Just as your outreach program should keep accessibility top of mind, so too should your platform. If you’re offering individuals a way to sign up for a vaccine appointment, for example, those appointments should be available to them whether or not they have a smartphone, email, or even access to the internet. The platform should be available in many languages. Choose wording for registration questions carefully and consider all possibilities. For example, some people may not want to reveal their gender, others may not have a current home address.

Give your candidates a full understanding of the purpose and capabilities of your technology – their use of it should be voluntary. It’s important that they know how their personal data is being collected and used and understand their rights to control that information. If a person elects not to opt in, or cannot for reasons such as not having access to the internet, you should offer alternative methods so they may equitably participate in the program.

The Chicago Department of Public Health is devoted to improving public health through anti-racist, multicultural systems. The city was hit hard by COVID-19, and the department was determined to distribute vaccines equitably as soon as they were available.

The department worked hard to put the right technological infrastructure in place even before COVID-19 vaccines were available. It launched a vaccine clinic management system on Salesforce Government Cloud with additions from other clouds and products that included Salesforce Maps for appointment locations and Salesforce Shield for an extra layer of security. That turned its former paper-based data system into a cloud-based one, which the department tested with staff before launching it for the public.

By the start of flu season, city residents could access the site from a computer or mobile device, create a profile, and find a flu vaccine appointment. Or, they could walk into a vaccine location and engage with the system there. “The flu season has served as a nice test case for us,” said David Juen, the department’s project coordinator. “The amount of real-time data analysis we can do is just phenomenal. We have dashboards that break down the total number of flu vaccinations by demographics, ZIP code, day of the week, and more.”

This foresight and planning paid off. When COVID-19 vaccines came to Chicago, the system was primed and perfected to get shots into arms as quickly as possible.

Supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine might be unpredictable. Manufacturing problems, shipping issues, government decisions about distribution and eligibility, and even weather events can disrupt plans. Your technology platform can help you quickly determine if you have enough supply to meet your needs. Create subsets within your priority groups to help best administer the doses you receive. As more doses become available, your platform can quickly scale to meet the increase in both doses and individuals who will be receiving them.

Consider additional supplies you will need in order to administer the vaccine. These include needles of varying sizes (based on the population being immunized), syringes, alcohol prep pads, surgical masks and shields, vaccination record cards, and vaccine needle guides.

While vaccine orders may contain these supplies, your organization should also maintain a stockpile of extras. In addition to supplies, ensure your facility or site has safety and cleaning protocols for the designated immunization areas and that you also stock the necessary supplies to keep those spaces clean.

Robust, effective supply chain management is a critical component of a successful mass vaccination initiative. Maintaining near real-time status on supply levels helps ensure adequate stock and can aid in accurately forecasting demand requirements. It can also help you figure out how much to set aside for contingency in the event of damage, dilution, inadequate storage, or other occurrences.

Coordinating initial and follow-up appointments is a monumental task. Your technology platform should be agile enough to scale quickly as more and more doses are issued and more appointments can be scheduled. A platform that centralizes data can link an individual's responses to surveys issued to determine their eligibility – or other data they voluntarily provide – to their appointments. Clinicians can perform health assessments and obtain consent with acknowledgement of vaccine risks and append that consent to their records. The system can identify individuals who miss appointments – especially second doses – and send reminders and encouragement to come back in.

Once individuals start coming in for their appointments, it’s important to get them in and out quickly and safely. Your technology platform should power a streamlined end-to-end process that:

• Provides easy appointment scheduling and reminder notifications
• Allows individuals to confirm their vaccination appointments and check in digitally
• Gathers constituent information into a central, secure platform that employees can quickly pull up in preparation for the vaccination when an individual arrives
• Securely captures critical vaccine administration details and links that information to the individual being vaccinated
• Centralizes information and provides a single source of truth that enables simplified analysis and quick follow-up