Scientists Call for Covid Herd Immunity Strategy for Young People | World News

An international group of scientists is calling on the government to overturn the coronavirus strategy and protect the most vulnerable people while allowing young and healthy people to return to normal life.

Proposed by three researchers, but signed by more, the proposal hopes that a population sufficient to quell the pandemic will achieve “herd immunity” that is resistant to the virus. It claims to spread the virus to low-risk groups.

Description “Great Barrington DeclarationAfter the town of Massachusetts, where it was created, the plan marks the latest round of fiercely contested debate among the returning scientists. A radically different approach In crisis. One critic said that a “grotesque” plan was equivalent to the selection of the sick and disabled.

The authors of the Declaration, Sunetra Gupta of Oxford University, Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University, and Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University, said that Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions had a “catastrophic effect” on public health by interfering with daily care. Claims to be exerting. Underprivileged people bear the greatest burden and impair their mental health.

While many governments are trying to control the virus until new treatments and vaccines are found, the trio should protect the elderly and others at risk, and those at the lowest risk. Writes that “you should be able to resume your normal life right away.”

David Livermore, a professor of medical microbiology at the University of East Anglia and signer of the Declaration, said that if a caregiver is paid a high salary to live in either his home or a nearby accommodation for a month, he will be older in the care facility. Said that the person could be protected. time.

The authors found it difficult to protect a large number of older people in the community, but suggested that individuals could protect themselves. “If you’re 75, you can choose to go out as little as possible,” he said. Efforts to keep the infection low “just pull out the problem,” he added.

Last month, two UK science groups provided conflicting advice. In one open letter, Professor Gupta and her colleagues argued that suppressing the virus was “infeasible,” while another letter, also led by Professor Trish Greenhalf of Oxford, was vulnerable. He said it was impractical not to open the entire cohort of. society.

William Hanage, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard University, said the declaration appears to be attacking public thinking, an ongoing blockade, and a proposal no one has suggested. “After correctly pointing out the indirect damage caused by the pandemic, they replied that the answer was to increase the direct damage caused by it,” he said.

Works by Hanage et al. Covid suggests that it will be more deadly than influenza for people in their mid-thirties and will rise exponentially from there. In other words, the band of population needs to be protected. “By stating that the virus can be moved away from the location by testing it when the outbreak is clearly progressing in the White House, it should show how likely it is,” he said. It was.

Another concern is that uncontrolled outbreaks among young and healthy people can leave many with long-term medical problems, including “long covid” disorders that are already affecting young people. It was that there was.

so Twitter thread Greg Gonzalves, an epidemiologist at Yale University, responded to the declaration by saying that shutdowns and other interventions were needed to reduce infection rates. He said the herd immunity strategy is “to eliminate herds of the sick and disabled,” as nearly half of the population carries the potential health risks of Covid-19. It’s grotesque. “