Digital vaccination certificate
Updated onMaximilian Reindl studied chemistry and biochemistry at the LMU in Munich and has been a member of the editorial team since December 2020. He will familiarize himself with medical, scientific and health policy topics for you in order to make them understandable and comprehensible.
More posts by Maximilian Reindl All content is checked by medical journalists.As part of the electronic patient file, the electronic vaccination card should clearly contain all of the data relating to your vaccinations. Its use is voluntary. In the course of the corona pandemic, there is also a special feature: the digital vaccination certificate. It serves temporarily as an opportunity to prove your own vaccination status against the coronavirus. Everything that is known about the introduction of the e-vaccination certificate and the digital vaccination certificate, and in which cases the yellow, printed vaccination certificate may still be required, can be read here.
What is the digital vaccination record?
The digital or electronic vaccination certificate (e-vaccination certificate) contains the same information as the currently valid yellow vaccination certificate in paper form.
In future, all information about your vaccinations will be stored in your electronic patient file (ePA) via the digital vaccination card. This includes the type of vaccination, the date of your vaccination appointment, the vaccination dose and batch number as well as the individual signature of your vaccinating doctor.
What do you need the e-vaccination certificate for?
At your request, the electronic vaccination card will be activated as a voluntary function of the electronic patient record (ePA). As part of the ePA, it also contains your insurance data - including your surname, first name and date of birth.
In addition, the e-vaccination pass enables vaccination data to be merged with health information from other areas. In future, your doctor will have bundled information about your vaccination history, previous (notifiable) infectious diseases or information on chronic diseases and allergies. This means that your doctor would have all the relevant information at hand when an upcoming vaccination appointment is in order to provide you with the best possible care.
This consolidation of your health data only takes place if you actively consent to this and only if you grant the necessary access rights. How this so-called access management is designed in detail is, however, open at the present time.
What happens to the yellow (analog) vaccination certificate?
The printed yellow vaccination certificate is an internationally recognized, trilingual document according to the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). The electronic vaccination pass, on the other hand, is initially limited to Germany. The “yellow booklet” remains an important document, especially for travelers.
For example, if you want to travel to certain countries in parts of Africa or Asia, you may have to provide evidence of a yellow fever vaccination upon arrival. When such proof is required depends, among other things, on the region and the type of trip.
You can find further information on the topics "Which vaccinations do you need?", "Which (travel) vaccinations are necessary?" And "Which vaccinations are recommended during pregnancy?" In our vaccinations dossier.
When does the e-vaccination pass come?
The electronic vaccination certificate should be available from January 1st, 2022. Its use - like the electronic patient file itself - is voluntary.
How does the e-vaccination pass work?
If you grant your doctor the necessary access rights, he or she will create a corresponding entry in your electronic records for each vaccination.
Authorization only in direct doctor-patient contact
Access to your e-vaccination pass is analogous to the electronic patient file: your doctor can only edit the data in direct contact with you after you have given him the necessary authorizations in your ePA app. Your doctor must also identify himself at the so-called e-health connector with his or her health professional ID (eHBA) in order to gain access to the data.
Access to your own data via the ePA app
You yourself have access to your health data at any time. You can view this via your corresponding EPR app. To do this, you need a mobile device (smartphone, tablet) and the corresponding ePA app provided by your health insurance company.
What are the advantages of the e-vaccination certificate?
Switching to the electronic vaccination card offers you a number of advantages:
- Complete, standardized documentation
- Better traceability of your vaccination history
- All vaccinations bundled, visible at a glance
- Reminder function for upcoming (booster) vaccinations
- Protection against possible vaccine picking
- Protection against loss of the vaccination certificate (backup in the ePA)
- Management of health data via the respective ePA app
- Counterfeit security
Data protection - where is my data stored?
As part of your ePA, the same high demands on technology, authorization and encryption concepts also apply to the electronic vaccination certificate. This protects your data in the best possible way from being accessed by third parties. The legal basis for this is the Patient Data Protection Act (PDSG) passed by the Bundestag.
Your health data is stored in the telematics infrastructure. The telematics infrastructure itself is an encrypted and closed network to which only authorized actors in the healthcare sector have access.
You alone decide who has access and you retain control over your personal health data at all times.
Special case: Corona vaccination certificate
The federal government has had an additional digital vaccination certificate developed for the current corona pandemic. It documents your immune status with regard to Sars-CoV-2 in the form of a QR code. This will be issued to you by the vaccinating doctor and printed out. You can then scan it in on your smartphone and upload it via an app.
The digital vaccination certificate makes it easier to travel during the corona pandemic, as well as to visit events, cinemas, theaters, restaurants or fitness studios if this is necessary due to current incidences.
You can read more about this in the article "digital corona vaccination certificate".
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