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The race to deliver a Covid-19 vaccine has been likened to a moonshot, but in several ways landing a man on the moon was easier. In his new book “A SHOT IN THE ARM: How Science, Engineering, and Supply Chains Converged to Vaccinate the World,” MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi recounts the vaccine’s extraordinary journey from scientific breakthroughs to coronavirus antidote and mass vaccination. And he explores how the mission could transform the fight against deadly diseases and other global-scale challenges. 

With rising costs and bare shelves across the country, the jam could derail the holiday shopping season this year with shipping delays and fewer gift options. No immediate solution to this multifactorial mess is on the horizon yet, experts have said. While the issue has emerged quite recently, it exposes long-standing bottlenecks facing U.S. infrastructure. 

We learn about about the development of successful Covid-19 vaccines in record time — including the science behind them and the supply chains that enabled them. Our guest is Dr. Yossi Sheffi, a professor of engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. (Podcast)

Renowned MIT Professor and supply chain management expert Yossi Sheffi recently released his 6th book, titled ‘A Shot in the Arm: How Science, Engineering, and Supply Chains Converged to Vaccinate the World’.

The U.S. government’s broad social spending, the country’s aging infrastructure, and global supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have jointly contributed to the ongoing supply chain crisis in the United States, said leading U.S. expert Dr. Yossi Sheffi. 

This week on Hubwonk, Joe Selvaggi talks with global supply chain expert, MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi about the unprecedented global supply and demand shocks created by the Covid-19 pandemic and how effective supply chain managers in an integrated world economy adapted to provide consumers with food, goods, and vaccines in record time.
 

America’s supply chain crisis. Developing and distributing the Covid vaccine was more difficult than the moonshot! 

Professor Yossi Sheffi joins The.Peel podcast for a global experts perspective of history and the current Supply Chain crisis in the news. 

Experts say all holiday shoppers would be wise to get a head start on their holiday shopping this year. Escalating supply chain disruptions will delay the arrival of presents—if you can get them at all.

In his new book “A SHOT IN THE ARM: How Science, Engineering, and Supply Chains Converged to Vaccinate the World” (MIT CTL Media, 2021) published today, MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi recounts the vaccine’s extraordinary journey from scientific breakthroughs to coronavirus antidote and mass vaccination. And he explores how the mission could transform the fight against deadly diseases and other global-scale challenges.

According to Yosi Sheffi, the director of MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics, "The underlying cause of all of this is actually a huge increase in demand. … People did not spend during the pandemic. And then, all the government help came; trillions of dollars went to households. So, they order stuff. They order more and more stuff. And the whole global markets were not ready for this." So, wait: There's plenty of goods, and plenty of people who want to buy them – so, where's the problem? Here's a hint: Trucks.