The myth of vaccine-induced 'herd immunity'

As childhood vaccination rates fall, EVERYONE needs to be able to explain and defend this important truth.

Since I have been involved with the “medical freedom movement” (aka the anti-vaccine crowd) over the last twenty years, there have been several “outbreaks” of measles in the United States. The biggest one by far, in terms of media madness was The Disneyland Measles Outbreak of 2015. Notice I said, “in terms of media madness.” That’s an important distinction. The 2015 measles outbreak was nowhere near the biggest, in terms of sheer numbers. According to the CDC, there were a total of 188 measles cases in 2015. The United States saw 1,274 reported cases of measles in 2019, with a large percentage of the cases occurring in New York. The outbreak was traced to international travelers who had been exposed to measles in Israel and Ukraine.

The 2015 measles outbreak was quite small in comparison to what happened in 2019, but the propaganda was huge. There were a couple of reasons for this, chief among them that the California Legislature, backed by the State Medical Association, was pushing to remove the Personal Belief Exemption (PBE) which allowed parents to opt-out of vaccinations otherwise mandated for school. SB277 was signed into law in June of 2015, removing parental rights. That’s what the Disneyland Measles Outbreak Hype was all about. There was also ongoing discussion about whether or not to add a third dose of the MMR vaccine to the adult schedule (something that did not happen). Adults were not mandated to vax-up. Children were.

During the New York outbreak in April of 2019, Mayor Bill DeBlasio declared a state of emergency and mandated MMR vaccination for all adults and children living and working in the city.

The order mandates that all unimmunized children and adults living or working in the area must receive vaccinations unless they can prove a medical exemption applies. Those who do not comply could be guilty of misdemeanor violations and incur fines.

Just as happened in California, New York followed suit and removed religious exemptions.

On June 13, 2019, in response to the widespread measles outbreaks in New York and other parts of the United States, the New York State Legislature repealed the provision of the law authorizing nonmedical, religious exemptions. (source)

In this article from 2019, NYU College of Public Health Dean Cheryl Healton acknowledges that the initial exposures occurred abroad, but only after blaming the anti-vaccine movement and “pockets of unvaccinated people” for the spread of measles. She repeats the myth of “herd immunity,” which she says magically appears when 95% of the public is vaccinated.

“When approximately 95 percent of people in a community are vaccinated, it creates a ‘herd immunity,’ which stops the disease from being able to spread from person to person.” (source)

Where have we heard THAT recently? Well, first from then CDC Director, Rochelle Walensky, when promoting the COVID-19 vaccine. As the video explains, within a very short time, the CDC was refuting the claims of its own director.

But that didn’t stop the claim from being repeated by the media. Over and over again. And that is exactly how myths like “vaccine-induced herd immunity” become accepted as FACT. With ZERO actual scientific (or real world) evidence.

The above transcript is from the completely false statements made by Rachel Maddow as she describes the myth of herd immunity from COVID-19 vaccination. I don’t watch Rachel Maddow and had no idea how big her audience was, so I looked it up. According to Forbes, during the first part of 2021, when the above video aired live, Maddow’s show was the number one most watched nightly news source, with an audience of 3.6 million viewers. It’s easy to understand how a lie uttered becomes a lie repeated becomes a “fact” accepted as “true.”

Vaccine-induced ‘herd immunity’ is complete fantasy and it always has been.

The failure of vaccines when it comes to establishing herd immunity is not something new and it’s not restricted to the COVID-19 vaccine. There has never been a single study to verify that vaccine-induced herd immunity exists. This is a good article about how the pharmaceutical industry co-opted the term from the actual existence of natural herd immunity. The whole thing reminds me of that comedy show, “Who’s Line is it, Anyway?”

Let’s think about this.

This is the CDC’s Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for 2023.

Let’s see if we can simplify this…

• Hepatitis B - 3 doses by six months (many children get 4 doses because after the single dose in the hospital, they get a combo shot at their 2-, 4-, and 6-month vaccine appointments (aka “well-baby check-ups”).

• Rotavirus - 3 doses by six months

• DTaP - 5 doses by age 6 years (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis)

• Hib - 3-4 doses by 15 months

• Pneumococcal - 4 doses by 15 months

• Inactivated Polio - 4 doses by age 6 years

• MMR - 2 doses by age 6 years (measles, mumps, rubella)

• Varicella (chickenpox) - 2 doses by age 6 years

• Hepatitis A - 2 doses by 23 months

• TDap - 1 dose at 11-12 years (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis)

• HPV - 2-3 doses at 9-11 years

• Meningococcal (ACWY) - 2 doses by age 16 years

• Meningococcus B - 2 doses between 16-18 years

• Influenza - yearly, from 6 months to 18 years - 2 doses per year from 6 months to 8 years (16 doses); 1 dose per year from 9 years to 18 years (10 doses); total 26 doses.

