We might have collective COVID immunity by now, if we acted sooner. That’s because our vaccines were highly effective against early variants, and the risk of transmission was relatively low. Unfortunately we were vaccine hesitant, which gave the virus a chance to adapt. But those were not the only lost opportunities for herd immunity we missed.
Critical Lost Opportunities For Herd Immunity
We relied on our own imitative before vaccines arrived. We might have been able to keep the infection rate under control, if we listened to medical science. Alas, not enough of us accepted the need to wear face masks, and socially distance. While we slept on our watch the epidemic became a pandemic.
We woke up to the need to control international travel far too late. The virus travelled on aircraft to four corners of the earth, while we refused to hear what our doctors said. Meanwhile, the numbers of infected people continued to spiral. This created further opportunities for the virus to mutate.
We Vaccinated Too Few People Far Too Late
Our scientists did a magnificent job with creating vaccines at hitherto unimaginable speed. However, world governments distributed them slowly, and selectively. They did not to do enough to educate their people, and roll them out evenly. Meanwhile fake news had a field day on social media.
Once again the virus was way ahead of us all the time. It thrived on our lost opportunities for herd immunity by outwitting us with new variants. Mayo Clinic believes herd immunity through vaccination is now unreachable due to the following:
1…Vaccine hesitancy out of religious conviction, or technical skepticism.
2…Uneven vaccine access, despite living in an interconnected world.
3…The possibility of apparently random vaccine break-through infections.
Therefore we conclude we could never protect ourselves globally from COVID through achieving community immunity. After a long journey, and despite best efforts the ball is back in our park!
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Introduction to Herd Immunity and COVID-19
