Vodacom, AU to collaborate on Covid vaccine roll-out

Vodacom Group said on Monday that it will work with the African Union Development Agency to offer a mobile technology platform to manage vaccination appointments and vaccine stocks across the continent.

The agency, also known as Auda-Nepad, will get access to the mVacciNation digital toolbox to accelerate the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. This follows the deployment of the toolbox in South Africa, where the department of health has used it to register health workers on its Covid-19 Electronic Vaccine Data System through which nearly 279 000 vaccinations have been administered to date.

mVaccination has also been successfully deployed in Mozambique, Tanzania and Nigeria to manage infant inoculations, Vodacom said in a statement.

“Vodacom Group, part of Vodafone Group, will work with Auda-Nepad to build digital infrastructure to manage vaccinations across up to 55 countries,” the company said.

The roll-out of mVacciNation, developed by Vodacom unit Mezzanine, is the first project in a public-private partnership that has been formed between Vodacom Group and Auda-Nepad to “boost Africa’s digital transformation and build resilience for the post-Covid world”, it added.

‘Control tower’

Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group, said: “Making our mVacciNation platform available to all African countries will significantly enhance the continent’s digital health infrastructure for the long term. Our contribution will improve the capability of African countries in this pandemic and beyond for vaccine distribution, management and surveillance, even in resource-constrained settings.”

mVacciNation has two core components and a “control tower”, to ensure people get the right vaccine, at the right place and time. “A supply chain component provides real-time information for health workers of all available vaccines and medical equipment (like syringes and supplies) nationally. A beneficiary management component allows individuals to register on the platform and assigns them to vaccine service points on a specific day and time. A ‘control tower’ allows for the orchestration of stock to specific vaccination centres.

“Each time someone is vaccinated, their digital record is updated and, if a further dose is required, mVacciNation automatically schedules and sends a follow-up date via SMS. Once vaccination is completed, the individual will receive electronic certification.”

According to Vodacom, countries can link mVacciNation into their choice of temperature-controlled supply chain, drug safety and vaccination travel passport platforms.

“Auda-Nepad, with a continental mandate and reach, will facilitate government engagement to link mVacciNation to policy and practice for accelerated roll-out of the solution to African Union member states,” Vodacom said.

Once installed, the mVacciNation platform will remain in place to help countries better manage future pandemics and other large-scale health programmes such as infant inoculations.  — © 2021 NewsCentral Media