Samsung just made it a lot easier to carry your COVID-19 vaccination card

By Babu Mohan
published

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (Image credit: Hayato Huseman / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • The Commons Project Foundation has joined hands with Samsung to introduce SMART Health Cards within Samsung Pay.
  • Once downloaded, the COVID-19 vaccine credential can be shared with trusted parties as a QR code.
  • The feature will roll out to all eligible devices over the next two weeks.

Samsung today announced that it has partnered with The Commons Project Foundation to make it easier for Galaxy users in the U.S. to carry a verifiable digital version of their COVID-19 vaccination record. "SMART Health Cards" within Samsung Pay will roll out to the company's best Android phones over the next two weeks.

Commonhealth Samsung Pay

Source: Samsung (Image credit: Source: Samsung)

To add a COVID-19 vaccination record to your Galaxy phone, you must first download the CommonHealth app (opens in new tab) from the Google Play Store. Once the app is installed and your health information is verified through "secure authentication measures," you can download a digital version of your vaccination record in the CommonHealth app and add it to Samsung Pay by tapping on the "Add to Samsung Pay" link. The downloaded COVID-19 vaccine credential can be securely shared with any trusted party via a QR code by tapping on "COVID-19 vaccine pass" in Samsung Pay.

Even if you don't own a Samsung phone, you can still scan a SMART Health Card QR code and quickly verify your vaccination status. Apple is also working on a similar feature that will enable users to download and store verifiable COVID-19 vaccination records in the Health app. The feature will be making its way to iPhone users with the iOS 15 update later this year.

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Babu Mohan
Babu Mohan
News Writer
60 Comments
  • Seems like a good idea. But look at the reviews on the play store. Doesn't work.
  • How about a QR code for "none of your business what my vax rating is?" Glad I live someplace where this will never be needed. But while thy are at it, how about QR codes for other private medical information? However, I was in UT a few days ago, and I was asked by a man and woman with a clip board outside a grocery store in Ogden if I had been vaccinated (they were not with any gov't, but a NGO working for another entity). My reply to the woman was just as intrusive, " have you had a PAP smear." And was legitimately informed that was none of my business, to which I replied...."get my drift" and "tell the big guy to calm down...really quick, we don't want blood on the sidewalk." But I'm sure there are plenty of states where this can be used and might need to be used....after all, there are sheepherders everywhere in this day-and-age.
  • I like the response! Drives it home perfectly. The whole vax passport thing is crazy. Denying entrance to places based on vax status or a covid test hails back to 1940s Germany. Ihre papieren, bitte. Work is requiring masks regardless of vax status. Kinda makes the vax pointless if your life doesn't change much if you get it. Especially as more info is coming out showing that the vaxxes aren't as effective as once thought - especially against delta. Some may argue that some protection is better than others, and they may have a point. I still think it should be a personal choice as to whether one gets it or if they want to mask up or not. Non-vaxxed and non-mask wearing doesn't automatically make one infected or a spreader as some people suggest.
  • It should be MY CHOICE whether or not I want to cough my covid into your lungs!!! And then it's your responsibility to pay any medical bills that you may incur as a result. Freedom!
  • It IS your choice to cough whatever you want. Anybody seriously concerned about your choice would choose to wear a mask to keep your germs out. Ain't choice beautiful?
  • Unless your a child, then you're left to the mercy of uncaring, rude and unsanitary f*ckers, who couldnt care less who they infect with their covid nastiness.
  • IF you are vaxed, you are likely nothing more than a potential super spreader..... which doesn't matter. We are all going to get covid. May as well face it. (and many of us won't even know we've had it.)
    Unless, you wear an N95 mask synched VERY tightly against your clean shaved face, you get ZERO protection from those BS napkins most people use. (and even the N95 is minimal.
  • The CDC admits as much: "Cloth masks that are used to slow the spread of COVID-19 by blocking respiratory droplets offer little protection against wildfire smoke. They might not catch small, harmful particles in smoke that can harm your health."
