Prevention paradox

Common card · No. 381253

The prevention paradox describes the situation where the majority of cases of a disease come from a population at low or moderate risk of that disease, and only a minority of cases come from the high risk population (of the same disease). This is because the number of people at high risk is small. The prevention paradox was first formally described in 1981 by the epidemiologist Geoffrey Rose. Especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the term "prevention paradox" was also used to describe the apparent paradox of people questioning steps to prevent the spread of the pandemic because the prophesied spread did not occur. This however is instead an example of a self-defeating prophecy or a preparedness paradox.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Ralf Steinberger from Northern Italy and Berlin, CC BY 2.0