A Simple Way to Beat Vaccination Scams

What You Can Do To Stop Forged Vaccination Certificates?

A Secure QR Code Vaccination certificate is a simple way to prevent forgery or tampering in vaccination certificates. With high-end security for both physical and electronic certificates, Secure QR code-based solutions can become a de facto standard in vaccination certificates for health providers across the world.

In our post in June 2018, Fake Vaccination records leading to possible public health crisis . - we briefly addressed the issue with some examples of how this problem is prevalent in South Africa and other parts of the world. One year on, the problem has not subsided and we talk about the issue in detail.

Getting vaccinated reduces the probability of being infected or becoming a carrier of certain diseases which can be life-threatening. When you take a vaccine before your travel, for example, the doctor will provide you with a small yellow booklet that is stamped and dated, and that’s the proof you have to have with you when you enter the specific country which requires it. Since a vaccine is a powerful way of preventing the outbreak of certain diseases, possessing a vaccination certificate is something that is mandated in many countries before immigration and even for admissions into schools. In the case of travel vaccines, an individual must get this vaccination before travel.

How widespread is this problem?

In a case reported in Times Of India, “Fake vaccination certificate racket under police’s radar” . Indian police had launched a probe on a vaccination racket. This racket was run in connivance with medical professionals and certificates were issued (for a fee) )without vaccinating the travellers, thus exposing them to unknown deadly diseases. However, such cases are not limited to India or any specific region and are a massive scam the world over.

Similarly, across the Indian Ocean, Malaysia is facing a huge problem with “some Malaysians faking vaccine forms to go on pilgrimages”.

Stop Forged Vaccination Certificates

Many countries won’t allow entry at all without proof of vaccination. Because of such importance, in many cases, a boarding pass is issued only after showing the vaccination certificate. It is not surprising, thus, that there are many scams involving the issue of forged vaccination certificates which the airport authorities have no scope of validating or verifying.

Since vaccination records are private ( as part of stringent privacy rules for health records) it would be impossible for third parties to get access to the central database of vaccination records. These printed certificates are issued directly by the agency or given in an electronic format which is shown to immigration/airport officials. This makes it difficult to have a solution that can seamlessly work across countries, across agencies and third-party validators.

Three things you must keep in mind while looking for a solution

1. It should work for both printed and electronic vaccination certificates

2. Critical information document like the date, the vaccination name and the person vaccinated along with their identity and other details must be specified.

3. Allows for easy one-step verification by the airport/immigration/ health check staff across the world.

Secure QR Code can be used on Certificates to stop Vaccination Fraud

Secure QR Code certificate generation system helps to address this problem by making sure that all vaccination certificates are generated centrally by the issuing authority and the information on them is captured in the form of a Secure QR code before it gets printed either physically or electronically. Also, the Secure QR code will have the digital signature of the issuing organisation so that unauthorised modifications can be identified and stopped. This can be then validated at different checking points where it is presented as required.

Sample image of Vaccination certificate with Secure QR code and its verification

A sample image of a Vaccination certificate with Secure Encrypted QR Code giving the details is shown here. On scanning the Secure QR code using a free authorised App, all these details contained inside is visible and can be verified easily

To learn more about Secure Encrypted QR Code Generation – click here

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This article first appeared in Times of India on April 25, 2019 under the headline - How can Secure QR codes stop forged vaccination certificates .