Safe, Effective and Equitable Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccine

Digital technology can support in spreading accurate and personal health information about the vaccine to the society or community. It can help in enhancing user’s knowledge, sense of preparedness and appointment arrangements. Digital technology system could provide information on where to get vaccinated and when to receive follow up doses. In case of any side effects due to vaccination, this information could be transmitted to public health reporting system. An advanced call center can be established to provide personal guidance through answering questions related to vaccine safety or what to do if dose is missed etc.

However, one thing should be kept in mind is the digital divide (lack of high-speed connectivity, lack of connected devices, and digital illiteracy) in vulnerable health populations. These technologies should have an inclusive end user design, demonstrate language and cultural competency, and work in low-connectivity environments. 

During this pandemic times as the world continues to fight COVID-19, both alongside each other and in collaboration, many questions are being held about the allocation and access to vaccines as they become available. To combat that WHO has started work on COVID-19 vaccine research and development, with the consultation of global scientists and public health experts. Read more about the Access and allocation: how will there be fair and equitable allocation of limited supplies? from the link below: //www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/access-and-allocation-how-will-there-be-fair-and-equitable-allocation-of-limited-supplies

In response to the pandemic and the societal disruption it has brought, governments and global agencies have  developed a safe and effective vaccine in an unprecedented time frame. This report offers a framework for equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccine. It is built on widely accepted foundational principles and recognizes the distinctive characteristics of COVID-19 disease, including its rates of infection, its modes of transmission, the groups and individuals most susceptible to infection, and varying rates of severe illness and death among those groups. This report’s recommendations address the institutional and administrative commitments needed to implement equitable allocation policies.

//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK564086/

From the perspective of health equity and digital health, there are three key challenges of vaccine delivery: lack of trust, lack of access to care, lack of efficiency of data.

Proposed three-pronged approach to ensure equitable vaccine delivery using digital health: Spur information dissemination to improve vaccination rates, Enable widely distributed models of vaccine delivery, Collect longitudinal data on vaccine efficacy and side effects in diverse populations.

Given the digital divide (lack of high-speed connectivity, lack of connected devices, and digital illiteracy) in vulnerable health populations, it will be imperative that these technologies have an inclusive end-user design, demonstrate language and cultural competency, and work in low-connectivity environments. Poor uptake of contact tracing apps supported by state governments also suggests that trust and transparency about use of user data will also be critical as well as a concerted dissemination and marketing effort.

From a bird's eye view , the events can be initially classified into three majors.

1. Pre - vaccinatory events / Site of production / vaccine productivity sites

.2. vaccinatory events /Site of vaccination.

3. post - vaccinatory events.

@ SITE OF PRODUCTION :

• Limited amount of vaccine productivity due to  inadequate resources , thereby causing a quite long time interval for production , distribution & delivery to the huge population.
• Undergoing many trials and getting approval from the authorities.

ROLE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY @Production sites :

1. The Production amounts at different centres to be updated in apps atleast “ONE APP PER COUNTRY " citing all the production centres with daily updates along with their distributory centers .
2. Also ,the productivity can be increased through digitalised robots in production and availability of resources for productivity.

@ SITE OF VACCINATION :

1. The sites of vaccinatory centres are unreachable to all sorts of people.
2. Vaccine availability @ vaccination camps.

ROLE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY @vaccination sites :

1. Availability of Vaccination camps
2. Availability of adequate vaccines

                          This can be incorporated through the hourly updates in apps or links such that enclosing all the data's of remote areas, thereby ensuring easy availability and efficiency .

@POST - VACCINATORY EVENTS :

• The common health effects after vaccination
• The common symptoms and occurence
• The updates on next dose of vaccination 

ROLE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY @post vaccinatory events:

1. CALL CENTRES should be made available thereby, answering all the queries of vaccinated people (regarding their symptoms, if needed to advise hospital care on adverse conditions )
2. R-SQUAD (Reminder squad) should be made automatic such that the vaccinated one's get remind of next dose (either through automatic phone call or through msg reminders )

                   I thereby believe , the DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY can do a lot more BEST ! towards the clinical setting.   The Essential one is the ‘FRAME WORK' and a ‘PROPER MAINTANENCE' .

THE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY ; thereby can contribute to a safe , equitable and effective distribution on an overall level .

Informative

Very informative and valuable content.

Digital technologies are a prime requisite in this time of outbreaks. Digital technologies facilitate population surveillance, case identification, contact tracing, and evaluation of interventions. Precise and absolute data is required to create Dashboards, user-friendly interfaces, evaluation of interventions to tackle such outbreaks uncomplicatly.

IISs can be used to ease out COVID-19 Vaccination. Many IISs can exchange data with EHRs, so that documentation of vaccine administration is automatically uploaded through bidirectional data exchange between EHRs and the IIS. EHRs that interface with jurisdiction IISs may improve the pace and accuracy of vaccine administration data capture.

COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook for Jurisdiction Operations

Digital Technologies can play a vital role in distributing important information about COVID-19 Vaccine. There are many doubts about the vaccines because of misleading information on internet. Different sections of community deserve equal distribution of vaccines. Digital Technologies are essential for getting facts clear, booking slots for vaccines, increasing the enthusiasm among people by tracking the number of people who gets vaccinated. Although awareness is a key in developing any new program and a serious aspect like COVID-19 right information from authentic sources is need to be delivered effectively. 

Digital technology can undoubtedly facilitate in Safe, Effective and Equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine. But, as mentioned by United Nations secretary that, a global misinfo-demic is spreading on social networking platforms, and it is travelling faster than the virus itself. So much of fake news, rumors, conspiracy stories are floating around that it is becoming difficult for general public to have trust in the vaccine.

Therefore, it is need of an hour to create filters on social networking sites and allowing only authentic information to be out there for general public. And, many organizations, like- UN, WHO are leading the battle against this misinfo-demic.

The use of ICT during COVID‐19 (nih.gov)