Booming demand for miniature COVID-19 vaccination certificates

A Geraldton printing business has been swamped with requests to downsize COVID-19 digital vaccination certificates into wallet-sized cards.

Kerry Okely, from Anzac Terrace business Finer Images, said about 200 people came into her store on Friday asking for the suddenly in-demand product.

Geraldton residents were prepared to line up outside on the street in above 40-degree temperatures when the Guardian paid a visit.

Local Bev Thomson said a laminated, smaller version of the printed certificate was going to make her life much simpler.

“It’s easier to take a card around with you,” she said.

“The paper version just scrunches up.”

Ms Thomson said she hadn’t downloaded the WA Government’s ServiceWA app because it looked too complicated.

As of last week, less than a third of eligible West Australians had signed up to the app since its controversial launch on January 11.

A spokesperson from WA Health told the Guardian the downsized prints were legal to use as long as none of the information is altered.

Ms Okely said most of the people who had been asking for a laminated version were elderly residents.

“A piece of paper falls apart,” she said.

“The government should have issued a card or even like an aged pension card that they can put in their pocket.”

Ms Okely said one of her customer’s got in touch with police and Geraldton MP Lara Dalton’s office to check they would be accepted.

“We don’t alter it, we just reduce it down,” she said.

“I thought it would be a one-off.”