COVID-19 Herd Immunity Will Take Time, Says WHO Chief Scientist

WHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan warned on Friday that the concept of "collective immunity," or a large part of the population developing antibodies to COVID-19, is still a long way off and may be accelerated by a vaccine.

At a live social media event hosted by the World Health Organization from Geneva on Friday, the scientist said it would take more waves of the infection to reach a stage of natural immunity. So, he warned, that for at least the next year or so, the world needs to be "ready" to do whatever it takes to keep the new coronavirus at bay while scientists work on vaccines.

Meanwhile, therapeutics will help keep death rates low and allow people to continue with their lives.

"For this concept of collective immunity, it takes 50 to 60 percent of the population to have this immunity and to be able to really break those chains of transmission," explained Dr. Swaminathan.

"That is much easier to do with a vaccine; we can do it faster and without people getting sick and dying. So it is much better to do it that way, to achieve herd immunity through natural infection. We would have several waves [of infection] and unfortunately also the mortality that we see, "he said.

She added: "Over a period of time, people will begin to develop natural immunity. We now know from studies that have been conducted in many of the affected countries that generally between 5 and 10 percent of the population have developed antibodies. In some places it has been higher than that, up to 20 percent.

"As there are waves of this infection going through countries, people will develop antibodies and hopefully they will be immune for some time, so they will also act as barriers and brakes for the spread of this infection," said Dr. Swaminathan, one said a pediatrician from India and a world renowned researcher on tuberculosis and HIV.

The scientist, who was addressing a series of questions about vaccines and coronavirus therapeutics, said that for the foreseeable future it is important to focus on doing the "right" thing, such as public health measures that work while the world waits for a vaccine.

From NDTV News