With slightly over nine million South Africans fully vaccinated (6% of the population) and registrations opening for the 18 to the 34-year-old cohort on 1 September, the country still has a long way to go before it reaches its herd immunity target (67% of the population) by the end of 2021. The paper-based process of completing COVID-19 forms at any establishment that requires it does little to alleviate the pressure on overworked personnel.

To address this, Braintree, by Vox, has introduced the Engage Patron mobile application. The app enables establishments and even vaccine sites to automatically capture and record the details of every person that enters the premises using a QR code. Built on the Microsoft PowerApps platform, Engage Patron allows every person that enters a vaccination site to effectively communicate that they do not have COVID-19 symptoms and are not aware of any existing COVID-19 risks.

Engage Patron also provides additional features to make contact tracing that much easier in case a risk is identified. This makes it an incredibly effective way of managing the information of groups of people and can be applied to any number of industry sectors beyond healthcare.

“Manually completing forms not only takes a significant amount of time, but because the information is contained on paper, it is inherently insecure. Given the implementation of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and the need for the private and public sector to ensure personal customer data is kept secure, these COVID forms present a significant risk,” says Nishie Sewpersadh, Product Manager: Microsoft at Braintree.

As is the case with any paper-based process, if the person managing the forms is not vigilant, then people can easily take a photograph of the ID numbers, physical addresses, and other sensitive information of those who had already filled in their information. This can then be sold to hacker groups who can use the data for identity theft and other nefarious activities.

This is where Engage Patron provides a secure and convenient way of protecting the information. An individual at a vaccination site, retail store, restaurant, school, and so on, can scan the QR code without slowing down the process of entering the premises while still complying with all safety protocols.

“And because Engage Patron only requires one license per site, both the private and public sector can securely and effectively manage thousands of people entering their premises. This also reduces the risk of waiting in line to fill out forms and people needing to cluster together,” concludes Sewpersadh.

Engage Patron is available on the iOS App Store, Android Play Store, or in a Web browser on a desktop computer or laptop.