SpringML helps build an application for vaccine eligibility to improve state distribution

The vaccine promotion and initiative were integral to putting the COVID-19 pandemic behind us. However, due to limited vaccine supplies available, it was essential that residents were made aware of their eligibility and roll-out plans.

A U.S.based public healthcare government agency’s initiatives to increase vaccine rates is a key example of how the collaboration between agencies and resident platforms enables continual notification and message to keep continual communication enacting the successful vaccine programs. This public healthcare agency partnered with Google Cloud and SpringML to develop and design a vaccine eligibility screening and scheduling tool for its residents.

The vaccine promotion and initiative were integral to putting the COVID-19 pandemic behind us.

With over 400,000 residents, the agency needed to improve communication with its residents and offer them a way to determine eligibility and locate active vaccine sites. As a result, the healthcare agency planned the designing a stand-alone web application that would allow its citizens to register for vaccines, determine immediate eligibility, as well as receive notifications as the vaccine rollout progressed.

SpringML initiated the project by first configuring and deploying code using Cloud Build into the Google Cloud environment to accommodate all the data generated. The repository of this data was then configured to develop and build a web-based application vaccine recipient eligibility tool to notify residents of COVID-19 vaccine eligibility.

The application enabled residents to verify and register via their email address and phone number, as well as determine if they were eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Users could also search for vaccine locations, based on eligibility and proximity with notification to registrants who do not qualify and when eligibility was made available for them. The application additionally understood and enabled multiple languages such as English, Spanish, Russian, and Vietnamese.

As the project progressed, the following features were enabled:

• An admin portal to generate new vaccine events
• Implement BigQuery for data storage and analytics
• A provision for providers and admins to approve, cancel or delete vaccine events
• A Finder Map to enable users to find vaccine events with zoom in / zoom out functionality. Pagination was also added to improve latency
• Messaging Infrastructure to send SMS / emails to customers via scheduled and ad hoc events

Accessible in 12 languages– Arabic, Chuukese, English, Hmong, Korean, Marshallese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese – along with messaging support (email/SMS).

Furthermore, the application enhances the user experience to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The application included features accessible to those with disabilities, performance optimization, and security compliance by using Google Cloud Load Balancing (GCLB) and Google Cloud Armor.

The customer originally designed the application to notify residents of their vaccine eligibility but as time passed the initiative advanced to become a mass communication system for the healthcare agency themselves. The application created an easy, progressive, and quick official channel for agencies to send messages based on alert events and/or custom messages by state employees via SMS or email.

The application allowed the Healthcare agency to send over 700 million messages to its residents, who signed up to receive communication, about their eligibility and find out more about vaccine events and locations. Residents also had the availability to filter/select preferences, within the application, so they received details based on their interests.

COVID-19, with vaccine program prioritizations, could have created a chaotic miss interpretation of notification, information, and understanding, but the development of the application helped residents determine their eligibility, scheduling prioritization, and vaccine location with ease. The state residents gained timely access to vaccine notifications and messages quickly with ensured personalizations—ultimately preventing lost time and misplaced effort.