Optimal vaccination program for two infectious diseases with cross immunity

TL;DR

This paper develops an analytical framework for determining the optimal vaccination strategy in a population facing two competing infectious diseases with cross immunity, aiming to minimize outbreak costs.

Contribution

It introduces a novel two-layer SIR model with cross immunity and derives a criterion for optimal vaccination programs based on vaccine costs.

Findings

Three scenarios of optimal vaccination strategies identified

Analytical criterion for selecting vaccination programs derived

Minimized outbreak costs achieved through tailored vaccination policies

Abstract

There are often multiple diseases with cross immunity competing for vaccination resources. Here we investigate the optimal vaccination program in a two-layer Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) model, where two diseases with cross immunity spread in the same population, and vaccines for both diseases are available. We identify three scenarios of the optimal vaccination program, which prevents the outbreaks of both diseases at the minimum cost. We analytically derive a criterion to specify the optimal program based on the costs for different vaccines.