4 Steps to Make COVID-19 Vaccinations Efficient

The United States, where COVID-19 cases continue to rise, is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible to curb further spread of the virus. The inoculation drive, however, poses a major IT challenge as the country's data infrastructure lacks the capacity to efficiently track COVID-19 vaccine distribution and its use (who got vaccinated, what dose, etc.).

Such kind of monitoring is necessary to make sure that individuals get the recommended number of doses and that enough of the U.S. population – at least 60% to 70% – is inoculated to achieve herd immunity, two healthcare IT experts wrote in an article for Harvard Business Review.

Joram Borenstein, general manager of Modern Work and Security at Microsoft, and Rebecca Weintraub, MD, a faculty member at both Harvard Medical School and Ariadne Labs, have suggested these four steps must be taken to ensure that the U.S. vaccination effort is effective, equitable and with patient privacy protected.