From the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, software-enabled technologies have been helping researchers surge ahead of expectations in vaccine development.

Now, with multiple vaccines being approved by governments around the world, the race is on to quickly and safely distribute the medicines in order to allow countries to reduce the spread of COVID, lift pandemic-related restrictions, and reopen their economies.

The information below captures how Software.org supporting companies – including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce – are helping find solutions and bring an end to the pandemic.

Early intervention helps speed solutions

• By tapping into the power of IBM’s Watson Artificial Intelligence technology, health researchers were able dramatically speed up development of vaccines and therapeutic solutions from the early days of the pandemic. “What would have taken weeks to model and run in a standard and traditional computing environment can literally be done in minutes,” a representative said. “You can get months’ worth of modeling and work done in the course of a day.” Early in 2020, IBM deployed Watson technology to hundreds of universities, companies, and medical organizations such as the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.
• As health researchers moved quickly to develop and test vaccines in the summer of 2020, Oracle helped connect experts with thousands of potential clinical trial volunteers. The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) launched a cloud-based volunteer screening registration tool, running on Oracle infrastructure, that helped identify and register volunteers. In less than a week after launching, more than 100,000 people signed up using the tool.
• The COVID-19 High Performance Computing (HPC) Consortium, which includes Microsoft and IBM, launched in March as a public-private partnership to provide computing and software capabilities to researches focusing on COVID-19 related projects. In November 2020, the consortium entered a new phase “focused on helping researchers to identify potential near-term therapies for patients afflicted by the virus.”

Cybersecurity solutions protect COVID research and vaccine supply chain

• Microsoft has been working to detect cyberattacks targeting companies developing COVID-19 vaccine research and treatment. In November 2020, Microsoft announced that it had detected various of such attacks and that it is coordinating efforts with private and public sector globally to mitigate the effect of such attacks. In connection with the announcement Microsoft made AccountGuard, its threat notification service, available to health care and human rights organizations working on COVID-19.
• IBM created a threat intelligence task force to monitor and stop COVID-19 cyber-attacks. In early December 2020, IBM research revealed that certain parts of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution were being targeted by a cyber-attack using a precision phishing campaign. IBM promptly notified the appropriate entities and authorities so action could be taken to address the issue.

