Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune.
The key to herd immunity is that, even if a person becomes infected, there are too few susceptible hosts around to maintain transmission — those who have been vaccinated or have already had the infection cannot contract and spread the virus.
There are two main paths to herd immunity for COVID-19 — infection and vaccines. Most estimates place the threshold at 60–70% of the population gaining immunity, either through vaccinations or past exposure to the virus.
Natural infection
Herd immunity can be reached when enough people in the population have recovered from a disease and have developed protective antibodies against future infection.
However, there are some major problems with relying on community infection to create herd immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19. Apart from the toll of sickness and deaths, it’s not clear how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19. Even if you have antibodies, it’s possible that you could get COVID-19 again.
Vaccines
Herd immunity also can be reached when enough people have been vaccinated against a disease and have developed protective antibodies against future infection. Unlike the natural infection method, vaccines create immunity without causing illness or resulting complications. Using the concept of herd immunity, vaccines have successfully controlled contagious diseases such as smallpox, polio, diphtheria, rubella and many others.
But if the proportion of vaccinated people in a community is below the herd immunity threshold, a contagious disease could continue to spread. It’s also not clear how long the COVID-19 vaccines will protect you from COVID-19.
The distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has greatly varied among and within countries. If one community achieves a high COVID-19 vaccination rate and surrounding areas don’t, outbreaks can occur if the populations mix.
COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at protecting against severe illness requiring hospitalisation and leading to death. Even if it isn’t currently possible to stop transmission of the COVID-19 virus, the vaccines are allowing people to better be able to live with the virus.
Seven Countries in the world have reached Herd Immunity, and some have no more restrictions in place. 67 countries in the world are in a dire situation, when it comes to vaccinations, and such countries include first world Economies like South Africa. 31 countries have 50% or more of its population vaccinated, and life is slowly turning back to normal.
For some countries it’s a race to herd immunity and to a life back to normal, for other it’s a fight for survival and to stay alive. Here is where the world is as of June 13th – Source: https://ourworldindata.org/
Herd Immunity achieved:
Gibraltar 100%, Malta: 76.82%, Falkland Islands: 75.57%, Isle of Man: 72.11%, Seychelles: 71.85%, Saint Helena: 71.83%, Cayman Islands: 71.41%
Close to Herd Immunity
Nauru: 68.65%, Canada: 64.41%, San Marino: 64.14%, Bermuda: 64.02%, Israel: 63.27%, Iceland: 63.00%, Jersey: 62.67%, Bhutan: 62.56%, Aruba: 61.86%, UK : 60.82%, Chile: 60.75%, Anguilla: 60.29%, Bahrain: 60.15%
Excellent progress made:
Uruguay: 59.90%, Maldives: 57.99%, Mongolia: 57.71%, Hungary: 54.98%, Qatar: 54.95%, Cook Islands: 54.29%, Turks and Caicos: 53.62%, Curacao: 53.10%, USA: 51.85%, UAE: 51.38%, Finland: 50.32%
Good Progress made
