Towards a GDPR-Compliant Blockchain-Based COVID Vaccination Passport

Akm Bahalul Haque,Sami Hyrynsalmi,A K M Najmul Islam,Bilal Naqvi

doi:10.3390/app11136132

Akm Bahalul Haque, Sami Hyrynsalmi + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app11136132

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Journal: Applied sciences	Publication Date: Jul 1, 2021
Citations: 26	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world and limited work/personal life activities. Besides the loss of human lives and agony faced by humankind, the pandemic has badly hit different sectors economically, including the travel industry. Special arrangements, including COVID test before departure and on arrival, and voluntary quarantine, were enforced to limit the risk of transmission. However, the hope for returning to a normal (pre-COVID) routine relies on the success of the current COVID vaccination drives administered by different countries. To open for tourism and other necessary travel, a need is realized for a universally accessible proof of COVID vaccination, allowing travelers to cross the borders without any hindrance. This paper presents an architectural framework for a GDPR-compliant blockchain-based COVID vaccination passport (VacciFi), whilst considering the relevant developments, especially in the European Union region.

Highlights

Islam, A.K.M.N.; Hyrynsalmi, S.Humankind is facing the challenges and agonies posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic for more than a year [1]
The use of blockchain has been suggested for solving a variety of issues involving the healthcare sector [11], we considered blockchain for the development of COVID vaccination passports
We discuss some of the aspects related to blockchain technology imperative to be discussed before presenting the proposal for a vaccine passport

Summary

Introduction

A.K.M.N.; Hyrynsalmi, S.Humankind is facing the challenges and agonies posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic for more than a year [1]. More than 130 million people have contracted this disease worldwide, and the number continues to grow daily [2]. The number of people affected by COVID-19, whether in the form of losing their loved ones, losing their jobs, abandoning their businesses, is far greater than 130 million [3]. Due to the pandemic nature of the disease, affected countries had to impose lockdown procedures to stop the spread of the virus [4]. Blockchain is very similar to a database or ledger. It is more advanced and inherits the elements of security due to its cryptographic nature [20]. A decentralized network is a collection of many centralized networks interconnected in a distributed

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