Its a tempting idea, but fatally flawed.
Does that sound counterintuitive?
What is herd immunity?
For an individual person, immunity is protective.
If I am immune to COVID-19, I can go out and not worry about being sick.
The idea of being protected by the immunity of those around you is herd immunity.
Its a good thing when were talking about vaccination.
Lets say 95% of people in your town are immunized against measles.
The percentage of people who need to be immune to achieve herd immunity depends on the disease.
COVID-19 doesnt spread as easily.
Sounds great, lets go!
And people would die.
In the US,2.7% of peoplewho get sick with COVID-19 die from it.
Didnt this work in Sweden, though?
Sweden famously chose a herd immunity approach, which some American politicians point to as a strategy that worked.
But Sweden sufferedfar more deaths than neighboring countries, nearly as many per capita as the United States.
and they also had a number of advantages that the US does not have.
While some call the strategy a success, others can fairly say it looks like a disaster.
Swedens approach was not to ignore the virus completely.
They banned all gatherings of more than 50 people throughout the country.
Workplaces and public transit were required to provide extra space for distancing.
Sporting events were held without spectators.
People with a COVID diagnosis were strongly discouraged from traveling.
This makes for ahugedifference in the likelihood that a sick worker will stay home.
But if we did all get the disease, at least wed be immune, right?
For a little while.
Remember, we dont know how long immunity to COVID-19 would last.
Based on what scientists know of other coronaviruses, COVID-19 immunitymight only last a year or so.
Even if it turned out that survivors are immune for life, theres another problem.
No community would be made of a majority of survivors for very long.
Travelers come to visit; babies are born.
Before measles vaccination,measles epidemics would occur every few years.
The numbers would be different with COVID-19, but the principle remains.
What if we only infect young, healthy people?
The first problem in that question is the word we.
Who is doing the infecting?
Who is signing people up for this experiment that certainly will have a death rate?
Thats not ethical in the least.
But sure, lets assume were okay with a bunch of people dying unnecessarily.
(I, for the record, am not.)
Is there a way to infect just the people who are most likely to survive a case of COVID-19?
It only has meaning within networks of contacts.
Theres a further problem.
And theres that we again.
If we do establish herd immunity, it will come at a great cost of human lives.
It will likely not be effective for long.
