The technology industry devotes its considerable resources to helping millions of Americans get vaccines amid an alarming upward spiral in COVID-19 cases.
From Microsoft Corp. MSFT,
in Seattle and International Business Machines Corp. IBM,
in Armonk, New York, technology companies across the country offer experience to tackle a logistics task that some compare to landing on the moon.
“This is the biggest data puzzle of our lives,” which requires collaboration between technology companies and with state and federal authorities, Jason Kelley, CEO of IBM’s blockchain services, told MarketWatch. “It’s a team sport.”
For technology, vaccine distribution represents an opportunity and a challenge. The industry sees an opportunity to burn its credentials while meeting an urgent social need, amid criticism for failing to pursue large projects that profoundly improve people’s lives. But the ambitious deployment is fraught with risks, as illustrated by possible security breaches in open access systems, erroneous programming, and some fraudulent accounts.
In Florida, which reported nearly 15,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, online ticketing service Eventbrite Inc. EB is working with counties to help schedule the vaccination of Florida people 65 and older as the state faces serpentine lines, confusion and disappointment. Some fake Eventbrite accounts appeared, however, a worrying development for the future of using these services for vaccine distribution.
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“Our team has investigated and found no evidence that malicious vaccine registration events have been created,” Eventbrite spokeswoman told MarketWatch. “The unofficial event lists we found, some of which charge a fee, are probably the result of a user error, in which people mistakenly create new event lists instead of registering in a time slot “.
What technology is doing is no small thing. US Digital Response, an organization that combines volunteers with technical expertise and local and state governments in need of technical assistance, has outlined eight key areas for COVID-19 vaccine providers that include confirmation of patient eligibility, information from data in the state vaccination information system and vaccine inventory management.
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“Technical testing for a state or county takes time. It takes an engineer’s eye to know which provider to use for a project, ”Raphael Lee, director of the USDR health program, told MarketWatch. His organization helped the city of Seattle and King County find a vendor, Solv, to set up test sites.
A wide range of companies in recent days have outlined their vaccine-related plans.
IBM provides governments and private companies with supply chain management software and open blockchain technology to record and authenticate the temperature and handling of each vaccine dose. The computer giant is also expanding the availability of IBM Digital Health Pass, the company’s new health passport application, with the help of Salesforce.com Inc. CRM,
to help organizations verify an individual’s vaccine status and any other relevant health credentials.
In addition to its collaboration with IBM, Salesforce joins global vaccine agency Gavi in its project to equitably distribute the vaccine to 190 countries. Salesforce is also part of a project with consultant MTX for Chicago to manage vaccine distribution.
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Google GOOGL of Alphabet Inc.,
GOOG,
says its cloud drive has expanded its response to the pandemic to help distribute and distribute vaccine intelligence and that it is working alongside partners to deploy vaccine management solutions with state and local governments.
“Google Cloud has expanded our pandemic response to help with vaccine intelligence and we are working alongside partners to deploy vaccine management solutions with state and local governments,” a Google spokeswoman said. “Google is helping to connect people with quality information and resources about COVID-19, including vaccines, and we’re working on additional products and features to help people get the right information at the right time.”
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Oracle Corp. ORCL,
gave the federal government a database of national electronic medical records and public health management applications that can be used to track who has been vaccinated and who may have potential side effects. Oracle intends to bring similar systems to Africa by partnering with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Microsoft Corp. MSFT,
works with Ernst & Young and others on Microsoft’s business services and cloud-driven vaccine management efforts. The end-to-end solution helps manage the vaccine manufacturing and distribution process in real time. The EY vaccine management solution is based on Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, Power BI and Power Platform, according to Microsoft.
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Uber Technologies Inc. UBER,
and Lyft Inc. LYFT,
are offered to help inoculate more Americans and Uber paired its service with vaccine maker Moderna Inc. MRNA,
working with public health agencies to schedule trips for those eligible for doses, according to a report published in The Wall Street Journal. Lyft executives have met with the incoming Biden administration on the allocation of federal funds for vaccine-related transportation.
In December, DoorDash Inc. DASH,
sent a letter to Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and governors across the country, urging them to prioritize delivery workers in their vaccine distribution plans.
“Dashers have been at the forefront every day, providing essential services to support communities and small businesses across the country throughout the pandemic,” Max Rettig, DoorDash’s head of global public policy, said in the letter of December 7th. “We are actively collaborating with public health officials at the federal and state levels to help ensure that these vital workers have access to vaccines as soon as possible.”