Thread by @Ausbones

A few hours ago the UK's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance while speaking with ITV News said he hoped the UK's government approach to coronavirus will create 'herd immunity'

What is Herd Immunity? 

#THREAD

Herd immunity, also referred to as community immunity, occurs when a sufficient portion of a population are immune to a specific disease, thereby protecting individuals who are yet to or have not developed immunity #herdimmunity

The probability that a susceptible person will come in contact with an infection (or an infectious person) is lower when a greater proportion of a population are immune(d) or less susceptible. #herdimmunity

Based on the principle of herd immunity or indirect protection, if a sufficient number of people (herd) are immune(d), the infection should no longer circulate. #herdimmunity

Herd immunity offers several benefits as it could be applied to several demographics eg. children (not old enough to be vaccinated)  immunosuppressed patients (who cannot be vaccinated), the elderly (who cannot mount an optimal immune response to a vaccine), #herdimmunity

People in whom vaccine-induced immunity has waned, People who have inadequate access to immunizations and People who remain unvaccinated by choice. #herdimmunity

In theory, herd immunity means not everyone in a community needs to be immune to prevent spread of disease. This implies that when a high enough proportion of individuals in a population are immune(d),   #herdimmunity

the majority will protect the few susceptible people because the pathogen is less likely to find a susceptible person. #herdimmunity

However my issue with this approach is that herd immunity has not prevented outbreaks of some infections in the past say for instance, measles or rubella even in communities with immunization levels as high as 85% to 90%.
#herdimmunity

Oftentimes, in a highly immunized population, a small number of susceptible persons could be clustered in subgroups by socioeconomic or cultural factors. The implication of this is that when a pathogen is introduced into such subgroup, an outbreak may occur.
#herdimmunity

I see many issues with the  herd Immunity approach to COVID - 19 

1. Although there are ongoing research not much is known yet about NCoV Immunology
2. Creating herd Immunity certainly means more loss of lives even at 3% fatality that will be an epic proportion #herdimmunity

As the world quarantines itself, it is important that we all do well to educate, protect ourselves and others around us to fight this pandemic and infodemic. You are safer when others are safe.
There is yet hope for the world.

@threadreaderapp kindly unroll