Analysis of vaccine supply chain disruptions during mass COVID-19 vaccination campaigns

This study examines the disruptors of vaccine supply chains (VSCs) that underpin mass vaccination campaigns during a global pandemic. Employing an exploratory qualitative content analysis, the study identifies critical VSC flows and the causal factors that disrupted those flows during the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign. Data were extracted from white papers, reports, academic papers, and publicly available expert presentations involving more than 100 professionals from sectors relevant to vaccine production, distribution, regulation, logistics, and administration. The findings reveal seven critical flows required for rapid mass vaccination: product, information, funds, vaccine recipients, knowledge, skilled workers, and waste. Across these flows, the analysis identified 116 main and sub-causal disruptors, including shortages of manufacturing inputs, cold-chain and logistics capacity constraints, inadequate real-time data visibility, financing delays, technology-transfer barriers, skilled labor shortages, vaccine hesitancy, and waste-management limitations. The study contributes to the literature by providing a holistic, structured taxonomy of pandemic VSC disruptors grounded in the COVID-19 experience. Practically, the findings provide a high-level diagnostic framework for public health agencies, manufacturers, logistics providers, and policymakers involved in planning and managing mass vaccination supply chains during future pandemics.