Designing an integrated sustainable-resilient mix-and-match vaccine supply chain network

Abstract

Vaccination is the most effective strategy for battling infectious diseases, breaking the disease transmission chain, and achieving herd immunity. Implementing vaccination for the whole population requires an integrated vaccine supply chain network that considers sustainability and resiliency in the network. For this purpose, in this research, a location-allocation-inventory-distribution problem in the sustainable and resilient vaccine supply chain network, considering mix-and-match vaccine regimens against SARS-CoV-2, is designed. The mix-and-match-based vaccination to reach robust immunization, increase vaccination effectiveness, and more resilience to cope with shortages is applied. In addition, three pillars of sustainability, to minimize distribution network costs, vaccine disposal impact, and greenhouse gas emissions, in terms of economic and environmental, and maximizing job creation, demand satisfaction, and vaccination effectiveness to ensure social sustainability, are developed. Also, scenario-based optimization is presented to meet the inevitable disruptions and breakdowns, such as the supply capacity of suppliers and uncertain amounts of vaccine demand, which depends on the previous type of vaccine injected, and robust stochastic programming is used to handle uncertainties. To solve the proposed model, efficient meta-heuristic algorithms, including the genetic algorithm (GA) and variable neighborhood search (VNS), are applied. In addition, a new hybrid algorithm called H-GAVNS based on the GA and VNS is developed in this research to discover near-optimal results. Finally, a case study of the COVID-19 vaccine in Iran’s environment is presented to confirm the accuracy of the presented model. The outcomes show that uncertainties in the real world and sustainability and resiliency aspects are well managed and responded to by the designed model.