Biopharmaceutical Logistics is the logistics of Biopharmaceutical, medical and surgical supplies, and other products needed to support doctors, nurses, and other health and dental care providers. Because its final customers are responsible for the lives and health of their patients, medical logistics is unique in that it seeks to optimize effectiveness rather than efficiency. Medical logistics functions comprise an important part of the healthcare system: after staff costs, medical supplies are the single most expensive component of health care. To drive costs out of the health-care sector, medical logistics providers are adopting supply chain management theories.
The pandemic (COVID-19) has had a widespread impact on every facet of life, medical logistics is really important for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.
There are three stages to the COVID-19 vaccine distribution: manufacturing of the various vaccines, movement from their manufacturing plants (which are all over the world, depending on the vaccine), and the process of inviting people to be vaccinated.
There are two ongoing pieces of this process that are limited, however: manufacturing and, by extension, vaccination capacity.
While the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine has signified the first signs of light at the end of the tunnel, the reality is that this public health crisis is still far from over. More than 100 million people worldwide have been vaccinated thus far, but several new variants of the virus have emerged in South Africa, Brazil and the United Kingdom that are more contagious, more lethal, and more resistant to the original COVID-19 vaccine portfolios.
In turn, enhancing the speed and efficiency of the vaccine rollout is now even more essential to the global health community’s fight to curb the pandemic.
The COVID-19 vaccine supply chain includes several hand-offs between different distributors and logistics providers. Each hand-off elevates the risk of vaccine damage or mishandling delays. Advanced technology can generate end-to-end supply chain visibility that helps alleviate the risk. By knowing the location and status of vaccine shipments in real time, supply chain operators have the visibility needed for maintaining operational efficiency and addressing issues that could cause future disruptions.
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