SecureVAX: A Blockchain-Enabled Secure Vaccine Passport System

TL;DR

SecureVAX introduces a blockchain-based vaccine passport system that enhances security, privacy, and interoperability by integrating smart contracts, IPFS, and cryptographic techniques to address forgery, unauthorized access, and data integrity issues.

Contribution

It presents a novel blockchain-enabled framework combining off-chain and on-chain cryptography with IPFS for secure, verifiable vaccine passports, improving upon existing digital solutions.

Findings

Successfully deployed on Ethereum Sepolia test network.

Demonstrated secure storage and verification of vaccine data.

Enhanced privacy and tamper resistance in vaccine passport management.

Abstract

A vaccine passport serves as documentary proof, providing passport holders with greater freedom while roaming around during pandemics. It confirms vaccination against certain infectious diseases like COVID-19, Ebola, and flu. The key challenges faced by the digital vaccine passport system include passport forgery, unauthorized data access, and inaccurate information input by vaccination centers. Privacy concerns also need to be addressed to ensure that the user's personal identification information (PII) is not compromised. Additionally, it is necessary to track vaccine vials or doses to verify their authenticity, prevent misuse and illegal sales, as well as to restrict the illicit distribution of vaccines. To address these challenges, we propose a Blockchain-Enabled Secure Vaccine Passport System, leveraging the power of smart contracts. Our solution integrates off-chain and on-chain cryptographic computations, facilitating secure communication among various entities. We have utilized the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to store encrypted vaccine passports of citizens securely. Our prototype is built on the Ethereum platform, with smart contracts deployed on the Sepolia Test network, allowing for performance evaluation and validation of the system's effectiveness. By combining IPFS as a distributed data storage platform and Ethereum as a blockchain platform, our solution paves the way for secure, efficient, and globally interoperable vaccine passport management, supporting comprehensive vaccination initiatives worldwide.