Partial vaccination programs and the eradication of infectious diseases

We incorporate the possibility of eradicating infectious diseases through partial vaccinations into a static model where each individual incurs a cost, which differs among the individuals, when he/she is administered a vaccine. We show that if an infectious disease is eradicated by vaccinating up to the individual whose vaccination cost is lower than a threshold, then the partial compulsory vaccination program is strictly preferable to the free choice vaccination program in terms of social welfare otherwise, the free choice vaccination program is strictly preferable to the partial compulsory vaccination program. Our result is a generalization of Brito, Sheshinski, and Intriligator (1991).