Targeted Vaccination Strategies for an Infinite-dimensional SIS Model

Abstract: We formalize and study the problem of optimal allocation strategies for a (perfect) vaccine in the infinite-dimensional SIS model. The question may be viewed as a bi-objective minimization problem, where one tries to minimize simultaneously the cost of the vaccination, and a loss that may be either the effective reproduction number, or the proportion of the infected population in the endemic state. We prove the existence of Pareto optimal strategies, describe the corresponding Pareto frontier in both cases, and study its convexity and stability properties. We also show that vaccinating according to the profile of the endemic state is a critical allocation, in the sense that, if the initial reproduction number is larger than 1, then this vaccination strategy yields an effective reproduction number equal to 1.