NY State launches first US “vaccine passport” app, Excelsior Pass, built on IBM's blockchain-based health pass platform, to be used initially at large venues
Context & Ripple Effects
New York’s launch turns the earlier health-pass debate about reopening businesses—and the risk of excluding people from travel and offices—into a state-run deployment at large venues. It also gives IBM’s health-pass platform an operating role rather than a purely prospective one.
The surrounding coverage already identifies the implementation constraints: forged records, privacy protection, and interoperability are central to whether a credential can work across venues. Later reporting on low adoption and persistent Excelsior Pass glitches shows why launch alone was not sufficient.
First-order effects
- NY State and participating large venues gain a common digital credential for checking vaccination status, with IBM providing the underlying health-pass platform.
- Venue operators must add pass verification to entry operations, while attendees without an accepted credential face a new access requirement at participating locations.
Second-order effects
- Privacy, accuracy, and interoperability become practical procurement and operating tests for New York’s system as other cities consider vaccination-proof mandates.
- Low uptake or technical failures shift the burden back to venue staff and weaken the value of a shared pass, pressuring NY State and IBM to improve reliability and acceptance.
Third-order effects
- If access rules continue to rely on digital health credentials, public authorities and venue operators will shape a durable permission boundary around who can enter services and events—and how exclusion is handled.
- The health-pass market is likely to favor systems that can establish trust across issuers and checkers, rather than apps that only work within a single deployment.
The trend: Pandemic reopening tools are evolving into trust infrastructure, where privacy, interoperability, and real-world verification determine whether digital credentials gain lasting acceptance.
Related: Public-data permission boundary · The Synthetic-Media Trust Stack · Excelsior Pass · Challenges in building vaccine passport apps · Excelsior Pass adoption and technical issues
Related Coverage
- ‘Vaccine passports’ are on the way, but developing them won't be easy Washington Post
- View article The Verge
- Governor Cuomo Announces Launch of Excelsior Pass to Help Fast-Track Reopening of Businesses and Entertainment Venues Statewide Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
- Why IBM, NY State vaccine passport foreshadows more mainstream adoption ZDNet · Larry Dignan
- Biden administration working to develop a system for people to prove they've been vaccinated CNN
- The Morning After: Peacock is reassessing 17,000 hours of WWE content Engadget
- View article Input
- View article KnowTechie
- New York Launches First Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Passport PCMag · Stephanie Mlot
- Get Ready to Show Your Vaccine Passport Everywhere Reason · J.D. Tuccille
- New York introduces a blockchain-powered Covid passport Coin Journal · Hassan Maishera
- New York to Accelerate Business Reopenings with Blockchain-Based COVID19 Passport Blockonomi · Nicholas Say
- New York turns to IBM blockchain to battle the coronavirus CryptoSlate · Shaurya Malwa
- New York rolls out COVID-19 passports based on IBM blockchain technology SiliconANGLE · Duncan Riley
- New York's revolutionary COVID-19 ‘Excelsior Pass’ will lead USA back to normalcy BetaNews · Brian Fagioli
- NY Governor Cuomo launches blockchain-powered vaccination passports Cointelegraph · Brian Quarmby
- NY's Blockchain-Based COVID-19 Passport Is Now Live CoinDesk · Kevin Reynolds
- NY Launches Vaccine Passport For Use At Venues, But Privacy Expert Urges You To Read The Fine Print Gothamist · David Cruz
- New York Launches a Blockchain-Powered COVID-19 Passport Decrypt
- First N.Y. Passport could fast-track opening of sports, music and catered events Staten Island Advance · Tracey Porpora
- ‘Excelsior Pass’ provides proof of COVID-19 vaccination, negative test Albany Times Union · Chris Bragg
- It's Official. “Vaccine Passports” Are Required In New York HotAir · Jazz Shaw
- New York Becomes the First State to Enact a ‘Vaccine Passport’ Townhall · Rebecca Downs
- New York Is First State With Vaccination Proof App Newser · Bob Cronin
- New York launches Excelsior Pass that keeps COVID-19 vaccinations, negative test results in one place AM New York · Emily Davenport
- New York Launches App To Offer Proof Of COVID Vaccination, Negative Test Results CBS New York
- New York launches nation's first ‘vaccine passport’ The Hill · Lexi Lonas
- New York's Excelsior Pass Is Now Online. What Is it and How Does it Work? NBC New York
- Cuomo's Covid-19 Vaccine Passport Leaves Users Clueless About Privacy The Intercept · Sam Biddle
- Your Papers, Please: New York Introduces “Vaccine Passport” For Events, Businesses Deadline · Bruce Haring
- NYS Excelsior Pass Scanner 4+ App Store
- New York launches digital vaccination, testing passport app Associated Press
- Nation's first ‘vaccine passport’ coming to New York New York Post · Gabrielle Fonrouge
- New York is expanding its mobile vaccine passport StateScoop · Ryan Johnston
- New York Rolls Out Vaccine Passport Breitbart · Hannah Bleau
- Japan to issue digital vaccine passport: Nikkei Reuters · Vishal Vivek
- Japan to issue digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates: Report ZDNet · Campbell Kwan
- New York rolls out first digital COVID-19 vaccine passports in the US Engadget
- China Needs to Remove Barriers to Covid-19 Vaccination and Move Faster caixinglobal.com
Discussion
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@raju
Raju Narisetti
on x
NY Launches Vaccine Passport For Use At NYC Venues, but there are no guarantees listed on the terms of service determining whether the information won't be accessed by police departments or the Immigration or Customs Enforcement agency https://gothamist.com/...? via @gothamist
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@cernovich
Mike Cernovich
on x
If these were to remain voluntary, I'd celebrate the innovation. We've all seen this movie enough times to know how it ends. https://www.usatoday.com/...
