A Bibliometric Analysis of the Logistical Challenges and Methods for Vaccine distribution under the Pandemic

Abstract

With the emergence and the widespread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe, there is an urgent need to effectively control the disease spread through mass vaccination. Several COVID-19 vaccines, e.g., Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna, etc., have been proven highly effective and have been distributed and administrated in many countries. These vaccines need to be produced in large quantities and transported through dedicated cold chain logistic networks to maintain the quality. Currently, the major logistical challenges are associated with the effective distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to hospitals and healthcare centers in different countries. To better understand and tackle these challenges, we conduct a bibliometric analysis on vaccine supply chains and cold chain logistics for vaccine distribution. The current research landscape is investigated through four main classification analyses including journal co-citation analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, country collaborations analysis, and document co-citation analysis. These analyses allow us to identify the publication trends, the most popular journals in this field, the collaborations between countries and to identify the key areas where most attention is given. Finally, the methods are summarized, and the future research opportunities for effective COVID-19 vaccine distribution are identified.