Exploring the challenges of the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain using social media analytics: A global perspective

Abstract

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the importance of effective vaccine supply chain management (SCM). As the world raced to curb the spread of the virus, the efficient distribution of vaccines became crucial to ending the pandemic. However, the challenges of distributing COVID-19 vaccines globally were exacerbated by the pandemic itself, leading to delays, shortages, and disruptions under disaster conditions. In this study, we use social media analytics to explore the impact of COVID-19 vaccine supply chain challenges from a global perspective. We collected data from two social media platforms—Twitter and the Global Database of Events, Language and Tone (GDELT)—between January 2020 and November 2022. The analysis is developed leveraging Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, such as topic modelling and sentiment analysis. We found that vaccine supply chain challenges significantly impacted the ability of healthcare systems to respond to the pandemic, with significant differences between regions (such as in the case of developing countries). Our findings highlight the need for improved coordination and collaboration in vaccine SCM to ensure equitable access. In addition, this research provides valuable practical insight into using social media analytics and its potential to enhance decision-making capabilities for policymakers and industry leaders.