    The unspoken part? Smoke particles are 1000x larger than COVID.
  • Why? They can wear masks too. In fact, the CDC Director testified before Congress that masks were more effective than any vaccine.
  • Your choice not to get vaccinated impacts everyone you come into contact with.
  • Except that the vaccinated can transmit the disease as well. As long as an unvaccinated person isn't sick, their choice has ZERO impact on anyone around them; particularly if those around them are vaccinated AND wearing masks. If you are vaccinated, you will not get the disease, you will not go to a hospital, and you will not die from COVID. The only people at any risk at all are the unvaccinated...and they can wear masks for 100% protection. Every mask mandates being implemented is an indictment on the vaccines.
  • Correction: You CAN still get it if fully vaccinated, I have co-workers that this has happened to, you can also end up in the hospital and die from it as has been reported repeatedly. Getting vaccinated does NOT make you immune. How do I know? I work in hospice.
  • Absolutely. I was just writing the "experts'" sales pitch, which is part of the reason everyone is confused about all this, as it flies in the face of facts.
  • The chances of a fully vaccinated person dying from COVID is much less than a tenth of 1%. So yes, it can happen, depending on the individual, but highly unlikely. The huge majority of those (>99%) dying from COVID are not vaccinated.
  • 2 points: 1) Masks aren't effective at keeping the spread down unless most people are using them. Say there are 4 people interacting in a room 2 of them is wearing a mask and one of the non-mask wearers has COVID. The chances of the infected person spreading the disease even to the mask wearer is several times higher because the infected person isn't wearing a mask. 2. Vaccines are the most effective way at stopping the spread. Our values on individual freedoms is incompatible with the reality surrounding community health. In my view. Your right to individual freedom ends at the line where your choices could have s substantial negative effect on me or on the community. Think: There is a reason that you can't play your music as loud as you want, in your own home with the windows open at 3am - unless you live in a secluded area. We have an interest in preventing the spread of a virus that kills 2% of them population. And all we have to do is get a harmless vaccine.
  • "And all we have to do is get a harmless vaccine." But its not harmless is it? There are potential side effects just like everything but we fully don't understand what those are yet. If we really wanted to protect the general population, why don't we tell them to stop eating fast food and exercise? I am more worried about obesity and diabetes than a flu.
  • For a good indication of side effects, including death, just check out VAERS.
    I'm not even anti-vax. I just understand what this particular vaccine can and cannot do for us. Anybody selling it as a panacea has their head in the sand. But I support and respect anyone's decision to get one, just as much as anyone's decision not to.
  • Yeah the data shows that better than 99% of the people that got the vaccine don't experience serious side effects. You may get the chills or feel feverish for a night, but that's with other vaccines too. This vaccine is harmless. The only reason people are not getting it is because of made up conspiracy theories.
  • The data is on VAERS. Anyone can look at it for themselves.
    Let's assume your fabricated "99%" is correct (it'snot): It's funny that you're not at all concerned about the 1% who experience severe side effects, but the 1% who don't survive without a vaccine is enough to make you go all Gestapo. 😂
  • Looking at the Data and it's explaination on VAERS, there's are 2 facts that you seem to dismiss. 1) healthcare providers must report any death that occurred shortly after a covid vaccination - even if it's not clear that a particular death was the result of a COVID vaccine. That means that not all of the deaths reported to VAERS are not a result of a COVID vaccination. 2) Even if all of the deaths reported to VAERS was a result of the vaccination (it's not), that would mean that the vaccine is safe for better than 99.99% of the population. Putting that into perspective, the chances of dying from COVID-19 are 200 times greater than dying from getting a vaccine for it.
