Professor Timothy Chan is the Canada Research Chair in Novel Optimization and Analytics in Health, a Professor in the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, the Director of the Centre for Healthcare Engineering, and the Director of the Centre for Analytics and AI Engineering at the University of Toronto. Chan shared his expertise in a CTV News article on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout:
“A key to maximizing efficiency in these complex logistical operations is minimizing downtime or non-productive time,” said Director of the Centre for Healthcare Engineering at the University of Toronto Professor Timothy Chan, in an email to CTV News.ca Wednesday.
“Retail figured out long ago that inventory sitting on shelves costs them money. The same concept applies here, except now we’re talking lives.”
Chan also criticized the petering out of vaccinations around the holidays.
“COVID doesn’t take a holiday so neither should we,” he said.
Chan says that fixing the problem relies on accurately identifying the “key limiting factors” or “bottlenecks.”
“Is it a lack of healthcare workers to deliver the vaccines? Is it a lack of space at the vaccination sites? Is it a lack of coordination and leadership? Right now, the only limiting factor should be our vaccine supply,” he said.
Chan said some solutions lie for provinces opening “several large sites” similar to Manitoba’s super site, adding satellite vaccinate sites in long-term care homes and recruiting the healthcare workers who have been lining up the volunteer to administer them.
“Start a massive scheduling operation to just get people to these sites (or doses delivered to LTC homes) and start administering the vaccine around the clock if we need to,” he said.
Read the full news story, ‘Around the clock’: Experts weigh in on speeding up Canada’s vaccination rollout, on CTV News.
