COVID – STAY HOME STAY SAFE TO HERD IMMUNITY STRATEGY

– Dr.K.ThirugnanaSambanthan, Asst. Professor, Department of MBA, Sankara College of Science and Commerce

 The number of Coronavirus Cases all over the world is 4,268,490.  This pandemic deadly virus has killed 287,463 people.  So far 1,533,369 have recovered. Stay Home Stay Safe was the slogan followed throughout the world to fight against this deadly virus.  India has 70,287 people infected by corona and more than 2,294 people have died.  India had three lockdowns so far.  We have been locked down for 50 days. During the first phase of lockdown the state governments had been very strict in implementation as movement of public had been fully restricted.  During this 3.0 Lockdown state governments have been liberal in implementing the lockdown. Several state governments have opened up liquor sales in which public did not follow the basic rules of fighting against corona like social distancing.

There is a big change in strategy to fight against Coronavirus.  Rather than staying away from it, now the strategy is learn to live with coronavirus environment.  Many countries are trying to follow the herd immunity strategy. Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection from infectious disease that occurs when a large percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, whether through previous infections or vaccination, thereby providing a measure of protection for individuals who are not immune.

In a largely populated country like India, which has more percentage of young population some experts are recommending to follow Herd Immunity Strategy i.e. a majority of the population to gain resistance to the virus by becoming infected and then recovering.  This strategy could result in less economic damage and human suffering than restrictive lockdowns designed to stop the virus’s spread.

On the contrary, many experts say that this herd immune strategy is unethical and it is potentially dangerous as it can lead to larger number of deaths. This strategy will boomerang as the probability of success is unknown.

The best way to rapidly develop herd immunity is through vaccination. A vaccine delivers a small amount of a virus into the body, and the immune system learns how to fight it off without having to get sick.  So far no vaccine has been found for corona virus.  Let us watch which strategy the government is going to follow to fight against coronavirus.  Hope it chooses the best one and save the lives.