Across the United States, COVID-19 cases have progressively worsened over the past few months. However, with two vaccines granting immunity from the virus, the nation’s infection rate could begin to decrease soon. With hopes that the majority of the nation would decide to be vaccinated, some might wonder, is it possible to distinguish between those vaccinated and those not? Notre Dame San Jose alumna Pankti Doshi has developed the covIDcard, a safe and easy way to identify COVID-19 vaccine recipients.

The covIDcard is an identification card similar in size to a credit card which will be given to individuals who have been vaccinated. Once one receives both doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, they will be able to request a covIDcard by uploading a completed vaccination certificate to covIDcard’s website. These cards are significant because they will help identify recipients of the vaccine, bring awareness to the community about receiving the vaccine, and can be kept as memorabilia for one’s participation in spreading immunity. 

Doshi is a cancer genetics counselor who graduated from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in March of 2020. Along with being a university graduate, she graduated from Notre Dame San Jose in 2010. On December 20, Doshi received a COVID-19 vaccination, and as a result of getting the vaccine, she received a paper vaccination record including her name, date, and the dose of the vaccination. Realizing that the vaccination record would be easy to lose or forget somewhere, Doshi created covIDcard. 

“Every idea starts with a problem,” said Doshi. “Mine was simple: the paper vaccination record card is flimsy and easy to lose. As cities slowly start opening up, we need a useful way to demonstrate that we are vaccinated. The design of covIDcard is simplistic, easy-to-read, and contains the key information: name and vaccine dosage details.”

After launching their website and distributing their first batch of cards, covIDcard will donate proceeds to support pandemic relief, specifically the United Nations’ COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization.

“CovIDcard supports the education and adoption of the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines,” said Doshi. “We hope our approach will encourage people to choose to get a COVID-19 vaccine and hopefully close this chapter of history much sooner. We want covIDcard to serve as a contribution towards herd immunity.”

In the near future, covIDcards will be great tools that can be used to identify those that have received the vaccine and participated in widespread community immunization. Pre-order your covIDcard at www.getcovidcard.com.