Concept of "Health Passports" Spreading: Ireland Beginning National Trial Of 'Health Passport Ireland' Initiative

Results of covid tests and vaccination status in 'health passports': a contact tracing app in Ireland, where next?

Joseph Mercola

• Ireland began a national trial of their new Health Passport Ireland initiative, which uses an app to track and display results of COVID-19 testing, plus COVID-19 vaccination status, when one becomes available
• It’s being touted as a measure that increases freedom, but one day, when you head out the door, you may not be able to simply walk into a shop, restaurant or even a doctor’s office or your place of work like you used to, unless you can prove you don’t have COVID-19 and have been vaccinated via your “green” health passport app
• Expansion plans are underway, and the system will likely soon be rolled out globally, in countries such as Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Kenya, with other locations following
• Apps that started out to track your COVID-19 test results and vaccination status could turn into tools of control and power, making it impossible for you to attend school, work or travel unless you have the right color or results

On August 28, 2020, Ireland began a national trial of their new Health Passport Ireland initiative.1 “Protecting Society and Economy,” their website reads, Ireland’s health passports are actually nothing more than a way to track and display results of COVID-19 testing — and facilitate increased COVID-19 testing for businesses and the public, plus display COVID-19 vaccination status, when one becomes available.2

At this time, Ireland’s health passports are being launched on a trial basis within a range of industries, including health care (hospitals and nursing homes), child care, education, agriculture, entertainment and others.3 It’s plausible that they could soon be required to gain entry into schools, hospitals, offices, airports and more.

It’s being touted as a measure that increases freedom — “Using the rapid real-time scanning technology, we can now enjoy freer travel with increased protection from COVID-19,” Health Passport Ireland states4 — but one day, when you head out the door, you may not be able to simply walk into a shop, restaurant or even a doctor’s office or your place of work like you used to, unless you can prove you don’t have COVID-19 and have been vaccinated via your “green” health passport app.

As for how it works, the new health passport system claims to combine the “most advanced and validated testing solutions” so you can have immediate access to your COVID-19 status, which you can then choose to display or scan whenever appropriate.5 This involves first getting tested for COVID-19, after which an authorized medical administrator will create a Health Passport Ireland account in your name and update your COVID-19 test results.

Users will then need to download the Health Passport mobile app onto their phone, which will automatically be linked to their most recent COVID-19 test results. If your health passport turns green, it indicates you’ve tested negative “allowing you to safely enjoy daily life.” If not, you’ll be given a red status, at which point “you should self-isolate with medical attention.”6

Further, test results automatically expire over time, turning your health passport amber — a warning that it’s time to get tested again.

For those who haven’t been tested, Health Passport Ireland states that you can still immediately use the technology by downloading the app and using it to “easily scan others whenever needed,” and adding that by scanning others to get their COVID-19 status, “It gives great security for you and your family throughout our daily lives, for example when availing of services, whilst travelling, at events, at work and much more.”7

So, to sum up, in order to achieve the freedom you need to go about your normal, daily life, you only need to get tested for COVID-19, have a health administrator create a Health Passport account in your name, download the app on your phone, receive your COVID-19 test results on your phone (and get retested as required), then display your COVID-19 status whenever it’s requested.

Health Passports Going Global

Ireland’s health passport is a world’s first, developed by Irish-based ROQU Group. It’s designed, however, to expand on a global scale and is compatible with all official COVID-19 tests, including swab tests, blood tests and rapid diagnostic tests. According to Robert Quirke, president and CEO of ROQU Group:8

"Around the world, there is continued frustration and disappointment due to COVID-19 restrictions … Using our global visibility, we are helping local companies by making the best COVID-19 testing solutions readily available to all. As testing and research continues to improve, we want to ensure that Irish society and economy can easily access testing solutions that offer the highest levels of clinical validation.

The purpose of the pilot trial is to demonstrate how Health Passport works across a variety of real-life business and social scenarios.”

Expansion plans are underway, with ROQU noting that the system will soon be rolled out globally in countries such as Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Kenya, with other locations following.

“No matter where your test is performed worldwide, this can now be safely and securely updated into your private Health Passport account. This is vital for passengers departing and arriving into Ireland,” Health Passport Ireland stated.9

Ireland Pushed Health Passport for People With Disabilities

In June 2019, months before the pandemic was declared, Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) launched another health passport initiative, this time supposedly to help people with intellectual disabilities gain equal access to health care.10 The passports, which are available to people with intellectual disabilities within certain health care groups, include multiple sections, detailing personal information, communication abilities, medical history and more.

Once again touted as a way to improve health care access, privacy concerns aren’t mentioned, nor is the fact that, should such a passport fall into the wrong hands, it could be used to promote discrimination as opposed to ending it.

Vaccination Status Will Also Be Displayed

Health Passport Ireland (soon to be Health Passport Canada, U.S., Germany and more) isn’t only intended to display your COVID-19 test results. It will also display your official vaccination status, once a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available. Considering you can also link the app to other medical services and records, it’s not a stretch to assume it may one day be used to track the status of all of your vaccines and other medical procedures.

It seems we may soon be living in a world where your personal health data — including results from COVID-19 testing and data showing whether or not you’ve received certain vaccines — must be shared and authenticated before you’re able to enter a sports arena, travel by air or even enter your workplace.

Ireland’s Health Passport is only one such system in the works. The technology behind such innovations, which many are calling a threat to civil liberties and privacy, is already available to the general public in the App Store and Google Play via Civic Technologies’ Civic Wallet. Civic Technologies, which bills itself as a “leading innovator in digital identity solutions,”11 released its “Civic Wallet” app June 16, 2020. Previously it was only available in private beta mode.

In addition to offering a way for users to send and receive digital currency, including bitcoin, ethereum, CVC and USDC, which are U.S. dollars converted to assets on the ethereum blockchain,12 it will also offer proof-of-health verifications via its so-called Health Key.

Civic Technologies, in turn, has partnered with Circle Medical, an affiliate of San Francisco-based hospital UCSF Health, which will use the app so 500 of its employees can prove their COVID-19 health status. Civic plans to roll out its proof-of-health verification for companies with more than 500 employees.