costs and benefits to individuals. By coupling game models and epidemic models, we demonstrate that the

www.elsevier.com/locate/mbs Mathematical Biosciences 204 (2006) 185–1980025-5564/ $- see front matter 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.pursuit of self-interest often leads to stable dynamics but can lead to oscillations in vaccine uptake over time. The instability is exacerbated in populations that are more homogeneous with respect to their percep-tions of vaccine and infection risks. This research illustrates the importance of applying temporal models to an inherently temporal situation, namely, the time evolution of vaccine coverage in an informed population with a voluntary vaccination policy