Post-emergency, will vaccine supply chains reliably meet demand?
Vaccine production in the U.S. got a serious boost from the COVID-19 public health emergency. Now that the U.S. plans to end the emergency on May 11, what does that mean for vaccine supply chains? Vaccines put unique pressure on supply chains because of the sheer volumes required, and in the case of Covid vaccines, the novel technology used to manufacture them. How will vaccine supply chains weather the end of the public health emergency?
Vaccine supply chains face unique risks
Vaccine supply chains are unique in size and urgency: for instance, the COVID-19 vaccines needed to be manufactured by the billions and delivered within a short window of time. While similar to influenza vaccines, the technology behind Covid shots is much newer, and relies on a limited number of raw materials suppliers. Supply constraints are not limited to the vaccine ingredients themselves: every dose requires vials, packaging, and syringes for delivery. Manufacturers use a host of specialty parts to manufacture every component in the vaccine. Vaccine supply chains are always-on, so disruptions in any packaging or ingredient creates a cascading sequence of events that could disrupt supply for weeks or months.
De-risking an always-on supply chain
Because disruptions at any stage of the vaccine supply chain pose a threat, manufacturers need to extend traceability to raw materials, as well as packaging and critical manufacturing supplies. New upstream traceability tech makes it possible to involve suppliers in mapping and monitoring continuity. It starts with supplier discovery to identify every supplier, especially the Tier-2,3,4 producers of raw materials. Supply chain discovery surfaces risks posed by supplier concentrations, and assigns a monetary value-at-risk for every node in the supply chain based on key resilience metrics. Once mapped, the supply chain can be continuously monitored through online data feeds focusing on a variety of issues: shipping delays, supplier health, geopolitical and weather-related disruptions.
An always-on supply chain needs end-to-end monitoring, something only the next generation of traceability technology can offer at scale.
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