Herd immunity or suppression strategy to combat COVID-19

Abstract

Some months ago, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) broke out in Wuhan, China, and spread rapidly around the world. Some states, such as the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and the USA initially focused on keeping the restrictions for economy and society as low as possible. The responsible authorities were of the opinion-and still are e.g. in Sweden-that it is sufficient enough to protect particularly vulnerable persons such as the elderly or people with pre-existing conditions. The idea behind this is that as soon as 60 to 70 percent of the population is infected with a pathogen, a so-called "herd immunity" has developed. However, the increasing numbers of deaths and modelling studies showed the expected overload of the hospitals. Therefore, most countries decided for a temporary lockdown with the exception of Sweden. Based on the number of the total population, three times more people died from COVID-19 in Sweden (2679 deaths per 10 million inhabitants) compared to Germany (6848 deaths per 80 million inhabitants). The comparison Sweden versus Taiwan is even worse because 1072 times more people died in Sweden based on the number of the population (6 deaths per 24 million inhabitants). In the face of the lack of an antiviral treatment and the lack of a protective vaccine one must state Taiwan has made the best out of the pandemic situation whereas Sweden failed completely.

A Review of the Progress and Challenges of Developing a Vaccine for COVID-19

“…Although developing herd immunity through acquiring natural immunity via infections is possible, the death toll and consequences as such would be devastating ( 1 ). This was seen in Sweden where authorities presumed that by infecting up to 60% of the population, herd immunity would be sufficient to protect the more vulnerable population ( 2 ). However, this failed and the deaths per million population attributed to COVID-19 in Sweden is at least 5 times that of Germany ( 2 ).…”

“…This was seen in Sweden where authorities presumed that by infecting up to 60% of the population, herd immunity would be sufficient to protect the more vulnerable population ( 2 ). However, this failed and the deaths per million population attributed to COVID-19 in Sweden is at least 5 times that of Germany ( 2 ). Hence, developing an effective vaccine is crucial and considered the only practical way to establishing herd immunity.…”

COVID-19: Is herd immunity the answer?

“…The situation in Sweden is just as unpredictable as the global situation and Sweden's normalized death rate is currently higher than that of Germany's. 27 Pitfalls of herd immunity:…”

A Minimalist Strategy Towards Temporarily Defining Protection for COVID-19

“…Many countries have attempted to partially restore pre-pandemic functions only to experience yet second waves of increasing infections during July and August, 2020. To some, the answer may be to tolerate the expectations of herd immunity with lesser in the way of resistance to infection spread [3,4]. To others at the other end of the spectrum, a more cautious approach has been to create the best environment for disease prevention while patching holes for or propping up failures in the economy as they appear [3].…”

“…To some, the answer may be to tolerate the expectations of herd immunity with lesser in the way of resistance to infection spread [3,4]. To others at the other end of the spectrum, a more cautious approach has been to create the best environment for disease prevention while patching holes for or propping up failures in the economy as they appear [3]. Somewhere in the midst of this maelstrom, there will need to be practical strategies for achieving success with both the pandemic and the economies simultaneously.…”