Walmart Joins Effort to Digitize Vaccine Records

Need to Know 

• Walmart is launching a digital vaccine record that will provide health information to customers who were vaccinated at a Walmart or Sam’s Club location.
• The health pass can be accessed via smartphone and used to verify their vaccine status when returning to work, school, or travel.
• Walmart joins other big names like Mastercard and Microsoft that are joining the international effort to digitize vaccine records.

Analysis

Walmart is joining the vaccine rollout effort by soon offering a digital vaccine record. The vaccination record, available to anyone who gets inoculated at a Walmart or Sam’s Club location, can be accessed for free on any smartphone health app and comes as part of an international effort to standardize vaccination records. 

In partnership with nonprofit The Commons Project Foundation and the CLEAR app, Walmart will be able to provide customers with access to their health records, including vaccine information. Customers can then verify their vaccine status when returning to work or school, traveling, or attending social events by simply showing the pass on their smartphone. 

The vaccine pass initiative is just the latest move to stay ahead of the curve with digital offerings in a post-COVID world. 

“Walmart is the first huge-scale administrator of vaccines that is committing to giving people a secure, verifiable record of their vaccinations,” said Paul Meyer, the chief executive of the Commons Project Foundation, a nonprofit in Geneva that has developed health passport apps. “We think many others will follow.”

“Our goal is to give customers vaccinated at Walmart free and secure digital access to their vaccine record and enable them to share that information with third parties seeking to confirm their vaccination status,” said John Furner, CEO and President, Walmart U.S. “We are proud to be the first retailer to strategically partner with both The Commons Project Foundation and CLEAR, and we look forward to working with them to empower people with digital access to their vaccination records so they can use them whenever and however they choose.”

Here’s how it works: Users will create an account on the Walmart or Sam’s Club app to book a vaccination appointment. After receiving their vaccine, they can download one of either the CLEAR, CommonHealth, or CommonPass app. From the Walmart or Sam’s Club app, they can then agree to share their vaccination history with the health pass app they have chosen. 

To enable this technology, “Walmart and Sam’s Club have created systems that will allow vaccine status to be stored within the company’s proprietary apps and also interface with secure third-party apps.” 

The apps are available for download now. 

Mastercard has also joined the international effort to establish a digital “health passport.” Just days ago, the financial giant announced a partnership with the International Chamber of Commerce to build a digital health passport and establish a standard for sharing vital health information like vaccination status. 

Tech giants Microsoft and Salesforce have joined the initiative too. The two companies have teamed up to launch their own digital vaccination record, which will live in the user’s smart wallet of choice (like Apple Wallet or Google Pay). 

Salesforce EVP Bill Patterson said, “With a single platform to help deliver safe and continuous operations and deepen trust with customers and employees, this coalition will be crucial to support public health and wellbeing.”

Walmart has leaned into digital service offerings in recent years. The retail giant has launched shoppable cooking videos, a smart cooler grocery delivery program, and launched a third-party Marketplace that allows both individuals and big brands to sell on Walmart’s platform.