Title: The Impact of Information Dissemination on Vaccinating Epidemics in Multiplex Networks,
Abstract: The impact of information dissemination on epidemic control essentially
affects individual behaviors. Among the information-driven behaviors,
vaccination is determined by the cost-related factors, and the correlation with
information dissemination is not clear yet. To this end, we present a model to
integrate the information-epidemic spread process into an evolutionary
vaccination game in multiplex networks, and explore how the spread of
information on epidemic influences the vaccination behavior. We propose a
two-layer coupled susceptible-alert-infected-susceptible (SAIS) model on a
multiplex network, where the strength coefficient is defined to characterize
the tendency and intensity of information dissemination. By means of the
evolutionary game theory, we get the equilibrium vaccination level (the
evolutionary stable strategy) for the vaccination game. After exploring the
influence of the strength coefficient on the equilibrium vaccination level, we
reach a counter-intuitive conclusion that more information transmission cannot
promote vaccination. Specifically, when the vaccination cost is within a
certain range, increasing information dissemination even leads to a decline in
the equilibrium vaccination level. Moreover, we study the influence of the
strength coefficient on the infection density and social cost, and unveil the
role of information dissemination in controlling the epidemic with numerical
simulations.