Moderna and IBM to Jointly Explore Blockchain Technology for Vaccine Traceability

U.S.-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna has partnered with IBM to explore the use of emerging tech – including blockchain – for vaccine traceability.

Using Blockchain to Track Vaccine

According to a report by Ledger Insights published on March 6, American biotechnology firm Moderna has joined hands with IBM to use the latter’s blockchain solution for COVID-19 vaccine traceability.

Per sources close to the matter, Moderna is planning to trial a blockchain pilot to offer vaccine traceability to enable the government and healthcare providers to see the current status of specific vaccine batches throughout its supply chain journey.

Further, there is another collaboration area between Moderna and IBM pertaining to the Digital Health Pass. For the uninitiated, it is an IBM solution that uses blockchain technology to allow vaccine or test credentials to be instantly verified.

Notably, it had recently unveiled a similar pilot in association with the State of New York that included events at Madison Square Garden.

Commenting on the development, Michael Mullette, VP, Managing Director, North America Commercial Operations, Moderna, noted:

“We look forward to working with IBM to apply digital innovations to build connections between organizations, governments, and individuals to instill confidence in COVID-19 vaccines.”

Using Blockchain Technology to Tackle COVID-19

It must be noted that the practice of tapping distributed ledger technology (DLT) to tackle the disruption caused to the world economy by the pandemic is not something particularly novel.

As previously reported by BTCManager, one of the largest airlines in the world, Air France is planning to test a blockchain-based COVID-19 test verification solution for travelers.