Moderna and IBM are exploring how artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and hybrid cloud technologies could support smarter Covid-19 vaccine management.

Central to the effort will be a pilot of open, standardised, technology-enabled vaccine distribution approaches aimed at improving supply chain visibility and foster near real-time tracking of vaccine administration.

The aim is to identify ways technology can be used to help accelerate secure, information sharing between governments, healthcare providers, life science organisations and individuals. In so doing, Moderna and IBM seek to improve confidence in vaccine programmes and increase rates of vaccination, thereby reducing community spread.

Initial work is planned to focus on exploring IBM capabilities in the USA including vaccine management that provides end-to-end traceability to address potential supply chain disruptions. This could help governments and healthcare providers quickly and securely share data regarding individual vaccine batches as they travel through the complex Covid-19 supply chain, from manufacturing facilities to administration sites.

A digital health pass, built on blockchain technology, is being considered to help individuals maintain control of their personal health information and share it in a way that is secured, verifiable and trusted. Organisations could use this to verify health credentials for employees, customers and travellers based on criteria specified by the organisation, such as test results, vaccination records and temperature checks.

“Moderna is committed to working with a coalition of partners to increase education and awareness of the importance of vaccination to help defeat Covid-19,” said Michael Mullette, vice president at Moderna. “We look forward to working with IBM to apply digital innovations to build connections between organisations, governments and individuals to instil confidence in Covid-19 vaccines.”

The work with Moderna aligns with IBM’s efforts to help address the Covid-19 pandemic by providing access to its technology portfolio. At the outset of the pandemic, IBM joined the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy and other technology companies as part of the Covid-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, a partnership to give supercomputing resources to researchers to help speed the discovery and development of Covid-19 vaccines.

IBM also offered its ICD clinical development technology to eligible trial sponsor organisations as part of its medical community support efforts to help address the pandemic. The company received interest from numerous hospitals, sponsors, contract research organisations and academic institutions.

“If ever there was a time to rally around open technology and collaboration, it’s now,” said Jason Kelley, managing partner at IBM. “As governments, pharmacy chains, healthcare providers and life sciences companies continue to scale and connect their tools, and as new players enter the supply chain, open technology can help drive more transparency and bolster trust, while helping to ensure accessibility and equity in the process.”