The COVID-19 was called a novel virus for a reason. It was one of the most deadly pandemics in modern history that baffled immunologists, pandemic experts, and policymakers when it first surfaced. Since there was no cure and no active protection, social distancing and self-quarantine practices were imposed by governments to halt the onslaught of the virus.
Later, the vaccination drive gave some hope, but the nightmare was far from over. In the absence of smart systems for digital COVID certificate verification, it was hard to catch forgeries and fake certificates. It was a need of the hour to have an efficient system for coronavirus certificate verification. The decentralized systems were developed right on time when cases of counterfeit covid vaccine certificates were sprouting like mushrooms after the rain.
Counterfeit Vaccination Certificates
Many people were against vaccines as they were doubtful about their effectiveness or were paying too much heed to conspiracy theories related to big pharma. They resisted vaccination for as long as they could. When it became mandatory, many of them resorted to forging false covid certificates to avert penalties.
In the absence of a mechanism to verify covid vaccine certificates, it was far too easy. People employed major social media and communication platforms, Telegram being a prime example, to get in touch with counterfeiters for creating false covid certificates. Within a small period of time, fake COVID certificates were ubiquitous.
Lack Of Smart COVID Certificate Verification Solution
Authorities were stumped with the surfacing of fake COVID certificates. It was counterproductive to the earlier social distancing and other preventive measures to contain the spread of the virus. The global economy was already getting the brunt of the situation with industrial shutdowns and bankruptcies. It was inevitable to open economies and to allow people to come to their offices and work but making it non-evasive was impossible since there was no channel for coronavirus certificate verification.
The manual task of getting information and then running it through the databases was already too exhausting for both personnel and the system.
Taking Advantage Of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence has already been in the business of verifying identities and screening forged documents by running through the credentials over hundreds of databases in real-time. It is widely employed in businesses that are regulated under KYC and AML compliance. In a way, it was a natural choice for digital vaccine certificate verification. It can wade through documents from multiple languages, originating from different regions of the world.
Biometric Verification
In this method, a live image or video feed is inserted in the AI system that matches the incoming visual information with the data already stored in the databases. It takes seconds and removes friction and delays from the equation with over 97% accuracy in results.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
This mechanism allows data extraction from different types of documents to run through multiple databases. By cutting time on manual typing and data entry, it was possible to run thousands of digital Coronavirus certificate verification cycles in a day.
Both biometric verification and OCR combined solved the issue of covid certificate verification.
Industries Benefiting From Coronavirus Certificate Verification
The drive for returning to normalcy took up momentum after almost a year of the global shutdown, at the start of the vaccination drive. Now that competent authorities had the means to screen fake vaccine certificates from the real ones, industries started opening for business.
Travel
International travel was restricted before the arrival of vaccines and the means to verify their certificates. Restrictions were eased when vaccine verification systems were made available to the airlines and auxiliaries for onboarding passengers. This led to the resurgence of the travel industry.
Corporate
Offices were closed during the peak of the pandemic and work from home (WFH) or remote working became a norm. It was impossible to call back employees without a digital covid certificate vaccine verification mechanism.
Education
Schools and colleges were shut down to curb the spread of the virus. Kids shifted to online learning for the time being. But, with the verification system for covid vaccine certificates incorporated in place, academic life came back to its normal form and on-campus activities started again.
Conclusion
For things to get back to normal, it was not enough to have a vaccination drive since many people were against this idea. Things did not get better when vaccination became mandatory as it gave rise to false credentials in the absence of digital covid vaccine certificate verification. Through smart solutions, primarily the use of Artificial Intelligence, it became possible to restore the order of affairs. The post-pandemic era as we know it would have arrived much later if it was not for AI and its application to verify COVID vaccine certificates.
