A history of herd immunity

Greenwich Hospital Schoolboys at dinner” in Active Immunization Against Diphtheria: its Effect on the Distribution of Antitoxic Immunity and Case and Carrier Infection (1934) by Sheldon F Dudley, Percival M May, and Joseph A O'Flynn Medical Research Council/Special Report Series, No 195/London: HM Stationery Office/1934 Potter's concept reached the UK in 1917 and 1920 in summaries in Veterinary Review and Scottish Agriculture. The school provided laboratory-like conditions, with a homogeneous group of male students, in good physical shape, who entered in batches several times a year, where they slept in dormitories of 70 to 126 beds. Dudley published reports for the Medical Research Council on diphtheria and scarlet fever, droplet infections, and diphtheria immunisations. The idea surged again after 1990 as public health officials worked to achieve sufficient levels of vaccine coverage.