South Koreas Prime Minister, Chung Sye-Kyun, confirmed the plans to launch a blockchain-based vaccine certificate in a statement made on Thursday. Blockchain technology is a decentralised network that uses real-time data as a protocol to reach a consensus. Its most prominent utility mostly consists of confirming transactions of cryptocurrencies. However, in this instance rather than being related to cryptocurrency, the plan is to use the real-time mechanisms of the blockchain to track those with vaccines.
The implementation procedure is through a mobile app, scheduled for release by the end of this month. During an inter-agency pandemic response conference, Sye Kyun said that the change would help South Koreans at home.
The distribution of a vaccine passport, referred to as a “green pass”, would only allow those that have received vaccinations to return to their normal lives.
The mobile application was designed using that real-time blockchain technology to protect itself against potential data breaches and identity theft concerns. The Korean PM claimed that solutions in other parts of the world do not store personal information while allowing the verification of vaccination statuses.
An increasing number of counties such as South Korea are set to rely on blockchain solutions in response to the global pandemic. Among them is Brazil as one of the first countries to use a blockchain-based system to track vaccinations both China and the European Union have intentions of issuing vaccine passports in June.
Nearly 77,000 South Korean citizens have been vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine. 551 new cases were reported in the country yesterday. The government anticipates vaccinating 12 million people by June.
