A novel vehicle routing problem for vaccine distribution using SIR epidemic model

Abstract

Vaccines and refrigerated trucks are critical resources for controlling the spread of epidemic diseases. This paper addresses a novel bi-objective vehicle routing problem to distribute vaccines among different regions to control the spread of communicable diseases in the aftermath of a disaster. The developed model aims to minimize the social cost incurred by considering different priority groups under the SIR epidemic model and the cost of vehicles used simultaneously. A hybrid solution procedure is developed using the weighted augmented $$\varepsilon$$ -constraint method, optimal control theory, and dynamic programming. To evaluate the performance of the model and the solution approach, four small test problems and an illustrative example inspired by a real case are presented and their numerical results are discussed.