Herd Immunity'': A Rough Guide

The term herd immunity'' is widely used but carries a variety of meanings [1-7]. Some authors use it to describe the proportion immune among individuals in a population. Others use it with reference to a particular threshold proportion of immune individuals that should lead to a decline in incidence of infection. Still others use it to refer to a pattern of immunity that should protect a population from invasion of a new infection. A common implication of the term is that the risk of infection among susceptible individuals in a population is reduced by the presence and proximity of immune individuals (this is sometimes referred to as indirect protection'' or a herd effect''). We provide brief historical, epidemiologic, theoretical, and pragmatic public health perspectives on this concept.