A Comprehensive Blockchain Framework for (COVID-19)Vaccine Program Registration, Supply Chain and Side Effects

Abstract

The history of mankind witnessed a lot of pandemics throughout its years. Many of which caused fatalities and created severe consequences socially and economically. The latest example is the COVID-19 pandemic that got the world into a heated race to contain by developing immunization vaccines. Many of the vaccines came into production in record time which raises questions about their side effects. Also, since vaccines are sensitive medical products, they require continuous cold supply chain monitoring and tracking. It is clear how vital it is to link any occurring side effects to their causes to determine whether it is a manufacturing problem or a supply chain management issue. Additionally, and to properly establish this link, an effective beneficiaries' registration process is required. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive system that combines vaccines cold supply chain management solution with side-effects follow-up data and individuals registration records. To achieve these goals, the technology of blockchain was selected to develop a framework for the vaccines program. Blockchain is known as the architecture behind cryptocurrencies, however, it proved its reliability and effectiveness in different use cases. Blockchain special characteristics were the reason behind adopting it to establish a blockchain-based platform for vaccines cold supply chain associated with traceable side-effects information records combined with beneficiaries registration data. The connection between the three parts of our system framework is important to achieving the utmost benefits out of the vaccine program in terms of compliance with standard measures and its link to side-effects and beneficiaries metadata.