ID2020 (Accenture, Deloitte, Mastercard, Microsoft, Rockefeller Foundation, GAVI, Open Society Foundation, World Economic Forum, COVI-Pass, CommonPass)

[Abacus]

(October 18, 2013) Deloitte Launches PopulationMiner to Deliver Health System Insights Based upon Next Generation Real World Evidence Platform
NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2013 – Deloitte today is announcing the upcoming release of PopulationMiner, a real-world, data-analytics
solution for gleaning insights and relationships among drugs and diseases across broad patient populations
over time and spanning multiple therapeutic and clinical areas. "With the shift towards value-based, personalized care,
it's key for life-sciences decision makers to have deep insights into complex, real-world populations,"
said Brett Davis, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and general manager of Deloitte Health Informatics.
"PopulationMiner enables a better understanding of health and disease by supporting population stratification
and advanced analytics based on disease type, stage and comorbid combinations.
With a few clicks, this platform can provide an unprecedented level of nuanced insights from millions of patients,
leveraging informatics and clinical expertise from Deloitte and Intermountain Healthcare."

(May 2016) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the inaugural ID2020 summit brought together over 400 people to discuss how to provide digital identity to all,
a defined Sustainable Development Goal including to 1.5bn people living without any form of recognized identification.
Experts in blockchain and other cryptographic technology joined with representatives of technical standards bodies
to identify how technology and other private sector expertise could achieve the goal.
In 2019, ID2020 started a new digital identity program in collaboration with the government of Bangladesh and vaccine alliance Gavi.
Participants: Accenture, Microsoft, Avanade Inc, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Cisco Systems Inc have contributed their expertise to ID2020.

ID2020, also known as the Digital Identity Alliance is a mostly Bill Gates sponsored push for a digital identification for all people in the world,
which will "will stay with you for life", and allegedly "no individual or institution can duplicate, modify, or delete".
It is an alliance of public-private partners, including UN agencies, UNICEF and civil society. It’s an electronic ID program
that uses generalized vaccination as a platform for digital identity.
"What they really want is a fully standardized data collection and retrieval format, and cross-border sharing of identities of the entire population of the planet,
in order for the stand-alone AI-powered command center to work without a hitch, and for purposes of calculating everyone’s potential contribution, and threat to the system,"
explains OffGrid Healthcare.

(August 2016) A Blueprint for Digital Identity
The Role of Financial Institutions in Building Digital Identity
An Industry Project of the Financial Services Community Prepared in collaboration with Deloitte
Members of the Steering Committee:
- Bob Contri, Vice Chairman - Deloitte & Touche LLP
- David Craig, President, Risk and Financial - Thomson Reuters
- John Flint, Chief Executive Officer, Retail Banking and Wealth Management - HSBC
- Kim Hammond, Chief Operating Officer - Deutsche Bank
- Jason Harris, Chief Executive Officer, International Property and Casualty - XL Group
- Michael Harte, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operations Officer - Barclays
- Axel Lehmann, Chief Operating Officer - UBS
- Anju Patwardhan, Chief Innovation Officer - Standard Chartered Bank
- David Puth, Chief Executive Officer - CLS Group
- William Sheedy, Global Executive, Corporate Strategy, M&A, Government Relations - Visa
- Dietter Wemmer, Chief Financial Officer - Allianz
Members of the Working Group:
- Tom Brown, Partner - Paul Hastings
- Lena Mass-Cresnik, PhD, Head of Innovation, Strategic Product Management - BlackRock
- Christof Edel, Global Head of Trading Strategy & Business Development - Thomson Reuters
- Rob Galaski, (Project Advisor) Head of Financial Services - Deloitte
- Dorothy Hillenius, Director of Corporate Strategy - ING
- Marc Lien, Director of Innovation and Digital Development - Lloyds Banking Group
- Matthew Levin, EVP and Head of Global Strategy - Aon
- Victor Matarranz, Director of Strategy & Chief of Staff to the CEO - Santander
- Neil Mumm, VP Corporate Strategy - Visa
- Max Neukirchen, Group Head of Strategy - JP Morgan Chase
- Christine O’Connell, Global Head of Strategy & Business Development - Thomson Reuters
- Robert Palatnick, Managing Director and Chief Technology Architect - DTCC
- Kosta Peric, Deputy Director Financial Services for the Poor - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Justin Pinkham, SVP and Group Head, Payments Innovation - MasterCard
- Bob Reany, SVP and Group Head, Identity Solutions - MasterCard
- Peter Rutland, Senior Managing Director - CVC Capital Partners
- Nicolas de Skowronski, Chief of Staff - Bank Julius Baer
- Huw Van Steenis, Managing Director and Head of Financial Services Research - Morgan Stanley
- Colin Teichholtz, Partner & Co-Head of Fixed Income Trading - Pine River Capital
- Fabien Vandenreydt, Head of Markets Management, Innotribe & the SWIFT Institute - SWIFT

There is no one-size-fits-all for identity.
A global system for identity therefore initially requires the construction of discrete identity networks,
and then the creation of rails between them. Creating a global solution for identity is a two-step process: the key to building a global system for digital identity
is first building successful natural identity networks that address the unique needs and preferences of their user group and situation,
and then building connective tissue that creates interoperability between these systems.
1. Implementation: Configuring natural identity networks
- The configuration of natural identity networks will be guided by the decisions made against the primary and secondary dimensions of choice.
2. Interconnection: Building the rails for global identity
- Building the rails between natural identity systems will create global interconnection and interoperability.

Building identity as a two-step process enables identity systems to be built by narrowing the required stakeholders to groups that have
similar needs and concerns, and therefore have relatively aligned incentives. It also ensures that these systems are tailored to the specific needs
and wants of their user and stakeholder groups and will therefore gain the uptake that a top-down, one-size-fits-all systam would not attain.
However, these solutions should also be built following a common framework that will ensure interoperability by defining the features,
attributes and requirements of the identities that are exchanged in the system. This reinforces the need for individual identity systems to be built by entities
such as financial institutions that have experience working together to define standards, and then building individual systems within these standards.
Implementing discrete digital identity systems that suit the unique needs and cultural factors of users in their own jurisdictions,
and designing these systems around resilience, interoperability and interconnection, will allow a global blueprint for digital identity to emerge.

(November 17, 2016) The UN and big tech are harnessing blockchain technology to give refugees identification
ID2020 was started by a pioneer of financial technology, John Edge,
who told Apolitical, 'If you create a new derivative contract, it's like a human being born.
At a summit ID2020 organised at the UN headquarters in New York earlier this year, Marley Gray, who runs Microsoft's work on blockchain,
said, 'We have a sort of technological perfect storm.
First is the cloud, then very inexpensive mobile devices,
and then this notion of establishing secure identity not just for individuals, but for everything,
to be able to track and transact securely. The challenge is not necessarily the technology or the organisation, it's bringing it all together.'
ID2020 is not trying to put forward one particular solution. Rather, it has convened a group including development agencies, think tanks
and companies such Microsoft, PWC, Cisco, Accenture and Deloitte
to spend the years to 2020 figuring out what a solution might look like.

