noun

• Resistance to the spread of an infectious disease within a population that is based on pre-existing immunity of a high proportion of individuals as a result of previous infection or vaccination.

  ‘the level of vaccination needed to achieve herd immunity varies by disease’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The result has been outbreaks of measles - children have received ineffective injections leading to a breakdown in herd immunity.’
  • ‘Uncertainty about the level of herd immunity generated by vaccination programmes limits modelling of the potential benefits of booster vaccination.’
  • ‘High immunisation rates may result in herd immunity, which increases protection for all residents, including the weakest patients.’
  • ‘A good herd immunity effect dramatically controlled the disease initially.’
  • ‘Because of the herd immunity that exists because of mass vaccination, the unvaccinated are also protected.’
  • ‘Children whose parents opt not to vaccinate decrease herd immunity, which protects populations from communicable diseases.’
  • ‘They found no evidence that vaccination prevents viral transmission, putting the whole herd immunity myth once again into question.’
  • ‘There, public health officials have now documented mass HPV vaccination and the first glimmers of herd immunity.’
  • ‘Neither one really addressed the question of mandatory vaccination and its effect on mortality and herd immunity.’
  • ‘The vaccination is seen as a way to achieve herd immunity as it stops the spread of the illness from children to others that are vulnerable to flu.’