Risks of the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Chain

Abstract

The world is currently facing the Covid-19 pandemic, where the solution relies on the effective distribution of the vaccines. As with every operation, the Covid-19 vaccine supply chain is also facing challenges while the world is attempting to reach immunization coverage. This study aims to identify the risks present in a vaccine supply chain as well as investigates the prioritization of these risks in the Covid-19 vaccine supply chain. The risks were identified through the prisma systematic literature review which served as a base for ranking these risks by the Analytical Hierarchical Process. The AHP research involved four experts which was conducted through interviews and an e-mail-based survey. As a result of the research, a ranking has been set up where the manufacturing related issues were considered as the most challenging, followed by the R&D, general vaccine supply chain, distribution, economy, stock management and information technology. It can be concluded that the study provides a deeper insight into risks that are usually experienced under normal conditions and shows how they are prioritized during extreme conditions, which are set by the global Covid-19 pandemic.