Volunteers create digital tool to help Ontarians show proof of vaccination much faster

There's a quicker way to present a digital proof of vaccination to venues in Ontario, but it's coming from a group of citizen volunteers, not the province, which won't have its official app ready for use until next month.

In anticipation of Ontario's new vaccine passport, the group has created an immunization verification tool that allows users to upload their receipt from the Ministry of Health and convert it to an Apple wallet pass or photo for easy access.

They say it's a way to save time for both patrons and businesses when checking the certificates.

"It takes time to enforce the mandate; if we can help save even 10 seconds per person, you can make [doing business] a lot easier," said Billy Lo, one of the volunteers who developed the tool, which is available at grassroots.vaccine-ontario.ca.

Ontario's official QR code will be available on Oct. 22, and the volunteers say users will be able to update their Apple Wallet pass again when it comes out.

The initiative comes as the province's COVID-19 passport system launched on Wednesday, Sept. 22, with its own verification app and enhanced vaccination receipt with a QR code is expected on Oct. 22. In the interim, customers will have to show their receipt to get into many non-essential venues.

Those include restaurants, bars, sports venues, gyms, theatres, cinemas and casinos. Staff in those venues must ask patrons to show certification that they received two doses of an approved vaccine at least two weeks before, along with identification that matches their vaccination document.