Strange code on your COVID vaccine record doesn’t scan? California did that on purpose

Diego Lavin, 12, got a free pair of Beats by Dre headphones after getting a COVID-19 vaccine at Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price’s district office on Thursday. After accessing their digital COVID-19 vaccination records, some Californians have noted an apparent glitch: The state-generated reports include QR codes that, when scanned, don’t seem to retrieve any information. Though the QR code included in each vaccine record looks like the familiar scannable square you’d find on a concert ticket or restaurant menu, its inclusion makes that record a Smart Health Card. California California unveils system to provide digital COVID-19 vaccine records Californians can now access a digital copy of their COVID-19 vaccination record as part of a new system unveiled by the state, officials said. is not easily readable by anyone with a QR code reader.” On the other hand, “if someone has a Smart Health Card-compatible reader,” Gallegos said, “they can interpret the text contained within the code — which will reveal a digitally signed block of text and a link to the state of California’s public key.” “We are digitally signing that QR code, which can then be proved to be authentic,” Rick Klau, the state’s chief technology innovation officer, said during a briefing earlier this month.