ASIA PACIFIC. A Health Passport created by Malaysian digital health company Immunitee has been accepted for use by Singaporean authorities, and is targeting international expansion. It is set for launch in March.
Immunitee partnered with Affinidi – a company founded by Singaporean government investment fund Temasek – to become the first Health Passport from Malaysia to be accepted in Singapore.
The Immunitee Health Passport is a system designed to store personal immunisation records and vaccine data, with Affinidee’s Unifier platform allowing it to securely share data with the various national health check systems being put in place globally.
Immunitee said: “Such digitally verifiable health credentials are designed to give travellers a pleasant and hassle-free experience when travelling during the pandemic and will be easily verified at Singapore Airport, once the borders are reopened.”
Once launched, users can download the Immunitee app, with the Health Passport a premium subscriptions service allowing its use for travel (more in our Q&A below). The company said: “This will allow travel bubbles to open, negating the need to quarantine, as information will be verified electronically in the blockchain.”
Immunitee said its Health Passport will allow consumers and authorities to:
- Facilitate clearance at border health checkpoints
- Ensure data protection and security through blockchain
- Verify the authenticity of Covid-19 tests and vaccines
Immunitee is described as a “digital health ecosystem” incorporating three key components: the Immunitee Health Passport app that the public downloads and can use to store their lab tests and vaccination history; the Immunitee Vaccine Registry Management system that is used to manage the logistics and cold chain authenticity of vaccines; and the Immunitee Enforcement app for airlines, immigration authorities, hospitals, insurance companies, restaurants, stadiums, schools, universities and other organisations to read the Health Passport.
“The future of travel in a Covid world means that travellers will be required to show proof of Covid-19 testing as well as a vaccination history, and the Immunitee Health Passport provides an end-to-end platform for users,” said Immunitee Chief Executive Officer Dr Nick Boden.
“The sheer scale of the Covid-19 vaccination drive means that in an extremely short period of time, systems need to be put into place that are cheap, accurate and can work on existing infrastructure. Immunitee can be quickly deployed and provides a single Vaccine Registry Management System, that unites private and public healthcare systems while simultaneously protecting confidential patient information. To this end we are proud to work with Affinidi, Singapore’s pioneering digital technology provider founded by Temasek.”
Immunitee stores all patient data on a public blockchain system, ensuring that data cannot be “scraped”, is protected, and belongs to the user. Government authorities and other organisations including national healthcare systems, immigration systems, hotels, universities and schools can only access information by scanning a secure QR Code which contains all the relevant testing and vaccination information and can only be unlocked using a private ‘key’ that belongs to the user.
Dr Boden added: “Vaccines have been developed at ‘breakneck’ speeds and are being supplied to governments and the private sector. It is important to ensure that the cold chain and vaccine management systems are in place to ensure proper traceability and authenticity. Patient safety and the ability to track adverse events are an essential part of the roll out.
Immunitee’s clinical partner is Qualitas, a leading primary healthcare provider in Malaysia as well as across the Asia Pacific region. Immunitee also works with laboratory partners Clinipath and Gribbles, which provide diagnostic laboratory services in Malaysia.
Scheduled to launch in March, Immunitee will be provided as an open-source system at no charge to governments and organisations around the world.
The Moodie Davitt Report asked Immunitee for more details about its plans and pricing scheme for the Health Passport.
What will be the subscription charge for the Health Passport within the app?
Annual subscription charges will vary depending on territory, and will take into account the particular country’s USD exchange rate. Our objective and resolve is to promote affordability and equitability in securing public acceptance. There will also be an option to store multiple family members in one app, thereby reducing the per person cost.
Will it tie in with users’ own passports?
We are unable to tie in with users’ own passports. On the contrary, because we are confident that the Temasek Unifier digital credential platform will gain recognition internationally, our focus will be to synergistically complement their authentication process.
What is the process to have it approved by immigration authorities on a global basis?
We believe that Affinidi will be a key player internationally for this process and this is why we chose them as our authentication partner.
Moving forward we see that health passports will be developed in the same way as credit cards and e-wallets: multiple payment options but a single reader.
The key difference between a ‘health wallet’ and a ‘health passport’ is the ability to cross a border and be accepted into another country.
We also believe that even after the vaccination programme is completed worldwide (which will take at least one to two years), the gold standard will always be testing – testing to measure a suitable antibody response based on individual country’s guidelines for travel.
Therefore a product like Immunitee is unique because it merges testing and vaccination information in one single app. Here, we work with multiple laboratories and vaccination centres.
