The tracking of Covid-19 vaccine recipients and authentication of immunization status is expected to become increasingly important in the United States and around the world as vaccines are launched.
Photographer: Eric Lee / Bloomberg
Photographer: Eric Lee / Bloomberg
Recipients of the Covid-19 vaccine in Los Angeles County, a major virus site, will receive a digital record that will help ensure that they have a second injection and can eventually be used to gain access to concert venues or flight tickets. Airlines.
The offer is being made starting this week through a partnership with the startup Healthvana. It is initially aimed at ensuring that people receive the two doses of the two-dose regimens that have been authorized in the United States, including through follow-up notifications before a second visit.
It will also give recipients a way to check whether they have been vaccinated, which can be placed in an Apple wallet or on Google’s competing platform “to prove to airlines, to schools, to prove to those in need,” said Healthvana CEO Ramin Bastani.
Healthvana app displaying the vaccination record.
Los Angeles-based Healthvana, founded in late 2014, runs a software platform that provides test results for patients with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. She started working with the county earlier this year to provide the results of the Covid-19 test to patients.
These previous relationships with area residents have made the startup a good option for digital vaccine registration, said Claire Jarashow, director of vaccine-preventable disease control at the county’s Department of Public Health.
Los Angeles County broke its record for new deaths and hospitalizations for Covid-19 last week. She has been rushing to distribute vaccines “as quickly as humanly possible,” said Jarashow.
While immunizations are being monitored in the records, public health officials have also seen a need to give patients ownership of their own records, Jarashow said. They will receive a paper card tracking the vaccine they received and when, but this can easily be lost.
“We are really concerned. We really want people to go back to the second dose, ”said Jarashow. And “we simply don’t have the ability to handle hundreds of requests for medical records to find people’s first doses and when they need to get the second.”
The tracking of Covid-19 vaccine recipients and authentication of immunization status is expected to become increasingly important in the United States and around the world as vaccines are launched.
This triggered a race between players like International Business Machines Corp. to provide technological solutions, envisioning a world in which vaccination records can be used to ensure access to places where people can meet or be nearby. With private health records involved, these efforts also raised questions about ethical and privacy issues.
Software Platform
Healthvana also offered more features than a platform used to run Covid-19 vaccination clinics, called PrepMod. Still, at least initially, the county will be integrating, clearing and processing data from PrepMod and other records every night for Healthvana.
Jarashow acknowledged the problems with giving a company access to residents’ protected health information, but said they worked with them. Healthvana stores data on Amazon Network HIPAA-compliant servers for services, according to Bastani.
“It’s the safest thing we can do,” said Jarashow. “Personally I would like to feel comfortable using it so I hope this is comforting. “
General population
The county administered at least 38,850 doses of Vaccine by Pfizer Inc., just under half of its quota, for healthcare providers, long-term care facility residents and paramedics as of December 22. population, said Jarashow.
With about 10 million residents, Los Angeles County is the most populous in the United States
Healthvana is also in discussions with concert halls, employers, universities and schools about the application of this technology, “anyone who has a large number of people interacting with them,” said Bastani. But he believes that such a service is unlikely to become the standard.
“It won’t be like a credit card that you can use in the United States,” he said. “Sometimes you can pay cash, sometimes you can use your Apple Wallet.”