White House is not seeking herd immunity, adviser insists

ONE of Donald Trump’s top coronavirus advisers has issued a statement saying the White House is not pursuing a “herd immunity” strategy after a report claiming he was privately pushing the approach.

Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist from Stanford’s Hoover Institution who joined the White House last month, was reported by The Washington Post to have urged the US to adopt a model pursued by Sweden.

The herd immunity strategy proposes looser Covid-19 restrictions so the population at large can build up antibodies to protect themselves from the disease. Senior figures in Boris Johnson’s government initially talked up the idea in early spring when the outbreak first reached the UK, before later approving a nationwide lockdown.

The Washington Post cited five people familiar with internal Trump administration discussions for its reporting that Mr Atlas was urging the adoption of the Swedish model.

The paper also reported Mr Atlas believed New York, Chicago, New Orleans and other metropolitan areas may have reached herd immunity.

Mr Atlas said in a statement to the paper: “There is no policy of the president or this administration of achieving herd immunity. There never has been any such policy recommended to the president or to anyone else from me.”

Proponents of the strategy argue that a country’s population will be best protected from Covid-19 if it has built up immunity.