Optimal Voluntary Vaccination of Adults and Adolescents Can Help Eradicate Hepatitis B in China

Kristen Scheckelhoff, Ayesha Ejaz, Igor V. Erovenko, Jan Rychtář and Dewey Taylor
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Kristen Scheckelhoff: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA
Ayesha Ejaz: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA
Igor V. Erovenko: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA
Jan Rychtář: Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA
Dewey Taylor: Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA

Games, 2021, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Hepatitis B (HBV) is one of the most common infectious diseases, with a worldwide annual incidence of over 250 million people. About one-third of the cases are in China. While China made significant efforts to implement a nationwide HBV vaccination program for newborns, a significant number of susceptible adults and teens remain. In this paper, we analyze a game-theoretical model of HBV dynamics that incorporates government-provided vaccination at birth coupled with voluntary vaccinations of susceptible adults and teens. We show that the optimal voluntary vaccination brings the disease incidence to very low levels. This result is robust and, in particular, due to a high HBV treatment cost, essentially independent from the vaccine cost.

Keywords: hepatitis B; epidemiology; vaccination; public health; game theory; Nash equilibrium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C C7 C70 C71 C72 C73 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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