(January 25, 2017) Trump’s executive order on immigration addresses biometric entry-exit tracking system
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday which includes a series of initiatives to address immigration, including a proposal to establish a national biometric ID program
for non-citizens entering and leaving the U.S., according to a report by Payments Source.
The biometric ID system could potentially have a huge effect on the security industry,
along with financial services risk strategies, according to payments experts.
A national biometric ID program would see large amounts of money paid to biometric solution vendors,
and ultimately place biometrics as a security method over existing authentication methods like passwords and PINs.
“This could lead to an enactment and requirement of multi-factor authentication with the mobile phone
being the new hardware,” Richard Crone, a payments consultant said. “The government would not have to pay for any new hardware in that case.”

(September 14, 2017) Mark of the Beast: Digital Identity and the Cashless Cartel
On June 19th, 2017, approximately 300 people gathered at the United Nations for the second annual ID2020 Summit.
The ID2020 Alliance, a consortium of public and private organisations, was launched there.
The summit was attended by representatives of UN organisations such as UNDP (United Nations Development Programme);
UNECLAC (United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean);
UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees),
and UN OICT (United Nations Office of Information and Communication Technologies).
Participating organsiations included: Accenture; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Biometrics Institute; Gavi (the vaccine alliance);
General Electric; IBM; IrisGuard; MasterCard; Microsoft; One World Identity; Open Society Foundation (George Soros); PwC; Rockefeller Foundation; Standard Chartered Bank; Unique Identity Authority of India; Verizon; the World Economic Forum, and HSBC bank.  

(December 6, 2017) This New Blockchain Project Gives Homeless New Yorkers A Digital Identity
Three thousand homeless people in New York
are about to receive a special holiday gift: a free smartphone
that allows them to manage their digital identity,
access shelters and food pantries,
and make use of financial services.
The initiative, which uses blockchain technology,
may be the first time a distributed computer ledger
has been employed to help a homeless population.

(December 6, 2018) Mastercard and Microsoft have a frightening plan to create universal “digital identities”
The companies are building a solution that would create a “universally-recognized digital identity.”
To the corporations, this is a brilliant solution! To everyone else, it may feel more than a bit dystopian.
What this announcement seems to be describing is a streamlined identification system: a not-too-far-off world where people are identified under a universal protocol
that checks in on them at various points during their lives–when they vote, when they get married, etc. It’s the kind of a citizen-check system a totalitarian regime could only dream of.

(March 27, 2019) Apple Card secures payments with smartphone biometrics as Mastercard plans for digital trust
Apple has announced a new digital-first credit card built into the iPhone Wallet app with a range of security and privacy features,
including integration of Touch ID and Face ID biometrics, TechCrunch reports.The new Apple Card, launched in partnership with Mastercard and Goldman Sachs,
brings the security of biometric authentication to online purchases, and also features a dynamic card verification value (CVV) security code.

(June 17, 2019) ID4Africa 2019 promises debate on biometric data and ID issues as market matures
Acting Director General of South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs Thulani Mavuso
spoke about the importance of legal and digital identity, biometrics, and civil registries,
as well as the challenges created by undocumented people moving between countries.
Atick reviewed recent developments in the ID4Africa movement,
including the launch of the Roundtable of African Data Protection Authorities (RADPA),
the launch of the ID4Africa Identity Council (IIC),
and the inclusion of Mastercard as a Thematic Partner to promote identity for inclusion.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Omidyar Network
have worked with ID4Africa to bring a number of organizations
concerned with social and financial inclusion to the dialogue.

(June 28, 2019) Mastercard and Orange: why global brands are delving into African biometrics
The speed at which African nations are implementing biometric systems for national ID and electoral rolls
has created something of a goldrush for the biometrics industry, as the recent ID4Africa 2019 conference in Johannesburg highlighted.
Other players not necessarily associated with ID and biometrics
have taken notice and are joining the field. Mastercard was even a major sponsor of ID4Africa,
promoting its efforts in identity inclusion. Another global brand, French telecom Orange,
which also has mobile payments as a key part of its business,
was present to showcase how governments can utilize their agents as a ready-made network of biometrics capturers.
“If you think about if from our perspective, the more people who are integrated into the global digital economy, the better for our bottom line,”
Antonia Stroeh, Senior Vice President of Government and Development at Mastercard told Biometric Update.
Agencies may find benefits in being able to recognize when they are both dealing with the same individuals,
said Stroeh, such as the Ministry of Agriculture seeing that a fertilizer subsidy scheme correlated with improved health indicators from the receivers,
all the while not knowing the identities of those individuals.
Use cases include health – partnering with the vaccination alliance GAVI for digital record-keeping for vaccinations;
in education where Kupaa creates a digital administration for a school tracking attendance
and collecting fees and in aid situations where an aid organization can know to whom it has distributed cash
without having to own and manage a secure database of the recipients.

(July 1, 2019) Former UK PM Tony Blair urges governments to sort out online ID
In a foreword to the report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
- a not-for-profit organisation which has received £9m in donations from Saudi Arabia
- Blair said the UK has failed to crack digital identity.
He said this "has been a major constraint" in public services.
"In the internet era, governments should see software and data as an essential, enabling platform for others' activity,
with new security technologies now addressing previous concerns over identity systems."
But don't worry, he is not looking relaunch his government's previous failed attempt at ID cards.
Instead the report calls for a "a decentralised electronic identity system to all citizens as the flagship digital infrastructure reform."

(December 12, 2019) Australia, Canada look to digital identity solutions to get rid of physical ID cards
Mastercard has rolled out a new digital identity pilot in Australia this week that can identify a person in both digital and physical environments,
the company announced. Mastercard is testing different ways of proving identity without having to rely on multiple physical documents or centralized identity databases.
The project is based on a distributed model that, when activated, uses information from the mobile device
which has been checked through additional reference points, such as the person’s bank or government agencies taking part in the pilot.
The pilot program is carried out in partnership with Australia Post which will use the existing digital ID solution to enable Australians
to identify themselves when using the services, and with Deakin University where student volunteers
will test an identity verification process for student registration and digital exams.
Canadian province Quebec is also looking into biometrics to confirm online identity and get rid of traditional physical government IDs by 2021, writes CBC.
The government is waiting to see if any companies in the private sector would be interested in taking over the project. Details about cost have not been revealed.

[Abacus]

(January 30, 2020) Accenture, Google hope to lure Big Pharma clients GSK, Pfizer and more to new data platform
Google Cloud President Tariq Shaukat heard "an overriding sentiment" when he spoke with pharma and life science executives
recently at the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference: The pharma industry is behind in modernizing and using digital technology.
To that end, his company is partnering with Accenture
on an open architecture platform to accelerate discovery,
research and delivery for pharma and life sciences companies. Accenture’s platform, called Intient,
strikes an exclusive partnership with Google Cloud to migrate all parts of the now seven-year-old technology onto a single end-to-end architecture with Google.
The intent is to combine Accenture’s industry experience and connections with Google's data analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Intient clients include GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Bayer and many other top 25 pharma companies,
said Simon Eaves, group chief executive of products at Accenture.

