Benzinga | Mar 5, 2021 02:25AM EST

Moderna To Collaborate With IBM On COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Utilizing Blockchain Tech

Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) plan to collaborate on technologies that could help support smarter management of COVID-19 vaccines, including improving supply chain management and real-time tracking of vaccines.

What Happened: The companies said Thursday they will focus on technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and hybrid cloud to help improve information sharing among governments and health care providers to address potential supply chain disruptions.

IBM will also offer its Digital Health Pass tool, built on blockchain technology, to help individuals maintain control of their personal health information and for organizations to verify the health credentials of employees, customers and travelers.

In January, a coalition of health and technology companies, including Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE:CRM) and Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) said they are working on developing a digital passport for COVID-19 vaccines. The companies expect this will empower individuals to obtain an encrypted copy of the inoculation credentials and store it in a digital wallet of their choice.

Why It Matters: The news of the IBM-Moderna collaboration assumes significance after Moderna was previously said to be the target of Chinese government-linked hackers and an attempt was reportedly made to extract data from its computer network.

In addition, vaccine production delays by the major drug makers resulted in supply chain disruptions and the U.S. facing a shortage of vaccines.

Price Movement: Moderna closed 0.8% higher on Thursday at $132.30, while IBM closed 1.8% lower at $120.11.

See Also: Pfizer, Moderna, J&J Pledge to Make 240M Covid-19 Vaccine Doses Available in US By March-End