Vietnam gets set for nationwide launch of digital vaccine passport

Nguyen Ba Hung, deputy director of medical data center under the ministry’s Department of Information Technology, said that after a week of piloting, the national vaccination system has responded well to the issuance of digital vaccine passports.

“It is expected that next week, the ministry will hold a meeting to launch the project nationwide,” he said at a conference held in Hanoi on launching the vaccine passport.

The pilot project has been carried out at three Hanoi hospitals: Bach Mai, E and K. These were chosen because they are large-scale, major hospitals in the capital city where Covid-19 vaccination data has been well organized and stored, Hung said.

The Ministry of Health last December issued a decision on promulgating the template and procedures for issuing “vaccine passports” that would make it more convenient for people to travel and do business. Vietnam has reached an agreement on mutual recognition of vaccine passports with 17 countries to date, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

A form of Vietnam’s digital vaccine passport form. Photo by VnExpress/Viet Tuan

For getting a digital vaccine passport, people must declare accurate information that is reviewed by immunization agencies and connected to the national database for authentication.

Everyone who has been vaccinated and have information on the vaccination management platform will be given a QR code displayed on the PC Covid or the “So Suc Khoe Dien Tu” (Electronic Health Book) applications for checking when going abroad.

As of March 22, more than 202 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered across the country. Of these, the system has recorded more than 193 million doses, or 96 percent, information about which has been updated on the vaccination management platform.

This means there are more than eight million doses whose information is yet to be uploaded onto the system.

Vietnam’s vaccine passport will contain personal information including the types of vaccines administered and the number of doses given. The information is encoded and encrypted into a QR code, which expires 12 months after it is created.

The vaccine passports are expected to come in handy after Vietnam fully reopened its borders March 15, facilitating both inbound and outbound tourism.