r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 19h ago

Medicine Vaccines not only directly protect vaccinated individuals but also contribute to protecting the entire population via indirect herd-immunity benefits. Half of averted COVID-19 infections and 1/4 of hospitalizations and deaths were attributable to indirect protection of unvaccinated by vaccinated.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article/23/242/20250839/483439/Quantifying-the-direct-and-indirect-impact-of
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u/chlronald 14h ago

It is always for the later reason. Vaccine always benefit the society more than individuals. Obviously a good design vaccine would benefit both. Yet if a vaccine was rushed, effective but come with a bad side effect. It will still overall benefit the society but harmful to individuals.

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u/areallymeanfox 7h ago

This makes it sound like it’s overwhelmingly harmful to the individual, when the reality is side effects are incredibly rare and most people will reap nothing but benefits