Dödligt virus från Kina orsakar panik (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19)

Advocates of allowing the coronavirus to circulate among populations in the hope of achieving herd immunity are promoting a “dangerous fallacy” devoid of scientific proof, dozens of health experts said on Thursday.
In an open letter published in the Lancet medical journal, more than 80 specialists from universities across the world said that the only effective way of limiting excess deaths during the pandemic was to control the disease’s spread.
The letter comes after numerous US media reports this week that senior Trump administration officials had voiced support for an online declaration advocating herd immunity that gathered more than 9,000 signatures worldwide.

The authors of Thursday’s letter said that the social and economic impacts of confinement had led to “widespread demoralisation and diminishing trust” in government measures to get a handle on the virus.
The second wave has also led to a renewed interest in so-called herd immunity, which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak among people considered to be at low risk of death or serious illness from the virus.
The health experts listed numerous flaws in the concept.
Firstly, “uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks significant morbidity and mortality across the whole population,” the letter said.
This would have a catastrophic human and financial cost, besides overwhelming healthcare systems.
The authors also noted that it is possible to become reinfected with Covid-19.