Los Angeles, Healthvana Link Up To Put COVID Vaccine Proof In eWallets

Digital wallets could soon be used to prove that a patient has been vaccinated as part of the fight against COVID-19. Los Angeles County, a hot spot for the spread of the virus, is now offering a digital record that can be placed in an eWallet.

The county government has been working with Healthvana to send electronic reminders to schedule an appointment to take a second dose of a vaccine — and, of course, to show up for it. Under the new partnership, the setup will also give recipients a way to verify they’ve been vaccinated, according to Bloomberg.

Patients can put the electronic record into an Apple Wallet or competing Google platform, said Healthvana CEO Ramin Bastani. They can use it “to prove to airlines, to prove to schools, to prove to whoever needs it” that they have been vaccinated, he told Bloomberg.

Healthvana said its virus-tracking software was aimed initially at controlling “community spread” of the virus through contact tracing. “This is a prime example of how to harness technology to help … slow the spread of infection,” said Dr. Clemens Hong, who helps oversee the county Department of Health Services’ testing sites. In a press release last month, he noted that “the rate of infections and hospitalizations (has been) rising in communities across the county.”

L.A.-based Healthvana, founded in late 2014, also runs a software platform that delivers test results to patients for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

The new COVID-19 records program aims to build on Healthvana’s existing relationships with patients.

That’s what made Healthvana a good pick for offering a digital-vaccine record, said Claire Jarashow, director of vaccine preventable disease control at the county’s Department of Public Health. While the immunizations are being tracked in registries, public health officials also saw a need to give patients access to their own records, Jarashow told Bloomberg. They will receive a paper card, but now can also have an electronic record.

A looming debate in the COVID-19 crisis concerns whether or not employers can require their employees to be vaccinated. Experts say the answer is yes, with some exceptions.