Herd immunity

Question 1

What is herd immunity?

Answer 1

Refers to a means of protecting a whole community from disease by immunizing a critical mass of its populace.

Question 2

How does herd immunity protect people?

Answer 2

Vaccinated individuals protect members of the community who cannot be vaccinated, preventing the chain of disease from reaching them and limiting potential outbreaks.

Question 3

Who are epidemiologists?

Answer 3

Experts in infectious disease transmission.

Question 4

What is R0?

Answer 4

“Basic reproduction number”- this number represents how many people in an unprotected population one infected person could pass the disease along to.

Question 5

The higher the R0….

Answer 5

the higher the immunity threshhold must be to protect the community

Question 6

What’s the immunity threshhold?

Answer 6

Enough people who have achieved immunity status through vaccination in order to achieve herd immunity.

Question 7

Why is herd immunity important?

Answer 7

Human communities were one relatively small and isolated, reducing transmission rates.

But since no one lives in isolation anymore, human interaction has resulted in more potent chains of disease transmission. The only thing that can break a chain of transmission is a disease resistant link.