With a vaccine, yes, elimination is possible. But we need to be realistic about how long this might take.
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Articles on Herd immunity
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Social distancing can get tougher in the fall and winter. These simple steps can help keep you and your loved ones healthy.
Vaccines only work if enough people take them.
Control of an infectious disease through build-up of natural immunity has never been achieved before, and there’s no reason to believe COVID-19 is any different.
People aren’t uniform in how they behave – nor in how they spread disease. At a population level, that makes a difference.
Herd immunity has entered the everyday language, but it is a much misunderstood term.
Our best shot at ending the pandemic is by achieving herd immunity through widespread use of a vaccine. But that won’t happen unless people believe it’s safe.
This is just one person. Is he the exception? Is he the rule? We don’t know yet for sure. But reinfection is definitely possible.
Current rates of vaccine hesitancy could jeopardize efforts to achieve herd immunity in the US, says Matt Motta, a political scientist who studies vaccine uptake and effective health communication.
Once a coronavirus vaccine is approved, billions of doses need to be manufactured. Current vaccine production is nowhere near ready, for a variety of reasons, but planning now could help.
But will the new normal only be feasible for the well off?
Natural herd immunity is a myth.
Researchers can’t agree on topics such face mask, immunity and number of infections. Here’s why.
Despite a lighter lockdown, Sweden hasn’t avoided the damaging economic disruption experienced elsewhere.
We’ll achieve herd immunity when 60% of the population is immune to COVID. No, wait, make it 70%. Or is it 80%?
The purveyors of these myths, including politicians who have been soft peddling the impact of the coronavirus, aren’t doing the country any favors.
There’s no scientific definition for a wave of disease – and no evidence that the original onslaught of coronavirus in the US has receded much at all.
There is speculation about whether a population can achieve some sort of immunity to the virus with as little as 20% infected.
Without a vaccine, the cost of reaching herd immunity during a pandemic is counted in lives lost, and it won’t quickly stop the virus’s spread.
It usually takes 10 years for a new vaccine to complete clinical trials, but we’ve been promised a COVID-19 vaccine in 12 to 18 months. Even if such fast-tracked development is possible, is it wise?
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
