(REjected) UK Researchers Deploy Blockchain-Powered App for Tamper-Proof COVID-19 Immunity Test Results

Researchers from UK’s Open University (OU) are testing a blockchain-based prototype mobile phone app to be used by pharmacists and General Practitioners (GPs) when undertaking coronavirus (COVID-19) immunity tests and issuing results through digital certificates. The public and frontline staff will then use the digital immunity certificates to prove their fitness to travel and work in specific environments based on their antibodies and resistance to coronavirus.

W3C backed digital certificates

The issuance of the digital immunity certificates will entail the use of a decentralized personal data store dubbed a solid pod to be founded on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) verifiable credentials standards. The W3C is mandated with crafting international qualities needed in the governance of the World Wide Web (WWW). 

To have a trusted and immutable registry, the encoded hashes of the immunity certificates will be held on the consortium blockchain network. 

Before testing, an immunity certificate holder will have to prove his/her identity and issuance will only happen once the pharmacist or GP ascertains that he/she is immune to coronavirus. This will occur on to the solid pod pegged on prototype mobile phone app.

On the other hand, verifiers will have to use their own phones to authenticate a person’s immunity certificate by sending a hashed version to the holding blockchain to check whether it matches the identity. 

Distributed server architecture comes into play

The entire system utilizes a distributed server architecture that enables the test results to be instantly verified. Nevertheless, the storage of personal information only happens based on the patient’s discretion making the presentation of the immunity test results selective. 

Prof. John Domingue, the director of the Knowledge Media Institute, noted, “Like many researchers, the OU’s blockchain team has been highly motivated to contribute to resolving this global pandemic. We’ve been looking at how our existing technology could be repurposed to aid immunity certification.”

He added, “Our app, building on several years of research into decentralised certification, is readily scalable, applicable generically, and waiting in the wings for immunity testing to be in full effect.”

Many global researchers are leading from the frontline by coming up with amicable solutions to curb the coronavirus pandemic. For instance, over 100 Spanish researchers recently designed an artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain-enabled app to picture the evolution of COVID-19.