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Table of Contents

Project Name 4 Business Needs 4 Analysis of Situation 4 Recommendations/Evaluation 5 References 6 Appendix 7

Non-Profit organization to start a vaccine drive using donated supplies for a third world country

Vaccine development can have a big economic impact on a country. The manufacturing plant, the people hired to perform the work, and the sale of vaccines undoubtedly stimulates economic activity. Furthermore, the cost of preventable diseases on a health care system and society has a heavy toll, and vaccine development will absorb some of that economic impact. Particularly, children are susceptible to many airborne diseases and are common spreaders. If a vaccine can be developed to treat airborne communicable diseases in children, it would dramatically cut these economic burdens, and bring huge patient relief. Without doubt, a third world country with limited access to resources to develop or obtain vaccines, will benefit from access to vaccines against preventable diseases for health and economic reasons. However, a third world country would be more limited than others to obtain resources to develop or have access to developed vaccines. This would make the project very costly to provide vaccines to an area where there will be no return for the investment. Therefore, the use of donated materials and resources would be needed.

The company would like to take on the mission to hire a project management organization (PMO) Lavender Co. to partner with the company Vaccines for All with other companies including Merck Foundation to organize and develop a vaccine for a MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella), utilizing donated materials, and administer it to individuals most at risk such as children, to a third world country, Burundi. The Merck Foundation is a company that has modeled a similar business model to this idea, and can assist the PMO with the approach and design of this project. While utilizing resources such as the Merck Foundation, there will undoubtedly be risks inherited by taking on such a project, including the quality of the vaccines, and vaccine hesitancy. Critical success factors will be selecting a country, collecting data about the population, and making data driven decisions. With project assumptions and constraints in mind, the company will track milestones for success with the end goal of achieving herd immunity against MMR in Burundi, beginning with the vaccination of children.

Stakeholders or stakeholder groups

The party that will be affected by the opportunity most will be the unprivileged children living in Burundi, since they will benefit most from the vaccination program. The community at large can in the future be affected by the diseases if no precautions such as vaccinations are undertaken.

The scope of the proposed project

This project will consist of delivering necessary vaccines to the children in Burundi, which will help protect them against any preventable diseases and ensure that they are in great health as they grow into adulthood.

Characteristics of the product, service, or result of the project

The product entails a vaccine, which has no negative side effects and one that helps provide sustainable health solutions to the kids. The service entails the provision of injectable vaccines, throughout the country, where counseling and follow-up services will take place. The result is to have a healthy child, who is not susceptible to preventable diseases as a result of the offered vaccination.

The relationship between the project/product and the business need

From prior research, it is apparent that there are both social and business needs where many children lack proper vaccination that could help them live a safe and healthy life (Schumacher, 2021). Therefore, there was a need to develop a vaccine that will help in providing sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the kids. The project, through the use of donated supplies, is vital in that it has established a gap in health care and addressed it accordingly.

The Merck Foundation is a philanthropic organization that aims to improve people's health and well-being around the globe. It focuses on the advancement of science and technology in improving the health and well-being of the people.

The foundation's objectives include increasing the health of the people in middle-income and low-income countries through improving their access to innovative healthcare solutions. Thus, their biggest target is the underserved communities in middle-income and low-income countries. The organization also aims to empower girls through education, to build scientific research and healthcare capacity. The foundation also aims to empower the people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to increase the healthcare outcomes of the people.

The root cause of the problem or main contributors of opportunity

The people living in underserved communities in third-world countries do not have access to vaccines. Therefore, they end up getting infected with conditions or illnesses that could have been prevented. This created an opportunity for the foundation to start a vaccine drive in third-world countries, that would enable the people in these underserved communities to be vaccinated. Since the foundation has partners and people who donate, it can easily access the vaccines compared to the people living in underserved communities. Thus, the foundation came up with the initiative. Additionally, it will achieve its objectives by starting the vaccine drive in third-world countries as they fall in low-income and middle-income countries.

Known risks for the project

Several risks will be encountered during the project. The first risk being the quality of the vaccines. The foundation should have the vaccines tested to ensure that they are of high quality and free of contamination. This will ensure the foundation achieves its objectives of improving people's well-being and health outcomes. Another risk that can emerge from the project is the risk of misinformation. The people in the underserved communities in third-world countries may be misinformed about the vaccines. That may lead to adverse effects, such as some of them declining the vaccination. Vaccination hesitancy will reduce the success of the initiative by the foundation.

Critical success factors are used to measure the project's success.

Critical success factors will be used to measure the success of the initiative. One of the primary critical success factors that may be used to measure the initiative's success is the reach of the project. This will be measured by determining the percentage of immunization at the population level. Thus, it will improve the health and well being of the people in the underserved communities effectively. The data on the reduction of infections in the people in underserved communities in third-world countries may be used to measure the initiative's success. For instance, when the number of infections in an area where a vaccine drive is reduced, it indicates that the initiative was successful.

Decision criteria to access courses of action

To decide on the program, it will be backed up by information or data. That will ensure that the program's decisions are effective decisions that will promote the success of the program. The foundation will research heavily before initiating the program to ensure that they understand all the procedures that need to be followed to promote the program's success and ensure that it helps the foundation attain its objectives.

In order to best reduce the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases in underserved global communities, the Merck Foundation will partner with international organizations to provide vaccines either at-cost or no cost to developing countries. The prioritized vaccine will be the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine to maximize the impact of the drive. By addressing diseases that primarily affect children, the MMR vaccine drastically reduces the lifetime burden of infections with these diseases. Thus, leading to healthier adults and significantly reducing infant and child mortality (World Health Organization, 2019).

