As more and more countries are starting to require vaccination certificates to enter restaurants, gyms, and other public venues, it's becoming increasingly critical for people to easily access their official proof of vaccination. One of the most convenient ways is obviously to digitalize it and save it on your mobile phone. To enable this, Google recently updated its Passes API, allowing government agencies to distribute vaccination cards digitally. Australians will be amongst the first to benefit from this offering, as they'll be able to store their vaccination certificates directly in Google Pay.

Australians can now save COVID-19 certificates in Google Pay, allowing them to quickly access them whenever needed. To do so, it's as easy as logging in to the Express Plus Medicare app or the Medicare portal of the MyGov website and selecting the options to ‘View your COVID-19 digital certificate’ and ‘Save to Phone.’

The certificate is stored locally on the phone and can be accessed even without a data connection. For added safety and privacy, the data isn't stored on Google's servers, and the user will have to authenticate with a password, pin, or biometrics to display it. Finally, users won't have to have a Google Pay account set up for their payments to use the service. However, all users will be able to add a shortcut to their home screen, giving them immediate access to their certificate.