Designing drone delivery networks for vaccine supply chain: a case study of Niger

This research aims to evaluate the use of drones to deliver pediatric vaccines in remote areas of low-income and low-middle-income countries. Delivering vaccines in these regions is challenging because of the inadequate road networks and long transportation distances that make it difficult to maintain the cold chain's integrity during delivery. We propose a mixed-integer linear program to determine the location of drone hubs to facilitate vaccine delivery. The model considers the operational attributes of drones, vaccine wastage in the supply chain, cold storage, and transportation capacities. We develop a case study using data from Niger to determine the impact of drone deliveries in improving vaccine availability. Based on our numerical analysis, regional centers should be considered potential locations for drone hubs. We demonstrate that outreach sessions supported by drone deliveries of vaccines can improve vaccine availability. These improvements depend on the available budget to build drone hubs and purchase drones, available cold storage capacity, and the population density in the study region.