans-national/trans-regional Covid-19 immunity passport a blockchain killer app? Can such blockchain-based immunity passport be the key to post-covid economic recovery due to its ability to enable secure cross border travel?

I believe that it is a resounding "yes" to both of the 2 questions.

The covid-19 that has ravaged the world has presented itself as an opportunity for blockchain adoption. For the longest time, people have been pronouncing that blockchain is a solution looking for a problem. With the need for transnational/transregional verification of covid-19 immunity, a covid-19 immunity passport might be the long sought solution to the persistent problem of cross-border verification.

High-level Data flow

1. Nathan Aw gets vaccinated in Singapore. He gets a physical vaccination certificate from Ministry of Health
2. He logs on to the Covid-19 Immunity Passport Platform to upload the physical vaccination certificate OR the Ministry of Health can offer to do it for him (opt out)
3. For individuals uploading the proof of vaccination, the uploaded details will be subjected to rigorous verification via smart contracts deployed onto the blockchain. Verification could include checking if the vaccination production batch code is a legitimate one
4. If the verification goes through, these records (NRIC, vaccinated date, vaccine type) will be written onto the blockchain and a QR code can be generated at the user request
5. When Nathan Aw wants to visit the other ASEAN countries for business, he can present the QR code and the immigration officer is able to verify if he has the necessary vaccination for a particular strain of covid-19.

Why use blockchain and not just distributed database?

1. To foster trust and to ensure maximum access, the solution should be one that is open, shared and readable by all, writable by most. It should also be deployed on public cloud such as AWS, Azure and GCP. This means the source codes, the platform itself are opened to anyone who wants to access it. However, to be able to write to the blockchain, one needs to present the necessary verification. For immigration and health authorities, they should be permitted to write to the blockchain with less restrictions. However, for the public, verification process needs to be rigorous.

Nathan Aw, Singapore