Track: Operations Research

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, affecting millions of people and families in Paraguay and worldwide. We analyze the country's situation after the arrival of batches of anti-Covid-19 vaccines to formulate a mathematical model that allows efficient distribution of vaccines to citizens of the central department. Even more, maximizing the number of citizens in high-risk situations vaccinated with the help of a third-party company willing to lend its logistics fleet of trucks and drivers. We propose a Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP-type) mathematical model to find the optimal travel routes for fair distribution at the lowest possible cost. To solve the model, different parameters must be considered, such as the opening time of the vaccination centers, the drivers' working hours, and the vehicles' capacity, among others. In addition, in the case study, certain assumptions are considered to limit the initial situation before solving the model. One supposition is the demand, considered from July to September, when the country received the most significant number of vaccines. In this work, only the distribution of the Pfizer vaccine and all the care it requires was considered since it is the most widely available vaccine in the country. The proposed methodology is valid as a first instance to solve the distribution problem in the central department. It applies to other departments and vaccines for other diseases by changing the appropriate parameters.

Keywords
Logistics, Linear programming, CVRP, Vaccines, COVID-19