Abstract

The covid pandemic has heightened the need for uniformity across healthcare measures. As the healthcare standards in different countries can significantly vary, a homogeneous platform with standard regulations is required to examine and analyze relevant data. The lack of unanimous acceptance of the vaccines being used adds to the challenges of using such a platform. A blockchain-based vaccine passport can store, review, and verify vaccine data in a secure and scalable manner. If the proper architecture is put in place, it will save cost, time, and human intervention. But as much as there is an urgent demand for technology reinforcement, certain risks and concerns are associated with it. Following a secondary case study approach, this paper highlights the risks, benefits, and challenges of existing blockchain-based vaccine passports. The findings of the paper suggest Blockchain has the potential to transform the vaccine verification process as the shared distributed ledger can optimize data management. It will enhance the operational process, reduce cost and improve compliance. However, more attention needs to be given to the social, ethical, and regulatory risks of this neoteric initiative.

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