Vax.Codes

[diafygi]

What problem are you trying to solve?

Lots of meetups, orgs, and businesses don't know when they should restart in-person events and gatherings. When they do re-open, many would like to restrict attendance to those who have their Covid-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an easy way of confirming if someone has received their vaccine shots.

This project is to create a free, easy-to-use tool that organizations can use to check to see if someone has received the Covid-19 vaccine.

Who will benefit (directly and indirectly) from your project?

Meetups like Open Austin, small events like concerts, and personal gatherings like weddings.

What other resources/tools are currently serving the same need? How does your project set itself apart?

Other Resources:

• CDC's COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card

  • This is the official vaccination record card you get when you get your first shot and bring back for each subsequent shot.
  • It is intended as a reminder and reference card for health officials administer the vaccine.
  • It is NOT intended as proof of vaccination for travel or admittance to events requiring a vaccine.

• CDC's V-Safe

  • Vaccine scheduler app.
  • Survey for post-vaccine symptoms.
  • NOT a vaccine verification tool.

• Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI)

  • This is a currently under-development standard for being able share your vaccination history securely and privately.
  • It is built around the SMART Health Cards Framework, which requires a smart card or smart phone.
  • It is a large initiative that is likely to require significant financial investment to create credentials and verify vaccinations.
  • This is likely to be longer term, more robust standard on which things like vaccination passports are based.

• VaxAtlas, MyVaxPass, and others

  • Digital vaccine verification platforms for employers.
  • Proprietary SaaS products that cost money.

This Project:

The current default seems to be that people will need to carry around their vaccine record card and show it to attend an event that requires vaccinations. However, this card is easily counterfeited, so anti-vaxxers who want to go to a concert can easily make a fake one and show it at the door. So while the CDC card is simple and great for the healthcare system, it's not great for use in vaccine-restricted events.

It seems that the VCI could solve the easy-to-fake problem (since it's based on smart-card cryptography), but it seems like the initiative is focused on highly regulated situations where very strong verification is needed (international travel, customs, visas, etc.). It's likely that VCI will require significant resources from individuals (buying a card and going through a lengthy verification process) and organizations (purchasing a card reader and signing up as a registered business).

So there doesn't seem to be an initiative focused on making vaccine-restricted events possible for small businesses and groups.

Where can we find any research/data available/articles?

• Cnet - COVID-19 vaccine card is not an immunity passport. Here's the difference
• CNN - Vaccination cards will be issued to everyone getting Covid-19 vaccine, health officials say
• Healthline - You’ll Get a Vaccination Card with Your COVID-19 Vaccine: Why It’s Important
• CDC - V-safe After Vaccination Health Checker
• BusinessWire - Broad Coalition of Health and Technology Industry Leaders Announce Vaccination Credential Initiative to Accelerate Digital Access to COVID-19 Vaccination Records
• Engadget - Microsoft and Oracle are working on digital COVID-19 vaccine cards
• Yahoo Finance - VaxAtlas Launches COVID-19 Platform To Help Navigate Vaccination Process
• Kickstarter - MyVaxPass

What help do you need now?

Brainstorming how the system will work and figuring out the scope of work for an MVP.

Initial Brainstorm:

• For event organizers:
  • Can go to homepage, scan a QR code, and see who verified the vaccination (e.g. the "issuer").
  • No registration needed, no setup needed, no app needed
  • Can use any QR scanner app or their smart phone browser + camera permission
  • Has an API for issuer public keys so apps can build verification into their apps instead of using the website.
  • Data in the verification is easy to check against an attendee's ID
• For vaccinated attendees:
  • Get emailed/printed QR code from issuer to show event organizers.
  • No registration needed, no app/smartphone needed
  • Only needs printout or image of QR code to get verified
• For QR code issuers:
  • Can generate a keypair for signing QR codes
  • Can submit public keys to be listed in the public issuer API (used by the scanner tool)
  • Can sign QR codes and generate printouts for vaccine recipients
  • Provide instructions for keypair and QR code generation on local systems (if don't trust the in-browser tool)

Constraints:

• This project MUST NEVER retain any record of generated QR codes or issuer private keys. All private actions MUST be done in javascript client-side (i.e. verifying and scanning QR codes). We want to stay as far away from HIPAA-protected information as possible, while still allowing for easy, free, accessible vaccine verification.
• This project MUST be hosted statically to minimize attack surface. Any issuer API changes MUST be done manually via commits and pull requests from project admins. That way it's much less likely that the issuer API can be maliciously manipulated.

Website Overview:

• Working title: Vax.codes
• / (homepage)
  • The main project landing page
  • Links to: "Scan" (/scan), "Request a QR code" (/issuers), and other links
  • Provides information about the project
• /issuers and /groups
  • Browse list of issuers and groups that are public (loaded from the API)
  • Modal to compose an email to an issuer or group for an individual requesting a vaccine verification
• /scan
  • In-browser QR code scanner for verifying vaccine QR codes
  • Uses qr-scanner.js and openpgp.js to read and verify a QR code.
  • Also allows uploading an image or pdf containing a QR code.
  • Verifies the signature in the QR code against an API of issuer public keys (via issuer API).
  • Allows verification parameter to be set to specific trusted groups (e.g. /scan?groups=demo or /scan?api=https...)
  • Can right-click and "Save As" to save the qr scanner to their local system and use it locally if not internet connection (unhosted)
  • Can be embedded in iframe and responds to postMessage requests from parent frame (so can be embedded in other apps)
• /admin/issuers
  • For issuers and group owners verifying vaccines
  • In-browser generation Ed25519 keypair to use to sign QR codes
  • Alternative instructions on how to generate keypairs on local system
  • Can compose email asking to be included in the signer API
  • Links to: "Create QR code" (/admin/create-qr-code)
• /admin/issuers/create-qr-code
  • In-browser tool for generating signed QR codes
  • Also generates pdf version for easy saving/printing
  • Also allow
  • Has instructions on how to generate signed QR codes on local system
  • Can right-click and "Save As" to save the qr generator to their local system and use it locally (unhosted)
• /admin/groups
  • Email template for requesting to become a group (listed or unlisted)
  • Email template for modifying which issuers are in their group
• /api/v1/issuers/{issuer_id}.json
  • JSON object a specific issuer with a list of their public keys
  • Used by the /scan page to verify a signature from a scanned code
• /api/v1/issuers.json
  • JSON list of all the approved issuers
• /api/v1/groups/{group_id}.json
  • JSON object a specific group/locality that can approve signers
  • Used by the /scan page to show who as approved the signer
• /api/v1/groups.json
  • JSON list of all the groups that can approve signers

QR Code Format:

Format: https://vax.codes/scan#{version}/{signer_id}/{urlsafe_base64_encoded_signature}/{data}

Example: https://vax.codes/scan#v1/test_arc/GC4aq0LmhEs_mcSrzRvB2bQoYYjbm2IxmojG0ryZdLTiF-0VVzjv7imWVvvvzxQ2zWhvku0sztFAF-SUv1d1Cw/birthday=2020-01-01&name=Some%20Name%20Here

End Goals:

The ultimate goal for this project is to get taken over by a larger, more legitimate health/governmental organization. This project is just trying to get something simple working that can be used ad-hoc by local communities looking to do improvised vaccine verifications.

What are the next steps (validation, research, coding, design)?

See project repo for github issues and project status: https://github.com/open-austin/vax-codes

How can we contact you outside of Github(list social media or places you're present)?

@danielroesler on the OA slack

Slack channel: https://app.slack.com/client/T036FLMDN/C01KX6LRWBF

Project repo: https://github.com/open-austin/vax-codes

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Project management

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