Technology helps track, trace, schedule vaccine distribution

• NEW: By mid-March, more than 150 international, federal, state and local government agencies, and healthcare organizations, had signed up to use Salesforce’s technology for vaccine management and COVID-19 tracking.
• On March 4, IBM and Moderna announced plans to improve vaccine management by using artificial intelligence, blockchain and hybrid cloud technologies. Central to the effort will be a pilot of open, standardized, technology-enabled vaccine distribution approaches aimed to improve supply chain visibility and foster near real-time tracking of vaccine administration.
• The Louisville, Ky., Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness is using the Salesforce platform to manage and quickly distribute the COVID-19 vaccine to the city’s 750,000 residents. Leveraging Salesforce’s Vaccine Cloud solutions, the department hopes to administer 90 percent of all vaccinations received within seven days of arrival.
• The Lake County Health Department in Northern Illinois deployed the Lake County AllVax Portal, an online vaccine registration and orchestration system deployed on the Salesforce Customer 360 Platform for Government. Residents can receive step-by-step guidance about the vaccination process, including vaccine facts, what to expect, distribution timeline, eligibility notification, vaccination scheduling, and appointment reminders. The portal also helps local officials monitor vaccination metrics.
• Leveraging artificial intelligence and data analytics, Microsoft developed a comprehensive Covid-19 vaccine dashboard that tracks the distribution and administration of Covid-19 vaccines globally and in each state in the United States. The dashboard is a tool for policymakers and community leaders, as well as the public, to view progress around vaccine rollout, deploy resources where needed and effectively advocate for constituents.
• On February 2, 2021, Oracle announced it had updated the Employee Care Package within Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) to include new COVID-19 testing and vaccine tracking capabilities for HR teams and automated guidance for employees as they return to the workplace. In addition, Oracle also offers data analytics services that allow companies to gain key insights into workforce safety, such as the percentage of their workforce who have been tested or vaccinated, the distribution across multiple offices, and for global companies, how different regions are progressing. This level of insight will allow organizations to use real-time data to make key decisions such as when to allow in-office access, which offices are ready to re-open, and what location-specific protocols need to be implemented to provide the utmost safety of their employees.
• Salesforce worked with Coastal Cloud to develop Care4COVID, a solution built on Salesforce platform, with uses real-time data analytics and efficiencies to help governments and communities with access and distribution of vaccines, among other things. For example, as of late January 2021, the tool had been used in Florida to help schedule and administer more than 75,000 vaccinations, with additional 130,000 scheduled.
• The University of Massachusetts Amherst established a public vaccine clinic in a matter of weeks by working with Salesforce to deploy the right technology to efficiently schedule appointments and track communications, and as of January 27 had vaccinated 2,000 in two weeks.
• Microsoft announced it will stand up a community vaccination site in its campus in Washington state, which will be available to all eligible members of the community. The company will also provide technology expertise and support to enable effective vaccine distribution and administration.
• Salesforce launched Vaccine Cloud, helps public health authorities, health care providers and nonprofits quickly scale vaccine operations, from recipient registration and scheduling to inventory management and public health outreach. Vaccine uses the Salesforce Customer 360 platform, which includes mobility solutions, bots, analytics and integration capabilities, and more.
• In January, Salesforce, Accenture, and Skedulo announced that the software-based MyTurn platform that will help California residents learn when they are eligible to receive a vaccine. In addition, the platform will provide information on how to make appointments to receive vaccines and will also enable the tracking of vaccination data.
• Minnesota is leveraging Microsoft Power BI, a data analytics service, to enable its comprehensive public vaccine data dashboard to keep the public informed about the status of vaccination distribution. The dashboard tracks the number of residents vaccinated, both first and second doses, vaccination demographics, and other key data points. The city of El Paso, Texas, also launched a similar dashboard.
• Chatbots are artificial intelligence-based solutions that are used to provide personalized responses to specific questions consumers or patients may have in a streamlined manner. In January, Microsoft announced that Microsoft’s Azure Health Bot had released new capabilities and templates for vaccinations to enable checking eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines and providing answers to related questions.
• In May 2020, Microsoft and FedEx announced a collaboration to create FedEx Surround, a toll designed to leverage machine learning and data analytics to monitor shipments and predict disruptions. This tool is being leveraged to assist vaccine delivery globally. Microsoft explains that “FedEx Surround Surround uses real-time data from SenseAware ID and other sources to provide more intelligence—scan data that follows the package’s journey, historical data around FedEx’s routes, external data like weather and mapping, and other factors. It brings all that intelligence together with Azure machine learning and analytics capabilities to interpret conditions about the package and predict risks so FedEx can intercept a shipment before it encounters a problem.”
• Salesforce announced Work.com for Vaccines, a tool to help governments and healthcare organizations more safely and efficiently manage vaccine programs at scale. With Work.com for Vaccines, Salesforce customers can design, build, integrate and manage their vaccine programs end-to-end, with a platform that is trusted, flexible and can be deployed quickly.
• IBM has made a highly-adaptable, open platform available to facilitate the delivery of vaccines to people across the planet. By bringing the power of blockchain, data and AI, security, and hybrid cloud together, IBM helps the public and private sectors speed medicines from production facilities to doctors’ offices in an efficient, trusted, and equitable way.
• IBM Blockchain enables trusted vaccine distribution, giving manufacturers, distributers, and dispensers the tools they need to roll out COVID-19 vaccines.
• Microsoft and its partners are actively working with customers to deploy vaccine management solutions that enable registration capabilities for patients and providers, phased scheduling for vaccinations, streamlined reporting, and management dashboarding with analytics and forecasting. These offerings are helping public health agencies and healthcare providers to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to individuals in an efficient, equitable and safe manner.
• Microsoft worked with the Oklahoma State Department of Health on an app that tells people if when they are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and allows them to make an appointment to receive the vaccine.
• The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) uses Oracle’s National Electronic Health Records Cloud and Oracle’s Public Health Management Applications Suite to manage the COVID-19 vaccination program throughout the United States. The Oracle Public Health Management Applications Suite includes applications for managing the entire vaccination process from ordering the vaccine, tracking shipments and managing inventory—to directly communicating with vaccinated patients via smart phones to collect safety data such as side effects and adverse events.
• Salesforce announced that more than 15 international, federal, state and local agencies, including the State of New Hampshire and the City of Chicago, are using the Salesforce Platform and Work.com for Vaccines to help schedule vaccination appointments and manage their COVID-19 vaccine programs including vaccine inventory management and administration, notifications, outcome monitoring, and more.
• Salesforce and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, announced in December 2020 that they will collaborate to help Gavi manage critical information, allowing the equitable distribution of approximately two billion COVID-19 vaccines to 190 countries by the end of 2021.

Looking ahead, vaccine verification will ensure safe interactions

• NEW: A consortium led by IBM will develop a secure blockchain-based app and backend system for Germany that will provide a digital version of the country’s paper vaccine certificates.
• IBM has launched a pilot project with the National Institutes of Health and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), to use IBM’s Digital Health Pass to help employees return to work in line with public health guidance. The program will help the utility use data such as test results and onsite temperature scans, in combination with contact tracing technology, to mitigate risk for employees.
• Looking to reopen arenas, stadiums, and other public venues, IBM and New York state launched a pilot program for the Excelsior Pass, a blockchain-based digital health pass. The system involves a mobile app that reads secure QR codes that confirms the holder’s COVID-19 health status. Already, the Excelsior Pass has been used by select users attending Brooklyn Nets and New York Rangers games.
• Microsoft, Oracle, and Salesforce are working with other organizations in the “The Vaccination Credential Initiative” to enable individuals vaccinated for COVID-19 to access their vaccination records in a secure, verifiable, and privacy-preserving way.
• IBM and Salesforce announced a partnership to allow individuals to share their vaccination and health status through a single hub that will integrate IBM’s Health Pass and Salesforce’s Work.com, in a secure and privacy-compliant manner. IBM explains that its blockchain-based Digital Health Pass, available through Salesforce.com, “is designed to enable organizations to verify health credentials for individuals entering their site based on criteria specified by the organization, such as test results, vaccination records and temperature checks. Privacy is central to the solution. The digital wallet can enable individuals to maintain control of their health information, without exposing the underlying personal data used to generate the pass.”

Related: COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Puts Spotlight on Blockchain Benefits