Can ‘Herd Immunity’ Stop the Coronavirus?

What exactly is Herd Immunity?  In addition,  how does Herd Immunity impact the general world population?  First of all, Coronavirus has remained  a global pandemic Second of all, the problem is getting worse and worse.  Finally,  the next big question is, what does the wold do now?

Following a call from the World Health Organization for countries to “take urgent and aggressive action,” world leaders are holding crisis talks with health officials to figure out the best way to protect the public from the coronavirus that’s caused more than 700,000 deaths worldwide as of the end of July.  One of the things being talked about is herd immunity, but what does this mean, and how does it relate to COVID-19? 

Experts Want to Flatten the Infection Curve waiting on a vaccine

The goal, is to  Fight the Pandemic.   For example, here is what that means.  Herd immunity has been defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as:

“A situation in which a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness) to make its spread from person to person unlikely.”

Med-Q Medication Compliance System tells us,  where there is herd immunity—lots of people in an area are vaccinated or have already been infected.  Thus, fewer people get sick.  In addition,  fewer viruses can spread from individual to individual.  This applies to people who are not vaccinated.  For example,  newborn babies and individuals with chronic illnesses.  Finally, these people will now have a level of protection because the disease can’t spread as rapidly through their community.

 What Is the Goal of Social Distancing

How is is different from trying to  Self-Quarantining the virus?  Is this the same thing as Self-Isolation?  What is the theory behind herd immunity.  Again,  when someone gets vaccinated, it’s not only that person who is protected from infection—they can’t transmit the disease to others. Herd immunity protects people .  For example, these individuals that cannot get vaccinated because their immune systems aren’t strong enough.  Hence,  they are the most vulnerable to serious illness or death.

Example of herd immunity via vaccination via the US measles outbreak in the late 1980’s

This outbreak occurred among preschool-age children. The attack rate decreased faster than coverage increased.  Thus, the researchers who examined the association between incidence of measles and immunization coverage  discovered some valuable data.  It seems,  preschool-age children that had immunization coverage of about 80% may be enough to stop sustained measles outbreaks .