Speaker
Description
Vaccine-related communication can help curb infection, yet it can also depress vaccine uptake and sustain transmission even when effective vaccines exist. We examine how vaccine-information dynamics shape epidemic spread and how they can be steered to support control. We propose a coupled information--infection framework that links a standard SVIRS epidemic model to an integrate-and-fire-inspired dissemination model. Vaccine-positive and vaccine-critical informants spread competing narratives that influence hesitant individuals through threshold-based acceptance and persistence of engagement, while infection prevalence feeds back by heightening caution. These evolving attitudes modulate vaccination uptake, and the model captures the joint evolution of information flows and epidemic trajectories. Our analysis shows that information dynamics can shift epidemic regimes and determine long-term outcomes. Notably, strengthening vaccine-positive engagement (by lowering resistance to pro-vaccine messages and sustaining participation) delivers larger and more reliable infection-control benefits than strategies centered on suppressing vaccine-critical voices. The results underscore information governance as a core component of epidemic control and suggest pairing biomedical interventions with approaches that cultivate durable, vaccine-positive engagement to prevent resurgence and support sustained containment.