Success in this vaccination drive is dependent on core assumptions and constraints. The major assumptions are that there will be no vaccine hesitancy, no issues with supply chains, and no political or environmental interference with the distribution. A major risk to the project is the disruption or loss of critical components of the supply and distribution chain such as coolers, freezers, vials, and syringes. Vaccine hesitancy and distrust of a foreign organization in handling the distribution will require work with the locals to ensure trust. Differing road, internet, and electrical capabilities among underserved communities will present major logistical challenges that require consistent and possible extra funding to compensate for.

Major milestones of this project include percent vaccinated. Data must be tracked either electronically when possible, or with thorough paper documentation to track the number of children and infants vaccinated. Other major milestones may include percent reduction in disease morbidity and mortality. However, these may not be immediately observable. The long-term benefits of this project seek to measure the improvements in lifespan, reduction in healthcare costs associated with vaccine preventable disease, and improved economic output of these countries. The project seeks to establish ongoing vaccination capacities in developing countries by demonstrating the profound positive effects of childhood vaccination.

The project may conclude after “herd immunity” is achieved in the country. Due to the highly infectious nature of measles, herd immunity will be determined to be 96% vaccinated according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria (Kwong & Ambizas, 2019). The benefits to this organization upon successful achievement of the World Health Organization’s goal to vaccinate underserved communities include continued and expanded funding for further objectives. Increased funding allows for more ambitious projects and greater compensation for hiring and retaining talent.

It is recommended that the project be thoroughly reviewed for completeness and that no other confounding factors exist. Current project portfolios should be reviewed first to determine the importance of this project against others. There should then be an agreement of what exactly the project intel’s and any resources needed to complete it. The total cost, specifics and time needed to achieve the project should be clear. Contingencies and back-up plans should be established to ensure project completion. A proper business plan should be reviewed by key stakeholders to make an informed decision regarding the project readiness.

Kwong, A. & Ambizas, E. (18 July 2019). Measles and the MMR Vaccine. US Pharm. 44(7), 8-13.

Schumacher, Henry, J. (2021). Are there business opportunities in vaccinating people?

Retrieved 7 March 2021 from

Simplified scoring model

The Merck Foundation’s options for project selection align with the organization’s mission to the advancement of science and technology to benefit the world. The parameters of the project’s discussed fell in line with the scoring model, measuring cost of the project, length of time to complete the project, organization fit within Merck Foundation’s mission statement, and the complexity of the project.

Cost of the project

As a non-profit organization, Merck Foundation seeks to assist underserved communities through the advancement of science and technology. The foundation has weighted cost as the most important aspect of the scoring algorithm to ensure the project selected keeps in line with the budget and does not cause the foundation to divest more money to the project than selected. This keeps in line with our philanthropic mission to assist as many underserved communities as possible by keeping within the foundations means to ensure the succession and availability of future projects. As such we have provided the highest weighted score of a 5 to the cost of the project.

Length of project

Merck Foundation understands the length of the project can vary and extend into years to complete as is the case with many projects in science and technology. The time it takes to create a drug, expand a hospital, or initiate a vaccine drive can span into a decade to effectively address the problem and complete the project deliverables. It is with these factors in mind that the foundation has provided the lowest score within the score algorithm (1) to the length of the project, so as not to underscore the importance of a project, despite the length of time it may take to complete.

Organizational Fit

Merck Foundation’s mission is to advance underserved communities through the advancement of science and technology. We have provided an algorithm score of 4 to ensure the next project selected meets the needs of our organization’s mission statement. We strive to select a project that utilizes our expertise in science and technology, to present to underserved communities and enrich their lives by providing access to products or services formally without reach.

Complexity

Merck Foundation understands the complexities involved in the advancement of science and technology but has set limits on the project selected to ensure we maintain balance in our philanthropic goals. The algorithm score we have assigned to the complexity of a project has been marked as a 3 to ensure the project remains within our means to better serve the community. Thus, projects under consideration should balance our experience and resources in science and technology rather than extend ourselves into areas outside this field. By maintaining focus on our skills we can better serve the community.

Project Options

The following selections have been submitted to Merck Foundation for consideration and review:

1. Vaccine Drive: the proposed project is to initiate a vaccine drive using donated supplies for expansion of vaccines into underserved communities in a selected third world country.

2. Generic Drug: the proposed project is to bring a generic not-for-profit drug to market to counter the cost and limited availability of a commercial drug to underserved communities.

3. Expansion of Local Hospitals: the proposed project is to divest funding into selected local hospitals to expand their capabilities and better assist underserved communities. This would include new construction and new development to aid in the expansion.

4. Diagnostic Device: the proposed project is to develop a not-for-profit diagnostic device that can help underserved communities gain access to resources currently without reach to aid in prevention and diagnosis of diseases.

Project Selection

The Merck Foundation has chosen the Vaccine Drive project proposal to move forward with development. Use of the scoring algorithm revealed this project supported our cost bracket for new proposals, due to the balanced use of donated supplies from outside companies in combination with funding provided by the Merck Foundation. The length of the project is within our organization’s average timeline to meet deliverables and is acceptable. The project fits with our organization’s mission statement, as it assists underserved communities gain access to life altering vaccines. The complexity of the project, while vast, is within our scope of experience and resources within the science and technology field and meets our full criteria to proceed.