You already know that getting vaccinated will protect you from catching a communicable disease. But did you know that doing so can also protect your loved ones, your family, and the whole community from getting sick?
Yes, the single act of visiting your independent pharmacy or wherever you prefer to get yours can help save lives in the process called herd immunity. But how does this work?
As your trusted retail pharmacy in Menifee, California, let us at Lotus Pharmacy tell you how herd immunity works to help the whole community.
Herd immunity refers to the protection that the population forms against a contagious disease after a large enough number of people have been vaccinated.
This vaccination of a ‘large enough’ number of people is the most crucial element to ensuring herd immunity is achieved because with fewer individuals for the germ responsible for the transmission of infection to jump from one person to another to interact with, the more unlikely it is for people to catch it and spread it again. Think 19 out of every 20 people getting vaccinated in a local pharmacy in California to be effective. Any dip in the numbers and the chances for herd immunity falters.
This is where the community can benefit from this simple compliance. With fewer agents spreading the disease, the better chances that the most vulnerable members of the community—newborn babies, senior citizens, those with a compromised health condition, and those who are fatally allergic to the components in the vaccine—will not be infected.
