In the wake of promising vaccine trials and still-surging COVID-19 cases, the phrase “herd immunity” has entered the popular vocabulary.
It refers to the idea that if enough people in a community are exposed to a virus, it will eventually die out. It’s a real phenomenon, but it’s not possible without some sort of intervention.
Elkhart County Health Officer Lydia Mertz said it would take over five years to achieve herd immunity in Elkhart County without a vaccine – and that’s with every resource in every hospital dedicated to caring for coronavirus patients.
“Some people believe we should stop all the precautions and let the infection play out on its own," Mertz said at Mayor Rod Roberson's COVID town hall in October. "They just don’t realize how long that would take and they’re not considering the number of deaths we would have in the meantime.”
With a vaccine, however, Mertz said she believes herd immunity could be achieved if 60-70 percent of the county gets vaccinated. It takes two doses for the vaccine to be effective.
“So we’re thinking that for Elkhart County, that would be about 140,000 people, and that’s a lot of shots,” Mertz said at the Elkhart County Kiwanis Club meeting last week.
It’s possible, but it’s still a ways off – Mertz said a vaccine likely won’t be available to the general public until early to late spring. Until then, masking, hand-washing and physical distancing are still necessary.
Contact Gemma at gdicarlo@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @gemma_dicarlo
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