'Herd Immunity' Not Possible in U.S., Experts Say, But We May Not Need It

It’s becoming increasingly clear as the pandemic continues to wind down that the goal of achieving “herd immunity” in the U.S. won’t be possible — at least, as it’s defined by public health officials. Too many of us decline to be vaccinated for the U.S. to meet the target goal of 70-90 percent of citizens who have either been vaccinated or contracted Covid-19.

Instead, we’ve got to accept the fact that the virus will become a “manageable threat” and continue to bedevil the world for years to come.

“The virus is unlikely to go away,” said Rustom Antia, an evolutionary biologist at Emory University in Atlanta. “But we want to do all we can to check that it’s likely to become a mild infection.”

Part of the problem is the coronavirus itself. The virus is mutating at an alarming rate. Some of the variants have been shown to be more infectious. Some are more virulent and cause more severe symptoms.

But so far, the vaccines that have been approved for use have demonstrated great effectiveness against all Covid variants. That’s the good news. The bad news is that some virologists believe that a variant is going to come along that is resistant to the current crop of vaccines. Then what?

For the moment, this scenario is unlikely. It’s probable that the vaccine will give at least some protection, which means fewer hospitalizations and deaths regardless of what variant is causing the infection.

“Too many of us decline to be vaccinated for the U.S. to meet the target goal of 70-90 percent of citizens who have either been vaccinated or contracted Covid-19.”

The “vaccines” do not prevent someone from catching the virus or transmitting it (unlike real vaccines we receive); if 100% of people are vaccinated the virus could still be transmitted. They are treatments that theoretically reduce the damage of the virus if contracted.

It's likely the virus and/or its variants will be around to some degree for another 10,000 years, and I'm just pulling that number out of my head. Cold and flu viruses have affected humans for many thousands of years. They're all here to stay.

We can't lock down our world and destroy ourselves to prevent a few people from getting sick and even fewer of them dying. Death is real and will happen to each one of us. There is always risk involved in life. There are all sorts of viruses and bacteria that can kill, not just COVID-19. We'll have to figure out how to coexist with it, as we do with the other pathogens.

“The bad news is that some virologists believe that a variant is going to come along that is resistant to the current crop of vaccines. Then what?”

This is basically what happens with the flu year after year. Every year the formulation is changed because the most threatening varients change every year. It cannot be completely irradicated.

If the numbers and statistics were collected and calculated the same way that they have been with other pathogens there would have been no panic caused. But governments and politicians around the world have now discovered that they can use something that raises the health threat to their population barely above the normal threshold to crush political opposition and demand compliance. The unfortunate result has been a loss of freedom and a higher overall fatality rate caused directly by the lockdowns from people not getting medical treatment for the real killers, poor nutrition, lack of exercise and activity, and mental issues caused by isolation.

Correct, the vaccine is NOT a suit of armor, encircling you. If you read about the vaccine, you would learn that it prepares your body to fight the Chinese virus when it invades your body. This is accomplished by creating anti-bodies in the body. The result is the risk of the virus making you deathly sick is minimized. And you will recover faster and without hospital treatment in a plastic tent connected to a ventilator.

If the death rate plummets due to the vaccine created immunity, we can declare victory over covid-19.

kearnyirish2 wrote: “The “vaccines” do not prevent someone from catching the virus or transmitting it (unlike real vaccines we receive); if 100% of people are vaccinated the virus could still be transmitted. They are treatments that theoretically reduce the damage of the virus if contracted.”

It is simply untrue. Vaccines do prevent illness from the virus.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html

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