A critical care doctor brings a frontlines perspective to the frustration of dealing firsthand with vaccine hesitancy and discusses the limitations of science and medicine.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Herd immunity
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Australia could again fall into the trap of false economies by opening up too soon.
In Africa, it’s more rational to prioritise vaccine access, rapid rollout and community engagement, than pushing the narrative of vaccine-induced population immunity.
But herd immunity is not our only option. If we don’t vaccinate children, we may have to settle for lesser protection of the population.
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Governments should drop the idea of herd immunity. It risks leaving people feeling disillusioned by vaccination campaigns.
Once we achieve herd immunity, people who are not vaccinated benefit indirectly from the immunity of those around them. But it’s not easy to say exactly when we’ll reach this threshold for COVID-19.
New Zealand’s approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for 12-15 year olds will bring the number of people eligible for the jab to 85% of the population, raising the chance of reaching collective immunity.
Vaccines have successfully curtailed viral diseases for decades. But as COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy shows, mistrust and misinformation continue to put lives at risk.
It is unlikely that we will reach full herd immunity for COVID-19. However, we are likely to reach a practical kind of herd immunity through vaccination.
Many developed countries have approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine in children as young as 12, even though they are a low-risk group.
As vaccine eligibility is expanded to adolescents and young adults, understanding who might be more likely to be vaccine hesitant, and why, can help inform public health strategies
What does the Seychelles experience tell us about variants, vaccine efficacy and herd immunity?
A scholar of the Rwandan genocide argues that while a genocide and a pandemic are very different, the experiences of Rwanda’s survivors may provide lessons on how to heal from pandemic trauma.
Vaccination rates for COVID-19 have been lower than desired for herd immunity, or when enough people become immune for new infections to stop. What will life look like without it?
The vaccination levels needed to cross the line might not be achievable at all, even in the long term.
It’s quite likely this virus will never be eliminated from the world. But even so, getting vaccinated enormously reduces your risk of severe outcomes like hospitalisation and death.
Stories of reaching herd immunity were certainly premature.
Surveys suggest people trust companies more than government and the media, showing they have an important role in helping end the pandemic.
The government should be explicit about what proportion of the population will need to be vaccinated to warrant border reopening. Australians could then measure progress towards that goal.
No one likes a long line. But privileging the rich and powerful – as has often been the case – may undermine trust in the vaccine rollout.
Top contributors
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Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde
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Assistant Professor of Political Science, Oklahoma State University
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Professor, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney
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Professor, epidemiological modelling of infectious diseases, UNSW Sydney
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Principal Lecturer, Microbiology and Biomedical Science Practice, Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science, University of Brighton
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Professor of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology, James Cook University
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Senior Lecturer; MD, Victoria University
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Associate Professor, Computing & Information Systems; Director, Melbourne Data Analytics Platform, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University
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Honorary Senior Lecturer in Virology and President of Research-Aid Networks, University of Kent
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Professor and Director of Doherty Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne
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Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Disability Studies, Georgetown University
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Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
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Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor of Immunology, Vice-Chancellors Distinguished Professorial Fellow, Head of Immunology and Translational Research, Victoria University
