HERD IMMUNITY OUT OF REACH
Correspondent Greg Adamson ("All eggs in vaccine basket", The Daily Advertiser, June 2) says that COVID-19 has resulted in countries with and without herd immunity.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
My understanding is that there are no countries anywhere in the world that have achieved full herd immunity or are anywhere near achieving that result for COVID-19.
The UK, who aborted an initial attempt to strategically go down the herd immunity path, are tragically paying for that initial response and have a current level of 276,000 cases detected as of June 1.
That's out of a total population of 67 million people.
According to Britain's chief science advisor Sir Patrick Valance, 60 per cent of the UK population would need to be infected to get to a herd immunity level. On those figures they are somewhat short might I suggest.
Likewise, assistant Professor Dr Marybeth Sexton an epidemiologist from Emory University Atlanta says: "We're nowhere near that level [in the US] as a whole about 5 per cent of people have had an exposure. So if you need 60 to 70 per cent to get there, then we're a long ways away."
The USA has recorded 1.85 million confirmed cases as of 2 June. That is a rate of 5408 cases per million people, well short of the 600,000 needed to get to 60 per cent of one million people.
This is all superfluous at the moment as scientists don't even know yet whether people who survive COVID-19 are then resistant to it a second time. Nor do they know, if there is discovered to be some immunity, for how long that would last.
I hope Mr Adamson is not suggesting that the USA and England are deliberately seeking herd immunity via natural selection, that is, a let the virus run strategy.
That would equate with two million deaths in the USA on a conservative 1 per cent fatality rate.
Herd immunity will slowly be achieved when a safe and easily manufactured vaccine arrives some time next year.
Most likely the vaccine will initially be administered under an emergency use authorisation for health care workers and other high risk groups, whilst still only a promising yet unproven antidote.
Tony Smith, Kooringal
EXODUS FROM RIOT HOTSPOTS
There was a very interesting comment in the media recently about the aftermath to the riots in various places in the USA.
The question was raised about what would the owners of damaged properties do when the riots stopped.
Read more letters:
The answer was that they would most likely do what people in similar situations have done in other places where many properties have been destroyed.
They will collect their money from their insurance and leave the area and establish somewhere else.
This is what has happened after previous riots etc and there are big areas left where there are damaged properties and the former owners will not go back.
Replacement conditions insurance does not require that the property be replaced on the same site.
Houses and commercial properties are in the same boat as far as this is concerned.
Des Goonan, Wagga
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you have something to get off your chest? Send your letters to the editor to letters@dailyadvertiser.com.au.