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Herd Immunity To Coronavirus May Be A Dead End, Experts Caution
(NIAID-RML)
Medical experts are urging caution against the idea of achieving "herd immunity" against the coronavirus — that's when so many people become immune to a disease it can't spread as rapidly, or at all.
Experts say we don't know enough about the role natural antibodies play in the human body's response to the virus and whether those defenses last long enough to permanently protect someone from becoming infected again.
Dr. Kimberley Shriner, an infectious disease specialist at Pasadena's Huntington Hospital, says some calculations estimate 60% to 70% of the population would need to be exposed to the virus.
"That's a pretty tall order. Right now, I think the general consensus is L.A. is running around maybe 11% — and that would be an awful lot of people being awfully sick, and many of them dying. So I think that's a very high price to pay to try to achieve natural herd immunity."
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