New York State Trusted Issuers

The NYS Scanner app provides organizations with a safe, secure, mechanism to validate Excelsior Passes Plus, and SMART Health Cards from trusted issuers outside of New York State based on federal and New York State COVID-19 guidance. The NYS Scanner app is free for any organization, business, or venue nationwide and is available in more than 10 languages.

The NYS Scanner app validates Passes from trusted SMART Health Card issuers nationwide who meet New York State’s standards of issuance, based on federal and state COVID-19 public health guidance. Trusted issuers are providing Passes to eligible individuals based on public health policies and technical standards New York State accepts.

New York State through the NYS Scanner app is not responsible for the underlying data on Passes issued outside of New York State. The Scanner app validates each Pass’s adherence to our trusted issuers framework of shared policies, standards, and values.

Do I need to apply to be a trusted issuer?

No. Trusted issuers are entities that provision digital COVID-19 health credentials to individuals that meet New York State’s standards of issuance. This includes issuing a Pass that meets federal and State COVID-19 public health guidance as well as SMART Health Card specifications.

The NYS Scanner app is built based on a rules engine that will automatically enforce New York State’s standards of issuance. When the Scanner app scans a valid Pass, the Scanner app will display “Pass Valid.” If the Scanner app scans a pass that does not meet the State’s standards of issuance, the Scanner app will display “Pass Not Valid”.

As of February 2, there are more than 10 U.S. States and territories including California, Louisiana, Hawaii, and Virginia are all trusted SMART Health Card issuers that meet New York State’s standards of issuance. Please see full list below: 

According to VCI as of October 5, 2021, more than 150 million U.S. residents nationwide have access to a SMART Health Card.

Through the Scanner app’s rule engine, a Pass will be validated if it meets the State’s standards of issuance. At this time, this includes:

• Vaccine type based on federal and State COVID-19 clinical guidance, which includes both CDC and WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines for these purposes*.
• The definition of fully vaccinated, based on federal and State COVID-19 clinical guidance. This means an individual is at least two weeks past their second dose in a two-shot series (e.g., the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines), or two weeks past a single-dose vaccine (e.g., the J&J/Janssen vaccine).
• Adherence to SMART Health Cards Framework and specifications, developed by the Vaccine Credential Initiative (VCI). This includes using open, interoperable standards; a commitment to accessibility through print and digital options; and the protection of individuals’ health data. VCI—a coalition of more than 800 public and private organizations including The Mayo Clinic, Boston Children’s Hospital, Microsoft, MITRE, and The Commons Project Foundation—has a Steering Group composed of the founding members of the coalition that are actively supporting and overseeing the implementation guide development process and ensuring that members of VCI faithfully implement the standard and adhere to the guiding principles of VCI. You can read more about VCI and SMART Health Cards Framework and specifications here. 

When the Scanner app scans a valid Pass, the Scanner app will display “Pass Valid”. If the Scanner app scans a pass that does not meet the State’s standards of issuance, the Scanner app will display “Pass Not Valid”.

*As stated on CDC’s Interim Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People: This guidance applies to COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson (J&J)/Janssen COVID-19 vaccines. This guidance can also be applied to COVID-19 vaccines that have been authorized for emergency use by the World Health Organization (e.g. AstraZeneca/Oxford).

Any organization, business, or venue nationwide can download the free NYS Scanner app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Find more information on Excelsior Pass and Excelsior Pass Plus for businesses. New marketing assets for businesses are available. The purpose of the app is to solely validate Passes from trusted issuers for proof of vaccination and/or negative COVID-19 test results for business entry against the Smart Health Cards Framework.

Do I need to be a New York organization, business, or venue to download and use the NYS Scanner app?

No. As part of New York State’s commitment to advancing equity and access, the NYS Scanner app is free and available in more than ten languages, including: including: English, Spanish, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Russian, Haitian-Creole, Korean, Bengali, Arabic, Italian, Polish, and Yiddish. Any interested organization, business, or venue nationwide can download and use the Scanner app at no cost.