You can now add your COVID-19 vaccination status to your Apple Health data.
Beginning with iOS 15, the Apple Health app now allows iOS users to store verifiable health records on their devices. These can include medical records and lab tests from healthcare providers as well as your COVID-19 vaccination status. In a future update, iPhone users will even be able to add their vaccination information to Apple Wallet.
The Apple Health app currently only supports verifiable records that follow the SMART Health Card specification. This is a standard several states have already adopted. California, Louisiana, New York, Virginia, Hawaii, and some Maryland counties support SMART Health Cards, and so do Walmart, Sam’s Club, CVS, and Rite-Aid, among others.
If you received your COVID-19 vaccine from one of the supporters providers, you can follow up with them to learn how to generate the necessary QR code.
Apple has stated that this process will become much easier over time:
Organizations that issue SMART Health Cards will soon be able to use a new button to let users know that they can securely download and store their vaccination information in the Health app and quickly add and present it from Wallet. Artwork and usage guidelines will be available soon.
To import your COVID-19 vaccination record into Apple health, it needs to be part of a SMART Health Card. Many states issue these for vaccinations, as do a number of healthcare providers. Depending on where you received your vaccine, you might even find that your pharmacy participates in the SMART Health Card program. For example, Walmart, CVS, and Rite Aid all issue SMART Health Card QR codes.
Once you have the SMART Health Card QR code for your vaccine, you can open your iPhone’s Camera app or the QU code scanner app of your choice and point it at the QR code. A window should open asking if you want to add the data to the Health app. Tap on the blue “Add to Health“ button, and you are done.
From now on, if you go into the Health app, you can locate your COVID-19 immunization record to display as needed.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via The Mac Observer and developer.apple.com