Cristin-resultat-ID: 1851945
Sist endret: 24. november 2020, 23:22
Resultat
Populærvitenskapelig foredrag
2020

Distribution of COVID19 Vaccine: a decision support system

Bidragsytere:
  • Hossein Baharmand

Presentasjon

Navn på arrangementet: Young Researchers Night
Sted: Kristiansand
Dato fra: 25. september 2020
Dato til: 25. september 2020

Arrangør:

Arrangørnavn: Akademiet for yngre forskere

Om resultatet

Populærvitenskapelig foredrag
Publiseringsår: 2020

Beskrivelse Beskrivelse

Tittel

Distribution of COVID19 Vaccine: a decision support system

Sammendrag

Public health officials worldwide often aim to deliver vaccines to targets effectively (in the right quantity and condition), efficiently (with the lowest costs and on-time), sustainably (with as few environmental effects as possible), and fairly (with different targets get vaccines at the same time). However, the goals are difficult to achieve given the uncertainties, limited resources, and potential disruptions. For instance, vaccines must be transported to refrigerated national storage facilities by cooling-enabled transportation means, which are often hard-to-find or limited. Or, roads might be blocked spontaneously due to heavy snow, and adhoc decisions must be made to reschedule vaccine transportation. This research deals with the supply chain problem of distributing the COVID-19 vaccine inside countries: from countries’ entry points (like international airports) to regional health facilities. Assuming everything goes to plan, around 12 months from now, the first COVID-19 vaccines will start to roll out of one manufacturer (or multiple ones) in bulk. The current discussion in national public health authorities is about how the most promising vaccine candidates could be delivered to the vaccine administration points effectively, efficiently, sustainably and fairly. The problem all comes down to Covid19 vaccine supply chain. A typical vaccine supply chain consists of four key parts namely product, production, allocation, and distribution. Most vaccines are sensitive products; if they get too hot or too cold, they’ll lose their potency and no longer work as effectively. So, transporting vaccines requires the highest quality of transportation equipment, strict temperature control, and robust operations planning called “Cold Chain”. In the cold chain and from national to regional facilities, clinics, or pharmacies, vaccines are usually hauled overland by truck or motorcycle - sometimes even being walked the final leg on the back of a healthcare worker. Besides the cooling challenge, social distancing measures, redeployment of frontline workers, and the possibility of large numbers of people falling sick could further disrupt the COVID-19 vaccine distribution. I lead a research project which aims to develop a decision support system based on mathematical models for publich health authorities to design an effective, efficient, sustainable, and fair COVID-19 vaccine supply chain inside countries. We aim to consider uncertainties like the number of vaccines needed or potential disruptions in the road network in our final system. The research project has been funded by the Norwegian Research Council for 18 months and gathers eight researchers and an SME from Norway, Belgium, and Turkey.

Bidragsytere

Aktiv cristin-person

Hossein Baharmand

  • Tilknyttet:
    Forfatter
    ved Institutt for informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi ved Universitetet i Agder
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