COVID-19 immunity certificates: Everything to know about this controversial solution

The Corona virus The pandemic has forced millions of people to seek protection, close shops, and freeze communities to help public health officials reduce the number of hospitalizations due to the disease. While governments are looking for ways to reopen the economy, many countries have and even companies consider “immunity certificates” as a way to get things back on track safely.

The concept behind immunity certificates is that people who have been tested and are considered immune to the COVID-19 outbreak receive a passport to go outside. The ID cards would likely be issued through a device, which would provide another way of using the technology to incorporate the proposed solutions to the coronavirus pandemic, combining contact tracking apps and robots with thermal imaging cameras patrolling the streets.

Like these other solutions, immunity certificates raise concerns about privacy, security, inequality, and efficiency. While several countries view passports as a way to potentially quarantine, data protection and health care experts warn that certificates of immunity have many challenges to address – if they are correct at all.

Here is a breakdown of the certificates of immunity and concerns about their implementation as public policy.

What are immunity certificates?

Immunity certificates, sometimes referred to as immunity cards or cards, are a form of identification that can be used to label people who are infected with COVID-19, have recovered, and have developed antibodies to the disease. The certificates are issued under the impression that the development of antibodies means that you have developed immunity, but that is still up for debate.

One reason governments have issued protection orders is because COVID-19 spreads exponentially and is contagious, even when people have no symptoms. People can spread the disease even if they do not know they have it, which is what is causing the officials to do so Closure of businesses and public activities to “smooth the curve”. In the United States, more than 1.5 million cases have been confirmed and around 94,000 people have died.

The downtimes have more than devastated the economy 43 million Americans apply for unemployment benefits. Governments see immunity certificates as a way to find out who can work again. Forbes reported that companies are also considering this option. The certificates are based on antibody tests that test whether your immune system has developed resistance to protection against COVID-19.

The hope is that people who have developed immunity can go outside with enough tests as all governments try to boost the economy rather than asking everyone to self-quarantine.

What is an antibody test?

When your body is exposed to a virus, the immune system builds proteins to attack this pathogen – and these proteins are called antibodies. Antibodies in a person’s blood indicate that they have transmitted the disease, and in many cases it means that they are protected against it.

Antibody testing is not a new concept that was developed based on COVID-19, and there are no certificates of immunity. Healthcare workers are, for example tested for immunity to hepatitis B before settingand schools can request vaccination records beforehand Children can be enrolled as a student.

Policymakers are considering using it for COVID-19 as governments expect an influx of antibody tests soon.

How should immunity certificates work?

After testing for antibodies and demonstrating immunity to COVID-19, the certificates can be issued in many different ways. Several forms recommended different forms for these certificates, e.g. B. a physical card, a QR code in a mobile app or a sticker on a passport.

Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University published a white paper Implementation information, warning that paper copies can be easily counterfeited, and recommendation of digital certificates.

“Because paper credentials are fraudulent and often require independent verification, such systems are unwieldy and cannot be tailored to the challenge,” the white paper suggested.

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Where are they used?

China’s version is not specifically called an immunity certificate, but works much like one. The country uses a color-coded app to indicate whether a person has been quarantined or admitted to public space since March. This is called the Alipay Health Code. according to the New York Times.

Chile launched its own COVID-19 immunity card program on April 20. according to Bloomberg. Immunity certificates are still at an early stage, but as antibody tests become more available, more and more countries are considering adopting the directive.

In May, Estonia has started testing digital immunity passes for businessesaccording to Reuters.

Where are they viewed?

Immunity certificate programs are being considered in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.

On CNN’s new day, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last month that the U.S. was discussing the use of immunity certificates to find out who is susceptible to the disease.

At a press conference on April 2UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government is reviewing immunity certificates that could be available as bracelets.

The federal government has not commented on the introduction of immunity certificates, but researchers from the German Center for Infection Research, the Robert Koch Institute, the Virology Institute of the Berlin Charite Hospital and the state health authority are continuing to plan Conduct a mass study of how many people are immune to COVID-19.

More than 100,000 volunteers are expected to conduct tests and be repeated on a regular basis to obtain a larger sample of the country’s population. The study tries to issue immunity certificates from the test results. The mirror reported.

The German Ministry of Health announced this in May Cooperation with the German Ethics Council to evaluate an immunity certificate program.

The Italian government also intends to conduct hundreds of thousands of tests for COVID-19 antibodies and proposed that a “license” be given to work for people with signs of immunity. according to the New York Times.

It all depends on the idea that antibody tests actually work for COVID-19, and scientists are still not sure.

Wait what?

Since COVID-19 is a relatively new disease, not much is known about the disease and what antibodies mean to it or how to properly test it.

Nikolai Petrovsky, professor at Flinders University in Australia and general secretary of the International Immunomics Society, put it this way: “If you understood the nature of these tests, you would say that this is a crazy idea. It is an idea that has come by someone trying to reduce social isolation. ”

What are the problems when testing antibodies to COVID-19?

