Makati PH to Deploy Smart Technology Innovations in the Fight Against COVID-19

In view of increased COVID-19 vaccines delivery, what exactly is a “suite of smart technologies”? Is it one with a lot of cool features or one that is tailored to your specific needs?

 

This is what Makati City Mayor Abby Binay wants to stress about their new Kontra Covid-19 project. She discusses which aspects of smart technology were beneficial to us in caring for our vaccines.

 

Mayor claimed her city has now implemented a suite of smart technologies that would assure appropriate storage of the coronavirus vaccines while reducing human interference.

 

“The [Meraki Vaccine Distribution Solution] will help us with the vaccine itself,” Binay stated on July 28 in reference to the city’s inoculation drive’s digital infrastructure developed by Cisco.

 

“It’s to guarantee that the temperature control is maintained and that you have a CCTV camera monitoring who comes in and pulls out the vaccine inventory,” she explained.

 

Due to difficulties such as storage temperature fluctuations and outages, several local government units in the Philippines have been dealing with vaccine wastage since the country launched its COVID-19 vaccination campaign in March.

 

“Imagine if we have one million doses. The pulling out [of jabs] from the storage, and then moving it to another vaccine site [would] be a major headache if your numbers are not tabulating,” Binay said.

 

“Imagine if it’s hundreds of thousands already, it would be difficult to monitor. The Solution is in anticipation of the volume of vaccines that we will be receiving,” she added.

 

Karrie Ilagan, the managing director of Cisco Philippines, agreed with Binay.

 

“Every time the freezer door opens, it triggers some alert,” Ilagan said, further describing how the technology works. “[Our work includes] making sure that the vaccines that the city has procured are physically safeguarded through simple IoT devices.”

 

Mayor Binay stated two months ago that Makati is setting the groundwork to become the country’s first smart city, and that the Makati Public Wi-Fi Project has formed a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with Globe Go-Wifi and Converge ICT Solutions to give free internet access to Makati residents.