How to Use herd immunity in a Sentence

herd immunity

noun
Definition of herd immunitynext
  • The percentage of a community that needs to be immune to achieve herd immunity varies from disease to disease.
    — Karen Pallarito, Health, 20 Jan. 2024
  • To reach herd immunity, and prevent outbreaks, 95 percent of children must have both doses.
    — Stephanie Nolen, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2023
  • Fast forward two years and the brand loyalty has faded, herd immunity has taken hold, and staying up to date on your vaccines can be confusing.
    — Rachel Murphy, Verywell Health, 30 Nov. 2023
  • That is below the 95% vaccination threshold health experts say is needed for herd immunity against measles.
    — Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 22 Feb. 2024
  • The World Health Organization says there needs to be at least 95% of vaccination in a population for herd immunity.
    — Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2024
  • The economic argument behind only vaccinating girls against HPV has rested on the idea that men will benefit by proxy through herd immunity.
    — Grace Browne, WIRED, 20 Oct. 2023
  • The classical definition of herd immunity has been completely turned upside down by Covid.
    — David Wallace-Wells, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2023
  • The World Health Organization considers 95% the threshold necessary for herd immunity from measles.
    — Katie Mogg, NBC News, 20 Feb. 2024
  • Measles was officially declared eradicated in the U.S. more than 20 years ago, but new outbreaks of the disease are popping up — and experts say declining vaccination rates are jeopardizing herd immunity and increasing the risk.
    — Stephen Stock, Leigh Ann Winick, CBS News, 23 Jan. 2024
  • The World Health Organization considers 95% the necessary threshold to maintain herd immunity.
    — Patrick Smith, NBC News, 25 Jan. 2024
  • Among humans, global herd immunity, once promoted as a singular solution, is unreachable.
    — Larry Brilliant, Foreign Affairs, 8 June 2021
  • What about vaccines, herd immunity, experimental treatments?
    — Philip Elliott, Time, 17 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'herd immunity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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