How to prove your Covid-19 vaccine status on your phone

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Rather than losing your vaccination record, you can save your vaccination status on your phone to use as proof when you enter public areas. You have a few options to confirm you’ve been vaccinated, from scannable QR codes to scanned documents that live among your digital files, versions of “vaccine passports” that can get you to places that only allow clients who have been vaccinated.
Some states allow residents to access a digital immunization record: Arizona, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia (plus Washington, DC) use the free MyIR Mobile service ; Californians can visit myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov to access their records, and New Yorkers can use the Excelsior Pass app, which we’ll use as an example.

To use Excelsior Pass:

  1. You will need to enter personal information at epass.ny.gov.
  2. Once you’ve verified your identity, you can access a pass with a unique QR code. You can add this digital pass to the Excelsior Pass app, available for iPhone and Android, or print it out for a physical copy.

Excelsior Pass and California’s My Vaccine Record users will receive a QR code that companies can scan to confirm that customers are vaccinated against Covid-19. But both services are specific to those states: if you haven’t been vaccinated in California or New York, you won’t be able to access your information with those apps.

Use a trusted app

Several apps that consumers already use to access airport security or sporting events may contain your proof of vaccination. Insider lists Clear, CommonPass, and VeriFly as popular apps for storing this information (we’ll use Clear as an example below).
Apps like Clear rely on biometrics – that is, detailed scans of your face – to verify information, so standard privacy concerns apply.

To upload your vaccination record to Clear:

  1. You’ll need to create a free Clear account first, if you don’t already have one. Enter your e-mail adress. The app will ask you for a photo ID and then scan a photo of your face. Once you’ve verified your identity, create a password and sign in.
  2. In the main menu of the application, click on the option “Add your Covid-19 vaccination”. There are several ways to do this: You can scan your card directly or add your QR code if you live in California or New York; you can sign in with a Walmart account if you received your vaccines at a Walmart pharmacy; or you can connect with some health care providers.
  3. If you are scanning your vaccination card, place the front of your card within the margins shown on the screen. Once you’ve taken a photo, the app will ask you to fill in the name of the vaccine you received, the dates of your doses, and where you were vaccinated.
  4. Once you have logged in this information, the app will generate a scannable QR code to prove your vaccination status.

Scan your card with your phone

If your state doesn’t use an app to check immunization status, Nicole Nguyen of The Wall Street Journal suggests scanning your immunization card with your phone’s camera. Both iPhone and Android phones have document scanning capabilities.

IPhone users can scan their pass without downloading an app.

  1. Open the Notes app.
  2. Create a new note and title it something like “Covid-19 Vaccine” so that it is easy to find.
  3. Under your header, click the camera icon. A menu should appear – select “scan documents”.
  4. Place your camera on the front of your vaccination record until it focuses and scans the image, then click the button in the center at the bottom of the screen to capture an image.
  5. Your iPhone should recognize the scanned document as your vaccination card. The note should register automatically.
Android users will need to download Google Drive. (IPhone users can also use the Google Drive app if they have it.)
  1. Open Google Drive.
  2. Press the “add” symbol, then the “scan” symbol (this is the camera icon).
  3. Place your camera over your vaccination record until it focuses and scans the image.
  4. Save your document by pressing Done (the check mark icon).

Digital vaccination records can be the most convenient way to prove your Covid-19 vaccination status in the future – and your ticket back to normal.

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