(January 31, 2020) Mastercard invests in online and offline identity startup Trust Stamp
Mastercard has made a strategic investment in AI-generated identity authentication company Trust Stamp.
Trust Stamp is a graduate of the 2018 Mastercard Start Path accelerator programme.
The two companies introduced their first collaboration with a secure non-PII authentication network
for both online and offline environments at the June 2019 ID4Africa conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Shashi Raghunandan, Mastercard's senior vice president for humanitarian and development programmer says:
"This is part of our commitment to make the digital economy work for everyone, everywhere.
The size of the investment was undisclosed.

(May 22, 2020) Immunity Passports and the Perils of Conferring Coronavirus Status
Recently, Onfido submitted a proposal to members of the U.K. Parliament’s science and technology committee,
as they consider ways to lift stay-at-home orders, including the development of immunity passports.
COVI-Pass is an immunity passport that uses VCode—a proprietary cryptographic image, similar to a QR code
—that can be scanned at a distance of a hundred metres. It will reveal if a person has tested positive for antibodies,
flash green if a person has tested negative for the virus, and red if tests show that they have the virus or don’t have antibodies,
or if their test result has expired. (A yellow light shows when it’s time to be retested.) The app can “geo-fence” a point of entry, prohibiting visitors with a red light from entering a building or stadium or school.
“I believe that all governments will move toward a global health passport, which will be as common as carrying a driver’s license
or a passport, because this is not going to be the last pandemic we have,” Adam Palmer, the C.O.O. of COVI-Pass, said.

(May 28, 2020) Advisor resigns from ID2020 objecting to blockchain immunity passports for COVID-19
Elizabeth M. Renieris, a Harvard lawyer on the ID2020 technical advisory committee, has resigned from the ID2020 Alliance.
Renieris’ resignation was driven by concerns that the organization will get involved in COVID-19 immunity passports, as Coindesk first reported.
The ID2020 Alliance was founded by Accenture, Microsoft, Gavi, Rockefeller Foundation and IDEO. Partners include Mastercard, which joined last week, as well as NGOs and UN agencies.
Renieris believes immunity passports could potentially infringe privacy rights for tests that are unproven and that the identity and blockchain standards are still a work in progress.

(May 28, 2020) Consumer anticipation of biometric payments surges as contactless takes over from cash
Cash is disappearing and payment cards are being used more, shifting consumer attitudes about biometrics for payments
and presenting a major opportunity for fingerprint cards, a new survey report and a pair of company posts suggest.
More than half of Canadians expect that biometrics will be part of the way they purchase things within the next decade,
according to a new survey. As a Research Co. shows credit card purchases doubled during COVID-19 lockdowns to 50 percent of all transactions,
up from 24 percent in February 2019. Another 31 percent of payments were processed with debit cards,
and 4 percent through e-transfers or with a smartphone, compared to only 3 percent with cash.

(June 1, 2020) ID2020 Advisor Questions Corporate Interests in Resignation Letter
Elizabeth Renieris has resigned from the ID2020 Alliance, and penned a scathing critique of the organization on her way out the door.
She specifically argues that the Alliance’s original objectives have been compromised by corporate interests,
and that the organization is now so fixated on digital identities that it is willing to sacrifice civil liberties to accomplish its aims.
ID2020 Advisor Questions Corporate Interests in Scathing Resignation Letter “At this stage, I can no longer even describe what ID2020’s mission is with any confidence,”
wrote Renieris in her resignation letter. “All I can perceive is a desire to promote decentralized identity solutions at all costs.”

(June 3, 2020) Portable digital identity solution with face biometrics successfully exits FCA regulatory sandbox
A reusable digital identity solution leveraging face biometrics and developed by Onfido, Deloitte, and Evernym
has successfully exited a regulatory sandbox pilot with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA),
which the company’s say shows that portable digital ID is now market-ready.
“Now that we’ve proven the model in one of the toughest regulated markets in the world,
we’re rapidly proceeding to apply it to other geographies and services
as well such as renting a car, self-checking into a hotel and one day, even voting.”
“When you put the individual in charge of her digital identity,
everyone wins. It gives consumers the freedom to securely move about the digital world,
and businesses the ability to finally know and trust who they are interacting with.”

(June 6, 2020) In the AI era, your voice could give away your face
MIT researchers trained a machine learning model to reconstruct a very rough likeness of someone’s face based only on a short audio clip.
From algorithms that can automatically tag you in photos, to face recognition systems embedded in city surveillance systems
to voice generators that can put words in people’s mouths, AI is dismantling privacy.
A new tool is peeling back the curtain a little more, with a method to figure out what your face looks like from your voice.
The paper, “Speech2Face: Learning the Face Behind a Voice,” explains how they took a dataset
made up of millions of clips from YouTube and created a neural network-based model that learns vocal attributes associated with facial
features from the videos. Now, when the system hears a new sound bite, the AI can use what it’s learned to guess what the face might look like.

(June 16, 2020) Pangea and IDnow pitch biometric immunity credentials, Nomidio CEO calls for trusted identity guardian
Pangea has launched an end-to-end platform for issuing biometric smartcard-based COVID-19 immunity or travel credentials
in an effort to support the global airline and tourism industries. The company says global health experts agree that a solution
to expedite the flow of passengers is necessary to enable a recovery in the air travel industry.
Pangea proposes a card with a photo of the person, a digital signature, a chip and a hologram. The card can be securely linked to the records
of a country’s medical authority, and include encrypted data on the holder’s profile to verify the individual has tested negative or has immunity to the virus.
Pangea says it is in talks with several governments regarding the use of the biometric card.
The company plans to expand the smart card system’s capabilities to make it a full scale medical ‘passport.’

IDnow likewise says it is in talks with the UK government to create “immunity passports” for people who have recovered from COVID-19.
Since launching in the UK last year,
IDnow says its AutoIdent has been in enormous demand from companies seeking to check the security features of ID documents with the artificial intelligence-based software.
Major UK companies adopting IDnow’s technology include BP, Macropay, Holvi, Allied Irish Banks (AIB) and GVC, according to the announcement.
Demand in regulated sectors like finance and gaming has been particularly strong.

(July 24, 2020) Biometric digital health credentials for NHL and London theatre, Privacy International warns of risks
As biometrics and other digital identity technologies are deployed to enable big league sports to resume operations,
National Hockey League players and staff will use Clear’s Health Pass
to protect against the spread of COVID-19, Vox reports.
Health Pass was launched in May, and provides health status attestation,
temperature scans, and potentially links to test results, underpinned with biometric identity verification.
The partnership with the NHL means Health Pass will be used to check the roughly 3,000 players, coaches, and support staff
who are involved in the 24-team playoffs, which will be held in Edmonton and Toronto, Canada.
ID2020 Executive Director Dakota Gruener, Yoti, the Tony Blair Institute, IATA, and Onfido are singled out for “hyping the immunity passport ‘solution’.”
Gruener’s paper, however, notes that digital health credential “systems can only be effective once testing is ubiquitous, convenient, and free,” suggesting that they would not be supported at this time.

