Collective immunity
12 November 2023
Coverage of 95% of the country's population with vaccination makes it possible to provide full protection against outbreaks and epidemics of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases - this is called herd immunity. If population immunity decreases, the incidence of vaccine-preventable infections increases.
The WHO warns that if the level of vaccination coverage in a country falls by several percent, this creates favourable conditions for the spread of infectious diseases. The lower the collective immunity, the higher the chance of outbreaks and epidemics.
