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XCould the EU’s Universal COVID Passport Serve as a Blueprint for the US?
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.

With the European Union weighing blocking American travelers from visiting, a group representing hundreds of the world's airlines called on countries around the world earlier this week to adopt a COVID digital passport used by the E.U.
"In the absence of a single global standard for digital vaccine certificates, it should serve as a blueprint for other nations looking to implement digital vaccination certificates to help facilitate travel and its associated economic benefits," Conrad Clifford, deputy director general of the International Air Transport Association said in a statement.
The E.U.'s solution, a standardized paper and digital certificate that could be used across the E.U, was first proposed in November and has now reached full adoption in all 27 E.U. countries, and even non-E.U. countries like Switzerland, Turkey and Norway. It could also be appealing to global companies as they implement stricter rules requiring workers and customers to get vaccinated or tested.
Jakub Hlávka, a health policy fellow at the USC Schaeffer Institute who has been looking at the ethics of COVID passports, said these types of passports are especially useful for countries who don't want to limit travel and hurt tourism, while also slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
"A vaccination travel certificate would actually prevent the introduction of cases from countries not covered under travel bans, most notably Mexico, where a lot of people can get infected with delta and bring it into the U.S. without any strong precautions in place," he said.
Here's how it works:
The Digital COVID Certificate, as the passport is called, uses a framework that the E.U. developed so all digital COVID vaccination cards are standardized and can be verified quickly in every participating country.
Each country has a digital and paper version of their vaccination cards. Some countries, like France, have created a downloadable app that stores the DCC. France's app TousAntiCovid, and Italy's Immuni, allow residents to upload their vaccination record and negative COVID tests. Other countries like Belgium rely on a web app or a saved PDF.
There is no universal platform that's used across the E.U.
Non-E.U. residents can ask the country they are traveling to for a DCC, provided that country will accept their proof of vaccination. Only four vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca) are accepted by the E.U., meaning Covidshield, a vaccine that has been distributed across low-income countries, is not accepted by the E.U. at large (though some countries will accept it).
The certificate contains one's name, date of birth, COVID-19 vaccine or test information, the date the record was issued and, in a QR code, a unique digital signature every health provider administering the vaccine has.
This digital signature confirms patients have gotten the vaccine, and every country in the E.U. has access to those signatures to verify the legitimacy of the vaccination record. Other information like name and date of birth are not recorded.
The E.U.'s fix for safe travelling in a post-pandemic world is the most-used solution, allowing people to move within the member countries while allowing each flexibility. The IATA said 60 other countries are using the DCC as a blueprint for their own national system.
California's Digital COVID Vaccine Cards
The widespread adoption of a standardized pass in Europe is in stark contrast to the U.S., which has not pursued any national form of verification outside of the easy-to-replicate CDC-issued paper vaccine cards. States have come up with their own solutions, like California's digital vaccination record and New York's Excelsior Pass, both of which can be used to enter businesses that have some sort of vaccine mandate. But neither are valid for travel in and out of the country, even as the Biden administration continues to uphold the E.U. travel ban.
Creating a National COVID Passport
The biggest hurdle for the U.S. is to build a digital infrastructure that maintains a national registry. That would require real-time data collection from every state. Right now, states have separate data collection streams that harbor information about who is vaccinated, and when they got vaccinated. If a California resident got one vaccine in California, and another in a different state, California's digital vaccination record won't show proof of the second vaccine.
Most countries with a national digital vaccination standard are able to use existing infrastructure from having a form of universal health care. The E.U. leveraged its eHealth Network, a network used by every member of the union. Israel, which developed the Green Pass, also has a compulsory health care plan.
Many states in the U.S. haven't created a centralized state system, making it difficult for 50 states and U.S. territories to coordinate on a standardized system. But the CDC and other agencies regularly collect state and municipal data to track the spread of COVID-19.
Hlávka said the U.S. might be better off considering an opt-in registry that is recognized by other countries, whereby those who want to travel out of the country can voluntarily upload their vaccination record and show proof.
"If we asked a few programmers in Silicon Valley, we could have this in a few hours," Hlávka said. "This is not technically difficult."
And as the U.S. travel ban on the E.U. persists, and the E.U. considers banning American travelers as well, Hlávka said the lack of standardization and a national system is preventing families from reconnecting and hurting tourism.
"The status quo is hurting the U.S. economy and reopening travel, possibly using a mutually recognized vaccination certificate/passport, would be a safe way to reopen borders and increase incentives to get vaccinated," he said.
