The COVID-19 herd immunity threshold is not low: A re-analysis of European data from spring of 2020

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dc.creatorFox, Spencer J.
dc.creatorPotu, Pratyush
dc.creatorLachmann, Michael
dc.creatorSrinivasan, Ravi
dc.creatorMeyers, Lauren Ancel
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-29T20:41:21Z
dc.date.available2024-07-29T20:41:21Z
dc.date.issued2020-12
dc.description.abstractThe recent publication of the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD), which calls for relaxing all public health interventions on young, healthy individuals, has brought the question of herd immunity to the forefront of COVID-19 policy discussions, and is partially based on unpublished research that suggests low herd immunity thresholds (HITs) of 10-20%. We re-evaluate these findings and correct a flawed assumption leading to COVID-19 HIT estimates of 60-80%. If policymakers were to adopt a herd immunity strategy, in which the virus is allowed to spread relatively unimpeded, we project that cumulative COVID-19 deaths would be five times higher than the initial estimates suggest. Our re-estimates of the COVID-19 HIT corroborate strong signals in the data and compelling arguments that most of the globe remains far from herd immunity, and suggest that abandoning community mitigation efforts would jeopardize the welfare of communities and integrity of healthcare systems.
dc.description.departmentMathematics
dc.description.departmentIntegrative Biology
dc.description.departmentApplied Research Laboratories
dc.description.sponsorshipThe authors acknowledge support from a CDC COVID-19 supplementary grant (U01IP001136-01-01).
dc.identifier.doi10.1101/2020.12.01.20242289
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2152/126212
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.26153/tsw/52749
dc.rightsAttribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.source.urihttps://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.01.20242289v1
dc.subjectCOVID-19
dc.subjectherd immunity
dc.titleThe COVID-19 herd immunity threshold is not low: A re-analysis of European data from spring of 2020
dc.typePre-print

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