(August 6, 2020) ID2020 certifies BLOK BioScience Immunity Passport with self-sovereign approach to digital ID
ID2020 has certified the digital ID immunity passport developed by BLOK Bioscience
as conforming to its conception of “good ID,” the organization announced.
The tool is the first certified by the organization for COVID-19 health status,
allowing users to keep a self-sovereign record of all tests, antibodies and vaccination results.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust digital credentials into the global spotlight,” said ID2020 Executive Director Dakota Gruener
in a prepared statement. “As we consider digital ID-based solutions for public health applications, getting the technology right is not negotiable.
There are currently over 30 technology providers who have submitted applications
to confirm their technologies align with ID2020’s requirements,
though presumably not all applications are for digital health credentials.
Kiva Protocol, Gravity.earth, and ZAKA have also received ID2020 certification for their digital ID solutions.

(August 14, 2020) Immunity passports and the risks to user privacy
According to Privacy International, “The ‘visionaries’ are keen to get back into painting a world driven by identification.”
Already, several identity firms such as OnFido, ID2020, IDNow, Yoti, Circle Pass Enterprises (CPE) and VST Enterprises are racing to develop immunity passport solutions.
Likewise, several countries including Chile, Italy, Estonia, France, Germany, India, U.S, and the U.K, have all expressed interest in so-called immunity passports.
CPE and VST Enterprises for instance have teamed up to create a blockchain technology-based immunity passport known as COVI-PASS, to be supplied to 15 countries
including the US, Canada, Sweden, India, UAE, South Africa, among others. In West Africa, a digital identity firm Trust Stamp in partnership with Mastercard and GAVI
is quietly developing what they call “Wellness Pass” for people who receive vaccinations, including COVID-19 vaccine—when it becomes available.
It enables individuals to be digitally tied to their medical and financial records.
This is an unprecedented attempt to link biometric digital identity systems, health records, and a payment system into a single unified platform.
The linking of health records to digital payment systems in the “Wellness Pass” scheme is an ominous way of compelling people to comply or face starvation.

(August 17, 2020) Plans for digital IDs need to focus on what isn’t yet known
A proposed five-point plan for making digital identities — and anticipated follow-on societal benefits — succeeds where so many similar efforts have failed.
It does not prescribe specific biometric tools for the world as it is today, but calls for governments to address novel challenges related to biometrics with legislation.
Researchers at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
make only one commandment like statement.
“The broader need for secure, user-centric and reusable digital identity has never been clearer.”
The group’s first point is, indeed, for the government to accept that a digital ID is inevitable.
It is the best way to help economies exit lockdowns without re-igniting the pandemic.

(August 27, 2020) Abbott to ship millions of $5, card-sized coronavirus tests offering 'digital health passes'
The FDA has given its green light to a new coronavirus test from Abbott, which will be sold for $5
and fits entirely on a device about the size of a credit card.
The rapid antigen test is designed to deliver a reading from a nasal swab within 15 minutes
and is paired with a free, optional smartphone app
capable of logging and displaying COVID-19 test results—providing a “temporary digital health pass”
that could help clear people for entry to places such as schools, hospitals, workplaces, airports and elsewhere.
In addition, according to a report today from Politico, the Trump administration has reached a $750 million deal with Abbott
to purchase 150 million tests—which would amount to a substantial increase in U.S. testing capacity, with the country performing 22 million tests last month.

(September 28, 2020) Trump announces plans to ship millions of Abbott's rapid tests to states
President Donald Trump announced plans to distribute millions of Abbott Laboratories’s 15-minute COVID-19 test
in the coming weeks, a move aimed at expanding access and helping reopen schools that are seen as key to getting parents back to work.
The federal government expects to ship 150 million of the Abbott rapid tests,
based on states’ populations, Trump said Monday in a press conference at the White House.
The White House will encourage states—which have ultimate discretion over how to deploy the tests—to use about 100 million
to screen teachers, check symptomatic children to see if they have contracted the virus, or conduct baseline surveillance.

(October 1, 2020) HHS Teams Up with The Rockefeller Foundation to Share Best Practices for Increased COVID-19 Testing
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and The Rockefeller Foundation have signed an agreement
to identify and share effective approaches for using rapid point-of-care (POC) antigen tests to screen
for COVID-19 in communities, with a focus on safely reopening K-12 schools. The partnership establishes a pilot program
with select cities and states in The Rockefeller Foundation's Testing Solutions Group (TSG),
a network of public officials devoted to rapidly scaling COVID-19 testing, tracing, and tracking in their communities.
HHS will provide at least 120,000 Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card POC SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests to pilot sites.
The initial pilot cities, selected collaboratively with The Rockefeller Foundation, are
Louisville, Ky.; Los Angeles; New Orleans; and Tulsa, Okla.
In addition, Rhode Island has been selected as a pilot state.
The collaboration between HHS and The Rockefeller Foundation builds upon the Trump Administration's national distribution plan
for the Abbott BinaxNOW tests to states, which includes sending millions of BinaxNOW rapid tests to all U.S. states and territories over the next few months.

(October 15, 2020) Google & Oracle to Monitor Americans Who Get Warp Speed’s Covid-19 Vaccine for up to Two Years
During an interview with the Wall Street Journal published last Friday, the “captain” of Operation Warp Speed, career Big Pharma executive Moncef Slaoui,
confirmed that the millions of Americans who are set to receive the project’s Covid-19 vaccine will be monitored via “incredibly precise . . . tracking systems”
that will “ensure that patients each get two doses of the same vaccine
and to monitor them for adverse health effects.” Slaoui also noted that tech giants Google and Oracle
have been contracted as part of this “tracking system”
but did not specify their exact roles beyond helping to “collect and track vaccine data.”
The day before the Wall Street Journal interview was published,
the New York Times published a separate interview with Slaoui
where he referred to this “tracking system” as a “very active pharmacovigilance surveillance system.”

(October 17, 2020) Digital ‘health passport’ trials under way to aid reopening of borders
A new digital “health passport” is to be piloted by a small number of passengers flying from the UK to the US
for the first time next week under plans for a global framework for Covid-safe air travel.
The CommonPass system, backed by the World Economic Forum (WEF),
is designed to create a common international standard for passengers to demonstrate they do not have coronavirus.
Paul Meyer, the CEO at the Commons Project, which was given startup funding by the Rockefeller Foundation
two years ago and created the digital health pass,
said countries that have closed borders and imposed quarantines are looking for ways to “thoughtfully reopen” their borders.
The trial will apply for passengers flying from Heathrow to Newark, US, on a United Airlines flight on Wednesday.
Tests from the private testing company Prenetics
will be administered by the travel and medical services firm Collinson
in Covid-19 testing facilities set up with Swissport.
It follows a pilot by Cathay Pacific on flights between Hong Kong and Singapore.
However, the test used generally in the UK is not a test of infectiousness,
experts have said, as it does not distinguish between those who have the virus and are infectious and those who are no longer infectious.
There have been many false results as a consequence. There is also suspicion that such schemes could provide a way in to greater monitoring
of people’s movements and health statuses, a paper published in the Lancet on Friday said.

