WHO Chief slams herd immunity as "unethical"

Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a briefing yesterday warned against any suggestions that COVID-19 should be continually allowed to spread, in the hopes of attaining herd immunity in the local populace.

He cited the examples of the measles and polio outbreaks in the past, in which the threshold level of the virus reached 95 and 80 percent of the population respectively, adding that the coronavirus had only reached 10 percent of the global population at this stage. He further stated that "herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it", adding that "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 Director-General pointed to a lack of information on the development of immunity for COVID-19, including the strength of the immune response, and the period of time the antibodies remain in the body. He added, perhaps as a word of warning to countries flouting social distancing precautions, especially as the virus surges in a "second wave", that "there are no shortcuts, the answer is a comprehensive approach".