A patient in our Clinic shared a comment about COVID-19, made recently by a local medical doctor, “You might as well just get the virus. Everyone has to get it, that’s the only way we return to normal.” What he’s talking about is something we call “herd Immunity.”

Mayo Clinic describes it here.

Simple definition: When a population (such as the U.S. today) is faced with a spreading contagious disease (COVID-19), there is a threshold percentage of people who are immune to the contagion, don’t get infected by it, and thus, they don’t spread it in their community.

The percentage of a population needed to attain herd immunity varies, depending on the nature of the contagious virus or other infection. Not all viruses are as highly contagious as this novel coronavirus. Herd immunity, once achieved, makes further spread in the community unlikely.

COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a very contagious virus, and it will continue to spread in our communities until herd immunity level is reached. (The alternative is full isolation, and our current efforts to mask, distance, wash hands, avoid congregating especially indoors have slowed the spread. But that can’t be sustained for long.)

This article from the Washington Post describes herd immunity visually, and in particular, how herd immunity applies to COVID-19. Read article

A vaccine, or a spike in deaths: How America can build herd immunity to the coronavirus | Washington Post August 7, 2020

This visual article reveals that

  • the percentage of immunity required to reach herd immunity against SARS-CoV-2 is very high, estimated between 40% to 80%
  • by comparison, the percentage to reach herd immunity for the measles is very, very high, about 93%
  • even the worst-hit locations in the U.S. may have at most 20% levels of herd immunity, based on seroprevalence surveys, in which researchers draw blood from thousands of people and check to see how many of them have coronavirus antibodies
  • passively allowing the spread of this novel coronavirus to the point of herd immunity would likely result in about 3,000,000 deaths in the U.S. alone.

Not acceptable!

The second way to reach herd immunity is with a vaccine that is available to a wide percentage of the population. Early reports are promising and we will keep the Lawton area community informed on vaccine progress. Our best bet for getting America back to work and back to normal.