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California's rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines is one of the slowest in the country. Only 2.5 million residents have received shots so far, out of a state with 40 million people.
Why?
Nick Vyas is the executive director of USC's Center for Global Supply Chain Management. He says the state's approach – which has been to leave most of the planning and distribution of the vaccine to counties and hospitals – simply has not worked.
Vyas say responding to a pandemic is like fighting a war. That requires centralized planning.
If you have finite resources and a finite capacity, he explained, you should look at the entire state as one system.
"Vaccine distribution is a gigantic supply chain puzzle," he said. "And it cannot just be solved by a local community and municipality working independently [of the state]."
You can listen to the full conversation with Vyas here:
READ MORE ABOUT THE SLOW VACCINE ROLLOUT:
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