Indian tech giant Tech Mahindra is working on a blockchain system for tracking and tracing

As mass vaccination programs against COVID-19 become increasingly important to many governments’ pandemic management strategies, blockchain companies are acting quickly to suggest ways the technology can provide solutions to a range of related logistical barriers.

Blockchain company StaTwig – a graduate of the UNICEF Innovation Fund – tested its blockchain-based solution VaccineLedger in both India and the US in 2019. Fast forward to 2021 and the global vaccination against COVI-19, the company has now teamed up with Indian information technology giant Tech Mahindra to roll out the solution worldwide.

VaccineLedger is focused on improving the visibility of the vaccine supply chain at the vial level to predict and prevent issues such as expiration date, counterfeiting, quality control and availability. Just days after a vaccine swap deal between Israel and the UK failed – resulting in an impending waste of 1 million doses of Pfizer – the need for such a solution became increasingly evident.

StaTwig’s solution supports the integration of smart contracts and IoT technology to detect products nearing the end of their life and ensure temperature control for sensitive devices. By partnering with Tech Mahindra, StaTwig will leverage the company’s expertise in resource scaling and systems integration to support solution deployments around the world.

In addition, the two companies have worked with the company to develop several security modules for the solution’s web and mobile applications that meet the different requirements of manufacturers and governments in different legal systems.

The challenges that countries face remain mixed: the United States is threatened with millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this summer due to hesitant vaccination across many states. Most of the countries in the Global South face an even more serious problem – a complete lack of vaccines. While the countries of the global north account for 85% of the world’s vaccinations, currently only 0.3% of the vaccine doses administered to date are in the countries with the lowest incomes.

Related: Mahindra technology to build further blockchain solutions on top of Amazon’s blockchain

An efficient, globally integrated ledger solution cannot fix political injustices in vaccines, but it can help global actors mitigate the effects – worst waste, bureaucracy and delivery delays due to logistical inefficiencies. In areas where vaccines are scarce, these increases can help ensure that what is less available is used quickly and to the maximum. Discussing the scope and objectives of the product, Rajesh Dhuddu from Tech Mahindra stated:

“Wasting life-saving medicines like vaccines must be a priority and we must work together to find effective solutions. Our strategic partnership with StaTwig will provide supply chain participants with a single application to improve product traceability and product chain. Not only will this ensure the safety and validity of vaccine supplies, but it will also help meet the complex regulatory requirements of the drug agency in each country. “

As previously reported, the UK’s National Health Service has made limited use of a Hadera Hashgraph-based system to monitor vaccine cryopreservation. In the meantime, blockchain technologies are being used to manage vaccination cards and digital health passports.