Establishing sterilizing immunity to helminth nematodes through vaccination is currently a major global health objective. Amongst the helminths infecting humans, hookworms currently infect 1 billion people, and are considered to be the leading cause of anaemia worldwide. To date, little information is available concerning the specific components of the immune response that confer immunity to hookworms, principally due to the absence of an adequate model. We use the closely-related rodent parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis to model the early stages of hookworm infection. Using gene deficient mice, truncated infection studies and fluorescent labelling of the worms, we show that the lung is the major protection site against Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infection. Protection was caused by a striking defect in the integrity of the worms, which depended on the STAT6 signaling pathways, the expansion of IL-13 producing CD4+ T cell and ILC2 subsets, and the activation of M2 macrophages. We further show that this protection correlates with the damage repair mechanisms triggered by the worm migration in the lungs, and that administration of IL-33 is sufficient to induce protection.