We are now at a different stage of the pandemic, and many demands on the global supply chain are focused on vaccination supply and distribution. We have heard about first world countries monopolizing vaccine supply chains, causing an increase in deaths and economic turmoil in lower income countries.
Further, vaccine supply chains require a “cold chain” infrastructure to deliver vaccines to the population. These have limited public health budgets and created more barriers in many countries.
Supply chains influence health
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the supply chain has emerged as a detriment of health. Public health and the provision of health care depend on global health supply chains. The global pandemic has revealed the interdependence of socio-economic systems. Supply chains are often complex networks, there is no centralized decision-maker. Instead, several distributed participants co-operate and compete to deliver end-to-end value.
Resiliency of supply chains
Many factors affected the health supply chain’s ability to continuously fulfil the changing requirements for PPE, vaccines, and other medical supplies. The increased global competition for the same supplies put added pressure on supply networks, especially in capacity and distribution.
Supply chains and health
The overall goal of operating a health supply chain is to contribute to public health and social well-being while being environmentally responsible. For decades, the under-investment in health care supply chains in the name of budget cuts and financial efficiency have been justified. However, while this may have provided short-term benefits, it is not sustainable for the long term.