A multi-objective multi-criteria decision-making approach for sustainable vaccine distribution, inventory control (R,s,S policy), and waste management considering risk assessment, a case study

Abstract

Vaccines play a vital role in monitoring and preventing the growth of contagious diseases. As of December 2019, With the prevalence of corona worldwide, all communities, particularly developing countries, came across irresistible challenges in providing a proper vaccine for citizens. Moreover, accurate waste control is of great importance, particularly in the context of infectious medical waste. To address mentioned difficulties regarding vaccine inventory ordering & waste management, this paper develops a sustainable multi-objective mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) formulation. In order to examine real goals, all three proposed objective functions are regulated in compliance with the obtained result of the risk assessment. besides, for exploring the applicability of the proposed network, a real case study in one of the central cities in Iran, Kashan province, is considered. Two test problems have also been defined, encompassing small and medium size solutions. The LP-metric and goal programming approaches are utilized to solve the model. According to one of the sensitivity analysis results, extending the review period will be conducive to proliferation in the amount of order quantity and subsequently, imposing more costs on the chain at a particular time and getting the opportunity from countries to capitalize monetary values in other public affairs.