Exploring the Supply Chain of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 Vaccines
This is one of the best supply chain articles I ever read. Cudos!<p>As the article is mainly describing the supply chain, I'd like to add some of the challenges, especially downstream / last mile. The Biontech vaccine seems to be a royal pain to distribute. Cold chains are tricky to maintain, let alone at -70 C. Having doses packed in numbers larger than one makes it challenging to vaccinate people at the centers, the unfreezing takes some time, and the vaccine cannot be stored eternally once unfrozen. So you have to closely schedule appointments with the treatment of the vaccine itself for batches of people. Which cannot be allowed to wait in line because of COVID-19. It also means that existing infrastructure, doctors and care and nursing services, cannot be used to get the Biontech vaccine to the people. Yet another pain.<p>At yet, we are only discussing the purchased doses. Not even the delivery schedules, just the total quantity. As if that was the real bottle neck right now.