Supply Chain

Just like a fresh piece of fish, vaccines are highly perishable products and must be kept at very cold, specific temperatures. The majority of COVID-19 vaccines under development – like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines – are new RNA-based vaccines. If they get too warm or too cold they spoil. And, just like fish, a spoiled vaccine must be thrown away. So how do companies and public health agencies get vaccines to the people who need them?

After U.S. health officials warned Americans to continue social distancing and wearing masks on Labor Day weekend, the United States may report its 190,000th death from the new coronavirus on Tuesday or Wednesday. In sports news, the American men are out at the U.S. Open after Frances Tiafoe, who had tested positive for COVID-19 in July, lost Monday to No. 4 Daniil Medvedev of Russia. The next Grand Slam event, the French Open, which begins later this month, will allow spectators, organizers announced Monday.

When the coronavirus hit, even the most enthusiastic cooks had to adjust to a new, more complicated relationship with their kitchens. For the first time in a generation, Americans began spending more money at the supermarket than at places where someone else made the food. Grocers saw eight years of projected sales growth packed into one month. Shopping trends that were in their infancy were turbocharged.

We don’t know when a COVID-19 vaccine will arrive, but we’re starting to know how it will be distributed. Interviews with logistics experts, immunization professionals and pharmaceutical distribution specialists, together with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention planning documents, give a clearer picture of how coronavirus vaccines will get from manufacturers into the arms of millions of Americans.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sent a letter last week to the nation’s governors with an urgent request. The Trump administration wanted them to do everything in their power to eliminate hurdles for vaccine distribution sites to be fully operational by Nov. 1. The Aug. 27 letter, obtained by McClatchy, asked governors to fast-track permits and licenses for new distribution sites. “The normal time required to obtain these permits presents a significant barrier to the success of this urgent public health program,” Redfield wrote.

As the final stage of vaccine trials are happening across the country, health officials are working on a plan for how to give it out once it’s approved. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control confirms that a memo went out to all governors explaining how federal health officials are preparing for widespread distribution of the COVID 19 vaccine in the fall and distribution centers should be operational by November 1.  

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sent a letter last week to the nation’s governors with an urgent request. The Trump administration wanted them to do everything in their power to eliminate hurdles for vaccine distribution sites to be fully operational by Nov. 1. The Aug. 27 letter, obtained by McClatchy, asked governors to fast-track permits and licenses for new distribution sites. “The normal time required to obtain these permits presents a significant barrier to the success of this urgent public health program,” Redfield wrote.

When schools and nonessential offices closed this spring, the need for cleaning supplies (and toilet paper) shifted from the institution to the home. Consumers snapped up cleaning products seconds after they arrived on store shelves, if they arrived at all. Cleaning and disinfectant product manufacturers, and their retail customers, are continually out of stock and unable to keep up with the demand, said Howard Bochnek, VP of technology and scientific affairs at American Infection Control, a company developing and licensing disinfectants.

A vaccine for the coronavirus that causes covid-19 appears to be our best strategy to ending the current pandemic. Unfortunately, the fastest time frame in which scientists have managed to create any vaccine in history was four years, and there’s already plenty of skepticism surrounding the safety, availability, and effectiveness of any future covid-19 inoculation. So let’s go over the most pressing questions.

COVID 19 has caused unprecedented havoc in the world and disrupted lives, livelihood, business, enterprise, and economy. Supply chain disruption and inadequate response from the industry have been the causes of concern across the globe. On this background, National Institute of Industrial Engineering organized a webinar on "Supply Chain Resilience and Need for Stress-Tests" by Professor David Simchi-Levi, a globally acclaimed scientist on Supply Chain Management and Logistics. Professor Simchi-Levi, Professor of Engineering Systems at MIT and Head of the MIT Data Science Lab, is also Fellow of INFORMS and Editor-in-Chief of Management Science and Journal of Operations Research.