‘We need a centralized vaccine registry to reduce waste,’ operations expert says

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management professor Achal Bassamboo is available to comment on the role a centralized vaccine registry can play in optimizing vaccination rates nationwide and ensuring nothing goes to waste.

Achal Bassamboo is professor of operations at Kellogg and co-director of the school’s MMM program. He can be reached by contacting Molly Lynch at 773-505-9719 or molly@lynchgrouponline.com.

Quote from Professor Bassamboo
"Now that we have three vaccine suppliers with J&J, Moderna and Pfizer, we cannot afford to mess this up. The vaccine distribution is both a logistical and educational challenge. Given that currently there is a huge demand/supply imbalance, no dose of vaccine should be wasted.

“For an efficient and timely distribution of the vaccine, we need a centralized vaccine registry to reduce waste that ranks orders based on priority. In addition to that, given that there are three vaccines now with different levels of administration (two doses vs. one dose) and also varying efficacy, one can imagine diversity in willingness to get these. So, the registry should also include people’s preference among these three vaccinations. This will ensure that we have less waste but also less effort needed to match the vaccines that remain at the end of the day from no-shows."