Quixplained: What is herd immunity, how it works
Updated: August 7, 2020 8:31:26 am- 1 / 6
How herd immunity works?
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Herd immunity is a stage of an epidemic in which some members of a population group remain protected from infection because a majority of those around them have already developed immunity, either through vaccination or because they have been infected earlier.
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So, everyone in the population group does not need to get infected before the epidemic is over.
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Once a certain proportion of population gets infected, and thus builds immunity against the disease, the epidemic begins to slow down and eventually stop.
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It is extremely difficult to determine the level of disease spread necessary for herd immunity when the epidemic is still raging.
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Text: Amitabh Sinha; Illustration: Mithun Chakraborty