Herd Immunity is Not the Solution for Coronavirus (Covid-19)

This is either pure wickedness or lost sense of reasoning. Just when I thought we were moving forward, here comes another ridiculous idea and unethical approach proposed by some lunatics. It is quite obvious that some people do not understand what herd immunity is and how it is even achieved. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director of the World Health Organization stated that using herd immunity as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, is scientifically and ethically problematic [1]. I am just baffled and blown away as to how some of these people will think letting everyone get infected and spreading the disease intentionally is the answer to Covid-19.

Herd immunity is when a large portion of a population becomes immune to a disease which stops the disease from spreading [2]. And this can be achieved through vaccination and natural immunity. Natural immunity? What is that? Natural immunity is simply when people become immune to a specific disease after contracting it [2]. Herd immunity is a no go for Covid-19 at this point in time. You know why? Covid-19 is a new disease, with no vaccine yet and no one has ever been vaccinated for it before. Therefore, exposing people to Covid-19 intentionally is a death sentence. For Herd immunity to work, at least 98% of the population should have been vaccinated for the infectious disease before [2]. In clear terms, as long as no one has been vaccinated against Covid-19 before, the disease will continue to spread and there will be no immune response.

So you see, herd immunity is definitely not the answer to Covid-19. I am aware a lot of people, mostly anti-vaxxers are advocating for herd immunity because they do not want to take the vaccine. Please, get some sense, listen to the experts, protect yourself and save your loved ones.

References

1. Farzan, A., & Berger, M. (2020). Trying to reach herd immunity is ‘unethical’ and unprecedented, WHO head says. Retrieved 13 October 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/10/13/herd-immunity-coronavirus-unethical-who/

2. Iftikhar, N. (2020). Herd Immunity: What It Means for COVID-19. Retrieved 15 October 2020, from https://www.healthline.com/health/herd-immunity#stats