Corona Vaccination Certificate - Imp WHO Guidelines to Know

Most countries including India are going for digitisation of Corona vaccination certificate. It's important to understand the underlying principles and guidelines while getting one's Corona vaccination certificate digitised.

Historically, paper-based vaccination records have presented many challenges – such as the possibility of losing or damaging the card, or even the possibility of fraud. The proposed digital solutions are designed to address these challenges. Hence, digital Corona Vaccination Certificate is being preferred in most countries.

WHO Guidelines on Corona Vaccination Certificate

A Corona vaccination certificate can be purely digital (for example stored in a smartphone application or on a cloud-based server) and replace the need for a paper card, or it can be a digital representation of the traditional paper-based record. The link between the paper record and the digital record can be established using a barcode, for example, printed on or affixed to the paper vaccination card.

A digital certificate should never require individuals to have a smartphone or computer. 

WHO does not support the requirement of proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to travel. In some situations, however, depending on the risk assessment of the countries concerned, information about vaccination against COVID-19 may be used to reduce requirements for quarantine or testing upon arrival. But this is not the primary purpose of the move towards digital documentation of COVID-19 status.

On 27 August 2021, WHO published a guidance document for countries and implementing partners on the technical requirements for issuing digital certificates for vaccination against COVDI-19. The full guidance can be found on the WHO website . The guidance is part of a series of planned documents on digitalization of COVID-19 certificates. The guidance will, amongst other things, Support Member states in adopting digital tools for documenting COVID-19 vaccination status for the purposes of effective health care, and proof of vaccination should it be needed for other purposes.

The minimum requirements for implementing digital documentation in countries around the world allow Member States the greatest possible flexibility to build a solution that is appropriate not just for their needs, but the diverse needs of individuals around the world. The guidance was developed in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary group of experts, to ensure that it will be useful to governments and implementing partners who have built or who are currently developing systems for issuing or verifying digital vaccination certificates.

The technical content of the guidance has been made available to partner countries and economies that have developed, or are in the process of developing, national digital vaccination certificates to ensure that these digital certificate products will be interoperable. Technical assistance will be provided to countries and implementing partners to assist with aligning existing products to WHO specifications.

Implication for IT MSMEs

The IT MSMEs of India require travelling in context of business whenever the lockdown rules permit.

Hence, they are advised to go for the vaccination as soon as possible and get themselves and their families and friends fully vaccinated.

IT MSMEs are advised to go for the vaccination as soon as possible and get themselves and their families and friends fully vaccinated.

• Further, they should ensure that their vaccination certificate shows the barcode when it's issued to them. If the barcode is not printed properly, they should immediately ask for a fresh certificate.
• Indian govt has the provision to get their vaccination registered so that the information is stored on the vaccination portal. They should do this so that a digital certificate shall be stored there.
• Take all precautions of mask, steam inhalation, sanitising hands and social distancing even after double dose of vaccination.
• Move their business online, build a strong online profile and cut out on travel and offline stores as much as possible.
• Join large E-commerce platforms and avail of the benefits from them in business
• Expand their business abroad and find foreign markets to avoid extreme dependence on Indian markets in unstable situations.

It is absolutely essential to follow these guidelines to stay safe during future waves of Corona. According to medical experts, several waves of Corona are likely to come in future before the disease subsides.