Virus herd immunity slammed as 'unethical' by WHO boss
The World Health Organisation has slammed coronavirus herd immunity as "unethical" and "not an option".
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said exposing people to the virus to achieve herd immunity was irresponsible and would cause unnecessary suffering and deaths.
"Allowing a dangerous virus that we don't fully understand to run free is simply unethical," Mr Tedros said, adding that herd immunity is a "concept used for vaccination."
Director General of the World Health Organisation speaks about COVID-19, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland AP / Salvatore Di Nolfi
"For example, herd immunity against measles requires about 95 per cent of the population to be vaccinated. The remaining 5 per cent will be protected by the fact that measles will not spread among those who are vaccinated," Mr Tedros said.
"In other words, herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it.
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"Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic. It is scientifically and ethically problematic," he added.
Allowing the virus to circulate unchecked "means allowing unnecessary infections, suffering and death," Mr Tedros said.
A girl wearing a mask has her body temperature checked while she arrives with her family at a beach side cafe in Gaza City AP / Adel Hana
Meanwhile, a new Harvard study has described Australia as a low mortality coronavirus country.
Alyssa Bilinski, a PhD candidate at Harvard University, and Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost of global initiatives and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, compared US coronavirus death rates through September 19 to those of 18 other countries with varying pandemic responses.
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They found that after May 10, the US had more deaths per 100,000 people than other high mortality countries included in the comparison.
Ms Bilinski and Dr Emanuel categorised Australia, South Korea and Japan as low mortality countries, with fewer than 5 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 people.
If the US had comparable death rates to Australia since the beginning of the pandemic, it would have had 187,661 fewer deaths, the study showed.
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