Multispectral imaging fingerprint sensors, as part of a solution created by VaxTrac, will help to stop vaccine waste at 31 new clinics in southern Benin in West Africa. The latest version of the system uses fingerprints of both mother and child for more robust identification. The use of fingerprints for vaccine tracking has already become very popular. In a preliminary assessment, the use of biometrics in the vaccination process has led to a 10-percent increase in the number of women returning to the clinics.
“The women are always asking for their baby’s fingerprints to be taken,” says Aplogan Nicephore Ange-Guy, vaccinator in Allada, Benin. “There is a growing demand for it. They say to me, ‘Take my child’s fingerprint.’ They think it’s cool.”