A Mathematical Investigation of Vaccination Strategies to Prevent a Measles Epidemic
The purpose of this project is to quantitatively investigate vaccination strategies to prevent measles epidemics. A disease model which incorporates susceptible, vaccinated, infected, and recovered populations (SVIR) is used to investigate the process of how an epidemic of measles can spread within a closed population where a portion of the population has been vaccinated. The model is used to predict the number of infections and resulting reproductive number for the measles based on a variety of initial vaccination levels. The model is further used to investigate the concept of herd immunity, which states that if a certain percentage of the population is vaccinated then it will provide protection for the entire population. Results generated from these modeling efforts suggest that approximately 95\ of the population should be vaccinated against the measles in order to establish a herd immunity.