Targeted vs acquaintance immunization on scale-free networks
Network & Disease
Strategy
Epidemic State
S: —
I: —
R: —
Vaccinated: —
Legend
Susceptible
Infected
Recovered
Vaccinated
Acquaintance immunization (Cohen 2003): vaccinate a random neighbor of a random node. Exploits the friendship paradox — friends have higher average degree — achieving near-targeted efficiency without knowing the network structure.