Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of the population becomes immune to a disease or virus, stopping its spread.
Although most experts are encouraging the public to practice social distancing to “flatten the curve” – a phrase used to describe the attempt to distribute the lifespan of the outbreak more gradually over time so as not to overwhelm the health care system – some people have disagreed with that tactic.
Knut Wittkowski, a former biostatistician at the Rockefeller University, claimed social distancing is not the right way to handle the pandemic.– which cited a YouTube video and was shared extensively on Facebook – as saying that achieving herd immunity is the only thing that stops respiratory diseases like COVID-19. He advocated for schools to be opened because within weeks, enough people will have been exposed to the virus and achieved immunity to stop the spread of the virus.
, although his chief scientific adviser later revoked the statement. Johnson initially justified the herd immunity tactic by explaining that strict behavioral restrictions might fatigue people so much that they eventually stop following the social distancing protocol.that criticized Johnson’s justification of fatigue, citing a lack of evidence.Despite the condemnation, Wittkowski still stands by his claim, citing the difficulty of contact tracing and a current lack of a vaccine.
“We have to let nature do what otherwise the vaccine would do and that is create people who are immune because they went through a very mild form of the disease,” he said.Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of the population becomes immune to a disease or virus, stopping its spread because there are so few people who can contract it.
It is typically attained through vaccination, not widespread infection. For example, herd immunity forWittkowski supported herd immunity through infection.
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