May 13, 2021

WILMINGTON, NC—In early May, a man boarded a flight to Argentina with false COVID documents, putting the critical need to have proof of vaccine status in the international spotlight. As nations move forward with travel and tourism, an urgent solution for vaccine status that resists forgery or counterfeiting is needed. Fortunately, CastleBranch, a North Carolina–based company, is offering proof of vaccination status via their RealVaccinationID.com cards, which were designed to combat forgery, fraud or counterfeiting.

In the case of the flight to Argentina, a 29–year–old man onboard carried false information on documents regarding his COVID-19 status. The man tested positive for COVID-19 days prior to the flight, yet boarded the airplane with papers verifying his medical status as safe to travel internationally. By the time the plane landed in Argentina, his fever had reached 101.3. During the flight, he potentially had infected 270 individuals entering a country already devastated by the disease. Argentina had closed its borders to international travelers — unless they could verify recovery from COVID-19 or a provide a negative test. Unfortunately, the fact that most COVID-19 documents are paper–based means that they are easy to forge, tamper with, or counterfeit.

This story and others like it prove the vital importance of vaccine status documents that are tamper–proof and contain anti–forgery and anti–counterfeit technology. As the world begins to shift slowly to business–as–usual as more people receive full vaccination from COVID-19, safe and secure processes must be in place to protect vaccinated and COVID-negative travelers.

“Just one individual faking his or her proof of vaccination can put hundreds or thousands of people at risk by introducing COVID-19 into an environment, while simultaneously derailing operations for colleges and universities, businesses, and travel,” said Brett Martin, CEO of CastleBranch.

CastleBranch, an infectious disease screening, compliance management, and nationally accredited consumer reporting agency, is one of the leading providers of vaccination and immunization tracking in the United States. With 25 years’ experience, the company has tracked, reviewed, and/or stored over 35 million medical documents for a majority of healthcare education programs across the nation–including complex vaccination, immunization, and waiver documentation. The company also leads the nation in badging credentialing, making CastleBranch uniquely suited to developing state–of–the-art, tamper–proof vaccine passports. Martin said protection against fraud was a major goal in his company’s development of its RealVaccinationID.com card.

These cards, the RealVaccinationID.com Vaccination Card or the RealVaccinationID.com Waiver Card provide safe, secure, and convenient proof of vaccination or of exemption status for those individuals who, for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons, cannot receive the vaccine. Prior to being issued a card, individuals are asked to submit proof of their vaccination or vaccination waiver status, along with their name, date of birth, address, photo ID and other personal identifiers. A team of trained experts reviews and verifies the medical information under CastleBranch’s “nothing about me without me” policy, which protects the individual’s private data. The driver’s license–sized cards incorporate sophisticated forgery–prevention technology, including holographic film similar to those found on state–issued IDs, to help individuals prove they’ve received the COVID-19 vaccine or qualify for vaccine exemption while making counterfeiting or forgery next to impossible.

For more information, visit www.RealVaccinationID.com.