what is "Herd Immunity"?

[Peter Fairbrother]

On 31/07/2020 07:44, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
> Had a friend annoyed at masks the other day, complaining heavily "muh
> human right to shop at the supermarket without wearing a mask!"
> 
> 
> Interlocutor: So you'd prefer herd immunity?
> 
> Complainer: Of course! Weren't you even listening?!
> 
> I: Well, do you know what herd immunity means? What is it?
> 
> C: Ah, may be not? What is herd immunity?
> 
> I: If you survive, you survive; those who die, are left to die, the
> rest of the herd is immune…
> 
> C: <silence>
> 
> I: So you've heard a little about the Spanish flu and the Black Death, right?
> 
> C: Yeah..
> 
> I: Well, we're the survivors - we are that part of the herd that did not die.
> 

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, that has nothing to do with herd 
immunity - it's actually evolution.


(herd immunity is when sufficient members of a herd are immune that 
there aren't enough non-immune members to spread a disease - the 
non-immune members could still get the disease, but there isn't anyone 
around who's infected to give it to them)


Peter Fairbrother