How Nonprofits and Education Institutions Can Accelerate Vaccine Management

Distributing COVID-19 vaccines to 5.6 billion people worldwide to reach global herd immunity is no small feat — and one that requires a commitment to innovation and cross-sector collaboration. 

Since early 2020, the nonprofit, education, government, health, and corporate sectors have worked together like never before to manufacture an effective vaccine in record time. Now that safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are available and countries, states, and local governments around the world are establishing vaccination programs, continued collaboration and strong digital infrastructures are essential for equitable and efficient distribution at scale.

Today, international, federal, state, and local agencies, thousands of healthcare providers, and nonprofits worldwide are using Salesforce technology specifically for vaccine management, including University of Massachusetts Amherst and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

UMass Amherst and Gavi are leveraging their organizational expertise, combined with technology solutions, to aid vaccination efforts. By leveraging technology for program management, marketing, data exchange, insights, and more, they are partnering with both governments and the private sector to accelerate and optimize equitable vaccine distribution.

As nonprofits and educational institutions carve out their roles in vaccine management to get their communities out of the pandemic as safely and quickly as possible, learn how these two organizations are leading the way.

UMass Establishes a Public Vaccine Clinic with a Digital-First Approach

As part of Massachusetts’ plan to begin statewide vaccinations, UMass Amherst established a public vaccine clinic for Massachusetts service professionals. In a matter of weeks, the university launched the clinic and appointment scheduling system. 

Powered by Experience Cloud, the system enables those eligible to receive a vaccine to easily book an appointment and allows the university to track who has received a vaccination. UMass also keeps their community informed and tracks communications with Marketing Cloud, empowering regular wellness checks across the community.

 

“We established a public vaccine clinic in a matter of weeks by working with Salesforce to deploy the right technology to efficiently schedule appointments and track communications,” said Jeffrey Hescock, Executive Director of EH&S and Emergency Management at University of Massachusetts Amherst. “As of today we have vaccinated approximately 2,000 individuals in only two weeks, and we plan to continue to expand our distribution efforts to accelerate critical vaccination efforts across Massachusetts.”

Gavi Leverages Salesforce To Help Equitably Distribute Two Billion Vaccines

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is collaborating with Salesforce to help manage critical information to equitably distribute approximately two billion COVID-19 vaccines to 190 countries by the end of 2021. 

In order to distribute vaccines at this scale and get vaccines to some of the world’s poorest countries, Gavi needs to manage huge volumes of data. That’s where Salesforce comes in. 

In June, Gavi and other partners launched COVAX, a global alliance whose goal is to ensure that people in all corners of the world get access to COVID-19 vaccines, regardless of their wealth. COVAX will achieve this by supporting the research, development, and manufacturing of a wide range of COVID-19 vaccine candidates, and also negotiating pricing and distribution for the 190 countries that have joined the alliance to date. 

In order to do this efficiently, Gavi needs a single source of truth to help understand how many vaccines are needed and where. Salesforce Experience Cloud and Nonprofit Cloud will power the country engagement platform to manage critical information. 

These Salesforce solutions are enabling Gavi to move quickly with a single, secure portal that all participating countries can use to communicate and share information, such as vaccine requirements and access reports. Lower-income countries that are eligible for support by COVAX will use the portal to provide information to facilitate planning of doses to be rolled out. Higher-income, self-financing countries participating in COVAX will also use the portal to provide country demand and supply chain information.

“With our colleagues at Salesforce, we will establish the backbone that allows COVAX participants and partners to share essential information and communicate with greater efficiency and accountability,” said Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi. “The partnership will give people worldwide, especially in the poorest countries, access to vaccines that help protect them from COVID-19 and stem the continuing catastrophic social and economic disruption the pandemic has already left in its wake.”

Our Collective Journey Back to “Normal”

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that our global community is stronger together. As we move forward with this mass vaccination effort and a long road to pandemic recovery, a community-based approach to problem solving across sectors.

Today, Salesforce announced Vaccine Cloud, technology that will help government agencies, healthcare organizations, businesses, nonprofits and educational institutions more rapidly, safely, and efficiently deploy and manage their vaccine programs.

As the world grapples with how to orchestrate the distribution of billions of vaccine doses, technology can help make the process more efficient and equitable. At Salesforce.org, we’re inspired by our community members who are on the frontlines of global vaccination efforts and the role of our technology to accelerate progress. 

Learn more about Vaccine Cloud and watch our on-demand webinar Transforming Vaccine Delivery During a Global Pandemic.

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About the Author

Rob Acker

CEO, Salesforce.org

Rob leads Salesforce.org, a dedicated social impact team at Salesforce working to provide the world’s #1 CRM to the nonprofit, education, and philanthropy sectors. As the world has gone digital first, he and his team focus on delivering technology to help our community go through a digital transformation and maximize social impact.