S. Korea to adopt 'vaccine passport' showing person's COVID-19 vaccination status: PM

SEOUL, April 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will introduce a digital certification system to verify a person's COVID-19 vaccination status through a smartphone application this month, amid the government's efforts to boost people's participation in the public vaccine program, the prime minister said Thursday. "The people will be able to experience a sense of return to normality from a vaccine passport or green card systems," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a daily interagency meeting on the government's coronavirus response. The government, according to Chung, has already developed the system that shows the vaccination status of a person through a smartphone application and plans to launch it this month. Chung explained that the system is based on blockchain technology to ensure security from possible identity theft. "(Systems) in other countries also do not store personal information while allowing the verifications of vaccination statuses," Chung added. Since Feb. 26, when the country initiated its vaccination program, over 850,000 people have been given COVID-19 vaccine shots. South Korea seeks to vaccinate 12 million people by June, and it aims to achieve herd immunity by November. odissy@yna.co.kr (END)