A meme shared on Facebook claimed that “ *polio* and *smallpox* never reached *natural herd immunity* ” and that *vaccines* were responsible for eradicating these diseases. Posts sharing the meme were shared tens of thousands of times. We reviewed this claim and found it to be *correct* . Polio and smallpox can be recognized in historical records dating back thousands of years. Both diseases continued to cause periodic outbreaks in communities until their eradication, which was achieved only relatively recently. Smallpox was eradicated globally in 1980. We have yet to achieve global eradication of polio, but most regions today have been declared polio-free. These achievements followed concerted and collaborative public health campaigns, a key part of which was vaccination. Vaccines have also helped keep other diseases like measles and pertussis at bay. But we’ve seen these diseases make a comeback in the U.S., France, and other countries, after vaccine coverage rates fell. 🟢From these observations, we can conclude that infection-induced immunity, or natural immunity, is insufficient to establish herd immunity that protects a community. They also show that vaccines have been the key to disease eradication. 👁️‍🗨️Read our review to learn more about vaccines’ critical contribution to public health: https://science.feedback.org/review/facebook-meme-correctly-states-vaccines-eradication-polio-smallpox-not-natural-herd-immunity/