Salesforce Announces Platform to Handle Vaccine Programs

Need to Know

• Vaccine Cloud will help government agencies, healthcare organizations, businesses, and other organizations manage their vaccine programs.
• The new platform exists within Salesforce Customer 360, and offers inventory management and patient outcome monitoring, alongside scheduling and registration tools.
• A number of companies are already using Vaccine Cloud to help organizations manage their COVID-19 vaccine rollouts, including Deloitte, IBM, and KPMG.

Analysis

As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues, Salesforce has announced a new tool that will help government agencies and businesses alike manage their vaccine rollout programs, from scheduling to patient monitoring.

Vaccine Cloud, which Salesforce announced in late January, is designed to help governments, healthcare organizations, businesses and nonprofits design, and their vaccine programs at scale, directly within Salesforce’s Customer 360 program. Vaccine Cloud includes tools to allow organizations to monitor inventory, schedule vaccinations, and monitor patients who have been vaccinated, and also includes communication components, to remind patients to come in for a second dose, for instance. Customer 360 will allow users of Vaccine Cloud to consolidate all relevant data in one place. 

“The biggest challenge the world faces right now is orchestrating the distribution of billions of vaccine doses. Technology can play a critical role in ensuring it’s done efficiently, effectively, and equitably,” Bret Taylor, president and COO of Salesforce, said in a statement. “We’re proud to be supporting organizations through their recovery and helping to protect people from the effects of COVID-19.”

Vaccine Cloud will consolidate processes, such as payment, reimbursement, and training, and will also provide the option for patients to share their vaccination or health status, which can help safely bring employees back to indoor workspaces, such as offices, and facilitate the safe reintroduction of large public gatherings such as concerts or sports events. A number of Salesforce experts are already using Vaccine Cloud to help organizations manage their vaccine rollout, including global strategic partners such as Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, and KPMG.

The launch of Vaccine Cloud follows the launch of two other COVID-19 vaccine distribution from Salesforce: a vaccine distribution tool in Work.com, which the company unveiled in September, and a partnership with Microsoft on a digital vaccine passport, announced earlier this year. Salesforce is hoping to use these platforms to help clients return to work smoothly, given the fact that many enterprise businesses already have Salesforce embedded within their technology stacks.

Salesforce is just one of a number of large companies and corporations that are lending their digital infrastructure to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Cloudflare, for instance, announced it would be rolling out digital waiting rooms as part of its Fair Shot Initiative earlier this month, while Starbucks is lending its team of designers and engineers to help expedite the vaccination process. Amazon and Walmart, meanwhile, have launched their own vaccination clinics; Walmart currently offers vaccination clinics in nearly 10 states, while Amazon opened a one-day pop-up clinic in Seattle earlier this month.