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@arielmai
Ariel Kennan
on x
“To deploy a Covid-19 response app requires ‘a lot of policy thinking, it requires a lot of hard software and user experience work, and all of those problems have nothing to do with blockchain...’” https://twitter.com/...
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@theintercept
@theintercept
on x
Cuomo's office announced on March 2 that testing had begun on the joint IBM system, known as Excelsior Pass. The “pass” itself is a smartphone app that displays a QR code to be scanned before entering an indoor business or other public gathering place. https://theintercept.com/..…
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@samfbiddle
Sam Biddle
on x
New York State partnered with IBM to create a “blockchain-powered” Covid-19 vaccine passport app with no privacy policy and if you have any questions about how it works the answer is just the word “blockchain” over and over again to infinity https://theintercept.com/...
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@xuhulk
Chris Xu
on x
This is likely a privacy disaster, shifts liability to businesses and individuals where it doesn't belong, ignores what public health professionals have said about vaccine passports, seems like a shady procurement situation, widens digital inequity...a Cuomo special, basically. h…
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@snapchatandrew
Andrew Mitchell
on x
Narrator: The pass itself is NOT a smartphone app. You can download a Pass onto your smartphone, if you wish. Or you can print it out for a paper copy or simply screenshot it. It's like a mobile boarding pass. You can get the facts here: https://ny.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
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@markghuneim
Mark Ghuneim
on x
@Techmeme Pros. Will drive vaccine adoption for segment of the population that might not get a vax but want to attend event. Thinking NY sports fans here for example. Cons: Using medical information as a passport is bad precedent. BAD. Also NY State, IBM, Blockchain
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@rezendi
Jon Evans
on x
Oh dear: “IBM and the state insist user data will be kept confidential thanks to the use of blockchain technology” https://gothamist.com/... (I am not necessarily anti-blockchain but its use is not automagical privacy/security pixie dust)
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@chancellorcuny
Flix V. Matos Rodrguez
on x
The Excelsior Pass announced by @NYGovCuomo will allow us to securely confirm a person has received the COVID-19 vaccine or a negative test. Alongside New York's businesses and venues, we will use this technology to move forward safely. @CUNYCOO https://ow.ly/...
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@hypervisible
@hypervisible
on x
“It's really just high-tech hydroxychloroquine...” 😮 https://gothamist.com/...
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@darakass
Dara Kass
on x
The Excelsior Pass is live. I just got mine. https://www.governor.ny.gov/ ...
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@db
Himbo Depot
on x
Ok but when are other places besides New York going to do this? Specifically DC 👀 https://twitter.com/...
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@fabiochiusi
Fabio Chiusi
on x
“One of the most significant hurdles facing federal officials: the sheer number of passport initiatives underway, with the Biden administration this month identifying at least 17” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
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@mgurri
Martin Gurri
on x
Question that breaks my head is, why didn't govt at every level work this out in advance? Not as if they couldn't see it coming... https://www.usatoday.com/...
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@johnrobb
John Robb
on x
Health/vaccine passports. Particularly interesting given the vast number of MRNA vaccines in the pipeline. Questions: Permanent? Localized (as in: you can't get into NYC unless you have xyz) or global (standardized elements needed for all travel)? https://www.usatoday.com/...
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@foxcahn
Albert Fox Cahn
on x
Like I mentioned, there are issues with #EXCELSIORpASS...lots of issues: “It's really just high-tech hydroxychloroquine...my jaw hit the floor when I read how poorly this [privacy] policy was written.” https://gothamist.com/... https://twitter.com/...
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@privacydigest
@privacydigest
on x
NY Launches Vaccine Passport For Use At Venues, But Privacy Expert Urges You To Read The Fine Print - Gothamist “It's really just high-tech hydroxychloroquine,” Albert Fox Cahn, an attorney and founder of Surveillance Technology Oversight Project https://gothamist.com/...
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@kennwhite
Kenn White
on x
“Blockchains are typically public, their contents transparent to anyone with an internet connection, but the one behind [State of NY COVID-19] Excelsior Pass will be private, meaning only parties sanctioned by IBM will be able to check the contents.” https://twitter.com/...