Herd immunity could potentially cost hundreds of thousands of lives. And the science on herd immunity for this virus doesn’t yet stack up: Reinfection may be possible, and it’s unclear how long antibodies stick around.
The Trump administration this week promoted a theory that calls for people at low risk of contracting COVID-19 to return to schools, sports, and the workplace, though officials have denied they are putting their support behind the increasingly controversial concept of herd immunity.
Herd immunity occurs when 50% to 90% of a population becomes immune to a virus. The idea is that once people have been infected, they would then develop protective antibodies as part of their recoveries. The virus would then, in theory, lose mobility, with fewer and fewer hosts available. “It’s a mirage to think that simply because we’re going to say we’re going to have herd immunity without the vaccine that’s going to be our policy and that’s somehow going to boost our economy,” said Robert Litan, an economist and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. ”As long as you have to wear a mask and social distance, Main Street is dead.”
At the NBC Town Hall on Thursday, President Donald Trump was asked if he supports herd immunity as a strategy for the U.S. pandemic response. He did not answer the question directly but cited stringent lockdowns in Michigan and New York, saying “you can’t let this continue to go on with the lockdowns.”
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