Last week, U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch introduced a bill proposing to create a National Emergency Biodefense Network using blockchain to improve the supply of medical essentials during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Called the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) Enhancement and Transparency Act, the bill recommends using distributed ledger technology (DLT) for tracking supplies in SNS. The network would bring transparency to the availability of essential medical supplies in each state and the SNS. It also aims to provide funding to create state repositories and setting up state-based blockchain nodes for tracking supplies.
The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is the central repository of antibiotics, vaccines, antitoxins, and other critical medical supplies. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed insufficient stockpiles of masks and ventilators at the SNS and it’s struggling to keep up with the demands from states. Currently, a large proportion of medical supplies in the U.S. are imported from China, and President Trump is pushing to eliminate this reliance on another country by manufacturing products in the States.
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