(November 23, 2020) Tony Blair Institute and Oracle Launch Africa Vaccine Management in the Cloud
The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) and Oracle have brought cloud technology to Africa to manage public health programs.
Initially, Ghana, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone will use the new Oracle Health Management System
to create electronic health records for their vaccination programs
for yellow fever, HPV, polio, measles, and COVID-19, as soon as that vaccine is distributed to Africa.
TBI and Oracle are in discussions with more than thirty other countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America
that are evaluating using the same cloud system to manage their COVID-19 vaccination programs.

(November 23, 2020) UK considers face biometrics to verify vaccinated travelers
The UK is taking steps to allow British citizens to resume traveling, with plans to make vaccination credentials
capable of supporting face biometrics checks at borders and prove the bearer is not carrying the novel coronavirus.
The investigation by The Telegraph mentions that Cabinet Office officials have contacted banknote printers, including De La Rue,
for the creation of holograph and security stamp documents to verify the identity of citizens who have tested negative for the virus.
The documents could incorporate facial recognition, as well as NFC-powered chip reading capabilities.

(November 23, 2020) Qantas airline to mandate COVID-19 vaccine for international flights
Australian airline Qantas will require travelers on international flights to be jabbed
with a coronavirus vaccine once an inoculation is ready, CEO Alan Joyce said.
Australia’s largest airline is planning to enshrine the mandate in its terms and conditions,
which would be amended to say that international travelers must be vaccinated before they can board a Qantas plane, Joyce said.

(December 8, 2020) The Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican, A New Alliance Of Global Business Leaders, Launches Today
The Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican ("the Council"), a historic new partnership
between some of the world's largest investment and business leaders and the Vatican, launched today.
The Council is led by a core group of global leaders, known as Guardians
for Inclusive Capitalism, who meet annually with Pope Francis and Cardinal Turkson.

The full list of Guardians is as follows:

- Ajay Banga, President and Chief Executive Officer - Mastercard
- Oliver Bäte, Chairman of the Board of Management - Allianz SE
- Marc Benioff, Chair, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder - Salesforce
- Edward Breen, Executive Chairman - Dupont
- Sharan Burrow, General Secretary - International Trade Union Confederation
- Mark Carney - COP26 Financial Advisor to the Prime Minister, and United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance
- Carmine Di Sibio, Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - EY
- Brunello Cucinelli, Executive Chairman and Creative Director - Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A.
- Roger Ferguson, President and Chief Executive Officer - TIAA
- Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Founder and Managing Partner - Inclusive Capital Partners
- Kenneth Frazier, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer - Merck & Co., Inc.
- Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer - The Estée Lauder Companies
- Marcie Frost, Chief Executive Officer - CalPERS
- Alex Gorsky, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer - Johnson & Johnson
- Angel Gurria, Secretary General - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- Alfred Kelly, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Visa Inc.
- William Lauder, Executive Chairman - The Estée Lauder Companies
- Bernard Looney, Chief Executive Officer - BP
- Fiona Ma, Treasurer - State of California
- Hiro Mizuno, Member of the Board - Principles for Responsible Investment
- Brian Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer - Bank of America
- Deanna Mulligan, President and Chief Executive Officer - Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
- Ronald P. O'Hanley, President and Chief Executive Officer - State Street Corporation
- Rajiv Shah, President - The Rockefeller Foundation
- Tidjane Thiam, Board Member - Kering Group
- Darren Walker, President - Ford Foundation
- Mark Weinberger, Former Chair and CEO of - EY, and Board member of - J&J, - MetLife and - Saudi Aramco

(December 13, 2020) Vaccinated? Show Us Your App
In the coming weeks, major airlines including United, JetBlue and Lufthansa plan to introduce a health passport app, called CommonPass,
that aims to verify passengers’ virus test results — and soon, vaccinations. The app will then issue confirmation codes
enabling passengers to board certain international flights. It is just the start of a push for digital Covid-19 credentials
that could soon be embraced by employers, schools, summer camps and entertainment venues.
“This is likely to be a new normal need that we’re going to have to deal with to control
and contain this pandemic,” said Dr. Brad Perkins,
the chief medical officer at the Commons Project Foundation,
a nonprofit in Geneva that developed the CommonPass app.

[KneelB4Zod!]

Great thread again. I made it sticky as well. It gonna be listed on the top of the forum.

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Thanks Zod ;-)

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(December 21, 2020) Allied Identity introduces Vaxtrac, a new vaccination management
and credentialing platform designed to aid against COVID-19 and other communicable diseases

Allied Identity announced the launch of Vaxtrac, a comprehensive vaccination management and credentialing platform
designed to aid in the local, national and international response to COVID-19 and other communicable diseases.
Vaxtrac uses SICPA’s proprietary Certus service in order to ensure the security of vaccination records and credentials.
SICPA’s Certus MyHealth Pass sits at the heart of Vaxtrac to generate a blockchain-protected digital seal
that ensures credentials are tied to a unique identity, cannot be tampered with, and can be confidently verified by anyone
ensuring greater transparency and preventing potentially dangerous efforts to mislead public health officials.
SICPA is a Swiss company that provides security inks for currencies and sensitive documents,including identity documents, passports, transport and lottery tickets.

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(December 18, 2020) BinaxNOW COVID-19 home test granted emergency use authorization by FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Abbott
this week for its BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test, allowing for virtually guided use by anyone 15 years or older, with a prescription.
Healthcare providers will refer such patients to the antigen test if they suspect them of having COVID-19 within the first seven days of symptom onset.
The test, offered in partnership with a telehealth service, will be provided for $5.
A previous EUA had authorized the BinaxNOW test only for use by medical personnel or trained operators
in certain non-clinical environments operating under CLIA certificate.
Through the telehealth service, guides will walk users through the process step-by-step,
including reading and understanding the results. All test results will then be reported to public health authorities.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been in the process of distributing 150 million
federal purchased ag card tests to states and other recipients.

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(December 24, 2020) CDC To Require Negative Covid-19 Tests For Airline Passengers Entering U.S. From UK
Airline passengers heading to the U.S. from the UK must test negative for COVID-19 before departure, the Centers for Disease Control said late Thursday.
Airline passengers from the United Kingdom will need to get negative COVID-19 tests within three days of their trip
and provide the results to the airline, the CDC said in a statement. If a passenger chooses not to take a test,the airline must deny boarding
to the passenger. The agency said the order will be signed today, December 25, and go into effect on Monday.
This week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo clinched an unusual agreement with three airlines with flights from London to New York – Delta,
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic — which agreed to test passengers flying from the UK to New York.
On Thursday, United Airlines agreed to do the same for its flights to Newark, NJ.

