Optimization models for resource allocation under perturbation.

Optimization Models for Resource allocation are investing in how to make the best use of available but limited resources in order to achieve the best results. In strategic planning, resource allocation is a plan for using available resources, especially in the near future, to achieve the goals of the future. It is a process of allocating resources during the entire planning horizon and among the various units. Resource allocation plans can be decided by using mathematical programming. In this dissertation, the research has been focused on how to allocate resources in the uncertain environment. The mathematical programming formulations for the resource allocation model under severe uncertainty will be studied. In particular, we will focus on solving the stability issues of the traditional probabilistic model. We propose an approach consisting of solving a sequence of convex robust optimization models with unknown-but-bounded random variables along with the stochastic programming to pursue the allocation performance for the expected overall objective value. Our theoretical results show that the proposed approach can always obtain an equivalent or a better expected revenue with the corresponding allocation, while significantly reducing the risk under perturbations. Although this method requires solving two convex mathematical programming models, both models are solved within a timely manner thanks to their convex model instances and with effective, and less, computationally demanding algorithms. With the increasing threats from public health emergencies, such as earthquakes, tornados, pandemic flus, or terrorist attacks, high attention has been paid to the public health response to a pandemic from federal to national level, together with local health departments, and the health-care community. Various organizations cooperate with each other to strengthen the preparedness for the pandemic and disastrous emergencies, thus to improve the public health. The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for the United States in the event of a shortage of local medical resources or other unanticipated supply problems. The SNS is the United States’ national repository of antibiotics, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, and other critical medical equipment and supplies. It has the capability to supplement or re-supply local health authorities with necessary materials for relief action within the response time in as little as 12 hours. The pilot study is done with the support of Kentucky SNS to determine the capacity allocation plan for each county in order to maximize the health benefit under various uncertainties, which can never be accurately estimated. We thereby employ a heuristic method named “resource reservation” to suggest the resource allocation plan for Kentucky SNS

Literature Review - the vaccine supply chain

Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to prevent the outbreak of an infectious disease. This medical intervention also brings about many logistical quest

Optimizing the Dose of Pre-Pandemic Influenza Vaccines to Reduce the Infection Attack Rate

Steven Riley and colleagues examine the potential benefits of "stretching" a limited supply of vaccine and suggest that substantial reductions in the attack rate are possible if vaccines are given to more people at lower doses

Literature review: The vaccine supply chain

Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to prevent and/or control the outbreak of infectious diseases. This medical intervention also brings about many logistical questions. In the past years, the Operations Research/Operations Management community has shown a growing interest in the logistical aspects of vaccination. However, publications on vaccine logistics often focus on one specific logistical aspect. A broader framework is needed so that open research questions can be identified more easily and contributions are not overlooked.In this literature review, we combine the priorities of the World Health Organization for creating a flexible and robust vaccine supply chain with an Operations Research/Operations Management supply chain perspective. We propose a classification for the literature on vaccine logistics to structure this relatively new field, and identify promising research directions. We classify the literature into the following four components: (1) product, (2) production, (3) allocation, and (4) distribution. Within the supply chain classification, we analyze the decision problems for existing outbreaks versus sudden outbreaks and developing countries versus developed countries. We identify unique characteristics of the vaccine supply chain: high uncertainty in both supply and demand; misalignment of objectives and decentralized decision making between supplier, public health organization and end customer; complex political decisions concerning allocation and the crucial

Dynamic pricing strategy to optimally allocate vaccines

In the United States, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes recommendations as to which cohorts (identified groups of individuals) ought to have higher priority access to vaccines when their supply is insufficient to immunize all susceptible individuals in the country. Typically, cohorts are determined based on susceptibility to contracting seasonal influenza and on the resulting consequences of infection for different age groups. For seasonal influenza, high-risk cohorts commonly include children, teenagers, pregnant women and people with different chronic diseases. This study proposes the application of revenue management theory to better allocate seasonal influenza vaccines among different risk-based population cohorts. Our model maximizes the number of immunized individuals by dynamically adjusting the price per dose in each cohort as to discourage vaccination in low-risk cohorts and preserve more supply for high-risk cohorts. Experimental results show that up to 12% of infections and deaths due to seasonal influenza could be avoided by implementing this price discrimination policy in hypothetical yet realistic scenarios

The benefits of combining early aspecific vaccination with later specific vaccination

Timing is of crucial importance for successful vaccination. To avoid a large outbreak, vaccines are administered preferably as quickly as possible. However

Last Mile Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines: A Cold Chain Logistical Challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health and humanitarian crisis that has wreaked havoc on economies and industries around the world. This study aims to address the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines at the last mile by evaluating the vaccine supply chain and how it can be effectively utilized to address the last mile distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines through simulation. The first part includes a systematic literature review and bibliometric study of vaccine supply chain and cold chain logistics studies conducted in the last decade. The second part examines the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Norway as a case study. The study develops a two-stage optimization simulation method to analyse and improve the logistical performance of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Inland County, Norway. The study analyses the impact of fleet size and the use of heterogeneous vehicles in the last mile distribution network on some key performance indicators. The findings from the study reveal that the service level, transportation costs and environmental performance of the vaccine logistics system are significantly influenced by routing decisions, fleet size, fleet composition and the types of heterogeneous vehicles used. Based on the findings from the study, some managerial insights are outlined to help logistics managers better understand the interactions between the key parameters of a cold chain vaccine distribution system

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fiscal year 2021 grants summary profile report for Washington

This profile includes selected CDC grants and cooperative agreements provided to health departments, universities, and other public and private agencies in Washington. Refer to the \u201cAbout the Data\u201d section below for important qualifying statements about the data.2021 Population Estimate: 7,738,692Timeframe: 10/01/20 - 09/30/21Publication date from document properties

Economic Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases

Infectious disease is currently the main cause of mortality in the world and has been even more important historically. This paper reviews recent research in economic epidemiology. Specifically, it discusses the occurrence of infectious diseases and the effects of public health interventions designed to control them. Several key points include: differences in the predictions regarding short- and long-run disease occurrence between rational and epidemiological epidemics, the nonstandard effects of interventions when epidemics are rational, the desirability and possibility of eradicating infectious diseases, as well as the components of the welfare loss induced by infectious diseases.