Title: Distribution and transportation model for COVID-19 vaccine

Authors: Abhijeet Kumar; M.A. Shariful Amin; Hakan Tarakci; Victor Prybutok

Addresses: University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA ' University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA ' University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA ' University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

Abstract: The pandemic that began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China has spread worldwide and infected millions of people across the globe. To combat COVID-19, scientists developed vaccines in record time. Without proper vaccine distribution, the country would suffer from low coverage rates and the virus would continue to spread. We are losing over 3,000 lives each day to COVID-19; this means a single day of delay in the distribution of vaccine is costing thousands of innocent lives. In this paper we have formulated a distribution model using mixed integer programming (MIP) that maximises the number of people vaccinated, minimises the cost of transportation over the entire network while ensuring widespread access.

Keywords: COVID-19; vaccine hub; vaccine supply chain; cost-effective; mixed integer programming; MIP; public health; COVID-19 vaccine; distribution model; transportation model.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2023.130771

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 2023 Vol.14 No.1/2, pp.78 - 98

Received: 03 Feb 2021
Accepted: 26 Aug 2021
Published online: 06 May 2023 *