Ministry appoints MATTR to develop vaccine passes and verifier app

eHealthNews.nz: Covid-19

Ministry appoints MATTR to develop vaccine passes and verifier app

Sunday, 7 November 2021

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Covid-19 vaccination The Ministry of Health has published the specification for the Covid-19 domestic vaccine pass and the verifier specification to its Github account and has appointed Spark subsidiary MATTR to develop vaccination passes and the verifier app.

My Vaccine Pass will help people access places within New Zealand that require proof of vaccination under the new Covid-19 Protection Framework, such as large-scale events and hospitality venues.

A separate pass for use when travelling internationally will also be available shortly. Both passes will be stored in a QR code that can be downloaded to a phone or printed out and will be available later this month.

The specifications released describe the data in the QR code, the technology that is used to encode it, and how the QR code is expected to be interpreted and processed.

The Ministry is also building a free Verifier App to be made available on the App Store and Google Play, for anyone to use to scan and verify a My Vaccine Pass.

“The release of the specifications, ahead of vaccination passes being required or available, means business and the public can understand how this technology is going to work,” says Michael Dreyer, group manager national digital services.

“It is important for businesses to check out the approach being taken and start considering how best to make this a part of how they operate.”

The Ministry has appointed MATTR to construct vaccination passes for use domestically and internationally, as well as the verifier app, following a closed competitive tender process. It says the company, which is a subsidiary of Spark, has existing technology platforms designed for this and similar use cases.

Vaccination certificates can be claimed through the MyCovidRecord platform, which is operated by the Ministry.

“We have been talking to events companies, tourism operators, and other businesses to understand their requirements for verification,” says Dreyer.

“The Ministry’s Verifier App can be used for in-person verification, however if companies would like to introduce more sophisticated capabilities, such as integration into existing digital journeys or pre-verification processes, then the technical specification provides enough details for them to do so.”