Canada is seeing a surge in measles cases. Find out what measles is, why it’s returning to Canada, and how people can protect themselves and others.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Herd immunity
Displaying 1 - 20 of 113 articles
Antibiotics aren’t very effective against it, but we do have a vaccine.
Seven children at a nursery in Stoke-on-Trent have caught measles. But other parts of the UK are at risk too.
Projections from the UKHSA suggest London could see a measles outbreak totalling 40,000 to 160,000 cases at current vaccination levels.
The repeated lesson from other countries is that the loss of immunity and the appearance of new variants make herd immunity a futile goal when it comes to COVID.
With poliovirus circulating in New York, health authorities worry that pockets of the county with low polio vaccination rates could give the virus a foothold.
Achieving herd immunity via vaccination was always going to be a hard ask. Now it’s mathematically impossible.
The metaphor of a collective “carpet of immunity” invites us to imagine immunity as a collaborative project, spreading out to protect those for whom the end of mandates means increased vulnerability.
Vaccine passports became one of the most divisive issues of the COVID-19 pandemic. These policies were affected not only by public opinion but by new variants and changing goals for herd immunity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought immunology terms that are typically relegated to textbooks into our everyday vernacular. These stories helped us make sense of the ever-evolving science.
Some of the omicron variant’s unique properties – such as its ability to spread rapidly while causing milder COVID-19 infections – could usher in a new phase of the pandemic.
Variant-specific vaccines would undoubtedly increase immunity. But waves of new variants would engulf the population faster than these vaccines could ever be deployed.
People are buzzing with questions about the omicron variant and whether it could help usher in herd immunity. A team of virologists deciphers the latest findings.
Even with a variant like Omicron that may be more transmissible than earlier variants, vaccines remain the most effective tool for protection against COVID-19 and for ending the pandemic.
A panel of experts answer questions about vaccines, omicron and other COVID-related issues in a discussion with The Conversation.
The participation of five-to-11-year-old children in vaccination programs will make 90 per cent of the population eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Vaccination campaigns like the ones that eventually eliminated polio and measles in the United States required decades of education and awareness in order to achieve herd immunity in the U.S. population.
Regulators are currently reviewing the safety and efficacy data of the Pfizer vaccine for five to 11 year olds before deciding whether to approve its use in this age group.
Voluntary modifications to behaviour – such as mask wearing when it’s not mandatory – are probably helping to keep the virus in check.
Subtly shifting the crafting and delivery of public health messaging on COVID-19 vaccines could go a long way toward persuading many of the unvaccinated to get the shot.
Top contributors
-
Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde
-
Professor, epidemiological modelling of infectious diseases, UNSW Sydney
-
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Oklahoma State University
-
Professor, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney
-
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
-
Professor of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology, James Cook University
-
Senior Lecturer; MD, Victoria University
-
Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, University of South Carolina
-
Professor and Director of Doherty Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne
-
Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Disability Studies, Georgetown University
-
Associate Professor, Computing & Information Systems; Director, Melbourne Data Analytics Platform, The University of Melbourne
-
Principal Lecturer, Microbiology and Biomedical Science Practice, Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science, University of Brighton
-
Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University
-
Professor of Immunology, Vice-Chancellors Distinguished Professorial Fellow, Head of Immunology and Translational Research, Victoria University
-
Postdoctoral Fellow in Virology, University of Colorado Boulder
