A writer recently wrote to complain about a letter critiquing his position regarding herd immunity via infection. In his second letter he mentions, for the first time, vaccines as another way to achieve herd immunity. Vaccines get my vote even if “mitigation efforts can delay the achievement of herd immunity.”
I say we wear masks, etc. and try to stay safe while we wait for the vaccine. I should also point out that the writer’s comments about Sweden are totally incorrect. Sweden did try for herd immunity by not requiring safeguards. However, they did not fare better than their neighbors. They did much worse and suffered many needless deaths. A recent review of the data showed that Norway, Finland and Denmark, combined, have 33,547 cases and 1,215 deaths. Sweden reports 84,294 cases and 5,783 deaths. Swedish government officials have called their reaction to COVID-19 a national catastrophe.
Our own Dr. Fauci warned that the U.S. would see a staggering death toll from the coronavirus if the country allowed infections to spread across the nation unchecked in an effort to achieve heard immunity. He is clearly recommending mitigation efforts. As always, I suggest everybody do their own research on Google or elsewhere.
