On January 30, the South China Morning Post reported that Xuelig, one of the largest Asian pharmaceutical companies, had launched a blockchain-based system to track the quality of COVID-19 vaccines. Called “eZTracker”, it allows any user to “instantly verify the origin and authenticity” of vaccines by scanning the QR code on the package. Not surprisingly, during the pandemic, there have not been many reports of blockchain-based products being adopted by big pharma or global healthcare organizations to boost anti-COVID efforts. Here is a detailed account of the major cases of such adoption, along with possible reasons for the limited interest in blockchain among health authorities.
South Korea: Blockchain Vaccine Passport
In April 2021, the South Korean government became the first to introduce a blockchain-based vaccine passport amid the COVID-19 crisis. Giving proof of vaccination on a distributed ledger ensures document authenticity as many people around the world fake such “green passes”, which can sometimes secure access to restaurants, public places and travel.
The app, known as COOV, was developed by London-based Blockchain Labs and is available on the App Store and Google Play Store. It generates a QR-code for each user and ensures that all personal data is stored on the user’s device, exchanging it only with the app host via the blockchain.
Brazil: National Health Data Network
The blockchain-based national health data network is not being built specifically to fight the coronavirus – it is an important part of an ambitious plan to digitize Brazil’s entire health system. Nevertheless, the system has been used since the end of 2020 to respond to challenges related to the coronavirus.
The main use of the Brazilian network, such as in South Korea, is vaccination tracking. The system registers every jab instantly, creating a database that allows for “continuity of care across the public and private sectors”. The National Health Digitization Project is expected to be completed by 2023.
Mexico: COVID-19 Testing Certificate
In October 2021, private healthcare provider MDS Mexico launched a rapid COVID-19 testing service backed by blockchain. The digital platform allows patients to receive their test results in real time via a QR code and store their vaccination history securely. Once again, the company cited the fight against fake vaccinations as the platform’s key mission:
To avoid falsification of negative results, we began to validate the SARS-CoV-2 Detection Test with blockchain technology and cryptographic signature, which protects information in a unique, immutable and immutable QR code that is verified worldwide. can be done.
The private initiative follows an earlier announcement from Mexico’s National Chamber of Commerce that it plans to digitize vaccine passports with the use of blockchain technology.
Other Thoughts
These examples represent only a small fraction of all blockchain-related projects being developed to tackle public health threats. Distributed ledgers can help increase the efficiency of systems that manage supply chains, ensure the quality of medicines, keep medical records, process insurance claims, and many more.
In addition to secure data management and vaccine tracking, there are opportunities for healthcare researchers to use blockchain in even more diverse fields. A group of US medical scholars propose a blockchain-based movement pass that relies on smart contracts and tokens to facilitate social distancing. A Scottish research group came up with a project of a blockchain platform, synchronized with the Internet of Things (IoT), that can trace contacts without compromising the user’s identity.
promote cross-border compatibility
Enabling cross-border data sharing that can protect patients’ privacy is a humble act. To address this, two scientists from the National Institute of Technology Raipur (India) have been working to identify and validate COVID-19-related reports through comparison of perceptual hashes of each report with existing on-chain perceptual hashes. Created a consortium blockchain.
Reporting COVID-related data to health authorities can be problematic in a pandemic. Jim Nasr, CEO of Accore – the company that launched the first decentralized COVID-19 tracker in 2020 – shared his US experience with Cointelegraph:
Each state has its own requirements and mechanisms for the collection of state-level COVID data. In turn, states have mandatory infectious disease reporting obligations for the federal government entities that largely fund them. The quality and timeliness of data reporting is at best inconsistent, inefficient and publicly non-transparent.
problems that remain
Currently, most of the projects related to COVID-19 are still going on only on paper. As the most acute phase of the pandemic is arguably over, healthcare innovators are less inclined to focus exclusively on the coronavirus. Meanwhile, there is a growing number of medical blockchain startups in many general areas, such as patient consent, clinical trial recruitment, IoT device management, diagnostics supply, finished goods traceability. and many others.
Nevertheless, the major problem of the relationship between blockchain innovation and healthcare executives remains. As Nasr noted, many traditional public health institutions are not ready to embrace blockchain-powered innovation:
In my experience, many of their KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) have little knowledge of DLT and are largely [concerned] Regarding noise in space (such as scamming, cryptocurrency volatility, dealing with keys and wallets, etc.).
It’s not just a lack of information that affects adoption. Finally, there may be a lack of incentives to innovate toward transparency in the public and private healthcare sectors. Nasr believes that some of the current problematic aspects of the healthcare industry – “notably muted data and pricing and process ambiguity” – maintain their profitability and support a thick layer of middlemen who all benefit along the way. The missing component here is patient pushback that can stem from a better understanding of their rights to data transparency and privacy.