COVID-19 vaccination policies under uncertain transmission characteristics using stochastic programming.

We develop a new stochastic programming methodology for determining optimal vaccination policies for a multi-community heterogeneous population. An optimal policy provides the minimum number of vaccinations required to drive post-vaccination reproduction number to below one at a desired reliability...

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Main Authors: Krishna Reddy Gujjula, Jiangyue Gong, Brittany Segundo, Lewis Ntaimo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270524&type=printable
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author Krishna Reddy Gujjula
Jiangyue Gong
Brittany Segundo
Lewis Ntaimo
author_facet Krishna Reddy Gujjula
Jiangyue Gong
Brittany Segundo
Lewis Ntaimo
author_sort Krishna Reddy Gujjula
collection DOAJ
description We develop a new stochastic programming methodology for determining optimal vaccination policies for a multi-community heterogeneous population. An optimal policy provides the minimum number of vaccinations required to drive post-vaccination reproduction number to below one at a desired reliability level. To generate a vaccination policy, the new method considers the uncertainty in COVID-19 related parameters such as efficacy of vaccines, age-related variation in susceptibility and infectivity to SARS-CoV-2, distribution of household composition in a community, and variation in human interactions. We report on a computational study of the new methodology on a set of neighboring U.S. counties to generate vaccination policies based on vaccine availability. The results show that to control outbreaks at least a certain percentage of the population should be vaccinated in each community based on pre-determined reliability levels. The study also reveals the vaccine sharing capability of the proposed approach among counties under limited vaccine availability. This work contributes a decision-making tool to aid public health agencies worldwide in the allocation of limited vaccines under uncertainty towards controlling epidemics through vaccinations.
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spelling doaj-art-a3fcbe280feb4b14a8ab6df81af7e3502025-08-20T03:01:19ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01177e027052410.1371/journal.pone.0270524COVID-19 vaccination policies under uncertain transmission characteristics using stochastic programming.Krishna Reddy GujjulaJiangyue GongBrittany SegundoLewis NtaimoWe develop a new stochastic programming methodology for determining optimal vaccination policies for a multi-community heterogeneous population. An optimal policy provides the minimum number of vaccinations required to drive post-vaccination reproduction number to below one at a desired reliability level. To generate a vaccination policy, the new method considers the uncertainty in COVID-19 related parameters such as efficacy of vaccines, age-related variation in susceptibility and infectivity to SARS-CoV-2, distribution of household composition in a community, and variation in human interactions. We report on a computational study of the new methodology on a set of neighboring U.S. counties to generate vaccination policies based on vaccine availability. The results show that to control outbreaks at least a certain percentage of the population should be vaccinated in each community based on pre-determined reliability levels. The study also reveals the vaccine sharing capability of the proposed approach among counties under limited vaccine availability. This work contributes a decision-making tool to aid public health agencies worldwide in the allocation of limited vaccines under uncertainty towards controlling epidemics through vaccinations.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270524&type=printable
spellingShingle Krishna Reddy Gujjula
Jiangyue Gong
Brittany Segundo
Lewis Ntaimo
COVID-19 vaccination policies under uncertain transmission characteristics using stochastic programming.
PLoS ONE
title COVID-19 vaccination policies under uncertain transmission characteristics using stochastic programming.
title_full COVID-19 vaccination policies under uncertain transmission characteristics using stochastic programming.
title_fullStr COVID-19 vaccination policies under uncertain transmission characteristics using stochastic programming.
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 vaccination policies under uncertain transmission characteristics using stochastic programming.
title_short COVID-19 vaccination policies under uncertain transmission characteristics using stochastic programming.
title_sort covid 19 vaccination policies under uncertain transmission characteristics using stochastic programming
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270524&type=printable
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AT jiangyuegong covid19vaccinationpoliciesunderuncertaintransmissioncharacteristicsusingstochasticprogramming
AT brittanysegundo covid19vaccinationpoliciesunderuncertaintransmissioncharacteristicsusingstochasticprogramming
AT lewisntaimo covid19vaccinationpoliciesunderuncertaintransmissioncharacteristicsusingstochasticprogramming