Long before the pandemic, Jennifer and Billy Sparks knew storing vaccination records needed an innovative solution.
When they moved their children from New Mexico to Georgia, it took many days and phone calls — as well as a cross-country drive — to account for all their vaccines in their new schools.
“The status of vaccination records is not a 20th-century solution, it’s a 19th-century solution,” said Billy Sparks, who co-founded Vacmobile Corporation with his wife.
Knowing that would become a bigger problem once a COVID-19 vaccine was available and widely distributed, the two founded Vacmobile in April to safely store personal immunization and vaccination records.
The Vacmobile app also produces a health pass QR code, which people can show as proof that they’ve received a vaccine or a COVID-19 test.
“Once the pandemic hit, we absolutely sped up our timetable," CEO Jennifer Sparks said. "Not only was this a product that was going to be critically needed, but we also needed to include testing as well as vaccination records in our solution."
The app allows people to send a request to the state immunization information system and receive their vaccination records, which are stored in a cloud system. It will also give reminders and alerts when people are due for booster shots.
Vacmobile presented at Venture Atlanta and is a member of ATDC and Tech Alpharetta. The Sparks have bootstrapped the company so far and are in the middle of a seed raise, Jennifer Sparks said.
Right now, Vacmobile is in beta testing but will first market a business-to-business SaaS license, which would allow an entity such as a university health center to keep track of student COVID-19 tests or vaccine records.
The licenses will range from $2-$6 for universities with more than 5,000 students, Sparks said. For those with 5,000 or less, the product will cost a flat rate of $30,000.
Businesses and schools would also have data on those tests or vaccines for analysis, and employees or students would have the health pass as on-demand proof of their records.
Beta testing should be completed in the first quarter of 2021, Sparks said, which is when the company will roll out the app to universities and then expand to other verticals, such as health care and assisted living.
Once Vacmobile launches the B2B app, it will expand as a consumer app, which would allow anyone to download it and store their vaccination records, Sparks said.
Sparks said they’re working with LexisNexis to authenticate user identities, which would then generate as user-specific QR codes for the health pass. The technology for the app has a pending patent, and Sparks said they plan to automate uploading the vaccination information and will continue to improve its features as they roll out the app.
