Can herd immunity help in coronavirus battle
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In vogue?
Of late, the discussion on combating COVID-19 has pivoted from lockdowns and testing to ‘herd immunity’, with a study - by Princeton University - even saying countries like India may be better off depending on herd immunity than a lockdown. Here’s what it means.
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What’s it?
Herd immunity is when a large section of a population is immunized to a disease - either through a vaccination or due to having the actual illness and recovering.
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What’s the problem?
The problem is there isn’t a vaccine, which means inducing herd immunity becomes a challenge; it would mean deliberately introducing the virus into the population.
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Feasible?
The Princeton study advocates releasing the pathogen in a controlled manner by lifting the lockdown and allowing the workforce to resume their jobs, predicting that 60% of the Indian population will develop herd immunity by November.
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Risk?
However, a study by Los Alamos National Laboratory, US - not specific to India - said 82% of the population needs to be immune before herd immunity kicks in. The risk is for people over 65, who are most vulnerable to COVID-19.
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Will it work?
Theoretically, yes. Measles - extremely contagious - with one person able to infect 18 others, needed at least 95% of the population to become immune in order to develop herd immunity. It was declared eliminated in 2000. COVID-19 is much less contagious.
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The challenge
Comorbidities - pre-existing conditions that are worsened by the infection - are high in India. The country has the second highest number of diabetics in the world and scores of other problems like heart and respiratory illnesses.