Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Monday, April 26, 2021

Actual Herd Immunity

 Stories about "breakthrough infections," the J&J "pause" and stories about devastating side effects from the second shot have increased vaccine hesitancy.

This is bad, and I blame journalism for some of it.

The idea behind vaccines is fundamentally the same as masks: "I'm protecting myself and I'm protecting you." My vaccine means it is MUCH less likely that I get sick or infected. Therefore, I am unlikely to be a vector for future transmission.

The virus needs to be present in a person that then sheds it to another person. If you have a combination of people who are immune - via vaccination or having had it - that reduces the ability of the virus to spread either TO that person or FROM that person. Add in masks, and it becomes very hard for the virus to spread.

If it does not spread, it dies out.

That's the goal. That's what New Zealand and Vietnam did.

Can we get America there? If we keep being stupid, I doubt it.

No comments: