Etymology

herd immunity

herd im·mun·ity

Today it means: The indirect protection against the spread of a contagious disease in a given population caused by the immunity of a significant proportion of the population to that particular disease; the immunity may have been obtained through having survived the infection or through vaccination. Full definition →

First used early 20th c.
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The story

From herd + immunity, first identified in herds of cattle.

First known use, by meaning

  • from early 20th c. The indirect protection against the spread of a contagious disease in a given population caused by the immunity of a significant proportion of the population to that particular disease; the immunity may have been obtained through having survived the infection or through vaccination.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.