Given the number of stakeholders and stages involved, the rollout of any new drug or vaccine will have its complexities. The Covid-19 vaccine has added complications due to the fact that there are several different vaccines, all of which have different storage requirements. In addition, patients require two doses of the same vaccine, so suppliers and medical professionals must ensure patients receive the same vaccine for their subsequent dose.

Aside from the sheer volume and meticulous process required, the COVID-19 vaccine programme requires a new, unprecedented level of cross-border and cross-industry coordination and cooperation. This includes supplying in emerging markets which have less developed infrastructure and which face a greater risk of counterfeits. This requires a well-functioning supply chain. However having so many intermediaries increases the risk of interception and leaves many opportunities and gaps where mistakes, damage or even purposeful exploitation can occur.

How can Blockchain help?

Due to its immutability, transparency and traceability Blockchain could offer efficient and accurate end-to-end tracking and monitoring of the vaccine rollout.

Certainty of condition

Coupled with the use of internet of things, Blockchain could assist with monitoring important information about the vaccine batches. Two important pieces of information which must be monitored is: the temperature that the vaccine is stored at and the storage time. This is because the different vaccines all have different storage conditions (both temperature and maximum storage time).  This makes it even more important to be able to accurately monitor the different batches of the different drugs, to be able to check how long a certain batch has already been in storage and whether it was kept at the correct temperature.  

Traceability

The COVID-19 vaccine supply chains must also be readily adaptable, as there may also be a need for vaccines to be re-directed to different parts of the country, depending on where the need is greatest. Blockchain could help with the supply of the vaccines in an efficient way, ensuring legitimate vaccines are sent to the right place, administered to the right patient, stored according to its requirements, and have not been compromised. Blockchain would enable vaccines to be tracked and processed in a much more reliable and instantaneous way, and blockchain could also assist with quickly and efficiently locating issues, hold-ups and bottleneck and removing the risk of double counting through instantaneous transactions and the use of a consensus mechanism [1].

One Single Source of Truth

Blockchain could also be employed to help patients track their vaccination records and provide immutable proof of vaccination where required e.g. for travelling. It would also enable quick identification of faulty, compromised or counterfeit batches and would assist with the subsequent recall of those batches from the supply chain, through faster and more efficient detection and removal of the products from distribution. If an issue, such as a counterfeit vaccine (or even just a faulty, incorrectly stored or expired vaccine), is detected, the user could look at all previous data entries, touchpoints, locations and timestamps to trace all the way back to find the origin, the specific manufacturer and even the specific batch that it came from.

Authenticity

Blockchain would therefore allow the vaccines to be readily traced and verified, and could enable easier detection and rectification of issues. Although counterfeiters could still copy barcodes, the stringent parameters of the consensus mechanism would mean that any attempts to amend the data in the chain would be immediately visible to all nodes and would be rejected. This not only improves authenticity, but also enables ways of verifying that an entity that has handled the product has complied with regulatory requirements. Blockchain could also assist with any subsequent notification requirements to hospitals and patients who had received a dose from that batch and who need to be alerted. Therefore, although it cannot eliminate risks completely, Blockchain can help reduce the risks associated with a vaccine rollout.

Blockchain offers much-needed efficiency and reliability for the COVID-19 vaccine programme, which presents new complexities as a result of needing to vaccinate so many people, across so many countries, with multiple doses of the same vaccine, where several different vaccines exist which all have different storage requirements and which are not inter-compatible. In fact, we are starting to see a move towards the use of blockchain in the UK, as two NHS hospitals have started using the technology to monitor the storage and supply of temperature-sensitive COVID-19 vaccines as well as chemotherapy drugs. Other jurisdictions (which have not yet rolled out their vaccine programme) may well follow suit.

Next Steps

Hogan Lovells helps businesses chart the path when exploring new ways to leverage digital applications at the intersection of medicine and technology. We enable clients to take advantage of blockchain technology's huge potential and disruptive impact, while avoiding falling foul of ever-developing regulatory and legal requirements. By combining our market leading life sciences, healthcare and technology groups, we bring in-depth experience of hands-on-law, industry know-how and technology problem-solving to complex projects, built on best-in-class commercial, regulatory, transactional, IP, and litigation teams globally. Visit our Hogan Lovells Engage Blockchain Toolkit.