What is community immunity? Does it apply to Covid-19?

The outbreak of the covid-19 disease caused by the new strain of corona virus has raised questions about a phenomenon called "community immunity" and whether it plays a role in the course of a pandemic.

Here are some insights shared by experts on infectious diseases, according to a summary of Reuters news agency.

How is community immunity?

Community immunity refers to a situation in which a large number of people have an immune mechanism against an infectious disease , and this population is large enough to effectively prevent the spread of the disease.

For community immunity, it does not matter if the immunity is due to vaccinations or to those who are ill.The important thing is that they are immune.

For community immunity, it doesn't matter immunity.

With the new infectious disease caused by the new corona virus - called covid-19 - the more people infected, the more people will recover and then more people will be immune to the disease in the future.

"When about 70% of the population is infected and recovers, the likelihood of an outbreak will be greatly reduced because most people are resistant to infection," said Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious diseases. at London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, said.

"This is called community immunity."

Is community immunity effective against the covid-19 pandemic?

With the new outbreak of corona virus, current evidence suggests that an average infected person will infect two to three others. This means that, without any preventive measures, community immunity will be effective when 50% to 70% of the population is immune.

By reducing the number of people infected from a person with the original virus - by means of social isolation such as school closures, work from home, avoiding crowds and frequent hand washing - the starting point for Community immunity may be less effective.

"From an epidemiological point of view, the trick is to reduce the number of people we contact . so we can reduce the number of people exposed to infection and community immunity starts sooner , " Matthew Baylis , a professor at the Institute of Infections, Veterinary Science and Ecology at Liverpool University.

The "ideal point" of community immunity is when an average infected person infects only one or less than one person.

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