The White House is embracing discussion on controversial “Herd Immunity” of tackling the coronavirus. We should start at the beginning with a basic understanding of what is herd immunity and why is it important?
“Herd Immunity” takes place when a large percentage of the people in a community refer to as the “herd”, becomes immune to a disease, resulting in the possibility of spreading a disease from one person to another less likely.
As a consequence, the whole community becomes more protected — not just those who are immune.
Herd immunity can be reached through natural infection by allowing the virus to run its course until a sufficient number of people in the population have recovered from the disease and have developed antibodies against future infection.
It is a way to achieve mass immunity against an infection at a fast rate.
Why Is Herd Immunity Controversial?
The term “Herd” used to describe human is scoffed at as derogatory way to describe people. Also many looked at it as a risky move to intentionally expose 60-70 per cent of young and healthy population of a region to the novel coronavirus believing that their immune systems can develop antibodies against the pathogen and help them become immune to it.
Top medical adviser to US President Donald Trump is urging the White House to embrace a controversial “herd immunity” strategy to combat the pandemic.
This approach will entail allowing the coronavirus to spread through most of the population to quickly build resistance to the virus, while taking steps to protect those in nursing homes and other vulnerable populations, according to five people familiar with the discussions. Read full story here….