Herd Immunity is it a practical solution to end this pandemic?
By rsa101
@rsa101 (37968)
Philippines
October 15, 2020 2:12am CST
When l have my follow up consultation with my doctor the other day we have discussed about this topic. It is a very old practice of stopping a pandemic or epidemic in some places where a portion of population is exposed to the contagion and from it they see if someone will develop natural immunity then from there they will find out why these have recovered vs the others that die. As more and more people recovers the contagion will have hard time to infect others and would disappear after sometime.
In some sense, there is some logic behind it but my doctor is against it since it can mean that we have to sacrifice a large portion of our population and developing immunity to it may just not come out especially this virus is just not easy to eradicate since it spreads fast amongst the population and everyone might just get infected and become casualties instead of getting over it.
22 people like this
24 responses
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
15 Oct 20
aint a fan 'f the 'herd 'mmunity' theory. if such's fer certain mutatin' 's time goes (which they say'ts done), we'd prolly lose half the worlds population tryin' such. our numbers'n my state (u.s.) 'tis been climbin' like crazy 'n more restrictions to be 'mplemented. the younger set'll not wear masks proper, personal hygiene 'n follow social distancin' guidelines. our highest number 'f cases bein' those 20-29, followed by 10-19 year olds. 'f course, they've spread 't to the rest...
i dunno when we'll get answers :(
4 people like this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
@crazyhorseladycx Same here but we started as early as march back then but somehow some policies way back then made it worse in my place because they were slow in acting on it while we were on total lockdown. The government should have made massive testing to see how the spread was but the government was reluctant back then so many who were asymptomatic just hibernated and when they were allowed to move out again the cycle continues on.
2 people like this
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
15 Oct 20
@rsa101 yepperz, pure politics 'n a president ('n his cohorts) disregardin' the seriousness. if'n we'd shut the whole country down back'n february/early march, this'd not been so devastatin' :(
3 people like this
@erictsuma (9726)
• Mombasa, Kenya
15 Oct 20
For me I don't think it's a practical solution to the treatment of this pandemic . This virus spread very fast and we can't sacrifice that
3 people like this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
That’s true infection rate is a bit high so applying this would be detrimental to many who are vulnerable population. Although many government are doing this on a calibrated way. They allow exposure to certain age group then we see some rise in cases then after sometime it goes down.
2 people like this
@msdivkar (23359)
• India
15 Oct 20
Yes the development of herd immunity comes at a great cost of human lives particularly in places like our country where population and its density is quite large. This is the solution to end the pandemic when medical alternative is not available. There are so many vaccine candidates in the market today although none has proved that effective so far, we can still expect some of them to work and that will bring the end to this pandemic.
2 people like this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
Yeah we all depend on the vaccine right now. But my doctor says that the vaccine being developed right now is a bit short term vaccine. We might need to be re vaccinated yearly to afford its continued protection. More like the flu vaccine we have right now where it’s effective only for a year after you got shot.
1 person likes this
@jobelbojel (34730)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
Never heard of this but hoping that cure is on the way that will not sacrifice other people.
2 people like this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
21 Oct 20
@jobelbojel Although l think that governments are practicing this on a calibrated manner. They are just nit openly saying that they are practicing this openly. If you would observe US they didn’t do much to stop or make very strict protocols to protect their citizens from doing the minimum safety protocols. They allowed it to balloon to that levels and hopes that somehow it would slow down in time.
1 person likes this
@jobelbojel (34730)
• Philippines
21 Oct 20
@rsa101 I agree, it is sort of risky procedure.
1 person likes this
@piyushbhatia1 (11698)
• India
15 Oct 20
Lets focus on better immunity. The virus is out there anyways
2 people like this
@eileenleyva (27562)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
Glad you posted a very timely and relevant discussion. This time when mixed messages are confusing people, it is incumbent upon us to tell the truth, and insist upon the truth, for if we do not, the repercussion is grievous.
Thank you for enlightening us with your personal experience. 
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
Thanks l think we should read everything in here and see how well we are aware of this. It may have been effective for some diseases back then but we should be careful when we deal wit the new virus since it is quite fast to spread and we need to maybe calibrate our exposure to it to control and maybe stem it’s spread amongst the general population.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
@eileenleyva We cannot hide from it forever and we have to take risks still to go out there and get ourselves exposed at some point. We just have to have our minimum required safety measures to ensure our safety but that is not an assurance.
1 person likes this
@eileenleyva (27562)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
@rsa101 That is good advice. You speak from experience. You know the gravity of the illness and the prospective immensity it can do to others. Very sensible that your narration is objectively narrated.
Good post.
Good post.1 person likes this
@Letranknight2015 (51537)
• Philippines
16 Oct 20
Why can't we just stay home and prevent ourselves from getting infected. Follow the procedure of wearing mask, face shield and disinfecting when you got back. To be honest people who disregard these protocols is what got them sick in the first place. Rather stay healthy and keep eating right, plus have more sleep.
Well, there are so many of us recently, it's natural for most of us to die. Herbs can be a good help but its way better to hae preventive measures. There are people that gets infected twice because of this and one of them is my cousin who is a nurse.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
16 Oct 20
Well we cannot just stay locked forever even government would not be able to survive if all people are kept indoors. Of course doing the social distancing, wearing of the masks and face shields are just the minimum requirements that is required from us and l did follow that all but still l got infected.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
19 Oct 20
@Letranknight2015 Well everyone is trying to go out already because no one is immune from hunger we somehow need to really go out and earn something. That is the dilemma we and the government are facing. If we stay inside and quarantine we might die of hunger since government cannot provide all of our needs. If we go out there is a risk that you can catch the virus despite following the minimum safety precautions we have had.
@Letranknight2015 (51537)
• Philippines
19 Oct 20
@rsa101 What scares me most is that Mom doesn't realize the danger of this virus now she's started to go out again. I don't know because right i prefer to be avoid it than wish for cure or recovery
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
l still find it risky and we could end up having more casualties since if this virus would end up infecting our vulnerable portion of our population we will just compromise more and lose our battle with the virus. Although if you would observe many governments are doing it just calibrated one like the ones we are doing opening up then if cases goes up then we close again.
@yoalldudes (35040)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
It depends how long the survivor stay immune, if at all.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
@yoalldudes True that is why it is dangerous and risky to follow this method especially when we really do not know fully yet about this virus.
@yoalldudes (35040)
• Philippines
15 Oct 20
@rsa101 That is a bit short, right? 
. Is it enough to have herd immunity?
. Is it enough to have herd immunity?1 person likes this
@acelawrites (19273)
• Philippines
20 Oct 20
It's like so inhuman to let a lot of people be exposed to it till they acquire herd immunity.Looks like it is a hopeless solution instead of using other scientific means like having a vaccine to end the pandemic.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
20 Oct 20
I think some governments around are applying this they are just not that vocal about it. Some are applying it calibrated like slowly opening up certain sectors of society. Vaccines will be available soon as there are many contenders in the market competing with each other.
1 person likes this
@acelawrites (19273)
• Philippines
28 Oct 20
@rsa101 we are hoping there would be a vaccine soon.
1 person likes this
@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
28 Oct 20
That would result to huge collateral damage. The life of each individual is precious.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
18 Oct 20
It might be risky since it will entail allowing certain population to be infected. lt could spell more casualties and infection to other vulnerable age groups might happen too so since the infection rate can be very sporadic and unpredictable.
1 person likes this
