Digital technologies can act as accelerators for the introduction, deployment, and scale-up of vaccines in countries to assist health workers, communities, and other stakeholders. The use of digital tools and the data they enable facilitate rapid, iterative, and scalable approaches to ensure vaccines are safely delivered to health facilities, that health workers are equipped to administer them, and that communities are informed and confident in their efficacy.
Global Good Adaptations for COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction
The following table summarizes the adaptions made by global goods to support COVID-19 vaccine introduction, including COVAX.
Last update: May 24, 2021
| Global Good
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Adaptation
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Resources
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| CommCare
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- Dimagi has developed a template solution for Equitable and Effective COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery. The solution tracks and supports every client before, during, and after the vaccination process while providing analytics and visualizations to monitor the progression of vaccine delivery. It provides direct digital support to health providers administering vaccines (via apps), people getting vaccinated (via messaging), vaccine managers and supervisors (via analytics and dashboards), and community advocates (via apps or messaging).
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| DHIS2 |
- DHIS2 has several ready-to-install digital data packages to support COVID-19 vaccine delivery (including for COVAX) based on WHO guidelines. All packages are optimized for Android or web-based data collection, including in offline mode. The DHIS2 toolkit for COVID-19 vaccine delivery expands field-tested designs and tools from the WHO DHIS2 immunization data toolkit to enable countries to rapidly update existing systems to support the equitable delivery of COVID-19 vaccines at scale, while strengthening existing national DHIS2-based immunization systems for sustainable impact across all aspects of vaccine preventable disease interventions. The toolkit supports:
- Measure uptake, coverage & equitable distribution over time, by geography and across risk groups: The DHIS2 WHO EPI module has been expanded for COVID-19 vaccine data for routine facility data on vaccination utilization, wastage, cold chain & outreach data
- Supply chain readiness & traceability of vaccines down to points of service delivery: Facility & last-mile logistics data module: WHO approved health logistics metadata with barcode/QR scanning capabilities
- Ensure that individuals can be monitored for the full course of multi-dose regimen: Immunization eRegistry (EIR) package for longitudinal tracking & follow up of individuals
- Provide a personal vaccination record/certificate: Electronic Health Certificates linked with Immunization eRegistry and integration with digital vaccination cards
- Multiple distribution strategies; novel & innovative distribution approaches: Mass campaigns & supplemental immunization activities monitoring adapted for COVID-19 distribution strategies
- Vaccine safety monitoring: Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) Tracker: WHO approved module for strengthening vaccine safety surveillance
- The DHIS2 team has created training materials for the EIR and AEFI packages. Packages translations are available in French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Additional languages can be added on demand.
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| iHRIS
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- iHRIS, used to track and manage health workforce data to improve access to services, is being adapted to track health worker vaccination data. Data can be used to help determine vaccination needs of health workers across justifications and align vaccination efforts.
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| Instant OpenHIE
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- Instant OpenHIE has been adapted to include a COVID-19 immunization tracking package that extends off the core Instant OpenHIE solution, with scripts to set up a containerised set of components and configuration scripts enabling demonstration of patient and COVID-19 immunization tracking within a health information exchange.
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| mHero
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- mHero has been launched in Kenya and Uganda (and soon DRC) for COVID-19 communication between health workers and ministries of health (or other institution that oversees cadres of health workers, such as UNICEF). The mHero team has also collaborated with the OpenHIE COVID-19 Task Force to build a library of FHIR-compliant workflows that align with global reporting standards, and is also working with FLOIP to ensure that FLOIP results from FHIR-compliant workflows can be accessed in mHero.
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| OpenHIM
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- The OpenHIM has been adapted to support with COVID-19 vaccination tracking within a health information exchange, through a set of custom mediators supporting ingestion of patient and immunization data, persistence to a FHIR data repository and interfacing with a Client Registry.
