Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, warned the death toll would be enormous if the U.S. allowed the coronavirus to run rampant in a bid to achieve herd immunity. He noted any herd immunity attempt would have a significant impact on those considered most vulnerable to the virus.
“If everyone contracted it, even with the relatively high percentage of people without symptoms, a lot of people are going to die,” the nation’s top infectious specialist said.
United States has a very high percentage of the population which are obese. Certain evidence suggests that obesity is associated with a higher risk of developing severe symptoms and complications of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). An increasing number of reports have linked obesity to coronavirus mortality, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA now list severe obesity as a risk factor for severe COVID-19. Besides, a large part of the US population is suffering from hypertension, diabetes and other comorbidities. “The death toll would be enormous and unacceptable and that’s the reason why we are against saying: Let it fly. Let everyone get infected and we’ll be fine. That’s a bad idea”, warns Dr Fauci.
Herd immunity also known as community immunity is achieved when majority of population becomes immune to a disease either through infection and recovery or through vaccination. When that happens, the disease is less likely to spread to people who aren’t immune because there just aren’t enough infectious carriers to reach them.
The World Health Organization has also warned that relying on herd immunity to combat COVID-19 is a dangerous idea.
It is still unclear whether survivors of Covid-19 have immunity, though some have still suggested that allowing Covid-19 to plow through populations might help reach herd immunity more quickly if possible — but it would be a disaster for hospitals. Doctors would be overwhelmed and more people would die, not just from the coronavirus but from other infections, too.