I heard that as well and just about hit the roof when I heard it. Not only is that patently false it contradicts what she said earlier about speeding up antibody testing for health care workers to see if it is safe for them to go back to work.
Sorry folks, but if there’s no natural immunity a vaccine, which is an attempt to artificially create immunity, is worthless.
Because there is no real herd immunity for this disease, it only applies to vaccination practice. The nature of COVID-19 is such that the long incubation period and having the disease without symptoms both, together, make it next to impossible to know when there are sufficient numbers in the population who are immune.
Notice she didn’t say there is no such thing theoretically with COVID-19. Of course there could be. That is why she phrased it the way she did, as “we talk about it only in terms of vaccinations,” or something like that. The term doesn’t apply practicably, to COVID, although in theory there could someday be something like herd immunity. But because of the virus’s wily personality, only through vaccine, not through just letting it rip—without unacceptable consequences to our nation.
It’s notable that Sweden is getting rid of practically all of its older “vulnerable” population by just letting it rip with almost no mitigation. One of the first things Pence said, as leader of the Task Force, is that we are NOT going to let that happen. We are unsurpassibly fortunate to have him in charge of this effort. He knew one of the alternatives was letting it rip and that as Americans we could not allow that to happen, to just sacrifice our older people. He didn’t go into the details because he’s not an idiot, but he certainly knew what would happen if we took that course.