Optimization Modeling for Pandemic Vaccine Supply Chain Management: A Review and Future Research Opportunities

TL;DR

This paper reviews optimization models developed during COVID-19 for vaccine supply chain management, highlighting their integration with epidemiological models and identifying research gaps for future improvements.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of COVID-19 vaccine supply chain optimization models and discusses future research directions and integration with epidemiological frameworks.

Findings

Models address site selection, inventory, and logistics

Unified framework links models with epidemiological data

Identifies research gaps and future opportunities

Abstract

During various stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries implemented diverse vaccine management approaches, influenced by variations in infrastructure and socio-economic conditions. This article provides a comprehensive overview of optimization models developed by the research community throughout the COVID-19 era, aimed at enhancing vaccine distribution and establishing a standardized framework for future pandemic preparedness. These models address critical issues such as site selection, inventory management, allocation strategies, distribution logistics, and route optimization encountered during the COVID-19 crisis. A unified framework is employed to describe the models, emphasizing their integration with epidemiological models to facilitate a holistic understanding. This article also summarizes evolving nature of literature, relevant research gaps, and authors' perspectives for model selection. Finally, future research scopes are detailed both in the context of modeling and solutions approaches.