Sveir epidemiological model with varying infectivity and distributed delays

In this paper, based on an SEIR epidemiological model with distributed delays to account for varying infectivity, we introduce a vaccination compartment, leading to an SVEIR model. By employing direct Lyapunov method and LaSalle's invariance principle, we construct appropriate functionals that integrate over past states to establish global asymptotic stability conditions, which are completely determined by the basic reproduction number R( V) (0). More precisely, it is shown that, if R( V) (0) ≤ 1, then the disease free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable; if R( V) (0) > 1, then there exists a unique endemic equilibrium which is globally asymptotically stable. Mathematical results suggest that vaccination is helpful for disease control by decreasing the basic reproduction number. However, there is a necessary condition for successful elimination of disease. If the time for the vaccinees to obtain immunity or the possibility for them to be infected before acquiring immunity can be neglected, this condition would be satisfied and the disease can always be eradicated by some suitable vaccination strategies. This may lead to over-evaluating the effect of vaccination.