  • The same game is played with "COVID-related deaths." What's good for the goose, is good for the gander, but you seem to want to play by rules that only fit your narrative. A narrative which conveniently ignores other significant side effects. BTW, the Surgeon General says you are no longer fully vaccinated. 😂
  • This isn't the Flu. This virus has a fatality rate that is 20 times that of the Flu. So reducing it to that is just plain lying.
  • Double post.. delete
  • 1. Masks are useless because we don't use the right type, we don't handle them properly, and we don't use them 24/7. You just described pretty much every social setting, so you're effectively advocating quarantines.
    2. No vaccine has ever stopped a coronavirus. They're not even stopping it in those vaccinated. If I have to be vaccinated for your vaccine to work, which is the argument you're making, your vaccine doesn't work. Of course, the latest data supports those facts.
  • A private business, like you, also has rights and they have the right to require proof of vaccination prior to allowing anyone into the business, just like you scumbags have the right to not go to that business if you don't want.
  • The woman's reproductive health is not transmissible simply by breathing; however, COVID is very contagious and yes, a business has every right to require proof of your vaccination status before they allow you into the store.
  • False equivalence. His was an argument about health data privacy.
    But here's the really FUN part: in NYC, 25 out of 25 restaurants surveyed said that immuno-compromised individuals who CAN'T take vaccines are NOT welcome. No exceptions to the Mayor's rules. If you have AIDS, cancer, MS...you can go pound sand. But, like you said, that's cool.👍
  • Well that's why those who CAN get vaccinated should get vaccinated. If you care so much about those immuno-compromised people not being able to eat at their favorite restaurants, then surely you care about them being able to survive this pandemic! Get vaccinated to protect them. If a huge majority of the population is vaccinated, then the immuno-compromised is protected and thus teeter wouldn't be a need for such rules
  • Yeah, except you're completely glossing over the fact that the vaccinated are contracting the disease, spreading the disease (likely asymptomatic), going to the hospital with the disease, and dying from the disease. Wallensky just said as much yesterday.
    Proof-of-vaccination mandates makes YOUR status irrelevant to those immuno-compromised; THEIR unvaccinated status precludes them from enjoying certain businesses EVEN IF THEY WANT TO. If you want them to enjoy their favorite restaurants, stop acting like a WW2 German of a certain political party.
  • Vaccinated people can contract the disease... This is true. But the likelihood is much less. You are thinking about this from an individual standpoint. You are not thinking like a scientist trained in Statistics and probability (which granted, is hard for a layman). Fully vaccinating a population likely won't totally eliminate a disease, but it's transmission would be greatly reduced to a more manageable rate. Let's say for example, that of driving the over the speed limit will increase my chances of an auto accident by 3 times. If the chances are already 1/1000 by doing the speed limit, then you can expect about 1000 crash incidents in a year from a population of 1 million daily divers. Now imagine that half those drivers like to drive over the speed limit. What will those incident numbers look like then? This is about managing the probabilities.
  • "Let's say," "Let's imagine..." That's literally all you're basing your arguments about a vaccine on. As a Biologist who also happened to have studied Statistics and Probability, I'm looking at actual data. Thanks for playing "Let's Pretend," but make-believe is no reason to go Taliban on everyone else's rights.
  • The examples above were presented to help you understand statistics and his they affect our behavior. That's what they were... Simple examples that help put the reality of this pandemic into perspective. The way you present your arguments, I highly doubt you are a biologist. If you are, that would mean that you are intentionally misleading people to serve your own agenda. And if you're doing that, I have to ask myself why you choose to do that? Is it because you want to see a certain politician fail at defeating this pandemic? No, that can't be it because you'd have to be a monster if you're willing to sacrifice thousands - perhaps millions of lives to your own political end.
    I don't believe you too be a monster. I choose to simply believe that you have a gross misunderstanding of the facts than to believe you are intentionally misleading people.
  • The examples above were presented because you have no actual facts to back up your claims. The reality is that 0.009% of the US population has died from COVID. You're frightened out of your wits by a world of hypotheticals because you know, deep down: your vaccines won't save you.
