What does herd immunity mean for you?
I’ve heard the term ‘herd immunity’ a lot lately. Can you please define what this term actually means?
Herd immunity is the idea that when most of a population is immune to a disease, this gives indirect protection to those community members who are not immune. I think that herd immunity is best understood through pictures – the following diagram shows how viral spread is contained when it hits a “wall” of immune people in the population.
What will it take to achieve herd immunity with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID)?
People can become immune to SARS-CoV-2 either through being infected or getting vaccinated. We don’t yet have good data about how long immunity will last with either natural infection or vaccination. Public health experts now estimate that 80 to 90 percent of the population will have to be immune to SARS-CoV-2 to stop this pandemic.
Building herd immunity through vaccination is much safer and quicker than people getting COVID. Currently about 3.5 percent of Taos County residents have natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2 after being infected. If we didn’t have a safe and effective vaccine, about 26,000 more people in Taos County would have to get infected with SARS-CoV-2 to achieve herd immunity. This could result in about 900 more deaths. However, we are lucky to have safe and effective vaccines now.
Why should herd immunity matter to me?
Your decision about whether to take the COVID vaccine when it is available to you affects your own immunity to this dangerous virus as well our community levels of immunity. The quicker that we as a community can reach herd immunity, the sooner we will be able to return to a more normal way of life.
Alana Benjamin, M.D., is a board-certified family physician who practices at Taos Whole Health. She has been facilitating the Taos Community Medical COVID Task Force since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Taos Community Medical COVID Task Force is a volunteer coalition of local healthcare providers and community partners working to build collaborations to strengthen our local medical response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In this column, local healthcare providers will be answering common questions about COVID19 in our community. If you have a question that you would like to submit, please email it to info@taoscovidtaskforce. com. Also, please check out taoscovidtaskforce.com for the latest medical information about COVID-19 in Taos.