Zimbabwe to issue electronic Covid-19 cards to combat counterfeit certificates
Measure features security features and a bar code that can be scanned for verification
29 March 2021 - 10:00
bySharon Mazingaizo
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
The Zimbabwean government will start issuing Covid-19 certificates to people who have received their second dose as a way to verify who has been vaccinated.
The certificate will come in the form of an electronic card with security features and a quick-response (QR) bar code that can be scanned for verification. It will be linked to the person’s passport and national ID.
Director of health informatics and data analytics in the ministry of health and childcare Simukai Zizhou told TimesLIVE the electronic card will combat the sale of counterfeit certificates that are already circulating in the country.
“We have finalised the electronic cards. We previously issued them to a small group of people and are now certain the electronic cards work. The cards have security features that can be scanned and verified.
“The electronic card will contain data related to the vaccination including the date administered‚ type of vaccine and place of vaccination.
“The electronic cards will also be used when people travel in and out of the country and will help to combat the sale of counterfeit certificates. People who have taken their second dose can approach the ministry of health and childcare to be issued with the cards. The electronic cards are locally developed and we will start issuing them this week‚” said Zizhou.
Zimbabwe has been facing public resistance towards vaccination‚ with a low vaccine uptake from the population. The country has authorised the emergency use of four Covid-19 vaccines‚ including China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm‚ Russia’s Sputnik V and India’s Covaxin.
The Covid-19 certificate comes a few weeks after Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country might consider mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations and those who refuse risked losing out on employment opportunities and social services such as public transport.
The country is in the second phase of the national vaccine programme that includes people above 60 years of age‚ those with underlying conditions‚ teachers‚ hospitality industry staff and other frontline workers who have not been vaccinated.
Zimbabwe’s ministry of health and childcare plans to vaccinate 10-million people‚ or about two-thirds of the population. To date only 68‚511 people have vaccinated.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Zimbabwe to issue electronic Covid-19 cards to combat counterfeit certificates
Measure features security features and a bar code that can be scanned for verification
The Zimbabwean government will start issuing Covid-19 certificates to people who have received their second dose as a way to verify who has been vaccinated.
The certificate will come in the form of an electronic card with security features and a quick-response (QR) bar code that can be scanned for verification. It will be linked to the person’s passport and national ID.
Director of health informatics and data analytics in the ministry of health and childcare Simukai Zizhou told TimesLIVE the electronic card will combat the sale of counterfeit certificates that are already circulating in the country.
“We have finalised the electronic cards. We previously issued them to a small group of people and are now certain the electronic cards work. The cards have security features that can be scanned and verified.
“The electronic card will contain data related to the vaccination including the date administered‚ type of vaccine and place of vaccination.
“The electronic cards will also be used when people travel in and out of the country and will help to combat the sale of counterfeit certificates. People who have taken their second dose can approach the ministry of health and childcare to be issued with the cards. The electronic cards are locally developed and we will start issuing them this week‚” said Zizhou.
Zimbabwe has been facing public resistance towards vaccination‚ with a low vaccine uptake from the population. The country has authorised the emergency use of four Covid-19 vaccines‚ including China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm‚ Russia’s Sputnik V and India’s Covaxin.
The Covid-19 certificate comes a few weeks after Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country might consider mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations and those who refuse risked losing out on employment opportunities and social services such as public transport.
The country is in the second phase of the national vaccine programme that includes people above 60 years of age‚ those with underlying conditions‚ teachers‚ hospitality industry staff and other frontline workers who have not been vaccinated.
Zimbabwe’s ministry of health and childcare plans to vaccinate 10-million people‚ or about two-thirds of the population. To date only 68‚511 people have vaccinated.
TimesLIVE
STUART THEOBALD: Misguided criticism of banks’ Covid-19 roles
African economic recovery to vary across regions after Covid devastation
Discovery to inoculate high-risk members when vaccine becomes available
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
EU leaders talk vaccine passports and urgency of hastening rollout
A short, cruel summer for Europe’s battered tourism industry
Little vials, big crime: Covid-19 and organised crime
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.