• COVID-19 - 2 or 3 dose primary series, plus boosters (number of boosters as yet to be determined)

The total I come up with here is between 65 and 70 doses. Things that will influence the final number include whether the infant receives 3 or 4 Hepatitis B vaccines, the age and timing of the HPV vaccine, and whether the initial COVID-19 series is a two or three shot series. I am not including Dengue Fever vaccine in this calculation, since it *should not* affect children living in the continental U.S. - at least not at this time… Some folks will recall that a few years ago, the number of doses was 72. I believe that number was higher because for a while, the CDC was recommending two flu shots per year (one for “seasonal flu” and one for H1N1; they have been combined now into one yearly flu shot).

Of course, if the mother receives vaccines during pregnancy, those need to be counted in the total, since the developing baby will also be exposed to the vaccines (and all of their ingredients). That means we need to add TDap, Influenza, and COVID-19 (2 doses), for another four doses, bringing the total to 69-73 doses.

Counting the vaccines/infections, we have:

1. Hepatitis B

2. Rotavirus

3. Diphtheria

4. Tetanus

5. Pertussis

6. Hemophilus B Influenza

7. Pneumococcal

8. Polio

9. Measles

10. Mumps

11. Rubella

12. Varicella

13. Hepatitis A

14. Human Papilloma Virus

15. Meningococcal (ACWY)

16. Meningococcal (B)

17. Influenza

18. COVID-19

In total, according to the 2023 CDC’s Childhood Schedule (and including vaccines given in utero), children vaccinated according to recommendations receive between 69-73 doses of 18 different vaccines from womb to age 18 years.

The CDC says ALL children MUST be vaccinated according to this schedule. “There is no alternative schedule.” “Delaying vaccination places children at risk.” “Do not deviate from the schedule.” “If we fall below 95% vaccine coverage, we will LOSE HERD IMMUNITY!”

I am assuming that if you are reading this, you are most likely an adult. Please go back to the list of vaccines. How many of those have you received? EVEN if you are someone who works in “healthcare,” I’m betting you are not anywhere near “up-to-date” on all of those shots the CDC says are necessary to prevent us from “losing herd immunity.” I am 63 years old. Born in 1960. Other than a tetanus shot (1990) and the one and only flu shot that nearly killed me when I was 30, I haven’t had a vaccine since fifth grade, in 1971. That was the year they conducted vaccine clinics at Fairhaven Elementary school, following the introduction of the MMR vaccine. The majority of people I know are just like me.

Dr. Russell Blaylock says it well:

That vaccine-induced herd immunity is mostly myth can be proven quite simply. When I was in medical school, we were taught that all of the childhood vaccines lasted a lifetime. This thinking existed for over 70 years. It was not until relatively recently that it was discovered that most of these vaccines lost their effectiveness 2 to 10 years after being given. What this means is that at least half the population, that is the baby boomers, have had no vaccine-induced immunity against any of these diseases for which they had been vaccinated very early in life. In essence, at least 50% or more of the population was unprotected for decades.

If we listen to present-day wisdom, we are all at risk of resurgent massive epidemics should the vaccination rate fall below 95%. Yet, we have all lived for at least 30 to 40 years with 50% or less of the population having vaccine protection. That is, herd immunity has not existed in this country for many decades and no resurgent epidemics have occurred. Vaccine-induced herd immunity is a lie used to frighten doctors, public-health officials, other medical personnel, and the public into accepting vaccinations.

With the CDC’s announcement last week that childhood vaccination rates have fallen in 40 states since the beginning of COVID, we can expect a massive push to eliminate vaccine exemptions. And as their report states, the CDC has no qualms about using the myth of vaccine-induced ‘herd immunity’ as a major talking point to achieve their goal.

Clearly, the CDC is doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down on the 95% vaccine coverage being “necessary” to achieve that mythical ‘herd immunity’ benchmark. And as anyone who has lived through the last four years will understand, the CDC and their government backers will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. And they have absolutely ZERO problem going after the children to get there.

If you are not already doing so, please get active in establishing relationships with your legislators. You can find like-minded citizens in your state by signing up at NVIC’s Advocacy Portal and joining your state group. It is up to us - parents and grandparents - to stand in the space between our lawmakers and the pharmaceutical lobbyists assigned to them. As my former legislator in Indiana told me, “There are two pharma reps assigned to every lawmaker at the capitol.” During our initial discussion, my senator told me, “If I don’t hear from people like you, the only information I receive on this subject is from the pro-vaccine side.” And you can be absolutely certain that those people do not have your child’s best interest as their first priority.