Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

REFLECTIONS

Occam’s Razor and the vaccine

The United States is about two months into the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. Execution approaches vary. Which approach works best?

Ask any scientist anchored in the real world, and they’ll tell you that, in general, the simplest of competing theoretical explanations is preferred to the more complex. That concept is called Occam’s Razor, and it is as applicable to supply chains as it is to scientific theories. But, as the vaccine distribution in the United States shows, it’s not always put to use.

According to the Washington Post, in many states, “governors have delegated the [COVID-19] vaccination process to a web of underfunded county health departments, along with hospitals, pharmacies, HMOs, and doctor’s offices. Each has devised its own sign-up system and made its own rules for who can get vaccinated and when.”


Clearly, we have made a difficult problem even harder by adding layers of complexity. So how would Occam design the vaccine supply chain network for COVID-19?

Since December, the logistics profession has shown that it can effectively get the COVID-19 vaccines to the point of need. Yet getting it to the point of need is not the same as satisfying the patient’s need. The challenges have lain in getting the vaccines administered. Consider what has happened in New York City with the city’s top-down mandated solutions. Five weeks into the city’s vaccination program, only 203,000 people had been vaccinated, according to The New York Times

Three states have, however, rolled out highly effective programs, as highlighted in a recent Washington Post article: “In South Dakota, distribution of the vaccine has been limited to a small number of health care providers who meet via phone twice a week and can make decisions on the fly as conditions change. Connecticut has teamed with a well-established partnership network while using community ambassadors to advocate for the vaccine among populations where hesitancy runs high. And West Virginia has tightly coordinated its rollout, using the National Guard to speed supplies to where they are needed while streamlining the rules for who can get the shots.”

While South Dakota, Connecticut, and West Virginia have taken different approaches, they have a common principle: Anchor at the point of need, then integrate back to the supporting supply chain. And they also realize that solution sets need to be tailored to the circumstances and context. In an op-ed in The New York Times, an expert in West Virginia said, “Unlike many other states, we modified the national vaccine-administration plans to reflect regional realities.” West Virginia is one of the few U.S. states without a city of more than 100,000 residents. Because of its sparse density and a need for speedy distribution around the state, West Virginia decided to use the National Guard to augment its existing capability.

Some government officials are also considering utilizing existing private sector pharmaceutical networks. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for example, launched distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations in four counties through the grocery store chain Publix. According to Steven Anderson, president and CEO of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, pharmacists nationwide have the capacity to administer 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine once supply is available. These chains already understand inventory, turnover, shelf life, and refrigeration.

It seems that the federal government is beginning to understand the underutilized capacity in the private sector. Innovation is beginning to sprout, streamlining delivery processes and getting bureaucracy out of the way. Thousands of pharmacies across the United States will receive direct shipments of coronavirus vaccine in mid-February with a strategy intended to simplify the ability to get the shots, White House officials announced.

We could drive delivery through the private sector and let market forces, not bureaucrats, find the equilibrium between supply and demand. Look to your local pharmacies and grocery stores. We may already have a big part of the delivery solution right in front of us, and the Biden administration seems to be noticing.

Remember Occam’s razor.

Recent

More Stories

chart of GenAI impact on workforces

Gartner: GenAI tools create anxiety among employees

Generative AI (GenAI) is being deployed by 72% of supply chain organizations, but most are experiencing just middling results for productivity and ROI, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.

That’s because productivity gains from the use of GenAI for individual, desk-based workers are not translating to greater team-level productivity. Additionally, the deployment of GenAI tools is increasing anxiety among many employees, providing a dampening effect on their productivity, Gartner found.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

warehouse worker pulling cart

Cleo acquires DataTrans to speed procurement automation

Business software vendor Cleo has acquired DataTrans Solutions, a cloud-based procurement automation and EDI solutions provider, saying the move enhances Cleo’s supply chain orchestration with new procurement automation capabilities.

According to Chicago-based Cleo, the acquisition comes as companies increasingly look to digitalize their procurement processes, instead of relying on inefficient and expensive manual approaches.

Keep ReadingShow less
photo collage of warehouse tech

Supply chain pros are wary of inflation and labor woes

The top worries that supply chain leaders hope to address with new innovations this year include inflationary concerns (68%) and labor shortages (50%), according to a survey on innovation from the third-party logistics provider (3PL) Kenco.

And many of them will have a budget to do it, since 51% of supply chain professionals with existing innovation budgets saw an increase earmarked for 2025, suggesting an even greater emphasis on investing in new technologies to meet rising demand, Kenco said in its “2025 Supply Chain Innovation” survey.

Keep ReadingShow less
photos of white house and a loaded containership

Supply chain groups push back on Trump tariff plan

Industry groups across the spectrum of supply chain operations today are pushing back against the Trump Administration plan to apply steep tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, saying the additional fees are taxes that will undermine their profit margins, slow their economic investments, and raise prices for consumers.

Even as a last-minute deal today appeared to delay the tariff on Mexico, that deal is set to last only one month, and tariffs on the other two countries are still set to go into effect at midnight tonight.

Keep ReadingShow less
reagan national DCA airport photo

Reagan National airport plans to reopen today after deadly crash

All flights remained grounded this morning at Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport (DCA) following the deadly mid-air crash last night between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter.

In a statement, DCA airport officials said they would open the facility again today for flights after planes were grounded for more than 12 hours. “Reagan National airport will resume flight operations at 11:00am. All airport roads and terminals are open. Some flights have been delayed or cancelled, so passengers are encouraged to check with their airline for specific flight information,” the facility said in a social media post.

Keep ReadingShow less