During the first G20 Health Working Group meeting in Yogyakarta on March 28, 2022, the Health Ministry initiated the universal verifier for vaccine certificates.
This allows international travelers' digital COVID-19 certificates to be read in other countries' system.
In its implementation, this universal verifier functions to validate the vaccination data of international travelers.
The Ministry's Chief Digital Transformation Office (DTO) Setiaji noted that the universal verifier is created in accordance with the World Health Organization's (WHO's) standard.
To this end, each country does not have to change the system and QR Code that it currently uses.
During the discussion on harmonization of global health protocol standards, Indonesia not only brought up the topic of equality of COVID-19 vaccine certificates but also digital health application sharing, so that it can be acknowledged in various countries.
The PeduliLindungi application, which had faced flak over the United States' Foreign Affairs Ministry's allegation of human rights violation, can now be used in the European Union and several other countries, such as India and even the ASEAN.
The PeduliLindungi application can be read in 27 European Union countries. In fact, the QR Code in the European Union system can also be read in Indonesia's system.
As a result, European Union citizens, who travel to Indonesia, are no longer required to download the PeduliLindungi application and vice versa.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin aims that PeduliLindungi can be used in G20 countries. This is akin to a passport that generally becomes the legal requirement for all citizens to enter other countries.
The health document in the COVID-19 application in each country should be proof that the person described had received vaccination for COVID-19, but it does not mean that the individual is immune to the corona virus.
To this end, travelers should still comply with the applicable regulation and health protocol in destination countries.
The existence of a universal verifier for vaccine certificates is expected to allow international citizens to travel safely, efficiently, and effectively while concurrently being capable of reviving the global economy.
Related news: Mutual vaccination recognition: EU endorses PeduliLindungiapp use
PeduliLindungi
Indonesia has the PeduliLindungi application which, in addition to serving as a tracing device to suppress the spread of the COVID-19 virus, also has the electronic COVID-19 vaccination certificate that applies internationally.
Other countries also have an application similar to PeduliLindungi, such as Aarogya Setu from India, Tous Anti-COVID from France, The Alipay Health Code from China, Tawakkalna Saudi Arabia, and Trace Together Singapore.
In essence, these applications should be used by local residents to stem the spread of COVID-19 and also mark the users' status.
In Indonesia, PeduliLindungi became an application that everyone should have installed on their phones.
If not, these people cannot access public locations and services, such as shopping centers, offices, public transportation, and entertainment centers.
PeduliLindungi has also been connected to the Electronic-Health Alert Card (EHAC) that is used to check the travel history of passengers.
The COVID-19 application will certainly facilitate the government in identifying those in need of further treatment to stop the spread of COVID-19.
According to the Health Ministry's official website, based on the latest update as per July 17, 2022, there are four colors for the QR code status in PeduliLindungi.
The color black shows that someone has been COVID-19 positive for less than 10 days or has come in close contact with someone confirmed positive within less than 14 days.
A person with black status in the PeduliLindungi application cannot go to public places. Security workers can prevent this person's entry and then report him or her to the COVID-19 Task Force for further handling.
In addition to black, PeduliLindungi also divides someone's status as red, yellow, and green.
The red status indicates that the person had only been vaccinated once or had not been vaccinated at all, either since he or she had not yet done so or because that individual is below 18 years of age.
People with a red status are not allowed to go to public places.
The yellow status for people aged 18 years and above means that the individual has been vaccinated once and had recovered from COVID-19 less than 90 days.
For people aged 6-17 years, this status means that they have not been vaccinated and had just recovered from COVID-19 less than 90 days.
People with yellow status can travel to public places, but they should still comply with the regulation from regional governments and public areas.
Meanwhile, green status shows that the person had been completely vaccinated and that the individual is allowed to travel to public spaces.
Related news: PeduliLindungi app used 170 million times: Pandjaitan
Other countries' application
Other countries' application that is similar to PeduliLindungi include Aarogya Setu that belongs to India.
The application also utilizes the location data and will notify users if they are near someone with COVID-19 by scanning the infection case database.
The Alipay Health Code owned by China will determine if someone has to be quarantined or is allowed to enter public spaces, such as on subway trains.
Meanwhile, the application owned by Saudi Arabia, Tawakkalna, is used to prevent the spread of the virus and verify as well as provide proof of someone's vaccination status.
These applications also provide notification if the users had come in close contact with positive cases and give the latest COVID-19 information in the area where the users are in, like PeduliLindungi.
Currently, PeduliLindungi had transformed into a service that is integrated with other countries' health application.
The harmonization of PeduliLindungi with other countries' health application is an effort to realize global health protocol standards, which is one of the topics that Indonesia raises during the G20 Presidency in 2022.
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Editor: Suharto
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