Why in the news: Recently the United Kingdom’s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance hinted that Britain needed to do was “build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission”. He hinted that UK will follow a strategy that would allow the novel coronavirus to infect 60 per cent of the country’s population so that a degree of “herd immunity” could be achieved. After facing criticism, the UK government retracted from this strategy.
Definition: According to the authors John TJ and Samuel R., “the reduction of infection or disease in the unimmunised segment as a result of immunising a proportion of the population is called herd community”.
The idea behind this strategy is that a large portion of a population becomes infected with a disease, but many recover and are then immune to it. An outbreak eventually fizzles out on its own as the germ finds it harder and harder to find a susceptible host . This strategy is called Herd Community
This strategy has been criticized on many fronts. As per one expert, if COVID-19 is allowed to spread, there will be fewer younger people to look after the vulnerable. (Source: ABC, Indian Express)
