OpenVaxx wins Rep. C. “Dutch” Ruppersberger’s 2021 Congressional App Challenge in Maryland’s Second District

When asked what inspired the creation of OpenVaxx, the student said, “I was inspired to create this app after debating with my parents about the necessity and security behind a system that businesses could use to verify the vaccine status of customers. My parents agreed with me on the necessity of the system, many experts have said that the way the U.S. currently handles determining vaccinated customers requires putting a lot of trust into the U.S. population. For most of the population, this is a non-issue, but that minority of people who may make this an issue can cause trouble for everyone else. What my parents and I disagreed on was the safety, security, and anonymity of a vaccine passport. They voiced understandable concerns, citing how businesses could start to link your shopping patterns to your health records. Data breaches and how we can trust that the vaccine information is correct were big issues too. I responded by saying that those concerns could be addressed through careful planning and development. I set out to develop OpenVaxx to demonstrate a safe, secure, and anonymous vaccine passport is viable if planned correctly and developed with lots of thought and care regarding the security of the system.”