Digital vaccine certificate goes live

The government has instituted electronic, digitally verifiable Covid-19 laboratory test results and vaccine certificates that would facilitate smoother and hasslefree travel.

The health ministry's executive director Ben Nangombe yesterday said the government has partnered with the African Union and the Pana Bios Consortium to introduce trusted travel and trusted vaccines technology platforms. He explained that the new technological innovation provides for the issuance of secure, tamper-proof and digitally verifiable test results and vaccine certificates.

Following weeks of troubleshooting and pressure testing, Nangombe said the ministry has customised the system for the country and is now in a position to issue, authenticate and verify travellers' Covid-19 vaccine certificates.

“Travellers can enjoy the comfort and convenience of generating their authentic Covid-19 digital vaccination certificates online,” he added. He said this notice serves to inform that from 26 April 2022, the Trusted Vaccines platform is available to generate Covid-19 digital vaccination certificates for persons who are fully vaccinated.

“For a Digital Vaccination Certificate with a QR Code to be issued, the platform is equipped with a ‘self-upload' functionality, enabling individuals to upload information and images of their vaccination cards and passports/travel documents for authentication,” he continued.

Nangombe said the ministry supports ongoing engagements to establish full interoperability between the trusted vaccines' framework and the European Union (EU) Digital Covid-19 ID certification trust gateways.