Developing a novel blockchain-based vaccine tracking and certificate system: An end-to-end approach

Vaccines are a remarkable medical achievement, protecting against diseases and saving lives. Lack of confidence and misinformation challenge vaccine acceptance. Blockchain provides a solution to establish trust. This study aims to develop a comprehensive application adaptable for public and private networks, enhancing the vaccination process. Existing research has gaps in coverage and testing of vaccine solutions. Thus, this study aims to develop a blockchain application for comprehensive traceability of vaccine batches and reliable maintenance of certificates, addressing these limitations. The study follows design science principles, creating, testing, and benchmarking a prototype. It includes a Smart Contract developed in Solidity, rigorous testing with Mocha, and benchmarking with Hyperledger Caliper. The Next.js application interacts with the Smart Contract using Metamask and web3.js for effective communication. Deployment and testing are conducted across two local networks, namely Ganache and Hyperledger Besu, along with four test networks-Rinkeby, Ropsten, Goerli, and Kovan. Thorough benchmarking is performed in these networks, enabling comparisons of each method in terms of throughput, latency, and success rate. Remarkably, all benchmarked methods achieved success. When compared, the majority of methods demonstrated high throughput in the Ganache local network and the Ropsten test network. The successful deployment and testing of the developed application in various networks suggest its suitability for deployment in the main network. Upon adoption, this application has the potential to significantly enhance trust in the entirety of the vaccination process, yielding substantial benefits for public health initiatives.