Vaccination is one method of control used against infectious diseases. However, at times vaccination efforts have been met with some controversy on medical safety and religious grounds, while recent years have seen the rise of an anti-vaccination movement in the USA.
This project would investigate the impact of human behaviour on the effectiveness of vaccination strategies in preventing epidemic outbreaks.

A starting point of the project would be to discuss the modelling assumptions to be made. For example, for the behaviour dynamics the most simple choice would be to have a pro-vaccination class and anti-vaccination class, but should there be a third class where the decision to vaccinate or not is influenced by the current level of infection?

The aim would then be to construct a simple deterministic and/or stochastic mathematical model that incorporates status with respect to the disease, while also allowing for individuals to adjust their opinion on vaccination.

Possible scenarios these models could be used to analyse (based on interest) are the impact of:

  • Vaccine scares
  • Vaccine shortages
  • Comparing different vaccination implementation strategies.

An extension to this work would be to introduce distinct communities that may favour a particular stance towards vaccination via the use of a metapopulation model.
Comments/ ideas are welcome.