Optimizing planning and design of COVID-19 drive-through mass vaccination clinics by simulation

Abstract

Drive-through clinics have previously been utilized in vaccination efforts and are now being more widely adopted for COVID-19 vaccination in different parts of the world by offering many advantages including utilizing existing infrastructure, large daily throughput and enforcing social distancing by default. Successful, effective, and efficient drive-through facilities require a suitable site and keen focus on layout and process design. To demonstrate the role that high fidelity computer simulation can play in planning and design of drive-through mass vaccination clinics, we used multiple integrated discrete event simulation (DES) and agent-based modelling methods. This method using AnyLogic simulation software to aid in planning, design, and implementation of one of the largest and most successful early COVID-19 mass vaccination clinics operated by UCHealth in Denver, Colorado. Simulations proved to be helpful in aiding the optimization of UCHealth drive through mass vaccination clinic design and operations by exposing potential bottlenecks, overflows, and queueing, and clarifying the necessary number of supporting staff. Simulation results informed the target number of vaccinations and necessary processing times for different drive through station set ups and clinic formats. We found that modern simulation tools with advanced visual and analytical capabilities to be very useful for effective planning, design, and operations management of mass vaccination facilities.

Discrete‐event simulation is still alive and strong: evidence from bibliometric performance evaluation of research during COVID‐19 global health pandemic

“…For example, “Asgari A.” and “Najafabadi M. M.” co‐authored many articles, including Asgari et al. (2021) as shown in Fig. 6 (2021 cluster—right side of the figure).…”

A Quality Improvement Initiative to Transform Seasonal Immunization Processes Using Learning from the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic

“…Simulations of drive-through mass immunization clinics followed the initial planning phase. 18 The team then conducted an end-to-end test by vaccinating employees and testing all our processes except for the EHR. For example, traffic flow patterns were optimized, and a 20-minute postvaccination observation period was implemented by parking the cars in a supervised section of the lot.…”

A mass vaccination site selection problem: An application of GIS and entropy-based MAUT approach

“…The identification of the vaccination site, the layout of the center, the identification of the number, role and type of the staff members, the training of the staff, the necessary equipment and vaccine transportation, cold-chain maintenance and storage were found as the most important issues in planning stage. Also Asgary et al [ 21 ] proposed a simulation of a real drive-through COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic and reported the outputs. They used multiple integrated discrete event simulation (DES) and agent-based modeling method in AnyLogic software.…”