The head of the World Health Organization spoke out against deliberately allowing the coronavirus to spread in the hope of achieving so-called herd immunity, saying the idea is unethical. "Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if vaccination is achieved," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a virtual press conference.
Offending. Herd immunity, also known as community or population immunity, is a form of protection against infectious diseases achieved through vaccination, or through previous infections. The more immune the population, the more protected the rest of the population will be, as immune individuals are less likely to transmit the virus and this breaks the transmission chains.
"Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it," Tedros said. "Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy to respond to the outbreak of a virus, let alone a pandemic."
To support the achievement of the herd's immunity would naturally be "scientifically and ethically problematic", the WHO head added. "Allowing a dangerous virus that we do not fully understand is simply unethical. It is not an option."
He also highlighted many long - term health problems of the infection, which researchers are just beginning to understand.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director for the virus, said at Monday's conference that it is estimated that 0.6% of people affected by Covid-19 die from the disease. "That may not sound like much," she admitted, while stressing that it was "much higher than for the flu." She noted that "the fatality ratio of the infection increases dramatically with age."
Source: Guardian
