Thread by @aparanjape

It's Time For America's Fixation On Herd Immunity To End, Scientists Say

(the world's fixation as well...)

npr.org/sections/healt… - @gbrumfiel

""This pandemic ends when enough people are protected from severe illness, and selfishly you want to be protected from severe illness," says Devi Sridhar, a professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Vaccination "helps you and it helps your community""

"The idea of herd immunity began with cows, not people. In 1916, veterinarian Adolph Eichhorn and colleagues noticed that a herd of cattle could become collectively immune to a disease if enough animals survived the initial infection."

npr.org/sections/healt…

"The term herd immunity remained largely in academic circles until the spring of 2020. That's when, as the coronavirus spread across Europe, politicians such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suddenly found themselves talking about it on television."
npr.org/sections/healt…

- Computer models (of interactions) aren't real life.
- Immunity is not uniformly distributed.
- Reinfections are possible.
- Variants arise.

npr.org/sections/healt… ...best strategy maybe to get individually protected (with vaccination).