herd immunity

noun

1. the immunity or resistance to a particular infection that occurs in a group of people or animals when a very high percentage of individuals have been vaccinated or previously exposed to the infection.

Example Sentences

Perhaps it turns out the vaccines don’t protect against spread — they’re currently only proven to prevent illness and death — and reaching herd immunity is impossible.

From Vox

We still have a long way to go before we reach anything approaching herd immunity, but at least we’re getting on track.

From Popular-Science

That threshold is herd immunity — where even people who haven’t been vaccinated or infected before are protected because so many of the people around them are immune.

From Vox

We don’t know how long herd immunity might takeThere’s been a lot of talk about “herd immunity,” that somewhat mystical point when enough of the population has acquired immunity that a disease can no longer freely spread as it once did.

From Popular-Science

South Africa is recalibrating its rollout of vaccinations against Covid-19 out of concerns that a local variant of the virus may be evading the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which the country had hoped would put it on the path to herd immunity.

From Quartz

Since measles is so contagious, even with herd immunity, it can find a weak link and spread.

From The Daily Beast

Herd immunity protects those people, because diseases constantly need fresh victims.

From The Daily Beast

More About Herd Immunity

What is herd immunity?

Herd immunity is immunity from or resistance to a specific infectious disease throughout a population that results from a majority of that population having been exposed to that infection, such as by having been vaccinated for it or having been previously infected by it.

In medicine, the word immunity typically refers to the state of being unable to get a disease due to being protected from it by antibodies that will recognize it and immediately fight it if it enters the body. (Immunity isn’t always permanent—sometimes it wears off after months or years.) The word herd is used in the phrase to refer to a group of people or animals (the term was originally used in the context of cattle diseases).

Herd immunity makes it less likely for an infected person to transmit the disease to others. That’s because the majority of the group (the herd) has become immune or strongly resistant to the disease by having antibodies that will fight it. These antibodies may have been produced from an earlier infection or through vaccination. Herd immunity relies on a large percentage (often 70-90%) of people being immune. When this is the case, infected people are unlikely to spread the disease because almost everyone they come in contact with is already immune or resistant to it. With herd immunity, even people who are not immune to the disease are less likely to be infected because the majority of people around them are immune and will not spread the disease to them.

Medical experts most commonly discuss herd immunity in terms of the kind achieved through vaccination. In this scenario, vaccines must be effective, widely available, and widely used in order to eventually lead to widespread immunity. This method has led to the elimination or near elimination of diseases such as smallpox, polio, and chickenpox.

Herd immunity can also occur when the majority of a population becomes infected. In this scenario, the immune systems of those who recover become able to recognize the disease and produce antibodies against it, preventing them from becoming reinfected. Of course, such a wide spread can result in many deaths.

For this reason, many medical experts warn against pursuing such a scenario intentionally. Such a course of action was discussed and rejected by most epidemiologists during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when the term herd immunity became more popularly known.

Why is herd immunity important?

The term herd immunity has been used since at least the late 1800s. Its early uses referred to actual herds of cattle. By the 1930s, the term was also being applied to human populations.

The more contagious a disease is, the higher percentage of immunity is needed to stop its spread. Herd immunity often requires an especially large percentage of the population to be immune in order to reasonably consider the people who are not immune to be protected. For example, it is estimated that herd immunity from measles, which is very contagious, requires up to 95% of the population to have immunity in order for the people who aren’t immune to be considered reasonably protected from the disease. If such a percentage isn’t maintained, the disease is much more likely to spread throughout the population.

Did you know ... ?

Medical experts have estimated that at least 70 percent of a population would need to be immune to COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity. In the United States, this would be nearly 230 million people. Globally, this would be nearly 5.5 billion people.

What are real-life examples of herd immunity?

Historically, the term herd immunity has mostly been used by medical experts, but it became more popularly known during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New @forbes, @bruce_y_lee explains how herd immunity works for #measles https://t.co/DiOFCCv5NP

— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) November 25, 2018

80k people died from flu last year, mainly infants and the elderly.

When you get the flu shot, you are not only protecting yourself, but due to herd immunity, you are protecting everyone in your community.

If vaccination rates rise just 1%, 807 people will survive flu season. https://t.co/w6CDv7sbbo

— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) November 16, 2018

Herd immunity? Sweden model? Sweden had a higher death rate than Denmark, Norway, and Finland, AND its economy did worse. The only alternative to controlling the virus is more deaths and more economic devastation. Choose health. pic.twitter.com/vhIlh5knMc

— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrTomFrieden) August 31, 2020

 

 

What other words are related to herd immunity?

• immunity
• disease
• infectious
• contagious
• vaccination
• population
• COVID-19

Quiz yourself!

True or False?

For herd immunity, only a small percentage of a population needs to have immunity to a disease.