Healthcare entities worldwide, particularly in Asia, have felt the crunch of administering vaccines efficiently and securely exacerbated by COVID-19. According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) COVID-19 tracker, the average vaccination rate across APAC is more than 50% but can be as low as 30% in developing countries in this region like Myanmar and Timor Leste.

The past few years saw the pandemic highlighting more prominent vulnerabilities in the pharmaceutical supply chain relating to the security and traceability of vaccine supply, testing the industry supply chain’s agility and resilience. Newer technological advancements and innovations, including AI, blockchain, and big data, are driving healthcare towards greater digital transformation and collaboration. We also saw a paradigm shift in the industry’s overall ecosystem and the healthtech landscape, as businesses increasingly leveraged and harnessed digital solutions and deemed them vital for business continuity.

The use of technologies, namely blockchain, not only safeguards operations from future disruptions and ‘build back better’ from last year’s Delta variant, but it also prepares the supply chain for the more transmissible Omicron variant. It is also helping companies remain competitive and progressive by better managing the supply chain and streamlining processes while making safe healthcare more accessible.

Building trust and ensuring product integrity

With the global situation surrounding COVID-19 still being a significant concern for governments worldwide, and while the efficacy of the vaccine remains paramount, the progress of each economy also lies in the safe and secure distribution of the vaccine. Leveraging blockchain allows real-time monitoring across the supply chain and offers a universal view of information from a single source of truth. This ensures there is no shortage in vaccine supply and that the COVID-19 vaccines are reaching their intended destinations — without compromising quality at any point in the entire process.

Countries are also grappling with a short supply of public trust, as counterfeit vaccines have rampantly flooded the supply chain. The World Economic Forum reported the COVID-19 vaccine market to be worth at least USD150 billion, with counterfeit vaccines contributing to the booming drug counterfeiting trade —growing at a staggering pace of 20% annually.

The same can be said about other drugs and pharmaceutical products. In ASEAN, the counterfeit and falsified medicines trade is among the region’s biggest transnational organized crime. Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) estimates losses amounting to USD2.6 billion in Southeast Asia in 2020 alone. Seized counterfeit medicines in busted syndicates saw some of the most reputable pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers recover from damaged reputation and loss of consumer trust; in worst cases, it risks having patients become collateral damage.

With falsified COVID-19 vaccines posing a real and present threat, the United Nations agency, UNICEF, in a World Economic Forum article, acknowledged the use of blockchain-backed traceability systems, paired with secure labels, can help to authenticate products and restore consumer confidence and address vaccine hesitancy.

The concept of serialization of different batches of vaccines has been engineered to facilitate viable tracking and monitoring of such drugs throughout the distribution process using IoT applications. Digital solutions like eZTracker, created by Zuellig Pharma, use blockchain to provide real-time product traceability across the supply chain. It allows authorized stakeholders access to critical product information like expiry date, temperature, and provenance through the eZTracker app, with the assurance that the data collected and stored cannot be easily altered. As a result, transactions are secure, authenticated, and verifiable.

Keeping in mind that blockchain operates on integration and a foundation of trust, more collaboration among industry stakeholders allows us to draw on an exhaustive bank of information. This type of transparency inevitably rebuilds trust in the healthcare system marred with issues like counterfeit products. It provides more visibility and peace of mind to both businesses and consumers and potentially minimizes the hefty cost of recalls, including the costly impact on brand trust, high regulatory costs, and overnight plunge in stock prices for listed entities.

The application of blockchain also drives a sense of accountability. In the context of healthcare, there is a ‘duty of care’ to uphold product integrity intact for the safety and efficacy of the vaccine; this has enabled the application of blockchain to surpass human capability in the realm of tracking the provenance and quality of these vaccines.

Cold chain monitoring for real-time visibility

When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, distribution methods and storage capabilities are most important. Each vaccine has a different stability profile, yet they all have one thing in common — the need for cold chain storage and monitoring. Markets like Asia are complex because of diverse geography, and the temperatures are not ideal for vaccines, as many need to be stored consistently at very low temperatures.

Some manufacturers are even working on more thermostable versions of their vaccines to minimize product loss due to temperature conditions. While we wait patiently for viable vaccine innovations, cold chain monitoring at present, ‘heat-proofed’ with blockchain technology, can trace temperature data (captured into the blockchain) throughout the entire cold chain to ensure storage conditions are not compromised. It also alerts cold chain operators about cold chain inefficiencies so they can immediately take action and safeguard the vaccine supply.

A common goal

We must recognize that any technological advancement is pegged to its challenges, and a digital tool like blockchain-backed eZTracker can only be beneficial with collaboration across the ecosystem.

Working towards a common goal of making healthcare more accessible through technology is highly contingent on the success of public-private partnerships (3P). Strong government support for the rollout and high adoption rates by private organizations and the public can help the industry move forward for the good of patients.

Source: https://www.cdotrends.com/story/16195/how-blockchains-will-shape-vaccine-supply-chain-2022