CORONAVIRUS DISEASE COVID19 AWARENESS HERD IMMUNITY INDIAN LANGUAGE

CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19) AWARENESS : HERD IMMUNITY INDIAN LANGUAGE SCHOOL, LAGOS

WHAT IS HERD IMMUNITY AND HOW CAN WE ACHIEVE IT? IF 80% OF A POPULATION IS IMMUNE TO A VIRUS, FOUR OUT OF EVERY FIVE PEOPLE WHO ENCOUNTER SOMEONE WITH THE DISEASE WON’T GET SICK (AND WON’T SPREAD THE DISEASE ANY FURTHER). IN THIS WAY, THE SPREAD OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES IS KEPT UNDER CONTROL. DEPENDING HOW CONTAGIOUS AN INFECTION IS, USUALLY 50% TO 90% OF A POPULATION NEEDS IMMUNITY TO ACHIEVE HERD IMMUNITY. OTHER VIRUSES (LIKE THE FLU) MUTATE OVER TIME, SO ANTIBODIES FROM A PREVIOUS INFECTION PROVIDE PROTECTION FOR ONLY A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. FOR THE FLU, THIS IS LESS THAN A YEAR. IF SARS-COV 2, THE VIRUS THAT CAUSES COVID-19, IS LIKE OTHER CORONA VIRUSES THAT CURRENTLY INFECT HUMANS, WE CAN EXPECT THAT PEOPLE WHO GET INFECTED WILL BE IMMUNE FOR MONTHS TO YEARS, BUT PROBABLY NOT THEIR ENTIRE LIVES.

HERD IMMUNITY WON`T STOP THE OUTBREAK: 3 DANGEROUS COVID-19 MYTHS • MYTH 1: THE NUMBERS ARE SKEWED TO CONTROL THE MASSES SCIENTISTS ARE NOT MAGICIANS OR PROPHETS AND ESTIMATIONS CANNOT ALWAYS BE PRECISE. ALTHOUGH COVID-19 IS SIMILAR TO VIRUSES PREVIOUSLY PLAGUING CONTINENTS LIKE SARS AND MERS, EPIDEMIOLOGISTS SIMPLY DON’T HAVE ENOUGH INFORMATION YET TO MAKE ACCURATE PREDICTIONS. •

• MYTH 2: HERD IMMUNITY IS THE WAY TO GO IN ORDER FOR HERD IMMUNITY TO WORK, 50 -70% OF THE WORLD POPULATION NEEDS TO GET INFECTED AND THEN DEVELOP ANTIBODIES. MOST TESTS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ARE NOT RELIABLE AND STILL FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE NOT BEEN TESTED AT ALL. HERD IMMUNITY IS NOT IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE AND WE CANNOT LOOK TO IT FOR REASSURANCE. • MYTH 3: HEALTHY YOUNG PEOPLE DON’T GET SICK IMMUNE SYSTEM RESPONDS DISPROPORTIONATELY TO THE LEVEL OF RISK. THE PROTEINS RELEASED ARE CALLED CYTOKINES AND THE IMMUNE RESPONSE IS KNOWN AS A CYTOKINE STORM – IT’S SO POWERFUL THAT IT CAN DESTROY THE ORGANISM IN ITS INTENT TO PROTECT IT. SOCIAL DISTANCING HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN SLOWING DOWN THE EPIDEMIC.

UNETHICAL’: WHO CHIEF SLAMS HERD IMMUNITY AS COVID-19 RESPONSE TEDROS WARNS THAT HERD IMMUNITY IS A ‘SCIENTIFICALLY AND ETHICALLY PROBLEMATIC’ STRATEGY FOR A PANDEMIC. • • • WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DIRECTOR-GENERAL TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS SAID THAT LESS THAN 10 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION IN MOST COUNTRIES IS BELIEVED TO HAVE CONTRACTED THE DISEASE THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION CHIEF HAS WARNED AGAINST SUGGESTIONS BY SOME TO JUST ALLOW COVID-19 TO SPREAD IN THE HOPE OF ACHIEVING SO-CALLED HERD IMMUNITY, SAYING THIS WAS “UNETHICAL”. TEDROS SAID DURING A VIRTUAL PRESS BRIEFING ON MONDAY , 12 TH OCTOBER 2020, THAT “HERD IMMUNITY IS A CONCEPT USED FOR VACCINATION, IN WHICH A POPULATION CAN BE PROTECTED FROM A CERTAIN VIRUS, IF A THRESHOLD OF VACCINATION IS REACHED”.