Scientists say there will be no herd immunity from Covid-19

At the beginning of the epidemic, it was believed that in order to defeat an invisible enemy, it was necessary that most of the world’s population had been ill with coronavirus. Then, allegedly, collective immunity will appear, the virus will become many times less dangerous. Recent research completely refutes this theory.

Even doctors hoped for the emergence of collective immunity, but the reality turned out to be different: after a while, the discharged patients became infected again. Scientists from Imperial College London have come to the conclusion that immunity to coronavirus appears, but for an extremely short period (we are talking about several months).

For some time, experts monitored the amount of antibodies in patients after the first wave of the epidemic (March-April). At first, the concentration was 6%, and then, by about June, dropped to 4.4%. Before the second wave of Covid-19, the population was completely unprotected.

Antibodies are adequate protection, but temporary. Experts have the ability to track the amount of antibodies in the body, said Wendy Barclay, head of the college’s infectious disease department.

The concentration of antibodies was higher in patients who had an acute illness. Those people who had no symptoms were found to be more vulnerable, the chances of re-infection were much higher.

Interestingly, the medical staff had a stable antibody count. Perhaps this was due to the constant effect of the virus on the body of doctors.

All the facts indicate that it is pointless to expect herd immunity. At the same time, it should be noted that the scientists’ conclusions have not yet been peer reviewed. A good vaccine will be better than unjustified hopes anyway. Britain may start vaccination as early as December this year, if, of course, scientists have time to release a vaccine, and EU approval is not required.