The long-awaited Dutch COVID-19 notification app ‘CoronaMelder’ was launched on Saturday, 10 October. The result is outstanding: an app designed according to the privacy by design requirements, with an appropriate legal framework, in a temporary Act. I am proud of having been able to contribute as a member of the multidisciplinary Digital Guidance Committee for the Fight against COVID-19.
Together with Joost Linnemann, CEO of Kennedy Van der Laan, I pleaded in April that co-creation is required for a successful implementation of digital support in the fight against COVID-19. In order to be future-resistant, new technological solutions must be able to stand an ethical-legal test.
After a much-criticized tendering procedure and much-debated appathon that led to the conclusion that no usable and compliant app and app builder were available yet in the Netherlands, Minister De Jonge personally arranged for the development of an app. To this end, he composed a very expert team as well as two task forces and a multidisciplinary guidance committee. I had the privilege of joining this committee, chaired by Prof. Carl Moons.
The members of the guidance committee, ranging from epidemiologists, general practitioners, behavioural scientists, IT and security experts and experts in the fields of fundamental rights and freedoms, worked together in a very constructive way. Driven by the virus that is again spreading wildly, a limited test capacity, social commotion and the time needed for a careful political and legal coordination and decision-making process, the guidance committee has now come up with eleven forceful advices to the Minister.
I look forward very much to cooperating further with my colleague committee members Sjaak de Gouw, Jan Kluytmans, Peter Boncz, Bart Jacobs, Bert Wijnen, Danny Mekić, Maartje Schermer, Elisabeth van der Steenhoven, Erik Buskens, Lisette van Gemert-Pijnen, Anne-Miek Vroom, Patricia Heijdenrijk, Jochen Cals, Janneke van de Wijchert and of course Carl Moons.
It is of vital importance that the effectiveness of the CoronaMelder app will be carefully monitored and evaluated from now on. Should this app prove to be ineffective, its legal ground will lapse, and the app will have to be put out of operation. Furthermore, a second app is now being developed and the committee advises about the fight against misinformation and the careful launch of future vaccination.
Our work is therefore far from done. The committee stands ready to keep playing its important role and contributing to the effective fight against COVID-19. It is an honour and a pleasure to be a part of an initiative in which the synergy between various scientific disciplines produces concrete results.
If you have any questions, please contact me or the privacy team of Kennedy Van der Laan.
