Billions of vaccine doses are produced annually. Most all require cold storage; 25% lose effectiveness due to temperature excursions outside the required range costing $34B annually.
For COVID vaccines, there is a rush to develop a cold storage supply chain from manufacturing sites to storage/administration sites, including the need to ship and store up to billions of vials while meeting temperature protocols. Some vaccines need refrigeration, and others need storage as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius, but many sites lack ultracold freezers. UPS/FedEx are adding freezer farms to meet this need. Pfizer built a temperature-controlled container to store 5,000 doses for 10 days at minus 70 degrees Celsius. Military planes may distribute vaccine since the private sector can’t handle enough doses at ultracold temperatures.
This supply chain is complex; stakes are high; speed is of the essence. There will be thousands of sites and transporters, and possibly multiple vaccines with different temperature rules. With loads of variables and variability, simulation modeling is a powerful tool. MOSIMTEC supply chains simulation modelers can help you pull it together, manage complexity, explore options, reduce cost/risk, and make optimal decisions.
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