THE COVID-19 VACCINE: Does it Come with 2 Day Free Shipping?

Coronavirus has uprooted life for most people and penetrated into every aspect of our lives. New working from home policies, virtual learning, mask mandates, politics, and communication are focused on the raging pandemic. Current data suggests that the worldwide death toll has surpassed 1.34 million deaths, with 254,000 of those being within the US alone [1]. However, there has been hope on the horizon. Pfizer and Moderna have made incredible strides, creating a vaccine that is 95% and 94.5% effective at treating the Coronavirus. While the fact that a vaccine has been discovered is amazing, there is still a huge issue: distribution. With the spread of Coronavirus, the world's optimized supply chain network took significant damage. Now, it is this same crippled system that will be placed in charge of distributing the cure to the Coronavirus. This article intends to highlight the current issues with the distribution network and potential issues to resolve before the vaccine distribution.

This raises the question, what are the issues with transporting the vaccine? This first key issue is temperature. Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored at -70 degrees Celsius. For reference, that is colder than the average temperature in the Arctic. This means that a container from Pfizer could most likely store 1000 or 5000 doses, covered in dry ice [4]. These conditions limit the travel time of the vaccine to large urban centers. This is due to ease of access and population sizes large enough to make vaccine production economical. Moderna faces a similar challenge, however, their vaccine only needs to be stored at -20 degrees Celsius.

Besides the temperature issue, another key issue is supply chain logistics. The government has released a plan called Operation Warp Speed (OWS). The goal was to leverage collaboration between the Department for Health and Human Service, Center for Disease Control, National Institute of Health, Department of Defense, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency. The plan is modeled off the 2009 plan to distribute the H1N1 vaccine throughout the country. However, the plan has a major flaw. Just like 2009, the plan accounts for developing, purchasing, and distributing the vaccine to the states. The plan does not account for how the states will distribute the vaccine to its residents.

Most states do not currently have a plan for distribution. Those who do have outlined lofty plans. Ohio, for example, has released a document outlining its plans [3]. They include storage and handling of the vaccine along with a rough bullet list of things to consider before distribution. The plan does not take into account costs or other critical issues that surround mass distribution of the vaccine. While this may seem minor now, in the face of such a severe outbreak of the Coronavirus, detailed plans and budgets will be critical to execute safe and efficient delivery of the vaccine to people in this country and across the globe.

With this in mind, the next logical step is to ask how to fix the issue at hand. While there is no right answer, several sources have given tips or indications as to what next steps might be appropriate. SupplyChainDrive, an internet website dedicated solely to supply chain logistics, believes that there are several key tools that must be leveraged in the upcoming months. The first is sourcing items that are in shortage. Things like glass bottles, stoppers, needles, syringes, etc.

must be stockpiled and available in anticipation of the large volume of vaccine to be stored and transported [2]. Nimble manufacturing is another item. Since the process for making the vaccine is most likely patented, companies in charge of mass producing the vaccine will have to be flexible with changing manufacturing procedures, pace, and working hours to account for the demand. Another piece is cooperation for speed and scale. In order to make the vaccine economical to produce at a large scale, manufacturing facilities must be willing to lend their equipment to make industrial size batches of the vaccine. While this pandemic should not be about profit or loss, money is still the currency of the realm and everything has a price. The last and final part is partnering to improve the transportation of the vaccine. At this point, distribution of the vaccine is not a consideration, it is an obligation to our community. Large corporations are those with money, resources, and manpower to fill the gaps in the supply chain network. UPS has already announced its support with the distribution network [2]. Hopefully if other companies such as FedEx or even Amazon are involved, the vaccine can be more accessible to people faster.

While these are excellent points, a more recent article has also brought up a few other key points that need to be addressed during the supply chain crisis: government support. There are three key action items that the federal government must take to assist with the vaccine distribution. According to Sarah Rathke, the first step is using the Defense Production Act (DPA) to coordinate the mass production of the vaccine with manufacturing sites across the country [4]. Additionally, the DPA gives the president authority to use the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to supplement current supply chains. The second part is still ambiguous. It involves outlining state level protocols for handling vaccine acceptance, storage, transportation, and distribution. This must be done at a state level, with the financial and legislative support of the federal government. The third is the use of Strategic National Stockpile [4]. By leveraging its resources, the government could supplement issues in the supply chain for unmet needs. The stockpile was created for situations where supply for vaccines and medicine was low and the demand was astronomical; a situation like this. Leveraging this stockpile could relieve stress on the supply chain networks as the distribution begins.

What does this mean to us, the people sitting at home quarantining?. We hear the news tell us the death toll is rising. We hear politicians use the virus as justification for their actions, but the real question for us is, when can we get back to normal? While the state of our current supply chain is not optimal, it's not broken. Getting the vaccine from point A to B will require cohesive coordination between state and federal governments along with supplemental cooperation from major corporations in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and transportation industries. While the future may look uncertain or even bleak, the vaccine is here. Soon we will be able to most past corona and we will be stronger for it as a global community.

Sources:

Current Coronavirus Death Toll - Google. (n.d.). Google. Retrieved November 26, 2020, Google Search

Kaplan, D. A., & Kaplan, D. A. (2020, June 16). Developing the coronavirus vaccine supply chain. Supply Chain Dive. https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/coronavirus-vaccine-supply-chain/579835/

Ohio Department of Health. (2020, October 16). COVID-19 Vaccination Plan. The Ohio Department of Health. https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/docs/Interim-Draft-COVID-Vaccination-Plan-10-16-20.pdf

Rathke, S. K. R. (2020, November 18). Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Chain Challenges. The National Law Review. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/addressing-covid-19-vaccine-supply-chain-challenges