Interconnected Evolution of Epidemic and Public Vaccination Opinion

Abstract

A new model of interconnected coevolving SIRS epidemic and public vaccination opinion pattern is presented. The underlying two-layer network contains strata corresponding to physical interactions in real space and social communications. The layer corresponding to physical interactions is constructed based on data on a real network representing communications between high school students. The evolution of people vaccination attitude is described using an Ising-type model. The model describes a non-trivial dependence of resulting epidemic dynamics on (1) noise amplitude, (2) initial opinion pattern and (3) influence of external information.