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(December 28, 2020) Australia rolls out strategies for COVID-19 vaccine supply and distribution
Australian Government has announced that it has signed contracts with the companies to partner for safe distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to all Australians
from March next year and completion of the whole of the population in 2021.
The contracts cover three vital aspects of the vaccine rollout:
1. Distribution and logistics:
- DHL Supply Chain
- Linfox
2. Data tracking of vaccine doses as well as enabling overall program implementation monitoring:
- Accenture
3. The vaccine rollout partner:
- PwC
Data partner Accenture will design, develop, and implement a software solution to enable “point in time”
visibility of COVID-19 vaccine doses across the delivery chain. This will include receipt of the vaccine by health services,
vaccination of patients, and subsequent monitoring for adverse reactions. Australia Government has secured over 117 million doses
to cover the Australian population several times over.

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(December 28, 2020) Karnataka health minister hints at police action against untraceable UK returnees
Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Monday hinted at stringent action
against those returnees from the United Kingdom who were untraceable and had switched off their mobile phones.
“I request the UK returnees to cooperate with us as responsible citizens. You have to get tested.
If you don’t get tested and switch off your phone, then it’s a crime in true sense,” Sudhakar told reporters here.
It could even be police action against them, the minister indicated.

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(December 31, 2020) World Economic Forum report lauds Karnataka’s BBMP COVID-war room expertise along with six other cities
Karnataka’s BBMP (Bengaluru Bruhat Mahanagara Palike) COVID-war room has been appreciated by the World Economic Forum
for its leverage of technology to fight COVID-19 along with six others: Surat, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Tel Aviv, Lisbon and New York City.
In a report titled 'Technology and Data Governance in Cities released by the World Economic Forum indicated on how Bengaluru
was unprepared for the sudden growth of COVID-19 cases and had to quickly scale up to coordinate and offset the challenge.
B H Anil Kumar, former BBMP commissioner who is the face behind setting up this war room
had stated that just as the coronavirus disease broke out the city in early March,
Bengaluru was ill-prepared in terms of infrastructure to track the pandemic.
Corporate majors including Infosys, PWC, Quantella, ESRI India, CWC India and Microsoft chipped in their expertise.

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(December 21, 2020) IBM links with Salesforce to offer digital COVID-19 vaccine passports
"At the start of the pandemic, many organizations deployed simple COVID-19 screenings, such as self-reported health surveys,
to support re-entry to workplaces and other institutions," said Paul Roma, general manager of IBM Watson Health.
"Now, as testing becomes more widespread and vaccine distribution gets underway, we are expanding the availability of IBM Digital Health Pass with Salesforce
to help organizations verify an individual's vaccine status and any other relevant health credentials," Roma said.
Big Blue’s health pass app, which debuted earlier this year, aims to provide individual, sharable health credentials following test results, vaccinations
and temperature checks through an encrypted digital wallet on a smartphone. This could also help allow passengers to board airplanes,
concertgoers to enter venues or spectators to attend sporting events. Salesforce also recently introduced a version of Work.com for managing vaccine programs
aimed at governments and healthcare organizations. The company is also working with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
to help distribute about 2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines across 190 countries before the end of next year.

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(January 3, 2020) Tony Blair urges UK to step up vaccination programme
The entire country must be placed under a Covid-19 vaccination programme, according to Tony Blair.
Mr Blair made the call as he urged ministers to change the UK’s strategy completely in tackling the virus.
Speaking on Times Radio, the former prime minister insisted that a goal should be set to increase vaccinations to five million per week.
It comes as a new document, ‘A Plan for Vaccine Acceleration’, is published by the Tony Blair Institute
He told Times Radio: “Because of this new variant, we need to change our strategy completely in my view.
“Not only Pfizer and AstraZeneca but possibly with the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine as well coming on stream.

(January 5, 2020) Nigel Farage backs Tony Blair to lead Britain's vaccination programme during dig at 'low grade' government
Nigel Farage has said Tony Blair should lead the UK's vaccination programme,
adding the former Labour prime minister "commands respect" and is "seriously bright".
Expressing his frustration with Boris Johnson's latest lockdown announcement,
Farage took to Twitter with a suggestion on how to speed up Britain's vaccination drive.
Farage said he was "impressed" by Blair's idea to inoculate as many people as possible
with a single dose than the standard two, which has now become government policy.

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(January 7, 2021) India will use Aadhaar authentication, considering biometrics for vaccination management
India’s government is planning to use Aadhaar biometrics for authentication of vaccine recipients through its CoWIN (COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network) app,
according to a Health Ministry announcement reported by MediaNama. The government is currently planning the rollout of a pair of vaccines recently approved
by the Drugs Controller General of India, and those plans are expected to include the voluntary creation of a unique digital ID for health,
and may also include facial recognition to register and track beneficiaries, or biometric devices for online and offline identification.
The system is also expected to include QR-code certificates stored in a digital locker to prove vaccination,
and Aadhaar authentication to prevent malpractice. Other features of CoWIN may include geo-location
for vaccine batches and digital tokens to manage vaccination queues and social distancing.
Other suggestions on the MEITY site for this purpose include the use of Bluetooth and video analytics.

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(January 11, 2021) Tony Blair eyes Covid-19 comeback with secret UK government meetings
Former British prime minister Tony Blair is secretly advising the current British government on its Covid-19 response,
including meetings with Health Secretary Matt Hancock, The Sunday Times reported.
He also spoke to the head of the National Health Service’s Test and Trace programme, Dido Harding, and Steve Bates, a member of the vaccine task force.
Mr Blair served as Labour prime minister for 10 years, leaving a complicated legacy
including introducing a minimum wage and taking the country into the Second Gulf War in Iraq.

(January 11, 2021) eCoronaPass Launches Optimized Software Platform to Facilitate COVID-19 Tests and Vaccinations Nationwide
"The pandemic shook our world last year and has now changed the way we work, learn, and live," says Happy Dhani, CEO of Softbir,
the leader in medical software solutions which includes eCoronaPass.
The platform is built and supported through Amazon Web Services (AWS), making it the most reliable and easily
The locator module allows for patients to find areas nearest to them to get vaccinated as quickly as possible.
With its comprehensive COVID-19 test tracking and automated vaccine reporting, eCoronaPass will give patients peace-of-mind.
eCoronaPass includes administrative prioritization selection technology,
with features including effective patient health-risk stratification and predictive care modules.
One can pinpoint and select which populations will be segmented into different phases of vaccination programs.

