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- Addressing COVID-19 will require the first implementation of the blockchain in the global distribution of a vaccine.
- Blockchain offers an immutable and decentralized database that can help all parties to ensure vaccine stocks are stored and managed properly.
In recent weeks, not one but two companies have announced COVID-19 vaccines with efficacy rates of over 90%. Both results are very impressive, not only for their effectiveness, but also for the relatively short time it took to develop them. A years-long process was reduced to a few months.
Such an achievement is a first for vaccine development. However, the global need for cutting-edge technology has not yet been met. One of the biggest challenges remains: how to distribute this vaccine to every living person around the world. In this world first, blockchain could play an essential role.
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation between governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the heart of the World Economic Forum’s mission as an International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
Since its launch on March 11, the Forum’s COVID Action Platform has brought together 1,667 stakeholders from 1,106 companies and organizations to mitigate the risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency COVID-19.
The platform was created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all companies and industrial groups, as well as to other stakeholders, with the aim of integrating and informing joint action.
As an organization, the Forum has a proven track record in supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our annual meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched, bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate vaccine development. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this coronavirus strand.
A unique challenge
The key difference between the two vaccines, from the pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Pfizer, is in the conditions in which they must be stored. For long-term freezing, Moderna’s vaccine requires a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius, but can be stored for up to a month in a regular refrigerator (2-8 degrees Celsius). Pfizer’s vaccine, on the other hand, requires a much colder environment (that is minus 70 degrees Celsius) and can only store up to five days in regular refrigeration. Of course, it is crucial to store vaccines properly to maintain their effectiveness. Not doing so could mean the difference between life and death.
How can vaccine recipients be assured that their vaccines have not been compromised by poor storage management, putting recipients and the surrounding social environment at risk? Is it possible to monitor and verify the correct storage of the vaccine? The answer may lie in the blockchain.
Building digital trust
Blockchain technology allows multiple parties to manage and share a decentralized database. These parties can create and share a transparent source of truth that can be mutually agreed upon.
As a result, blockchain could be the perfect infrastructure for supply chain management platforms as it covers two key prerequisites for building digital trust:
- It is not owned by anyone but rather provides a generic standardized protocol to which all participants along the supply chain can join and share relevant data
- It is immutable, so existing information cannot be deleted, only added, which consequently leads to a higher level of responsibility on the part of each participant writing new data
Another important advantage is the relative simplicity of managing read / write access permissions on the blockchain. With this, some attendees have read-only access (but cannot write) and attendees who write can determine what information is shared with whom. The result is a platform that provides complete tracking of every single item in near real time, including additional information as required. Therefore, blockchain-based supply chain management platforms are highly efficient and reliable.
Image: Hexa Foundation
The technology could solve some of the stubborn challenges of standard supply chain management, such as participant accountability, accurate item tracking, combating potential counterfeits, inventory management complications, and more. However, the biggest advantage of the blockchain in this case would be the immutability of the data on the storage conditions. Given the vital importance of storage temperature, vaccine distributors should ensure that all storage conditions are met, but also unambiguously demonstrate that they have been met. Ensuring that storage temperature data is recorded on an immutable database could provide this proof, without a shadow of a doubt removing that vaccines are safe and effective.
With each vaccine monitored on the blockchain, each link along the chain could keep track of the entire process, and health departments could monitor the chain as a whole and take action if necessary to ensure proper functioning:
● Manufacturers can track whether shipments are delivered on time to their destinations
● Distributors would provide a more efficient delivery tracking platform, including verification of storage requirements, and would be the first to know and notify if things go wrong
● Hospitals and clinics could better manage inventory, easing supply and demand constraints. Furthermore, they would obtain guarantees on the authenticity of the vaccine and on the correct storage conditions
● Individuals would have an identical guarantee for the specific vaccine they receive
Such efforts could help simplify the distribution of the much needed vaccine – saving lives – and help reduce hesitation about the vaccine, a problem the World Health Organization has named one of the top 10 health threats that the world faces in 2019.
The work to do
Ironically, the obstacle to overcome in order to set this operation in motion is not technical. Several blockchain companies already have experience in implementing blockchain for supply chain use cases. Many supply chain and source solutions are driven by commercial or cost-saving incentives. Orbs, for example, partnered with a Fortune500 company on a supply chain solution to enable visibility into counterfeit goods tracking, a use case that can potentially save companies many millions of dollars. The difficulty lies not in the technology, but rather in building and enlisting all the multiple players to take part in the solution. In essence, it is more a political obstacle than a technological one.
While it is not yet clear how long it will take before vaccines are available to all of us, it is certain that their supply chain needs to be closely monitored. In particular for the
COVID-19 vaccine that the whole world is in desperate need, proof of proper storage
registered on the blockchain is truly priceless.
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