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| SanteIMS
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- SanteIMS is a proven highly scalable immunization and vaccination program management platform that is used for national EPI programs and supports any type of vaccine delivery, including C-19 vaccines, to an entire country's population. It's key features include:
- Offline-First Design enabling seamless uninterrupted work offline without any loss of functionality when internet connectivity is interrupted or not available
- Once and done point of care data entry which eliminates the need for manual indicator gathering and reporting and automatically updates stock management data
- Full functionality and UI consistency across multiple platforms (tablet, desktop etc.) and operating systems, allowing leveraging of existing technology investments and use of the most appropriate hardware platform to support each workflow and context
- Supports cloud based, hybrid or on premise implementations* Real-time implementation of clinical decision and care guidelines
- Intelligent facility visit scheduling and forecasting
- Extended problem reporting (AEFI, COD, FEVER, etc.)
- Facility planning tools
- Stock & Order Management which fully integrates with national logistics management systems to help eliminate stock-outs and maximize cost effective use of vaccines and related supplies
- Facility level dashboards and automated data feeds to data visualization tools like DHIS2
- Built-in support for interoperability following OpenHIE standards and out-of-the-box integration with the SanteMPI Client Registry
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- For an overview of SanteIMS's capabilities please see the GAVI produced video of Tanzania's TiMR EIR (part of the PATH led BID initiative). TiMR is based on the initial version of our software.
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| SanteMPI
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- SanteMPI has been adapted to support national COVID-19 response through implementation of national unique health ID's for vaccination registration, generation of vaccination "Yellow Card" and facilitation of data sharing and interoperability with other supporting solutions.
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| Tamanu
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- New vaccine recording screens for COVID-19 vaccines (part of our existing vaccine campaigns module)
- New forms for capturing COVID-19 specific Adverse Events Following Immunisation
- Vaccination certificate
- New reports
- New visualisations including; number vaccinated by village, % vaccinated by village, disaggregation by age and sex.
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| OpenBoxes
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- OpenBoxes is an open-source supply chain management system used to manage supplies and medications for healthcare facilities and disaster relief efforts. This ensures that health workers have the right quantities at the right time to save lives. Beyond supply chain management, OpenBoxes has diversified its functionality to include the ability to track cold chain items. This includes icons that flag an item as cold chain and the ability to indicate temperature requirements and create bin locations, which are pivotal features in the effective delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.
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Country Support
Mali
With funding from USAID Mali, Digital Square is working closely with the Mali Ministry of Health and partners such as CDC, Gavi, UNICEF and Global Fund to support adaptation and scale of digital health tools to support the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Through the end of 2021, Digital Square is specifically supporting the following activities:
- Adapt and scale existing health information systems for COVID-19 vaccine rollout to enable real-time monitoring of vaccine availability and vaccine coverage.
- Support MOH to transition existing paper-based systems to digital platforms (focus on digital tools for monitoring adverse side effects).
- Harness digital tools to identify and locate persons eligible for vaccination.
- Identify tools and applications to be made interoperable.
- Contribute to an evaluation of a vaccination campaign in Bamako.
For more information on these activities or to coordinate with the Digital Square team, please contact Caitlin Bowman.
Additional Resources
UNICEF/WHO Digital Health Center of Excellence (DICE)
Many countries do not have fully functioning digital systems or solutions required to address health and information systems priorities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as post-pandemic health systems’ needs. Digital Square and the newly formed UNICEF/WHO Digital Health Center of Excellence (DICE) are proactively looking for opportunities to collaborate to support countries’ wanting to invest in sustainable and scalable deployments of carefully chosen digital solutions for COVID-19 pandemic response plans. DICE is committed to supporting countries harness appropriate digital public goods, many of which are mature and already integrated into national systems, to provide substantial multilayered support to the COVID-19 pandemic using a health system strengthening lens; from planning distribution of commodities and vaccines, tracking supplies, surveillance and case detection, monitoring coverage of services, and communicating to generate demand and reduce misinformation. . Digital Square’s Mission is to connect health leaders with the resources they need for digital transformation. Through our collective partnership, we aim to not only support country needs now, but also to help country leaders build stronger, more sustainable digital systems, which will improve health outcomes beyond the current pandemic.”
