A Scalable Solution for High-Intensity COVID-19 Vaccine Registrations
The Challenge
In January, Pennsylvania was suffering from the fifth-highest COVID-19 death toll, and lagged behind almost every other state in vaccine distribution. This was, in large part, due to the lack of central vaccine registration site.
As one of Pennsylvania’s largest integrated healthcare payers and providers, UPMC felt a responsibility to contribute to a solution.
The Team
Development Manager
Senior Architect
Architect
Developers
Q & A
The Technology
Azure Table Storage
CDN
Service Bus
Azure Functions
Azure Application Gateway
Azure Application Insights
Web Applications
The Solution
Together, the CEI and client teams quickly began building a vaccine registration site that could handle the intensity and large-scale number of submissions anticipated given the pent-up demand.
Load Test
Load testing tools proved that the capacity of the existing form solution in its current state would not scale to meet the massive demand of vaccine seekers.
Azure Platform Integration
Load testing tools proved that the capacity of the existing form solution in its current state would not scale to meet the massive demand of vaccine seekers.
Collaboration
When the initial architecture had been built and tested, CEI reached out to Microsoft in collaboration with the clients Web and Security teams to review and validate the architecture, hinging the success of this project to cross-team, cross-function, and cross-organization effort.
The Stack
The CEI team utilized multiple technologies to ensure the system was adaptable, secure, and able to provide useful metrics and data.
CDN, Server Bus & Azure Functions
To allow the application to handle large bursts of submissions, while providing a responsive experience.
Application Gateway & Azure Table Storage
To ensure the system was protected, and data was secured.
Azure Application Insights & Web Applications
To provide a combined view of usage and performance of the system.
Results
498,600
Submissions
The solution went live on February 17, 2021 and has handled over 498,600 submissions (120 submissions per minute at peak) for vaccine registration to date, with no issues reported.
237,726
Doses
As of March 15, 2021, the client had administered 237,726 doses of the vaccine, including 5,000 in one single day at a mass vaccination clinic at PPG Paints Arena.
80,000
Weekly Vaccinations
The client anticipates being able to schedule up to 80,000 vaccinations per week, contributing greatly to Pennsylvania improving from a rank of 49th in percentage of population fully vaccinated to 30th as of April 7th, 2021. CEI is proud to have been a part of the team that made this happen.
Client Development Manager
Although work is still being done, it was and is an important project and the team did a fantastic job. Everyone part of that project should be very proud.
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