Hedera Hashgraph DLT to monitor storage of COVID-19 vaccine

Everyware’s software and Hedera’s DLT will ensure the Pfizer vaccine is kept at the correct temperature throughout the supply chain

Decentralised public network, Hedera Hashgraph, today announced that they were teaming up with digital asset monitoring provider Everyware to monitor the cold storage equipment being used by the UK’s Health Service (NHS) to store COVID-19 and other vaccines.

Some of the vaccines require very precise storage conditions in order to remain effective. In particular, the Pfizer-developed COVID-19 vaccine, which has been approved for use in the UK, needs to be kept at -70°C ± 10°C for up to 10 days, and can then be kept at an administering centre in normal 2-8°C refrigerated conditions for up to five days.

Ensuring these conditions are met is especially important to avoid dosing people with a vaccine that won’t protect them. Fortunately, Everyware’s software can be configured to monitor a number of variables from anywhere, at any time, including temperature. Hospitals and healthcare facilities will use the Everyware solution to ensure the proper conditions are being maintained and share information with other parts of the vaccine supply chain. The software is already being leveraged for other materials that have precise storage requirements, like blood, plasma and drugs such as chemotherapy.

Everyware Technical Director, Tom Screen, said, “Monitoring the ongoing temperature of these refrigeration units is critically important, and ensuring the integrity of that data is an equally important part of maintaining trust in the results, and being able to easily share them across the entire vaccine supply chain. Hedera’s distributed ledger technology provides that tamper-proof record-keeping system, making it perfect for recording and validating results efficiently and cost-effectively. Everyware welcomes collaboration with other partners in the vaccine supply chain to ensure end-to-end traceability.”

The Hedera platform is governed by a council of the world’s leading organisations including Google, IBM and University College London, and its distributed ledger technology (DLT) means that developers can build fast, fair, secure and trusted applications on it.

Hedera Founder and CEO, Mance Harmon, explained, “Hedera makes it practical and cost-effective for organizations to benefit from the transparency and accountability of distributed ledgers. Asset monitoring and management is a great example of this, and we’re so pleased to help bring that data integrity and trust to the important work that Everyware is doing with NHS hospitals in support of their emerging COVID-19 vaccination efforts.”

The asset tracking and monitoring software will be initially adopted by hospitals in the South Warwickshire region, including Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon. As distribution of the vaccine progresses, the technology will see a wider rollout.