Schools and companies now face a new challenge as new variants of COVID-19 spread around the world. Despite the efforts, the best expectations are that by December 2021, trials for the childhood vaccine could be completed. Even assuming the possibility that this date will not be delayed, the process of approval, manufacture and distribution of the vaccine, at a time when pharmaceutical companies are still overwhelmed with adult vaccine manufacturing capacity, may take several months.
Last year's school closures had a highly negative impact on students, which is compounded by the dissatisfaction of the family environment and a problem in the economy when parents cannot go to work because their children are at home.
The situation is likely to cause, at the very least, a risky first semester for schooling. Therefore, it is extremely important to find a solution that guarantees parents and students, a safe return to the classroom to successfully complete the child vaccination process. And to give peace of mind that, even if the vaccine takes more or fewer months to arrive, the authorities have a plan in place to solve the problem.
The solution is already tested and working successfully in Puerto Rico, USA. Having the APIs available and the technology ready, implementation is easy.
We have written this article, based on our experience over the past year in Puerto Rico's private schools. With more than 10,000 children using SafeTrac, we have kept schools open and we have prevented outbreaks on school campuses.
Our proposal is a comprehensive one, which, in harmony with the systems already developed by local governments, could strengthen and expand COVID-19 monitoring and tracking services and plans, especially for children, employees and family members of the public and private education system in any country.
Finally, SafeTrac is not only a solution for covid-19, it is a scalable and reusable technology for other healthcare incidents.