Interventions to mitigate post-infection morbidity: Management insights from simple models
Publication Date
Publication Journal
Author(s)
Prakhar Jaiswal, Daniel Coombs, Caroline E. Wagner, Troy Day, and Chadi M. Saad-Roy
While evidence of long COVID and other post-infection impacts is mounting, models that evaluate infectious disease management strategies typically focus only on the acute phase. In this study, the authors developed a system of mathematical equations to assess how the cost associated with post-recovery syndromes affects the optimal level of vaccine coverage. They found that the ideal amount of vaccine coverage was very sensitive to post-acute effects and that even small post-infection costs could shift the optimal coverage to higher rates and even to elimination levels. These results indicate that it is critical to systematically monitor and document post-infection effects and to understand how vaccine cost increases or decreases with increasing rates of coverage.