Harnessing the Implementation Potential of Digital Vaccination Certificates (DVCs) on Global Scale

In the post-pandemic era, the public health community continues to search for innovative tools and technologies to enhance emergency response and preparedness for ongoing and future emergencies. Digital vaccination certificates (DVCs) could support real-time vaccination verification efforts for COVID-19 vaccines and future lifesaving immunizations. Our study objective was to broadly examine current literature on implementing DVCs during the COVID-19 pandemic, including benefits and potential challenges. Relevant electronic databases were searched for studies published between April 2020 and October 2022 and a total of five studies were selected for final analyses. Review findings highlight overall benefits of DVC utilization, legal and privacy, ethical: disparity gaps and barriers implications, and potential technical hurdles. We discuss the benefits of DVC implementation for maintaining privacy, accountability, cost-effectiveness, and authenticity of vaccination verification; however, also acknowledge and explore various challenges, including the need for increased standardization to meet global standards. We argue that our findings help bolster digital vaccination certificate projects into pandemic recovery efforts and future emergency preparedness by building public trust in digital solutions.