Accession Number:

ADA556856

Title:

Effective Vaccination Policies

Descriptive Note:

Journal article

Corporate Author:

WYOMING UNIV LARAMIE DEPT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Personal Author(s):

• Shaw, L.
• Spears, W.
• Billings, L.
• Maxim, P.

Report Date:

2010-03-31

Pagination or Media Count:

32.0

Abstract:

We present a framework for modeling the spread of pathogens throughout a population and generating policies that minimize the impact of those pathogens on the population. This framework is used to study the spread of human viruses between cities via airplane travel. It combines agent-based simulation, mathematical analysis, and an Evolutionary Algorithm EA optimizer. The goal of this study is to develop tools that determine the optimal distribution of a vaccine supply in the model. Using plausible benchmark vaccine allocation policies of uniform and proportional distribution, we compared their effectiveness to policies found by the EA. We then designed and tested a new, more effective policy which increased the importance of vaccinating smaller cities that are flown to more often. This importance factor was validated using U.S. influenza data from the last four years.

Descriptors:

• *VACCINES
• EPIDEMIOLOGY
• EVOLUTION(BIOLOGY)
• INFLUENZA
• MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS
• MIGRATION
• PATHOGENIC MICROORGANISMS
• VIRUSES

Subject Categories:

• Pharmacology

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE