Explained: Herd immunity

News:Recently,the UK government has announced that it is aiming to achieve herd immunity as a way of tackling COVID-19.

Facts:

About Herd Immunity:

  • Herd immunity is when a large number of people are vaccinated against a disease, lowering the chances of others being infected by it.
  • However,this type of immunity is usually viewed as a preventive strategy in vaccination programmes.
  • Since,we don’t have a vaccine for COVID-19 – achieving herd immunity would require a significant proportion of the population to be infected and recover from COVID-19.
  • This will allow us to retain an immunological memory of the disease that enables us to fight off that same disease in the future.