Herd immunity: will the UK's coronavirus strategy work?
by Sarah Boseley from Science | The Guardian on (#50NVJ)
Ministers look to have given up on containment in favour of a novel approach some experts are wary of
Herd immunity is a phrase normally used when large numbers of children have been vaccinated against a disease like measles, reducing the chances that others will get it. As a tactic in fighting a pandemic for which there is no vaccine, it is novel - and some say alarming.
It relies on people getting the disease - in this case Covid-19 - and becoming immune as a result. Generally it is thought that those who recover will be immune, at least for now, so they won't get it twice.
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