Herd immunity ‘ethically wrong’

Scotland will not adopt a so called heard immunity strategy to tackling Coronavirus with the approach branded “ethically” wrong by Nicola Sturgeon.

The First Minister said she is aware of scientific advice which backs the policy as way to bring about a faster return to normality.

It would mean that younger people, at lower risk from serious health problems if they contract the virus, are allowed return to work and go about their daily business. As numbers of infected people soar, so would immunity levels across the population.

But older people would be at greater risk and forced to self-isolate to protect themselves.

The First Minister rejected this approach yesterday, as she refused to rule out the prospect of a return to “shielding” for vulnerable Scots if cases keep rising north of the border.

“The shielding debate for me comes to the heart of a debate about how we deal with Covid as a country,” she told MSPS.

“There are people of the opinion right now, including some scientists, and they’re entitled to hold this opinion, that we should just basically seal off the vulnerable groups of our society and let everybody else live their lives normally and let Covid do what it will do amongst the healthier population.

“I don’t agree with that practically or ethically. We can’t segregate our lives in that way. We live interdependently, younger people live with older people.

“And I don’t think ethically its right either that we expect one group of the population to bear all of the burden of dealing with this pandemic.

“We all have to shoulder some of the burden of dealing with this pandemic. I think ethically that is important.

“It also gives a misleading message to younger, healthier people that they are at no risk.”