There have been rumors that a COVID-19 passport in the form of a microchip implanted into the body would likely be developed, but that speculation was widely dismissed as a “conspiracy theory.” However, the conspiracy theory now appears to be close to reality after a tech company touted a microchip that is implanted into the body that can serve as a COVID-19 vaccine passport.

For years, Swedish start-up Epicenter has specialized in implanting microchips the size of grains of rice into the body that can act as key cards to open doors, public transportation passes, or be a credit card. Metro reported, “According to digital cultures researcher Moa Petersen, around 6,000 people in the country have so far had a chip inserted in their hands.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stockholm-based Epicenter has worked on developing an implantable microchip that can be used as a coronavirus vaccine passport.