Vaccines are one of humanity’s greatest inventions and historically the most effective means to fight and eradicate infectious diseases. As long as the vast majority of a population is vaccinated against a disease, it becomes very difficult for an outbreak to occur. This concept is called herd immunity and allows for the unvaccinated, such as infants or those with compromised immune systems, to remain protected from the disease.
This GIF visualizes how vaccination rates influence herd immunity within a given population. As the proportion of vaccinated individuals increases, the transmission of disease is reduced. Once a critical proportion of the population becomes immune, the disease can no longer sustain itself and ceases to be endemic. At this point, those who are unable to receive vaccinations become protected from the disease because of the immunity of the rest of the community.
The proportion of the population that needs to be vaccinated is called the herd immunity threshold and is estimated using epidemiological models. Highly infectious diseases such as measles require 92-95% of the population to be vaccinated. Less infectious diseases such as influenza only require population immunity of 33-44%.
Vaccines do more than just protect you and your children from terrible diseases. They help protect everyone around you.
Source: https://redd.it/5v72fw (/u/theotheredmund)
Learn More: https://goo.gl/D3EwJA (PBS Nova)
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