Social Medicine and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
New England Complex Systems Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Epidemiol Health. 2021;43:e2021012. doi: 10.4178/epih.e2021012. Epub 2021 Feb 3.
As severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to spread rapidly throughout the human population, the concept of "herd immunity" has attracted the attention of both decision-makers and the general public. In the absence of a vaccine, this entails that a large proportion of the population will be infected to develop immunity that would limit the severity and/or extent of subsequent outbreaks. We argue that adopting such an approach should be avoided for several reasons. There are significant uncertainties about whether achieving herd immunity is possible. If possible, achieving herd immunity would impose a large burden on society. There are gaps in protection, making it difficult to shield the vulnerable. It would defeat the purpose of avoiding harm caused by the virus. Lastly, dozens of countries are showing that containment is possible.
由于严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）在人类中迅速传播，“群体免疫”这一概念引起了决策者和公众的关注。在没有疫苗的情况下，这意味着很大一部分人将被感染以产生免疫力，从而限制随后爆发的严重程度和/或范围。我们认为，出于以下几个原因，应该避免采取这种方法。
首先，关于是否有可能实现群体免疫存在重大不确定性。如果可能的话，实现群体免疫将给社会带来巨大负担。
其次，在保护方面存在差距，难以保护弱势群体。这将违背避免病毒造成伤害的目的。
最后，数十个国家正在表明，遏制是可能的。
