Blockchain app may solve virus passport puzzle

The WHO is teaming up with Estonia to create digital vaccination certificates based on the blockchain technology that underlies electronic currencies like Bitcoin. — Pixabay

The World Health Organization is tapping the know-how of one of the world’s most digitised nations to help ungum global travel and prevent unequal treatment once a vaccine against Covid-19 has emerged.

The WHO is teaming up with Estonia, the European Union state that helped give birth to Skype and where citizens use the Internet to vote in elections, to create digital vaccination certificates proving international passengers have had a coronavirus shot and helping to distribute vaccines to priority groups first. The certificates, to be tested in a pilot project, will be based on the blockchain technology that underlies electronic currencies like Bitcoin.