The effect of heterogeneity in measles vaccination on population immunity.
High overall vaccination levels sometimes hide pockets of poor coverage. We adopted a meta-population framework to model local aggregation of populations, and used this to investigate the effects of vaccination heterogeneity. A recent survey of antibody levels in a community with low vaccination levels in The Netherlands enabled us to assess the relative importance of local and long-range infective contacts, and thus identify feasible levels of aggregation in the meta-population model. In the aggregated model, we found that heterogeneity in vaccination coverage can lead to a much increased rate of infection among unvaccinated individuals, with a simultaneous drop in the average age at infection.
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
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Kappey
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Grenfell
D006801:Humans; D008457:Measles / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008458:Measles Vaccine / Q000276:immunology*; D018448:Models, Immunological; D009426:Netherlands; D014611:Vaccination
D008458:Measles Vaccine