Herd immunity is when large portions of the public are exposed to a disease and become immune, but it is usually talked about in the context of vaccination programmes.
The term has been bandied about in the last few weeks as the UK devised policies for tackling coronavirus.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock denied that the government was taking a herd immunity approach to the pandemic which could risk a lot more deaths than social isolation measures. The British Government ended up taking lockdown approach and Boris Johnson urged the nation to stay at home.
In contrast to measures implemented in countries across the world, Sweden has taken a liberal approach to combating the infectious virus.
Here, we take a closer look at what the term means and how Sweden’s response differs from other countries’.
What is “herd immunity”?
This is where much of the population is protected from a contagious disease because a significant proportion have become immune through either surviving infection or through becoming immune.
England’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance previously said that a herd immunity approach could be beneficial.
But Mr Hancock denied that was the Government’s policy, describing it as a “scientific concept”.
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