Nada Sanders Featured in The Boston Globe: FDA greenlights Moderna vaccine as next shipment of Pfizer vaccine is reduced by nearly 30 percent
Federal regulators Friday night cleared Moderna’s powerful new COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, helping Massachusetts and other states offset the first bump in the national vaccination rollout: a cut in the number of vaccines made by Pfizer that states will receive this month.
One logistics expert said she was taken aback by the cutback, and by the seeming effort by Pfizer and the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed to deflect blame.
“I can tell you, this is not how you run a supply chain,” said Nada Sanders, a professor of supply chain management at Northeastern University. “Someone is making an egregious error here.”
Sanders said she was shocked to learn of the slowdown in the vaccine supply chain, pointing out that drug manufacturers like Pfizer typically have robust operations and throughput schedules mapped out months in advance:
“Pfizer is a top-notch company and the companies they’re working with like FedEx and UPS, they have algorithms and they’re the best of the best there is. This is a ballet.”