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Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
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California Debates Data Privacy as SCOTUS Allows Abortion Bans
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
The United States Supreme Court called a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks constitutional on Friday, overturning the country’s founding abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court also upheld that there cannot be any restriction on how far into a pregnancy abortion can be banned.
When Politico first broke the news months before SCOTUS’s final ruling, a slew of bills entered Congress to protect data privacy and prevent the sale of data, which can be triangulated to see if a person has had an abortion or if they are seeking an abortion and have historically been used by antiabortion individuals who would collect this information during their free time.
Democratic lawmakers led by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo called on Google to stop collecting location data. The chair of the Federal Trade Commission has long voiced plans for the agency to prevent data collection. A week after the news, California Assembly passed A.B. 2091, a law that would prevent insurance companies and medical providers from sharing information in abortion-related cases (the state Senate is scheduled to deliberate on it in five days).
These scattered bills attempt to do what health privacy laws do not. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, was established in 1996 when the Internet was still young and most people carried flip phones. The act declared health institutions were not allowed to share or disclose patients’ health information. Google, Apple and a slew of fertility and health apps are not covered under HIPAA, and fertility app data can be subpoenaed by law enforcement.
California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (or CMIA), goes further than HIPAA by encompassing apps that store medical information under the broader umbrella of health institutions that include insurance companies and medical providers. And several how-tos on protecting data privacy during Roe v. Wade have been published in the hours of the announcement.
But reproductive rights organizations say data privacy alone cannot fix the problem. According to reproductive health policy think tank Guttmacher Institute, the closest state with abortion access to 1.3 million out-of-state women of reproductive age is California. One report from the UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law and Policy estimates as many as 9,400 people will travel to Los Angeles County every year to get abortions, and that number will grow as more states criminalize abortions.
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
LA Tech ‘Moves’: Adtech Firm OpenX Lures New SVP, Getlabs and DISQO Tap New VPs
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
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Advertising technology company OpenX Technologies appointed Geoff Wolinetz as senior vice president of demand platforms. Wolinetz was most recently senior vice president of growth at Chalice Custom Algorithms.
Remote health care infrastructure provider Getlabs hired Jaime LaFontaine as its vice president of business development. L.A.-based LaFontaine was previously director of business development for Alto Pharmacy.
Customer experience platform DISQO tapped Andrew Duke as its vice president of product, consumer applications. Duke previously served as Oracle’s senior director of strategy and product.
Media company Wheelhouse DNA named Michael Senzer as senior manager of Additive Creative, its newly launched digital talent management division. Senzer was previously vice president of business development at TalentX Entertainment.
Fintech lending platform Camino Financial hired Dana Rainford as vice president of people and talent. Rainford previously served as head of human resources at Westwood Financial.
Kourtney Day returned to entertainment company Jim Henson’s Creature Shop as senior director of business development. Day mostly recently served as business development manager for themed entertainment at Solomon Group.
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
This Week in ‘Raises’: Miracle Miles Lands $100M, Fintech Startup Tapcheck Hauls $20M
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
In this week’s edition of “Raises”: An L.A.-based footwear company closed $100 million to boost its expansion into the global market, while there were Series A raises for local fintech, biotech and space startups.
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Venture Capital
Miracle Miles Group, an L.A.-based footwear company, raised a $100 million Series A funding round co-led by IDG Capital and Sequoia Capital China.
Deno, a San Diego-based software development startup, raised a $21 million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
Tapcheck, an L.A.-based financial wellness startup that helps workers access their paycheck before payday, raised a $20 million Series A funding round led by PeakSpan Capital.
Gemelli Biotech, an L.A.- and Raleigh, N.C.-based biotech startup focused on gastrointestinal diseases, raised a $19 million Series A financing round led by Blue Ox Healthcare Partners.
Epsilon3, an L.A.-based space operations software startup, raised a $15 million Series A funding round led by Lux Capital.
Global Premier Fertility, an Irvine-based fertility company, raised an $11 million Series C funding round led by Triangle Capital Corporation.
Vamstar, an L.A.- and London-based medical supply chain platform, raised a $9.5 million Series A funding round co-led by Alpha Intelligence Capital and Dutch Founders Fund.
System 9, an L.A.-based digital asset market-making firm focused on the crypto altcoin market, raised a $5.7 million Series A funding round led by Capital6 Eagle.
Myria, an L.A.-based online marketplace of luxury goods and services, raised a $4.3 million seed round from Y Combinator, Backend Capital, Cathexis Ventures and other angel investors.
Binarly, an L.A.-based firmware cybersecurity company, raised a $3.6 million seed round from WestWave Capital and Acrobator Ventures.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).
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Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.