Immunities of the Herd in Peace, War, and Covid-19

Bibliographic Data

ID11035728
AuthorsWarwick Anderson (0000-0002-5545-9244)
Year2022
Volume112
Issue10
Pages1465-1470
Publication date2022-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.2022.306931
PMID35926163
OpenAlexW4289855317
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited15

Intermittently, the concept of herd immunity has been a potent, if sometimes ambiguous and controversial, means of framing the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and envisaging its end. Realizing the full meaning of human herd immunity requires further attention to its connections after World War I with British social theory. Distracted by “obvious” yet unsubstantiated correspondences with veterinary research, historians of the concept have not engaged with the more proximate influence of discussions of social psychology and group dynamics on postwar epidemiology. Understanding the openness of early 20th century epidemiology to social thought deepens our appreciation of the significance of herd or population immunity, as well as suggests new avenues for exchange between public health and contemporary social sciences. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(10):1465–1470. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306931 )

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Disease · Framing (construction) · Geography · Herd immunity · Infectious disease (medical specialty) · Meaning (existential) · Openness to experience · Pandemic · Political science · Population · Public health · Social science · Sociology · Demography · Epidemiology · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Veterinary Practice and Education Studies · Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research · Zoonotic diseases and public health

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