Covid-19: WHO head Dr Tedros dismisses ‘herd immunity’ approach

Head of the World Health Organization has excluded the ‘herd immunity’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Herd immunity is when majority of the population becomes immune to a disease through receiving vaccines or through the widespread of the disease.

Despite arguments that coronavirus should be permitted to spread naturally in the absence of a vaccine, WHO chief, Tedros Ghebreyesus disagrees. He declares that such an approach is “scientifically and ethically problematic”.

Since the pandemic began, there have been more than 37 million cases of Coronavirus globally. Out of these confirmed cases, there have been one million deaths.

Hundreds of vaccines are currently under development but none have received international approval yet.

While speaking at a news conference on 12^th October, 2020, Dr. Tedros stated that the long-term impact of the virus and the hold and duration of any immune response remains unknown.

“Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it,” he said.

“Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic.”

The WHO headed stated that seroprevalence tests depicted that 10% of the population has been exposed to the virus in most countries. Blood is tested for antibodies in this test.

“Letting Covid-19 circulate unchecked therefore means allowing unnecessary infections, suffering and death,” he added.

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