The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology

Hope Consortium ensures vaccine supply

(Posted on 24/02/21)

Hope Consortium, an Abu Dhabi-led public-private partnership delivering large quantities of COVID-19 vaccines globally, is utilizing internally developed “mUnity” system to ensure full visibility, safety and security, and tamper-proof distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, despite the complexities of their transportation.

Developed by Maqta Gateway, Abu Dhabi Ports’ digital technologies subsidiary and a founding member of the Hope Consortium, mUnity is a proprietary custom-built digital system that employs blockchain technology that is being used to track and trace COVID-19 vaccine sourcing, storage, shipment and all related data in real-time at every step of the vaccine journey. The system features robust end-to-end visibility of every vaccine, starting from the manufacturing facility, to when they arrive at vaccination centres in the UAE and other destinations worldwide. Based on the availability of data, the system, has the capability to track individual vaccine doses up until the time of the administration of the dose.

Dr. Omar Najim, Executive Office Director at the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, said:

“With the launch of mUnity, the Hope Consortium, from its hub in Abu Dhabi, continues to cement its position as a premiere platform for helping the world overcome the global pandemic safely and effectively. With the global demand already outstripping available supplies, vaccines are becoming not only a precious commodity from a healthcare value perspective, but also from financial and security point of view. mUnity will provide an added layer of protection thereby ensuring that vaccines arrive in the right place, at the right time, to the right people and in the right conditions.”

“Transporting, storing and delivering vaccines is one of the most challenging and specialized logistical processes in normal circumstances. With the pandemic, the Hope Consortium is taking on the added challenge of managing complexities of transporting the much-needed COVID-19 vaccines, due to their strict temperature requirements. Maqta Gateway’s solution allows all Consortium partners to maintain visibility and drive vital decisions on temperature integrity, demand planning and security of vaccines, wherever they are in the world.”

Maqta Gateway has built mUnity to be a secure and flexible solution that can scale to hundreds of millions of transactions for up to the 18 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses that the Hope Consortium aims to distribute by the end of 2021. The system has the ability to adapt to multiple journeys, different vaccine characteristics, and specific stakeholder requirements. The Hope Consortium continues to present a prime example of how “team Abu Dhabi” with all its different public private and partners, continues to show the world the benefits of collaboration.

Dr. Noura Al Dhaheri, Head of the Digital Cluster at Abu Dhabi Ports and CEO of Maqta Gateway, said: “mUnity is built upon the tried and tested digital technology that we developed originally for managing marine shipments and port communities. In order to manage the safe and secure distribution of vaccines worldwide, mUnity incorporates blockchain technology, which enables efficient management of data, transparency, and also provides sophisticated defense against the threat of criminal activity.

“With mUnity, Maqta Gateway serves as a key enabler of one of the world’s largest supply chain efforts of its kind to date, supporting the Hope Consortium in the timely and equitable global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The system has managed and tracked all COVID-19 vaccine supplies delivered to, and through, Abu Dhabi so far, and serves as an example of how Abu Dhabi’s public-private partnership is helping solve the challenges of the global pandemic.”

Maqta Gateway was launched in 2016 by Abu Dhabi’s leadership to accelerate the digitisation of trade and strengthen Abu Dhabi’s global standing as a leading logistics, transport and trade hub.