Chief scientific adviser to the UK government had suggested to UK that authorities need to contain the spread of the virus but would “not suppress it completely”.
Elaborating further it was suggested that a 60 per cent infection rate would help build up a degree of ‘herd immunity’.”
Herd immunity is a formof indirect protection from infectious disease that occurs when a large percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, thereby providing a measure of protection for individuals who are not immune
What happens in the case of coronavirus where there is no vaccine?
The approach would require those exposed to the virus to build natural immunity and stop the human-to-human transmission.
If a high enough proportion of individuals in a population are immune, the majority will protect the few susceptible people because the pathogen is less likely to find a susceptible person
Is it the model which UK is planning to fight coronavirus?
On the face of criticism of such soft approach and high human cost involved, UK government stated that herd immunity was not the government’s policy or goal.
