Design of Targeted Community-Based Resource Allocation in the Presence of Vaccine Hesitancy via a Data-Driven Compartmental Stochastic Optimization Model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a data-driven stochastic optimization model that integrates epidemiological dynamics and vaccine hesitancy to optimize healthcare resource allocation during infectious disease outbreaks.

Contribution

It presents a novel compartmental stochastic programming framework that adaptively manages resource distribution considering behavioral and disease spread uncertainties.

Findings

Delaying ventilator deployment increases expected deaths significantly.

Additional ventilators reduce expected deaths per unit supplied.

Cost of fairness peaks during outbreak peaks and in dense areas.

Abstract

Vaccines have proven effective in mitigating the threat of severe infections and deaths during outbreaks of infectious diseases. However, vaccine hesitancy (VH) complicates disease spread prediction and healthcare resource assessment across regions and populations. We propose a modeling framework that integrates an epidemiological compartmental model that captures the spread of an infectious disease within a multi-stage stochastic program (MSP) that determines the allocation of critical resources under uncertainty. The proposed compartmental MSP model adaptively manages the allocation of resources to account for changes in population behavior toward vaccines (i.e., variability in VH), the unique patterns of disease spread, and the availability of healthcare resources over time and space. The compartmental MSP model allowed us to analyze the price of fairness in resource allocation. Using real COVID-19 vaccination and healthcare resource data from Arkansas, U.S. (January-May 2021), our findings include: (i) delaying the initial deployment of additional ventilators by one month could lead to an average increase in the expected number of deaths by 285.41/month, highlighting the importance of prompt action; (ii) each additional ventilator in the initial stockpile and in supply leads to a decrease in the expected number of deaths by 1.09/month and 0.962/month, respectively, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a large stockpile and scalable production response; (iii) the cost of ensuring equitable resource allocation varies over time and location, peaking during the peak of a disease outbreak and in densely populated areas. This study emphasizes the importance of flexible, informed public health decision-making and preparedness, providing a model for effective resource allocation in public health emergencies.