Changes to flu shot supply chain could save lives: Study
While problems with flu vaccine distribution in the United States may cost lives and pose a serious threat in the event of a flu pandemic, a new computer model shows that proposed changes to the current distribution system could save thousands of lives. INFORMS members Pinar Keskinocak of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Julie Swann of North Carolina State University, and Zihao Li, a PhD student of Georgia Tech at the time who is currently working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted research that found by replenishing flu vaccine stocks in regions where they are being used up and not replenishing them in areas where vaccines are piling up because people aren't getting flu shots would have a population-wide benefit by increasing the total number of vaccinated people. They would then be less likely to get sick and to infect others, reducing the overall flu wave. This change to flu vaccine distribution could save thousands of lives in a regular flu season, and even more in a flu pandemic.