TOKYO: The Japanese government said Monday it will start a digital version of its novel coronavirus vaccination certificates on Dec. 20.

   Users will need to install a special app on their smartphones so that they can obtain COVID-19 vaccination certificates by verifying their identity with their My Number social security and taxation identification cards.

   The digital certificates will be used mainly for immigration procedures at home and abroad.

   By encouraging the use of both written and digital vaccination certificates, the government aims to minimize the impact on economic and social activities of a possible resurgence of the novel coronavirus, officials said.

   Meanwhile, it has been learned that there is incorrect information in some records stored in the government’s Vaccination Record System. The government has asked municipalities to fix the problems.

   The vaccination certificate app will be available in two versions, one for iPhones and the other for Android smartphones. There will be two types of certificate, one for use in Japan and the other for overseas.

   Certificates will contain such information as name, date of birth, type of vaccines, date of vaccinations. They can be used for entry procedures in 76 overseas economies as of Monday.

   According to the Digital Agency, wrong information such as incorrect vaccine names and date of vaccinations was found in some 160,000 of 100 million vaccination records stored in the VRS. The agency also said it needs to check data for an additional five million records, believing that corrections may need to be made for one million records eventually.

   Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a press conference that most people will be able to use the vaccination certificate app without any problem.

JIJI Press