Attempts to reach herd immunity naturally would be dangerous and fraught with scores of deaths, while vaccination is a safer and more effective path, Maria van Kerkhove, the COVID-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization (WHO), said.
"What we are working towards is to have a safe and effective vaccine that can provide protection to a large proportion of the population so the virus doesn't have an opportunity to transmit. But trying to reach herd immunity naturally would be very dangerous because a lot of people would die," van Kerkhove told a virtual press briefing.
At least two-thirds of a population needs to develop the immunity for it to matter, and that, in turn, needs the vaccine to happen safely and effectively, according to the health official.
"You would need probably about 65 to 70 - in that range - percent of the population to have protected immunity. So to get to that level across the world, across all populations, urban and rural, and age groups, one can do it more safely and efficiently through a vaccine," van Kerkhove said.
That is a question that needs some serious answering and a country like?Sweden?which has tried and tested this formula, the results aren't convincing.?
Sweden has remained remarkably open. The government has taken steps like issuing guidelines for its people to stay home, banning gatherings of more than 50 people and closing museums. Yet restaurants, schools and parks remain open.?
Sweden?has revealed?that despite adopting more relaxed measures to control coronavirus, only 7.3% of people in?Stockholm?had developed the antibodies needed to fight the disease by late April.
According to the scientists, the more socially active individuals are, the more likely they are to get infected, than the less socially active ones -- and they are also more likely to infect people if they become infected. The researchers said the herd immunity level is lower when immunity is caused by disease spreading than when immunity comes from vaccination.??
They believe that the findings have potential consequences for the release of lockdown measures across the world, and suggested that individual variation is an important feature to include in models that guide policy. For now, washing hands, wearing masks and social distancing remain the best ways to stay safe from COVID-19.