A diagram of the app included in the contract awarded to Composite Apps by Orange County
A contract awarded to a tech firm to develop an app for Orange County, California, refers to the application has a “vaccine passport” four separate times in the document. The document itself is 66-pages long but the references are made in the “proposal” section submitted by the tech firm Composite Apps. That section is roughly 15 pages long.
County officials have claimed the application will not be used as an exclusionary tool, calling the term passport “inartful.”
“Vaccine Passports: The vaccines, once administered, can be a tremendous enabler for reopening businesses and the economy. CuraPatient will provide proof of vaccination to patients in the form of a ‘passport’. These can be validated by local businesses and allow for resumption of pre-COVID activities,” the document states.
The proposal bills the application as a way to allow residents to enter public venues such as “theme parks, theatres, restaurants, shopping centers, etc,” presumably after showing a positive vaccine status in the application.
The app was rolled out in Orange County earlier this year but county officials were forced to backtrack on implementation after intense public outcry against the system. Orange County Health Care Agency Director Clayton Chau said last month the county is no longer requiring a vaccine passport but is planning to offer a digital vaccination record for residents who request it.
ITN obtained a copy of the document after sending a public records request to the Orange County Health Agency.
In addition to the references to the passports county officials also seem to require from the maker that the app work even while the user is not logged into it.
“All application services must run as a true service and not require a user to be logged into the application for these services to continue to be active.”
The contract also indicates that residents’ health information will be shared with larger tech firms and the data can be used so that “the efficacy of the vaccines can be further enhanced and better targeted” to individuals of specific social and economic classes, as well as genotypes.
Such monitoring has worried privacy activists for some time.
ITN has requested comment from Orange County officials on some of the issues above and will update this post if/when we receive additional information.
MA-042-21010855_CuraPatient COVID-19 Vaccine Administration Application_Composite Apps Inc