Fig. 1.

A mathematical model combines data and optimization to obtain an optimal delay for administration of a vaccine second dose. The optimal second-dose delay emerges from the solution of the optimization model. The model blends ICU usage data, the vaccine mechanism of action, vaccine availability, and population demographics into an epidemiological model to predict future ICU admissions by age group. The model is solved using an optimization algorithm that considers multiple scenarios and iteratively adjusts the decision variables to find the optimal delay between the first and second vaccine doses and the target control reproduction number. The graphics used to prepare Fig. 1 are extracted from Freepik.