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(January 14, 2021) Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce join a push for digital vaccination credentials.
Airlines, workplaces and sports stadiums may soon require people to show their coronavirus vaccination status on their smartphones before they can enter.
A coalition of leading technology companies, health organizations and nonprofit groups — including Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, Cerner, Epic Systems, the Mitre Corporation and the Mayo Clinic
announced on Thursday morning that they were developing technology standards to enable consumers to obtain and share their immunization records through health passport apps.
“For some period of time, most all of us are going to have to demonstrate either negative Covid-19 testing or an up-to-date vaccination status
to go about the normal routines of our lives,” said Dr. Brad Perkins, the chief medical officer at the Commons Project Foundation,
a nonprofit organization in Geneva that is a member of the vaccine credential initiative.

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(January 14, 2021) Abbott fulfills US Federal Government purchase of 150 million BinaxNOW Covid-19 rapid tests
Abbott is announcing the fulfillment of the US federal government's order of 150 million BinaxNOW Covid-19 Ag tests.
These rapid tests were distributed through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to states, territories and targeted entities,
such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health and hospice agencies, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and the Indian Health Service.
The University of Wisconsin System will be the first customer in the US
to secure BinaxNOW at scale, procuring 480,000 tests over six months for use at its universities and branch campuses.
"The University of Wisconsin System strives to be a national leader in combating Covid-19 and our robust testing strategy is one of our most effective means to do it," said Tommy Thompson,
president, University of Wisconsin System. "We will continue to be aggressive in acquiring and implementing tests at our universities
and our partnership with Abbott is key to making this happen."

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(January 16, 2021) PM Modi to launch Pan India Rollout of COVID-19 Vaccination drive
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the pan India rollout of COVID-19 vaccination drive on Saturday at 10:30 AM via video conferencing.
This will be the world’s largest vaccination program covering the entire length and breadth of the country.
A total of 3006 session sites across all States and UTs will be virtually connected during the launch.
vAround 100 beneficiaries will be vaccinated at each session site on the inaugural day.

The vaccination programme will use Co-WIN, an online digital platform developed by Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
which will facilitate real time information of vaccine stocks, storage temperature and individualized tracking
of beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccine. This digital platform will assist programme managers
across all levels while conducting vaccination sessions.

Adequate doses of both COVISHIELD and COVAXIN have already been delivered across the country
to all States/UTs with the active support of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
These have been further delivered by the State/UT governments to the districts.

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(January 22, 2021) Secretive Tech Company Palantir Gains a New Board Member
The company, which went public via a direct listing in September 2020, announced that Lauren Friedman Stat has joined
its Board of Directors and will serve on its Audit Committee as of January 18, 2021.
Stat has spent the last 15 years as an Accenture employee,
where she most recently served as a Managing Director in the company’s Health practice.
Her deep health background could be of great use to Palantir as it continues to grow its presence in health-related industries.
In October 2020, the company announced it would create a tool that can track the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines
and help determine where they should be sent. Additionally, Palantir secured a three year, $44 million deal
with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2020, to use its tech to power drug reviews and inspections.
theorg.com/insights/secretive-tech-company-palantir-gains-a-new-board-member

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(January 26, 2021) Chronomics selects OraSure's OMNIgene ORAL salive collection kit
OraSure Technologies announced that Chronomics Limited has selected the OMNIgeneORAL saliva collection device
as a component of its SARS CoV-2 PCR test. Chronomics Limited will supply its test for the United Kingdom's
"Test to Release for International Travel" program. The OMNIgeneORAL device is a product of OraSure's DNA Genotek subsidiary.
The "Test to Release for International Travel" program enables travelers to England to purchase a COVID-19 test privately from providers including Chronomics.
Travelers who receive a negative test result can reduce their self-isolation period.
The project is part of the UK's plan to use Covid-19 testing to reduce the spread of the virus.
thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=3233595&headline=OSUR-Chronomics-selects-OraSures-OMNIgene-ORAL-salive-collection-kit

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(January 28, 2021) India has capability to strengthen global supply chain: PM Modi at World Economic Forum
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India has braved all difficulties
in fight against coronavirus pandemic and has the capability to strengthen global supply chains.
Addressing the World Economic Forum's Davos Dialogue via video conferencing,
Modi said that India launched 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' with the resolve of increasing the capacity of our economy.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/pm-modi-addresses-world-economic-forums-davos-dialogue-key-points/articleshow/80506847.cms

(January 28, 2021) Salesforce announces Vaccine Cloud to accelerate global vaccine management
Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, announced Vaccine Cloud, technology to help government agencies, healthcare organizations, businesses,
non-profits and educational institutions more rapidly, safely and efficiently deploy and manage their vaccine programmes.
Currently, international, federal, state and local agencies, healthcare providers and non-profits worldwide are using Salesforce technology specifically for vaccine administration,
including Northwell Health, Illinois' Lake County, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and more.
Government agencies and public health agencies can use Vaccine Cloud to monitor their vaccination progress with data and insights,
which helps enable them to maximize their programme effectiveness. This includes securing enough doses, monitoring patient outcomes,
and making data-driven decisions based on community health needs and risk factors.
Salesforce partners extend the power of Vaccine Cloud to scale vaccine programmes for government, healthcare organizations and non-profits worldwide.
These include Accenture, Deloitte, IBM and KPMG, in addition to partners Coastal Cloud, Infosys, MTX, PolSource, Sense Corp, Silverline,
Skedulo, Slalom and Traction on Demand are already leveraging Vaccine Cloud solutions to help organizations accelerate their vaccine management programmes.
pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=135114&sid=2

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(January 27, 2021) Exclusive: Tony Blair calls on Boris Johnson to lead drive for global vaccine passport
Tony Blair has called on the Government to establish a single global vaccine passport scheme through the G7,
or risk others dictating the rules. In a detailed report published by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI),
he said current border restrictions were “disjointed” and urged the UK to “place the creation of a global Covid-19 travel pass
as a key item on the G7 agenda” - a body which Britain currently leads.
The report added that the much tougher international travel restrictions
announced on Wednesday by the Prime Minister would be much more difficult to eventually unwind without a vaccine passport.
Mr Blair said the passport should be digital and capable of tracking and verifying
an individual’s coronavirus “status” wherever they travel in the world.
Included would be details of any vaccination they had,
together with the results of Covid-19 test results.
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/exclusive-tony-blair-calls-boris-johnson-lead-drive-global-vaccine/

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(January 24, 2021) UK Government 'is funding EIGHT vaccine passport schemes with over £450,000' despite ministers claiming they have 'no plans' to use them
At least eight companies have been awarded government grants to develop vaccination passport schemes, it has been reported.
The projects, worth a total of £450,000, could allow users to securely carry digital proof
that they have received an approved Covid-19 vaccine. The government has however this morning denied
that such a scheme is being considered, and cabinet minister Michael Gove has said they are 'not the plan'.
But ministers have contradicted each other on the issue, including Boris Johnson's vaccine tsar Nadhim Zahawi
who said they were 'looking at the technology'.
One of the recipient projects is led by Enduring Net, which is working on a £49,678 decentralised system
that can digitally provide 'proofs of individuals' Covid-19 credentials', which will include proof of vaccination.
Another project, worked on collaboratively by firms Mvine and iProov, was given £75,000 for a passport
which would be issued in the form of a free app so users could digitally prove they have received a jab.
EAS Technologies' project was given £173,876 to develop an accreditation platform
that hopes to be used by organisers of the 'world's largest sporting organisations, events, and facilities'.
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9181135/Government-funding-EIGHT-vaccine-passport-schemes-450-000.html

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(February 1, 2021) iProov, Onfido, Daon stake out positions as biometrics-backed immunity passports advance

BA to trial VeriFLY on London to US flights
British Airways will be the first UK airline to trial VeriFLY,
a new biometric mobile health app that provides authentication of COVID-related documents,
on flights from London to ten U.S. cities. Starting Thursday February 4th,
BA will be the only airline outside of the U.S. to trial VeriFLY.

