Google will make it easier to put digital versions of test results and vaccination cards, a kind of corona pass, on Android devices. The system is similar to the API that Google and Apple previously made for track-and-trace systems.
Google has announced that it will be updating its Passes API. This should make it easier for developers from governments and health authorities to create digital versions of test results and vaccination cards and send them to users’ devices. In that sense, it is similar to the API that came out earlier to make it easier for organizations to build track-and-trace apps.
For the time being, the update does not affect the Belgian CovidSafe app, which already exists and uses a different system. This is a new use for the Passes API, which is now mainly used to collect aircraft boarding passes, tickets and loyalty cards. Therefore, you will also be able to put a Covid card in that program if your local vaccination centre or hospital provides it. As with the track-and-trace API, it will also run on Android from version 5.
The system will initially be rolled out in the US, where people are currently still dependent on the cardboard cards they receive with their vaccination. The update, therefore, has no direct consequences for our country. In the EU, a Covid certificate (with QR code) was rolled out in the various Member States last month. You can download and print that ‘corona pass’ to prove your vaccination status at the border.
