Blockchain-based vaccine verification platform VXPASS has officially announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Sesiu sa Tšoele le beta Poho Fund (SESIU), the public-private partnership tasked to administer COVID-19 vaccinations in the Kingdom of Lesotho. VXPASS will handle the management of vaccination data throughout its entire course. The contract stipulates that VXPASS will manage the first 56,000 vaccinations administered by SESIU, with the goal of completing vaccinations of 1.2 million people in Lesotho by the end of 2021. This is the first-ever national application of vaccines on blockchain.

“We are excited to work with the SESIU in their important efforts to efficiently and reliably roll out a COVID-19 vaccination program in the Kingdom of Lesotho. It is our firm belief that good data is key for a successful vaccination rollout, particularly considering the scale of both the effort and investment required. By using VXPASS, the Kingdom of Lesotho is ensuring from the outset that all data generated and captured is not only of the highest quality, but that it is publicly available on the blockchain in real-time—ensuring the utmost levels of transparency, validity, personal control and ultimately, confidence on this road to recovery,” VXPASS founder Zachary Weiner commented about the partnership.

In order to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to the country, Lesotho has turned it into an opportunity to digitally transform the small African nation. VXPASS utilizes the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain to manage and record vaccination data. And by doing so on a public blockchain that has a stable protocol and has the ability to scale infinitely, it ensures the transparency, immutability, security and integrity of the big data that will be generated by millions of vaccination records. Vaccines on blockchain allows for various government organizations and stakeholders to view updated data in real time, making monitoring national vaccinations more efficient. In addition, individuals will be able to have instant access to their vaccination records through the VXPASS mobile app, which also makes inputting necessary personal information into the system easier.

“The risk posed to Lesotho by the COVID-19 pandemic is immense for the country’s 2.3 million citizens. At the same time, with some imagination and innovation, there is also scope for new opportunities to emerge. It is my strong belief that VXPASS and Lesotho’s blockchain-based approach to managing our vaccine program will demonstrate the level of digital innovation evident in our country and help us take the lead with this technology across the African continent,” Dr. Catherine Lephoto, former deputy CEO for core operations of and current advisor to the National COVID-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC) in Lesotho, said.

“When blockchain technology is allowed to demonstrate its full-spectrum of capabilities beyond just enabling digital currency, it illustrates the game-changing potential that blockchain offers for enterprises and governments—and ultimately, society as a whole. The BSV blockchain, which powers VXPASS, is uniquely situated to meet the requirements of government and enterprise projects of this scale and offers truly ground-breaking technology to help countries advance their digital transformation—which is a top priority in Africa,” the founding president of Bitcoin Association, the Switzerland-based global organization that aims to push the use of the BSV blockchain, Jimmy Nguyen, added.

Although vaccines on blockchain is especially relevant during this time of pandemic, its use can be transmuted to all kinds of vaccines. currently, people do not have ownership and control over their vaccination records. But with a blockchain-based platform like VXPASS, they can have access to all of their vaccination records at their hands—whether they were performed by different medical institutions. And this does not only apply for vaccines as the BSV blockchain is already working with a myriad of use cases in different industries. This is the real value of a stable and massively scalable blockchain