We must heed lessons of crisis

Further to his excellent summary of the Covid-19 virus pandemic (May 14), I would disagree with Neil Cox on one point only, regarding herd immunity.

Until a few weeks ago, I believed that herd immunity is achievable. I now believe that we cannot rely on it as a solution to our dilemma. I owe my change of mind to an interview on the Andrew Marr Show with Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford.

In brief, according to Professor Gilbert the family of viruses to which Covid-19 belongs confers only very weak and shortlasting immunity and in some cases none at all. From what she said, we can deduce that the immunity to be derived from contracting Covid-19 lasts less than 12 months. If that is the case then any policies for tackling the virus based on herd immunity are complete non-starters. Furthermore, according to Professor Gilbert, any vaccine that is developed will probably be effective for only one year, so we will all have to have annual injections just as we do for the normal flu virus.

It’s time to face reality and make our plans accordingly.

Incidentally, let’s not forget that, quite apart from the death toll being notched up by Covid-19, 40,000 people a year in this country die as a result of air pollution. It’s time we treated this as seriously as we treat the pandemic. In recent weeks we have experienced the joy of clean air and we will fight tooth and nail against any attempt to revert to our bad old ways.

It’s a little fanciful but you could say this virus is trying to teach us a lesson. If so, we ignore it at our peril.

Michael Aylward