Image from Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR), the controversial data-mining company, will assist the U.S. government in tracking the administration of COVID-19 vaccines.
The company is developing a tool to enhance the logistics of vaccines for the novel coronavirus.
Founded in 2003, Palantir has a long history of working with the federal government. The company’s software possibly played a role in the CIA’s identification and assassination of Osama bin Laden.
Palantir has expanded its healthcare involvement in recent years. In 2018, it signed a $7 million contract with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Earlier this year, the company began working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to analyze data related to the novel coronavirus in a program known as HHS Protect. Further, HHS awarded two contracts to Palantir, valued together at $25 million, to analyze COVID-19 data from government, healthcare providers and universities.
For its vaccine contract with the U.S. government, Palantir has created a software system known as Tiberius that could identify high-priority populations for receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Wall Street Journal.
HHS has stressed that the Tiberius program won’t have access to sensitive health information.
Officials anticipate that the Tiberius system can optimize the delivery of vaccines to facilities administering the vaccine.
The system draws its name from the middle name of James T. Kirk, the Star Trek captain.
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