Coronavirus herd immunity may not be achievable

The novel coronavirus has infected close to 12 million people worldwide and still continues to spread at an alarming rate. While the experts worldwide are learning more about the functioning of the highly infectious contagion with every passing day, there is a fresh piece of evidence that suggests that the achieving herd immunity against the disease may not be an easy or even an achievable feat.

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When an infectious disease starts spreading in a particular area, herd immunity is developed when most of the population develops protective antibodies against the contagion and builds an immune response towards it. This happens when a lot of people contract the illness (a large percentage of the population) and become immune to the disease. As a result, the chain of infection is broken and the disease no longer spreads from one person to another.

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It is believed that herd immunity can be achieved for certain diseases when close to 40 per cent of the population is infected with the disease and has become immune. However, in most scenarios at least 80 to 90 per cent of the population needs to develop immunity (through vaccination or getting infected) to stop the disease from spreading further. Experts around the world were hoping for a similar kind of herd immunity to go in effect for the novel coronavirus, in order for the contagion to go away.

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A recent study has shed doubts about the whole concept of herd immunity, which means that in the absence of any effective vaccine, it may difficult to contain the spread of the COVID-19. The large-scale study which was conducted by Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid was published in the journal Lancet. To conduct the research 61,075 participants all across the country were tested for antibodies after they finished a questionnaire on Coronavirus symptoms. The study revealed that only 5 per cent of the participants in Spain had developed protective antibodies against the virus.

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The research underlines that even though Spain remains one of the worst-hit countries by the coronavirus in the world, 95 per cent of its population is still susceptible to the novel coronavirus. The report further reads, “The relatively low seroprevalence observed in the context of an intense epidemic in Spain might serve as a reference to other countries. At present, herd immunity is difficult to achieve without accepting the collateral damage of many deaths in the susceptible population and overburdening of health systems. ”

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