You are a part of the herd.
“I don’t care that you call people a herd. And I don’t care that some people consider themselves to be part of a herd. I am not in a herd. I am not a farm animal.”
Del Bigtree
Of course, we are talking about herd immunity.
Which Part of the Herd Gets Protected by Community Immunity?
What if you aren’t vaccinated and protected?
Then you are protected by those who are!
“A situation in which a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness) to make its spread from person to person unlikely. Even individuals not vaccinated (such as newborns and those with chronic illnesses) are offered some protection because the disease has little opportunity to spread within the community.”
CDC Vaccine Glossary of Terms
That’s what herd immunity is all about.
In a community, “the herd” includes those with immunity and those trying/needing to “hide in the herd:”
- those with natural immunity
- folks who are vaccinated and protected
- some people who are too young to be vaccinated or fully vaccinated
- the people who’s vaccines didn’t work
- anyone who can’t be vaccinated, because they have a medical contraindication
And it also includes those who are intentionally unvaccinated. The free-riders. Those who could be vaccinated, but simply choose not to, often because they have been scared by things they have heard or read about vaccines.
This all makes even more sense when you think about it as community immunity, the term that is more commonly used today.
Don’t want to think that you are in the herd?
That’s OK.
The herd still protects you. At least it does if enough folks in the herd are vaccinated and protected.
More on Community Immunity
- V is for Vaccine
- Del Bigtree on the Government’s Plan to Force Inject Stuff into Your Body
- Del Bigtree’s Caught on Tape Claim
- Dr. Bob Puts the Nail in the Coffin of the Herd Immunity Argument
- Which Vaccines Don’t Prevent the Spread of a Disease?
- Wakefield’s Mutating Measles and Natural Herd Immunity
- Do Unvaccinated Kids Spread More Disease?
- The Very Worst of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
- Herd Immunity Animation
- What is Community Immunity?
- Herd Immunity: How does it work?
- Herd protection
- It Takes a Herd
- All you need to know about ‘Herd Immunity’
- Herd protection:Historical perspective
- Critical immunity thresholds for measles elimination
- “Herd Immunity”: A Rough Guide
- Vaccine herd effect
- Vaccines for the Unvaccinated: Protecting the Herd
- Measles, Vaccination, and the Tragedy of the Commons
- The Problem With Dr Bob’s Alternative Vaccine Schedule