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Medium Operations

CO-V(id)accinated

#Non-profit

Practice this intermediate operations case interview question in the Non-profit sector. Includes detailed problem prompt, clarifying questions, structured framework, and expert recommendation. Part of ProHub's 835+ consulting case library.

ProHub Comment

This case tests the candidate's ability to balance multiple competing priorities under extreme time pressure: saving lives (health), protecting the economy (financial), and maintaining political viability. It requires rigorous quantitative analysis combined with ethical reasoning, forcing candidates to recognize the tragic trade-offs inherent in resource-constrained public health decisions.

Estimated Time 27 minutes
Difficulty Medium
Source Columbia
24 / 100
Happy New Years Eve! Thank you for coming in to help with this emergency deliverable. 5 Pharma companies have developed 5 COVID vaccines and are now beginning to deliver them. Our client is the government of New York State and we will be providing ongoing support to the vaccine distribution until the end of the pandemic. The federal government is controlling distribution nationally and our client has been given extremely limited lots as New York’s illustrious leader, Governor Drew Commo, disputed the efficacy of the vaccines. The vaccines lots begin arriving to NYC in specially-outfitted refrigerated trucks tonight. You’re here to help New York State make their final decision on how to distribute the initial vaccine lots that arrive this week in the manner that is best for the state. We have a call in 40 minutes with Governor Commo and his team. If approved, the distribution and administering of the available vaccines will begin tomorrow morning. If your recommendations are denied, we will lose the project and the distribution of the vaccines will be delayed. Your recommendations will have life and death effects on New Yorkers. How do we approach distribution?

Clarifying Information

  1. What do you mean by best for the state? “We want to save as many lives as possible and get our economy back up and running as soon as possible with the vaccines arriving this week. New York is facing a $10 billion shortfall on next year’s budget. They have cut every extraneous item out of their budget that is viable. Governor Commo will reject any plan that does not cover the costs of the vaccines. A vaccinated person will immediately return to work in person.”
  2. How does the vaccine work and how effective is it? “The vaccines have varying degrees of effectiveness and are all administered by a series of or individual injections. An effectively vaccinated person cannot carry or spread the disease”
  3. How many doses do we have? or How many lots of vaccines do we have? “We will address this later in the case. However, if you prefer, we can jump right into it.” If they say, yes, skip the framework and go directly to Exhibit 1.
  4. How many people can we inoculate? “We will address this later in the case. That is what you are here to help figure out.”
  5. How many people live in New York State? “19.5 million”
  6. What about Antibodies? “Recent studies show antibodies do not prevent reinfection or the spread of COVID and are ignored.”
  7. How many people need to be inoculated? “Current research indicates 90% of the US pop needs to be inoculated before we can return to normal”
  8. What support can we expect from the Federal Government? “Governor Commo believes asking for help is a sign of weakness and he will not directly admit his failure and ask the President for help as it would hurt his ego. We can expect no aid from the Federal Government.”
Mock Interview
Interviewer

Happy New Years Eve! Thank you for coming in to help with this emergency deliverable. 5 Pharma companies have developed 5 COVID vaccines and are now beginning to deliver them. Our client is the government of New York State and we will be providing ongoing support to the vaccine distribution until the end of the pandemic. The federal government is controlling distribution nationally and our client has been given extremely limited lots as New York's illustrious leader, Governor Drew Commo, disputed the efficacy of the vaccines. The vaccines lots begin arriving to NYC in specially-outfitted refrigerated trucks tonight. You're here to help New York State make their final decision on how to distribute the initial vaccine lots that arrive this week in the manner that is best for the state. We have a call in 40 minutes with Governor Commo and his team. If approved, the distribution and administering of the available vaccines will begin tomorrow morning. If your recommendations are denied, we will lose the project and the distribution of the vaccines will be delayed. Your recommendations will have life and death effects on New Yorkers. How do we approach distribution?

You

Thanks. Before analyzing, I'd like to clarify a few key questions...

Interviewer

Good question. Let me provide some background information...

You

Based on this, I suggest analyzing from these dimensions...

AI Score
Structure Analysis Communication Business Sense Quantitative
Practicing...
Score coming soon
Practice this case with AI Mock Interview

New York State must allocate limited COVID vaccine supplies across five different vaccines with varying efficacy rates, spoilage rates, and costs, while ensuring booster reserves are maintained. The solution recommends giving high-efficacy vaccines to a low-risk working population (Segment C) to generate tax revenue to pay for the vaccines, while distributing remaining supplies to higher-risk elderly and vulnerable populations, creating a morally complex trade-off between economic recovery and saving vulnerable lives.

Key Insights:

  1. Candidate must identify and focus on essential variables while filtering out excess information in a data-heavy environment
  2. The case requires balancing three competing objectives: lives saved (health), economic recovery (budget constraint), and moral/ethical considerations about resource allocation
  3. Mathematical rigor is essential—candidates must calculate spoilage rates, reserve requirements for boosters, effective vaccination numbers, and tax generation capacity
  4. Political and stakeholder management matters—the recommendation must be defensible to the governor and public despite controversial allocation decisions
  5. The fundamental tension is acknowledging that allocating vaccines to lower-risk populations for economic benefit implicitly accepts higher mortality among vulnerable populations

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