With the release of the vaccine for COVID-19 insulation well behind schedule, a Northeastern professor offers this advice to President-elect Joe Biden: Hire a supply chain expert from Amazon, Nike or another company that manages complex inventory overseeing all phases end-to-end.
A wide range of businesses have developed a set of transferable skills and tools that could help the federal government meet its vaccination goal 80 percent of the United States population, he says Nada Saundersdistinguished professor of supply chain management at Northeastern.
“Every day, Nike thinks about how much inventory they have, how they promote it, how they sell it, who the customers are,” Sanders says. “They monitor and communicate in real time with their manufacturing facilities and distributors, which is the level of transparency that should apply to vaccines—a highly complex product with strict handling and shelf life requirements.”
Raj Echambadi (left) and Nada Sanders say US businesses should be able to help develop the vaccine. Photos by Matthew Modoono and Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University
The government failed purpose to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of 2020. From January 8, only 6.7 million people had been vaccinated.
Hoping to increase vaccinations, Biden plans to release nearly all doses available in a shift in strategy by the Trump administration, which has been holding vaccines to ensure secondary doses are available.
Another measure to take, Sanders says, is to focus on improving the supply chain.
“I would describe it as extremely poor, unplanned and completely in violation of even the basic principles of supply chain management,” Sanders says of vaccine development. He notes that similar problems arose when the government distributed personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing kits in the early days of the pandemic. “Elementary tactics continue to be an issue.”
Raj EchambadiDunton Family Dean of D'Amore-McKim School of Business, describes the vaccine launch as “probably the largest global public health initiative in modern times.” American businesses have always helped with such large-scale mobilizations to help society, he says.
“They will definitely help governments because COVID-19 was a public health crisis and an economic crisis turned into a crisis,” Echambadi says. “Businesses can offer their expertise in managing complex end-to-end supply chains to help governments develop a comprehensive vaccination strategy.”
The mistake the administration made, Sanders says, was using an “over the wall approach” to managing the supply chain — the equivalent of throwing vaccines over an imaginary wall and letting states figure out how to they distribute them.
“No coordination, no communication, no transparency—that's what we mean by 'over the wall,'” he says.
Instead, he says, the government should adopt a “backwards programming” approach to the supply chain – a form of reverse engineering based on the number of vaccinations to be provided in a given time period. More than 260 million people in the US vaccines will be needed in order to achieve herd immunity.
Working backwards from this number allows the government to manage work with vaccine manufacturers, purchase the products needed to transport and distribute the vaccines, and create a reliable scheduling system for vaccinations.
Complicating the logistical issues is the need to refrigerate vaccines. Pfizer vaccine must be transported in a thermal transport container with dry ice at a temperature between minus -112 and minus -76 degrees Fahrenheit. The Moderna vaccine is administered frozen at a temperature between minus 13 and five degrees Fahrenheit.
This is one area where industry know-how could be useful, Sanders says, as the “cold chain”—used routinely in the food and pharmaceutical industries—has its own challenges. Even the dairy industries, notes, they face their own “cold chain” issues as they move perishable dairy products such as milk and cheese from farm to factory for storage within a limited time frame.
“You have to make sure that the object is handled properly and that there is integrity throughout the handling process,” says Sanders, who wrote several books for supply chain management.
Rights must apply to different regions of the US — providing vaccinations in North Dakota will be different than treating people in New York, for example. In addition, the system must account for the possibility of disruptions such as snowstorms, truck breakdowns, medical staff incompetence, vial shortages, vaccine spoilage, and other potential issues.
Sanders and Echambadi agree that the government may be able to create an effective and efficient supply chain based on any number of models in the business world, including Walmart, Apple and eBay.
“Before the pandemic, I was in the supply chain headquarters of a large company in Massachusetts, in what was almost like an electronic war room,” he says. “You could watch the movement of various products, you could see the inventory build up, you could watch the managers keep track of everything that was going on. This should be done with vaccines.”
How quickly can an end-to-end supply chain be established by the new administration after Biden is inaugurated on January 20?
“The first step will require a complete inventory mapping, akin to walking into a cluttered house and doing an inventory to see exactly what you have and where it is,” says Sanders. “I don't think it can be done in a day or two. The more bottlenecks they find in the system, the harder it will be.”
For media inquiriescontact Jessica Hair at j.hair@northeastern.edu or 617-373-5718.
