What should be the relative importance of natural herd immunity vs vaccination, in anti-corona strategy?
Scott Atlas argues that mass isolation prolongs the problem by delaying natural herd immunity. Meanwhile, countries like Australia and New Zealand have engaged in national isolation as well, creating entire national populations where natural immunity will be rare.
Will we see the world divided between countries that rely on natural herd immunity, and those which rely on the artificial herd immunity of vaccination? Does it make sense to have a differentiated strategy within a single country, with natural herd immunity encouraged in some subpopulations but not others?
There are also time issues here: vaccines don’t exist yet or are not available in large quantities; and coronavirus immunity may fade out after a year or two.
I assume these issues have been discussed somewhere, and would even be part of public health strategies for well-known diseases like the flu, but I seem to have overlooked such discussions.
P.S. I am looking for nuance, something about the appropriate relative importance of natural versus artificial herd immunity.
What should be the relative importance of natural herd immunity vs vaccination, in anti-corona strategy?
Scott Atlas argues that mass isolation prolongs the problem by delaying natural herd immunity. Meanwhile, countries like Australia and New Zealand have engaged in national isolation as well, creating entire national populations where natural immunity will be rare.
Will we see the world divided between countries that rely on natural herd immunity, and those which rely on the artificial herd immunity of vaccination? Does it make sense to have a differentiated strategy within a single country, with natural herd immunity encouraged in some subpopulations but not others?
There are also time issues here: vaccines don’t exist yet or are not available in large quantities; and coronavirus immunity may fade out after a year or two.
I assume these issues have been discussed somewhere, and would even be part of public health strategies for well-known diseases like the flu, but I seem to have overlooked such discussions.
P.S. I am looking for nuance, something about the appropriate relative importance of natural versus artificial herd immunity.