  • I understand his vaccines work. I'm vaccinated so my cocnern is less about own health (for now), but the health of tens of millions of other helpless people who can't get the vaccine. They need us to be vaccinated to protect them. Also, a greater concern is there is the chance that the virus can mutate to a variant that the vaccines don't protect against. The more the virus spreads, the likelier this becomes. This is why we need to get vaccinated: to reduce the spread. Also... I say again My hypotheticals are used to help you and other readers understand the statistics behind this pandemic better and his we use them to navigate the crises. It is perfectly valid to use hypothetical examples (like marbles in an urn or aces in a deck of cards) to explain probability to the uninitiated.
  • I got the vax but against this. No ones business. At least AL passed a law this is illegal to do now.
  • Because there's no inbred swine in AL that are stupid and don't understand what a vaccine is for.
  • It's funny how your comment is okay, but if you replace "AL" for "Afghanistan," which some would say is more accurate....🤔
  • A business can require proof of vaccine prior to allowing anyone in, doesn't matter what AL thinks they passed as law.
  • So, now that we're hearing NO ONE is fully vaccinated, as more booster shots are on the way, will these apps automatically download your updated status for you? How's that going to work?
  • Literally false. Everyone who's had two shots (or one J&J) is fully vaccinated. CDC is recommending a booster 8 months after vaccination.
  • You literally don't know what literally means. Literally, if you are still in need of more vaccines, then you are not FULLY vaccinated. If you literally don't know the answer to my question, which is pertinent to the article, then just say so.
  • Just in: https://thepostmillennial.com/watch-cdc-changes-definition-of-fully-vacc... You can't make this stuff up! 🤣
  • I hate the slang "vax". DEC went out of business years ago
  • Even "fully vaccinated" individuals can get infected and spread the virus so I don't see the point to all these vaccine mandates.
  • The vaccinated aren't being hospitalized or dying from the virus, except in extreme circumstances.
  • A search for "fully vaccinated die" says: wrong. In fact, I have friends and family in three healthcare systems who would like a word with you about your false claim. It is PRECISELY because vaccinated individuals are being hospitalized and dying in increasing numbers that the CDC is saying more vaccine doses will be required.
  • Not "required". But "recommended". We'll see. The jury is still out on these booster shots.
  • They're recommended because they're required. The jury is still out because 1. a lot of people recognize they'll be eating crow when they accept the inevitable conclusion: you will need another vaccine every six to eight months; there is no such thing as "fully vaccinated" for COVID and 2. Some world health organizations don't believe that the "Have" countries should be getting more doses before the "Have-nots" haven't even had one.
  • Booster shots wouldn't be needed of everyone has simply gotten vaccinated.
  • The vaccines drive the virus' adaptation, and like any Coronavirus, it adapts far faster than any vaccine we can develop. In fact, you need the actual strain of an organism to develop the vaccine. Your vaccines were obsolete the day the were made available. Because you are not a scientist, you keep equating COVID to something like Smallpox. One is caused by an ever-adapting TYPE of virus; the other is caused by all of two strains. One is NOT vaccine-preventable; the other one is.
    Not only will you need a third booster, but with the lambda variant hot on delta's heels, you'll need a fourth by next March. And then a fifth, and a sixth.....
  • But if we all had gotten vaccinated, the other variants works be better under control. A virus, like any other form of life mutates as it multiplies. Thus, the more opportunity the virus has to spread, the better the chances of can mutate - so the focus should be on reducing it's spread as much as possible. If 80% of the population has gotten vaccinated, that would have provided a great deal of community protection, which would have severely limited the spread of this disease. Thus, we wouldn't need any booster shots.
  • There you go AGAIN: "If," "If," "would have," "would have." Let's pretend.
