17 July

The comfort many take from catching Covid, multiple times, is that they believe the idea that it will create ‘herd immunity’. Which they see as the same as ‘endemic’. So many people will catch it and become immune that it will stop it spreading, the story goes, as in the picture. Why that’s a recipe for killing yourself pretty quickly: 1) Infection with Covid doesn’t create immunity. 2) Humans have never achieved herd immunity for any disease through infection. 3) The only time herd immunity has been achieved is when we’ve had vaccines that prevent transmission. Like the vaccines for mumps, measles, chickenpox - the ones you get as a kid mostly. 4) The Covid vaccines don’t prevent transmission. What we’re seeing right now, the entire population getting infected over and over, will just continue forever, unless we stop it. It won’t stop by itself, unless Covid gets bored and goes away, which is unlikely. Immunity certainly won’t do it, herd or otherwise.