WHO changes definitions

[George K]

[Axtremus]

@george-k Got the text or a higher resolution picture for this? The low res screenshot posted is hard to read.

[George K]

@axtremus

June 9, 2020: Herd Immunity is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.

November 13, 2020: Herd Immunity is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. Herd Immunity is reached by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it.

[Axtremus]

Thanks, @George-K. It seems to me both versions have a social message to them, and people can argue which social message they prefer or believe is “more responsible.” If I want a strictly scientific or functional definition, I would define it just by its effect rather than by the methods used to get there.

[George K]

@axtremus

(Wikipedia):

Herd immunity (also called herd effect, community immunity, or population immunity) is a form of indirect protection from infectious disease that can occur with some diseases when a sufficient percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, whether through vaccination or previous infections, thereby reducing the likelihood of infection for individuals who lack immunity.[1][2][3] Immune individuals are unlikely to contribute to disease transmission, disrupting chains of infection, which stops or slows the spread of disease.[4] The greater the proportion of immune individuals in a community, the smaller the probability that non-immune individuals will come into contact with an infectious individual.[

[jon-nyc]

That’s just stupid.

As it is, Herd immunity was already misused all year by the ‘hold my beer’ crowd.

[taiwan_girl]

I will see if I can find it, but there was an interesting article last year in the National Geographic magazine talking about how heard immunity without a major vaccine effort did not work. Almost impossible to get there

[jon-nyc]

Even if that’s true, herd immunity is an outcome, or a state of a population, and the definition shouldn’t encapsulate any particular method of achieving it. Likewise with the “let ‘er rip” crowd that euphemized their strategy as “herd immunity”. Herd immunity isn’t a strategy, it’s a potential outcome of one.

[Copper]

@george-k said in WHO changes definitions:

@axtremus

Herd Immunity is reached by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it.

Obviously a vaccine salesman.