Salesforce Adds New Capabilities to Vaccine Cloud

As the massive global vaccination effort is underway to end the COVID-19 pandemic, the tech industry is stepping up to offer solutions to help accelerate those efforts.

One of those companies doing that work is Salesforce, which on Thursday announced new upgrades to its Vaccine Cloud solution designed to make scheduling appointments more efficient and integrate with any scheduling system in use.

The upgrades are free and offer more reliable and equitable ways for people to schedule vaccine appointments, according to the company. Salesforce first launched Vaccine Cloud in late January as vaccination programs began in earnest as a way for organizations to design, build, integrate and manage vaccination programs end-to-end on one platform.

The new capabilities allow residents to pre-register to receive a vaccine on their own time via a scalable website that helps eliminate the need to constantly refresh the page to see new appointments or wait on the phone.

Once residents are eligible, they receive a text or email notifying them to schedule an appointment and avoid waiting for the exact moment when slots are released on the website.

According to Salesforce, Vaccine Cloud then connects people to a personalized scheduling process with a one-time use link to help ensure equal access to the system.

When the link is clicked, the webpage shows when and where the available appointments are, and it holds that place until an appointment is booked.

Last week, content delivery network provider Akamai announced that it had developed the Akamai Vaccine Edge for Salesforce Vaccine Cloud to help organizations scale their online distribution of vaccines. The company said the solution complements the Vaccine Cloud by enhancing the registration and signup process when websites are under duress.

These solutions come as vaccination programs continue to ramp up, including in the U.S., where President Joe Biden has said all adults will be eligible for the vaccine by April 19.