Reducing COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by Applying Blockchain in Vaccination Rollout Management

TL;DR

This paper proposes a blockchain-based management system for COVID-19 vaccination rollout, modeled with an extended SEIR framework, demonstrating significant reductions in cases and deaths through improved vaccine distribution and enforcement of preventive measures.

Contribution

It introduces a trustable blockchain system integrated with an extended SEIR model to enhance vaccination management and enforce preventive measures against COVID-19.

Findings

System can reduce up to 2.5 million cases

System can prevent approximately 500,000 deaths

Effective in scenarios with social behavior violations

Abstract

Because a fast vaccination rollout against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is critical to restore daily life and avoid virus mutations, it is tempting to have a relaxed vaccination-administration management system. However, a robust management system can support the enforcement of preventive measures, and in turn, reduce incidence and deaths. Here, we model a trustable and reliable management system based on blockchain for vaccine distribution by extending the Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovery (SEIR) model. The model includes prevention measures such as mask-wearing, social distance, vaccination rate, and vaccination efficiency. It also considers negative social behavior, such as violations of social distance and attempts of using illegitimate vaccination proofs. By evaluating the model, we show that the proposed system can reduce up to 2.5 million cases and half a million deaths in the most demanding scenarios.