On April 11, 2023 – one month in advance of the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 – the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) confirmed that various Notifications of Enforcement Discretion issued under HIPAA during the PHE will expire at the end of the day on May 11
vaccine
Smart Health Cards, Vaccine Passports, and Privacy
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee recently announced that they are considering implementing vaccine passport programs in their respective states. Baker stated that he is working with other states to use a QR code system that allows users to scan to verify vaccination status. In Rhode Island, the Department of Health…
Privacy Tip #274 – COVID Vaccine Scams Rampant
The news is full of stories about crashing vaccination scheduling websites, seniors who are unable to get their vaccine appointment, and how different states are rolling out their limited supplies of COVID vaccines.
People are becoming desperate in the scramble to get vaccinated during or even before their allotted time, and scammers know that and…
Another Use for Blockchain: Tracking COVID-19 Vaccines
Reuters reported this week that two hospitals in England are using blockchain technology to track the storage and supply of COVID-19 vaccines. According to Reuters, this is one of the first such initiatives in the world.
The report stated that the hospitals are using a distributed ledger, a type of blockchain that uses independent computers,…
Chinese and Russian Hackers Targeting COVID-19 Vaccine Makers in U.S. Crosshairs
Last week, authorities from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada accused a well-known hacker group tied to the Russian government, APT29 a/k/a Cozy Bear of using malware to exploit security vulnerabilities to enable it to steal COVID-19 vaccine research from companies located in these countries working to develop a vaccine. This was after a…