Bang-Bang Optimal Control of Vaccination in Metapopulation Epidemics with Linear Cost Structures

Abstract

This paper investigates optimal vaccination strategies in a metapopulation epidemic model. We consider a linear cost to better capture operational considerations, such as the total number of vaccines or hospitalizations, in contrast to the standard quadratic cost assumption on the control. The model incorporates state and mixed control-state constraints, and we derive necessary optimality conditions based on Pontryagin's Maximum Principle. We use Pontryagin's result to rule out the possibility of the occurrence of singular arcs and to provide a full characterization of the optimal control.