A Model for the Ordering and Distribution of the Influenza Vaccine

The system for the production and distribution of the United States supply of influenza vaccine has experienced disruptions during past influenza seasons. The identification of elements of the influenza vaccine is different each year and must be researched and identified each year prior to the influenza season. The manufacturing of the vaccine is a complicated process with many potential problems. This paper identifies two different policies for use in a normal influenza season to determine how many companies are required to provide a sufficient amount of influenza vaccine, the percentage distribution policy and the strict priority distribution policy. The majority of the influenza seasons could be covered by purchasing fewer than 108 million doses, as in the percentage distribution policy, making sure that the vaccine dose orders are spread out evenly over four companies and distributed evenly by age group percentage, but could be reduced to as little as 24.5 million total vaccine doses during a shortage caused by production problems with minimal cost and loss of life using a strict priority distribution policy.