Antibody tests and immunity certificates work for hepatitis B and measles because there are proven vaccines against the diseases, Petrovsky explained.

With COVID-19, there is not much information that supports immunity and antibodies, and enough research to disprove it, the professor said.

Antibodies don’t all have the same lifespan, Petrovsky said. While antibodies to pathogens, such as certain strains of influenza, can last all your life with other human coronaviruses, antibodies only lasted about 10 months, Petrovsky said.

There was not enough time to determine how long antibodies to COVID-19 remained active, he added. This means that a person who has issued a certificate of immunity in one month may be susceptible to the disease again the next month.

There are also concerns about the validity of tests. The British government bought it 3.5 million antibody tests for COVID-19, but it’s unclear how reliable they actually are. Some tests could only ingest a very high amount of antibodies, while others could ingest a lot.

“My company’s test may be 100 times more sensitive than another company’s test,” said Petrovsky. “A test could show someone negative, a test could show someone positive. Which one do you use for a certificate?”

What does the World Health Organization say?

In response to the concept of immunity passports, the WHO published a report in April in which there is currently no evidence that people who are recovering from COVID-19 have antibodies that protect them from a second infection.

The WHO warned that only 2% to 3% the population has actually developed antibodies to COVID-19 in their blood.

“There is currently no evidence that the use of a serological test can show that a person is immune or protected from re-infection,” said Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, WHO technical director for COVID-19. said at a press conference.

Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to guarantee the accuracy of an immunity pass.

How would certificates be distributed and secured if they were introduced?

There are various suggestions for how this data should be treated and saved.

Health information is particularly sensitive and one of the few things that actually protects data protection laws in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic can be particularly damaging if information is lost about hundreds of thousands of people who are immune to COVID-19 if the data is breached.

If there is personal data, people with certificates of immunity can be contacted for their antibodies or to duplicate the QR code of people who absolutely want to return to work.

In Harvard’s white paper, it was recommended not to store this data on a central server but on local devices and to encrypt the information during transport and at rest.

“A central credential program where a single body (probably the government) gathers a list of all people tested and their test results would expose citizens to data breaches and abuse,” the white paper said. “We believe that civil society should act actively against efforts to create centralized certification programs.”

A MIT Professor of Information Technology Alex Pentland white paper refers to existing mobile payment systems and uses the encryption and security infrastructures already available for financial institutions and applies them to healthcare providers.

“Imagine a society where credit unions, banks, or other civilian institutions serve as repositories for citizens’ health data, much like their status in terms of finance, identity, education, and operating permits,” writes Pentland . “This personal data forms the basis for the digital identity of every citizen and determines their ability to legally carry out various actions (e.g. credit card payment, employment as a doctor, entering a bar).”

This model also carries risks because financial institutions often exchange data about your data Credit card transactions with advertisers.

Harvard’s white paper also recommends that certificates be issued through a digital wallet app that can generate and encrypt a unique identifier that cannot be linked to a specific person or device.

Companies like NXP working on digital passports have also had discussions with various countries about implementing digital immunity indicators for international travel.

What are the privacy concerns surrounding them?

If this is implemented – which has been recommended by several health authorities – data protection concerns will depend on who handles this data.

Both the Harvard and MIT white papers warn that storing data on a central server or providing it from a source would compromise privacy. The apps on which the certificates are distributed are also cause for concern.

In China, for example, researchers found out Code in its digital certificate data That was labeled “reportInfoAndLocationToPolice” which, according to the New York Times, sends location, city names and an ID number to a server.

These apps do not have to be introduced by governments either. They could be developed and distributed by private companies that want to check that their own employees can safely return to work.

This scenario raises questions about who is behind the app, who is developing it and whether security measures are being taken. Today’s data economy means that a harmless app that lets millions of people check the weather can also be used to sell their location data behind the scenes.

The The American Civil Liberties Union pointed out privacy concerns related to immunity passportswhereas the immunity of COVID-19 could be tied to future conditions such as access to housing, employment and travel.

“The existing legal framework may not be sufficient to prevent this information from being shared, especially if it is held by private entities,” said the ACLU. “Many members of marginalized communities, including immigrant communities, may be concerned that their health status information may be used for law enforcement or immigration purposes, or may affect government benefits or health insurance.”

When apps for digital certificates are introduced, it is an important tool for people who want to leave their homes after the pandemic – one that governments and jobs may need, unlike the optional apps that collect your data today.

“When you run extensive immunity tests and check authentic government documentation on immunity, there are privacy issues to ensure that the data is treated properly and not misused,” said Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation.

He also questions the validity of the proposed solution and notes that these certificates make many assumptions based on unproven theories.

“Creating everything that is derived from design is at best pseudoscience and a violation of privacy,” he said.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a doctor or other qualified healthcare provider if you have any questions about an illness or health goals.