  Most countries have started vaccinating people against COVID-19. However, due
to limited production capacities and logistical challenges it will take
months/years until herd immunity is achieved. Therefore, vaccination and social
distancing have to be coordinated. In this paper, we provide some insight on
this topic using optimization-based control on an age-differentiated
compartmental model. For real-life decision making, we investigate the impact
of the planning horizon on the optimal vaccination/social distancing strategy.
We find that in order to reduce social distancing in the long run, without
overburdening the healthcare system, it is essential to vaccinate the people
with the highest contact rates first. That is also the case if the objective is
to minimize fatalities provided that the social distancing measures are
sufficiently strict. However, for short-term planning it is optimal to focus on
the high-risk group.