    Derp. A virus mutates as it reproduces, AND as it encounters environmental factors which require adaptation. MRNA "vaccines" literally tricked your body to produce spike protein, eliciting an immune response. Problem is, the spike protein is not the same in all variants, meaning that the virus is able to evade vaccines. And even in variants vaccines WERE designed for, the immune response is unable to obliterate the virus, resulting in illness and death in vaccinated individuals...and a corresponding evolutionary adaptation as the virus adapts to the defenses it just overwhelmed.
    You don't have to wonder about my motivation. Here it is: People need to make decisions they feel are best for them. If they feel a vaccine will provide the health benefit they're looking for, they should take the vaccine. If they would rather take their chances through infection and natural immunity (as much as anyone could have against coronaviruses), they can take that chance. Your "concern" for those people is admirable, but nobody asked for it, particularly when you're trying to enforce your will on them. And if you want to continue undermining your choice to be vaccinated by claiming it isn't protecting you, go right ahead. I'm done here.
  • Some of the things you say is true but you went off the cliff when you said the the the immune systems in vaccinated people are unable to obliterate the virus. That may be true for very few people sad everyone's immune system differs ever so sightly. But for the majority of people, if they are vaccinated, their immune systems can effectively fight off the virus - even the Delta variant... For now.
  • It's about managing the probabilities. People who wear seatbelts can still die in s car crash. But wearing a seatbelt increases your chances of survival in such an occurrence. Vaccinated people have a much low chance of getting infected than an unvaccinated person. And in the event of an infection, a vaccinated person has a very low chance of having a severe case (needing to be hospitalized or dying from it). Case in point: 95% of all COVID hospitalizations are not vaccinated. 99% of the COVID deaths are not vaccinated.
  • The 99% that are dying: what percentage of those had previously had COVID?
  • Oh, and what about a better-than-95% probability of surviving COVID? (And that's worst case, including those over 70 years old) Does that probability matter?
  • Yes it does matter. But lets run the numbers. Say there is a 98% chance of surviving COVID. IF EVERYONE in the US got COVID-19, that translates to over 6 million deaths! (2% of 330 million). That's the outcome that we are trying to avoid. Wearing masks and especially getting vaccinated won't eliminate the disease but it will severely slow is transmission to a dismal rate.
  • There you go again "Say there is..." We don't have to make numbers up. Of 630,000 who have died in the US, the CDC says only 5% have died strictly from COVID; everyone else had an average of 4 co-morbidities, including suicide, blunt force trauma, cancer, diabetes, etc. 5% of 630000 is 31500. 31500/330000000 = .009%. Not 2%. Not 1%. .009% is the current rate, and that comes mostly from BEFORE vaccines.
    That's what the numbers say, but they don't tell the whole story. We know that MILLONS aren't even included in the "case" count because they didn't even know they had the disease. Cases are under-counted, deaths are over-counted.
    I've got shocking news for you: the death rate for everyone on the planet is 100%.
  • Sounds to me like you're angry because I'm winning this debate with facts. MY NUMBERS ARE BUT MADE UP. COVID has a 2% fatality rate. That means that 2% of them people who contact the disease die either from it or from conditions caused by it.
    If COVID is the cause of another health issue, like pneumonia, and the pnemonia ends up killing am individual, then it's perfectly logical and fair to say that the COVID caused that death. Much like people with AIDS die from another condition, which would have been virtually harmless if not for the fact that the person had AIDS. Thus is perfectly logical, due to this probability, to assume that if the entire US population were to be infected, to expect over 6 million deaths. You reduce the amount of deaths by reducing the spread. You reduce the spread by vaccinating the public. It's really that simple. And all of the spinning, whining and logical fallacies won't change that.
  • Sounds like a reasonable argument, until you try to explain how COVID rammed a steering wheel through someone's chest, ate their brain away through cancer, or put a bullet in a suicide victim's head. The data unfortunately doesn't support your claim. YOU'RE ASSUMING AGAIN.
    Your 2% is deeply flawed. 😂