A Transdisciplinary, System-based Approach to cope with Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Challenges

Infectious diseases pose a serious threat to global health and the economy, as the COVID-19 pandemic painfully shows. In terms of prevention, vaccines are widely recognized as a powerful tool to fight epidemics. However, not only is the development of vaccines challenging, but also the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines on a potentially global scale is anything but trivial. This requires a substantial investment, both in physical and human capital, in which many unknowns and uncertainties reside. To avoid delays once the vaccine candidates are ready for scale-up, a global and sustainable vaccine manufacturing and distribution network needs to be established, both to support planned immunization as well as to be prepared for outbreak response. In an End-To-End approach multiple aspects of the supply network need to be considered and coordinated, in a way that many upstream decisions and aspects in R&D have a considerable impact on the downstream supply network up to the very last mile and point of vaccination.

Zoom link: https://eur-nl.zoom.us/j/97180504824?from=addon

Meeting ID: 971 8050 4824