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COVID-19:
What Is
Herd Immunity?
'Herd immunity', also known as 'population immunity' is the indirect protection from an infectious disease
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It happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity develops through previous infection
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Herd immunity against COVID-19 should be achieved by protecting people through vaccination, not by exposing them to the pathogen that causes the disease
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Vaccines help the immune system develop antibodies, a kind of protein that helps fight the disease, without getting infected.
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Vaccinated people are protected from getting the disease in question and passing on the pathogen, breaking any chains of transmission
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To safely achieve herd immunity against COVID-19, a substantial proportion of the population needs to be vaccinated to lower the potential of the virus to spread and cause severe infections.
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The percentage of the population that needs to be immune to achieve herd immunity varies with each disease
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Herd immunity against measles requires about 95% of the population to be vaccinated. The remaining 5% will be protected by the fact that measles will not spread among those who are vaccinated
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For polio, the threshold of herd immunity is about 80% of the population
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The proportion of the population that must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to begin inducing herd immunity is not known yet. But COVID vaccines can help build immunity amount masses
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Achieving herd immunity with safe and effective vaccines makes diseases rarer and saves lives
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