In November, American Airlines (BA’s joint business and oneworld partner) began offering VeriFLY
to travelers from Jamaica, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to Miami.
As of January 23rd, the trial was extended to any international destination to the U.S.
VeriFLY was developed by biometric authentication and identity assurance solutions provider Daon.

Vaccine programs have already begun in some of the 27 countries, and in the UK, iProov has begun trialing its biometric
technology to preserve the privacy of health information within the National Health service.
Tourism dependent countries like Greece, Portugal and Cyprus are advocating more strongly for the EU immunity passport,
which would likely be tied to the individual with biometrics, while France has rejected the notion due to widespread vaccine skepticism.
biometricupdate.com/202102/iproov-onfido-daon-stake-out-positions-as-biometrics-backed-immunity-passports-advance

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(February 5, 2021) UK discussing coronavirus immunity passport options for travel
UK ministers are looking into the creation of a digital vaccine passport, government sources have confirmed, Sky News reports.
Research groups are said to have been set up on the subject as attention
turns to what will happen to international travel once jabs are more widely rolled out across the world.

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly earlier avoided confirming the news,
only telling Sky News that countries will "set their own border measures" – as well as defending the delay to hotel quarantine plans.
But The Times reported on Friday that a certification system is being planned by three government departments
to let travellers go abroad to countries that may demand proof of inoculation.

It also said Greece is preparing to waive quarantine rules for those who have been vaccinated.
Sweden's government announced on Thursday it plans to launch a digital coronavirus vaccine passport by summer,
if there is an international standard in place by then. And Denmark also said this week it would launch a first version of the document by the end of February.

Tony Blair is one of those who has been pushing for the UK government to take a lead on the issue,
suggesting last week the UK should take advantage of chairing the G7 and push for other countries to develop the documents.
Turning his attention to what happens next, Blair's institute said the UK should "place the creation of a global coronavirus travel pass
as a key item on the G7 agenda,'' when leaders from the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada congregate in Cornwall later this summer.
thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news-print/165069/UK-discussing-coronavirus-immunity-passport-options-for-travel

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(February 10, 2021) ICC, Mastercard, IBM join ID2020 Good Health Pass initiative
Yesterday ID2020 launched the Good Health Pass Collaborative to encourage interoperability
between the COVID-19 health credentialing solutions being developed by numerous organizations.
Members of the new initiative include the Airports Council International (ACI), Hyperledger,
COVID-19 Credentials Initiative, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC),
Mastercard and numerous others (full list below).
“Fragmentation is a risk we simply cannot ignore,” said ID2020 Executive Director Dakota Gruener.
“To be valuable to users, credentials need to be accepted at check-in,
upon arrival by border control agencies, and more.”
“We can get there — even with multiple systems — as long as solutions adhere
to open standards and participate in a common governance framework.

Good Health Pass Collaborative members: Affinidi, Airport Council International (ACI), Airside, analizA, (ICC) AOKpass,
Bindle Systems, BLOK Solutions, CLEAR, The Commons Project Foundation, Covid Credential Initiative (CCI), Daon, Everynym,
Global Privacy & Security by Design Centre, Grameen Foundation, Hyperledger, IBM, idRamp, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), iProov,
Linux Foundation Public Health, Lumedic, Mastercard, MIT SafePaths, National Aviation Services (NAS),
Panta, PathCheck Foundation, Prescryptive Health, SITA, STChealth, Trust Over IP Foundation, ZAKA.
ledgerinsights.com/icc-mastercard-ibm-join-id2020-good-health-pass-vaccine-credentials/

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(February 12, 2021) Tony Blair Says Covid Vaccine Passports ‘Inevitable’ At Home And Abroad
Digital health passports will become “inevitable” in the UK and around the world
as the public demand reassurance about coronavirus safety, Tony Blair has said.
He predicted that rapid coronavirus tests would become the norm at mass spectator events and the workplace
as the public sought reassurance about safety at work and places of leisure.
A Cabinet sub-committee met on Friday to discuss plans for a vaccine and testing certificates
for when global travel resumes. Ministers want an internationally recognised system.
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/tony-blair-digital-covid-passports-inevitable_uk_6026d3c5c5b6f88289fb7de9?guccounter=1

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(February 18, 2021) Vatican employees could lose their jobs for refusing COVID vaccine
The Vatican has taken a hard line against employees who refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19, warning they risk losing their jobs.
According to a decree by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, whose role as President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State
makes him the territory's top administrator, employees who refuse the vaccine "without proven health reasons" face penalties
that can include "the interruption of the work relationship."
cbsnews.com/news/vatican-covid-vaccine-mandatory-employees/

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(February 20, 2021) Saudi Arabia launches ‘health passport’ for COVID-19 vaccine recipients
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has launched a digital “health passport,” available through the Ministry of Health’s Tawakkalna app.
The ‘passport’ will contain a registry of an individual’s vaccination against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
and confirmation that the individual is immune to the virus, it was announced at a press conference on Thursday.
The head of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), Abdullah Al-Ghamdi,
stressed the vital role the agency plays in creating technological solutions for the government.
arabnews.com/node/1788801/saudi-arabia

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(February 20, 2021) Everything you need to know about Israel’s green passport program
A green passport will be required to enter certain places and to participate in certain activities.
Only people who have been vaccinated or have recovered from coronavirus will be eligible for one.
As part of the program, registered gyms, theaters, hotels, concerts and synagogues will be able to operate starting next week.
The green passport is granted to those who are a week past the second coronavirus vaccination,
or to the around 740,000 people recovered from the virus who currently are not eligible for the vaccine.
jpost.com/israel-news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-israels-green-passport-program-659437

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(February 19, 2021) British Airways Extends VeriFLY Service to All International Flights to the UK
British Airways has expanded the scope of its VeriFLY trial. The digital credentialing
service is now available to passengers on all of the airline’s inbound international flights to the United Kingdom as of February 15.
British Airways began its VeriFLY trial on February 4, giving passengers the opportunity to use the app on all flights from London to the United States.
It later extended service to inbound flights from the US, and is now doing so again to provide inbound VeriFLY coverage for the rest of the world.
findbiometrics.com/british-airways-extends-verifly-service-all-international-flights-uk-021909/

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