Abstract
Since the allocation of vaccines is often constrained by limited resources, designing an economical vaccination strategy is a fundamental goal of the epidemiological modelling. In this study, with the objective of reducing costs, we determine the optimal allocation of vaccines for a general class of infectious diseases that spread mainly via contact. We use an optimization routine to identify the roles of nodes with distinct degrees as depending on the cost of treatment to that of vaccination (relative cost of treatment). The optimal allocation drives vaccination priority to medium-degree nodes at a low relative cost of treatment or to high-degree nodes at a high relative cost of treatment. According to the presented results, we may adjust the vaccination priority in the face of an endemic situation.
Highlights
Vaccines are often used to combat specific diseases, thereby preventing millions of deaths every year
The epidemic model (SIR) we used is very simple, no heterogeneity related to diseases being considered, but our preliminary analysis of heterogeneity in contact clarifies the role of nodes with different degrees in the optimal allocation of vaccines
In heterogeneous networks, depending on the relative cost of treatment, the optimal allocation varies such that the tradeoff between the cost of vaccination and that of treatment is balanced
Summary
Vaccines are often used to combat specific diseases, thereby preventing millions of deaths every year. In order to control the outbreak of an infectious disease efficiently, a reasonable vaccination strategy is required, and its efficacy needs to be evaluated. To this end, the characteristics of an infectious disease often provide important guidelines for the determination of the optimal allocation of vaccines [8]. The efficacy of a vaccination strategy has often been evaluated by comparing it with other vaccination strategies that aim at reducing the transmission rate or infection risk [11]. The requirement for a successful strategy would primarily involve the minimization of the total cost, and it might be more desirable to rely on the design of an economical vaccine policy
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