Covid-19 immunity and vaccination passport developed by British firms Mvine and iProov, backed by Innovate UK, moves into live testing phase

Mvine and iProov announce today their design for a simple, secure and widely recognized Covid-19 immunity and vaccination passport will now move into live testing. The Mvine-iProov passport enables a person’s test result or vaccination status to be registered and proved without disclosing their identity, and without the need for extensive new infrastructure.

With additional backing from Innovate UK, which initially funded the development of a successful working prototype, the Mvine-iProov passport will now be tested by Directors of Public Health within the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK.  Mvine and iProov aim to complete two trials by 31 March 2021, giving Directors of Public Health across the country the confidence to deploy the passport at scale to benefit their local areas.

Crucially, the Mvine-iProov passport can be plugged into the NHS’ existing infrastructure, enabling it to meet the specific needs of local Directors of Public Health and any overarching national requirements. This flexibility ensures that areas in different tiers or levels of vaccination rollout can set appropriate policies and enforce them with confidence.

The Mvine-iProov passport has been developed quickly and cost-efficiently, with a total £75,000 investment from Innovate UK following a call for ideas in April 2020. It is expected this investment in UK innovation will help businesses and employees return to work, and enable families and friends to reconnect, more quickly and more responsibly than would otherwise be possible.

Frank Joshi, Director at Mvine, said: “Without the need for an extensive new infrastructure, the Directors of Public Health will learn how our innovation is used to promote public health and protect citizen privacy. Unlike some other digital solutions for Covid-19, this technology reduces the burden on frontline services and cost-effectively assures a secure and safe way to enable the return to work, return to school and return to the kind of life that people want to lead.”

Andrew Bud, CEO at iProov, said: “Ensuring consumer trust, security and privacy is essential to the success of projects in this space. iProov enables all three. Our Genuine Presence Assurance technology secures the link between the citizen and Mvine’s test status solution in this project, which we think can make an important contribution to forming the national response to the COVID-19 crisis.”