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Ring vaccination hinders the spread of a disease by vaccinating only those who are most likely to be infected.
Contents
Medical use
When someone falls ill, adults they might have infected are vaccinated. Depending on how easily the disease spreads, contacts who could have been infected might include family, neighbours, and friends. Several layers of contacts (the contacts, the contacts' contacts, the contact's contacts' contacts, etc.) may be vaccinated. Some vaccines will protect even if they are given just after infection, but even if the vaccine does not, ring vaccination can prevent the virus from being transmitted again, to the contacts' contacts.
Advantages
When responding to a possible outbreak, health officials should consider which is best, ring vaccination or mass vaccination. In some outbreaks, it might be better to only vaccinate those directly exposed; variable factors (such as demographics and the vaccine that is available) can make one method or the other safer, with fewer people experiencing side-effects when the same number are protected from the disease.
History
Ring vaccination was used in the eradication of smallpox., and was used in the ebola epidemic in West Africa.