Guernsey: 49.17%, Faeroe Islands: 48.84%, Cyprus: 48.18%, Monaco: 48.00%, Italy: 47.92%, Germany: 47.75%, Belgium: 47.71%, Austria: 46.52%, Denmark: 45.89%, Netherlands: 45.29%, Spain: 44.84%, France: 44.64%, Portugal: 43.45%, Lithuania: 42.90%, Singapore: 42.80%, Luxembourg: 42.06%, Czechia: 41.96%, Switzerland: 41.29%, Poland: 40.49%, Sweden : 40.45%, Saint Kitts & Nevis: 40.36%, Liechtenstein: 40.31%, Greece: 40.17%
Encouraging , these countries are catching up
Andorra: 39.52%, Estonia: 39.37%, Serbia: 39.03%, Dominican Republic: 38.97%, British Virgin Islands: 38.21%, Slovenia: 36.83%, Ireland: 35.66%, Greenland: 35.61%, Norway: 35.59%, Antigua & Barbuda: 35.38%, Croatia: 34.41%, Slovakia: 34.14%
Getting better and on the correct path
Latvia: 29.75%, Barbados: 29.64%, Argentina: 28.50%, Dominica: 27.74%, Guyana: 27.24%, Montserrat: 27.71%, Tonga: 27.09%, Macao: 25.92%, Morocco: 25.37%, Brazil: 25.04%, Fiji: 24.41%, Costa Rica: 23.94%, Romania: 23.56%, Turkey: 23.43%, Montenegro: 23.04%, South Korea: 23.02%, Hong Kong: 22.78%, French Polynesia: 22.50%, El Salvador: 20.75%, Tuvalu: 20.35%, Mexico: 20.06%
Progress is needed:
Australia: 19.96%, Northern Cyprus: 19.74%, Mauritius: 19.47%, Samoa: 19.33%, Kuwait: 19.25%, New Caledonia: 18.86%, Jordan: 18.61%, Colombia: 17.64%, Azerbaijan: 17.59%, Panama: 17.55%, Albania: 17.43%, Suriname: 17.35%, Belize: 17.06%, Cambodia: 16.97%, Cuba: 16.64%, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: 16.60%, Saint Lucia: 16.11%, Grenada: 15.97%, India: 14.47%, Bolivia: 14.23%, Kazakhstan: 13.12%, Russia: 12.65%, Bulgaria: 12.62%, Japan: 12.60%, Bahamas: 12.32%, North Macedonia: 12.20%, Brunei: 11.37%, Ecuador: 10.64%, Equatorial Guinea: 10.59%, New Zealand: 10.34%, Peru: 10.29%, Sri Lanka: 10.27%
Not good and behind: International push needed
Lebanon: 9.79%, Laos: 9.74%, Moldovia: 9.49%, Malaysia: 9.05%, Nepal: 8.18%, Tunisia: 7.61%, Indonesia: 7.33%, Palestine: 7.32%, Oman: 6.58%, Belarus: 6.47%, Botswana: 6.38%, Thailand: 6.25%, Bosnia Herzegovina: 5.76%, Algeria: 5.70%, Sao Tome and Principe: 5.65%, Jamaica: 5.26%
Alarming: The World must stand up to this group:
Comores: 4.96%, Georgia: 4.79%, Iran: 4.66%, Zimbabwe: 4.65%, Libya: 4.63%, Paraguay: 4.42%, Philippines: 4.23%, Kosovo: 4.15%, Honduras: 4.06%, Pakistan: 3.68%, Uzbekistan: 3.58%, Bangladesh: 3.54%, Taiwan: 3.36%, Ukraine: 3.34%, Togo: 3.27%, Myanmar: 3.26%, Namibia: 3,26%, Eswatini: 3.04%, Guatemala: 2.95%, Senegal: 2.83%, Egypt: 2.76%, Ghana: 2.74%, Rwanda: 2.71%, Nicaragua: 2.53%, Cote d’Ivoire: 2.51%, Solomon Islands: 2.47%, Angola: 2.36%, Guinea: 2.20%, Venezuela: 2.07%
EMERGENCY Situation: Needs solidarity and immediate help:
Malawi: 1.91%, Kenya: 1.83%, Lesotho: 1.71%, Uganda: 1.66%, Ethiopia: 1.65%, Armenia: 1.57%, Vietnam: 1.44%, Gambia: 1.26%, Liberia: 1.26%, Afghanistan: 1.24%, Iraq: 1.11%, South Africa: 1.08%, Mozambique: 1.02%, Gabon: 0.99%, Guinea- Bissau: 0.95%, Nigeria: 0.95%, Sierra Leone: 0.95%, Sudan: 0.95%, Tajikistan: 0.88%, Somalia: 0.82%, Mauritania: 0.81%, Zambia: 0.77%, Yemen: 0.74%, Niger: 0.71%, Mali: 0.57%, Central African Republic: 0.53%, Turkmenistan: 0.53%, Papua New Guinea: 0.43%, Congo: 0.41%, Syria: 0.41%, Madagascar: 0.35%, Vanuatu: 0.28%, Cameroon: 0.26%, Benin: 0.18%, South Sudan: 0.11%, Burkina Faso: 0.04%, Chad: 0.03%, DRC: 0.03%
EDITORS NOTE: Information for this article has been sourced from www.mayoclinic.org and supplemented from sources sharing this approach to the subject. The Royal Coast Review has published this information in good faith, however alternative approaches which may take a different stance are acknowledged.
