Technical architecture

This section is for technical readers and outlines the architecture fundamentals to feasibly stand up your infrastructure.

The technical architecture of a VAF can be broken up into several major components, from most granular to most resident-facing:

1. Scripts that load up-to-date appointment information for each provider location. See Data extraction methods.

2. A database listing vaccine provider locations (this does not need to store appointment information, but does need to be easy for non-technical staff to edit). See Database considerations.

3. An infrastructure layer that runs the data loading scripts, stores their results, and makes the results available to the front-end. There are two altitudes of infrastructure:

   1. Simple infrastructure: Use git/GitHub to store and share data, and GitHub Actions (or another CI provider) to run data loading scripts on a tight schedule (e.g. every 10 minutes). This works well for small states with fewer than 750 provider locations and typically cost between $50 and $500 per month. USDR recommends that you implement this first and then move to a more complicated infrastructure if needed.

   2. Complex infrastructure (e.g. Azure or AWS): Larger states will have more data, more frequent updates, and may need a more complex infrastructure. This can cost about $500-1,000 per month.

4. A front-end to display the data. You may have a COVID-19 information site where this should be displayed, but we recommend developing it separately and using an iframe or scripts to include it in the main site.

VAF technical architecture in action