Table of contents:
- What is that herd immunity?
- 1,024,298
- 831,330
- 28,855
- Has Sweden been immune to COVID-19?
- Can Indonesia achieve herd immunity?
In contrast to most countries that apply lockdown, Sweden is the only country that relies on it herd immunity to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The country allows businesses to open and discourages its citizens from staying at home.
Strategy herd immunity or herd immunity is believed to protect Swedish people who are at risk of contracting COVID-19. Epidemiologist from the Swedish Public Health Agency, Anders Tegnell, even stated that around 20% of Stockholm's population is now immune to COVID-19. Is that right?
What is that herd immunity?
Herd immunity is a condition when most people in a group are immune to certain diseases. This immunity generally applies to infectious diseases such as smallpox, polio, mumps, and COVID-19.
Herd immunity can protect people who do not have immunity from certain infectious diseases. For example, if most of the residents of Region A were immune to the smallpox virus, they would not catch smallpox or transmit the disease to residents who were not immune.
A population is said to have herd immunity if 70-90% of the population is immune to a disease. The number is determined by how quickly the disease is transmitted. The more people who are immune, the better it is for the group.
There are two ways to achieve herd immunity. The first way is vaccination. Vaccines contain weakened germs. After entering the body, these seeds will trigger the formation of immunity, but not to make you sick.
The second way is to recover from disease. This is what Sweden applied to get herd immunity to reach the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. After recovering, the body will have immunity so that it is not infected a second time.
1,024,298
Confirmed831,330
Recovered28,855
DeathDistribution MapHas Sweden been immune to COVID-19?
Swedish health authorities are confident enough that Stockholm, the Swedish capital, will achieve herd immunity at the end of May. They believe immunity in 60% of the population is sufficient to ward off the spread of COVID-19.
However, Tegnell stated otherwise. According to investigations so far, Stockholm's immunity rate is still less than 30 percent. The latest report also states that only 7.3% of Stockholm's citizens have antibodies to fight COVID-19.
The study also found that deaths from COVID-19 in Sweden stood at 39.57 per 100,000. This figure is higher than the United States (30.02 per 100,000), where the total number of cases is now the highest in the world.
Compared to its neighbors, Norway (4.42 per 100,000) and Finland (5.58 per 100,000), the death rate in Sweden is tens of times higher. These two countries are implementing lockdown strictly so as to reduce the death rate.
Sweden's journey to reach herd immunity against COVID-19 there is still a long way to go. Strategy herd immunity indeed effective for infectious diseases that are not too deadly. The problem is, the death rate from COVID-19 cannot be ascertained.
COVID-19 also causes dangerous complications, from pneumonia and lung damage to fatal organ failure. Without prevention efforts, COVID-19 patients will be in hospital so that patients with complications cannot get intensive care.
In addition, certain viruses sometimes mutate so that established immunity may only last temporarily. The flu virus, including the coronavirus, for example, mutates every year, so you need to get a flu shot once a year.
If SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 also mutates in the same way, herd immunity it might just make you immune for a few months or years. However, you will not be immune forever.
Herd immunity it may be effective in some cases, but Sweden is currently dealing with COVID-19 which is not fully understood. If not balanced with preventive measures physical distancing, the risk of transmission and death is certainly getting bigger.
Can Indonesia achieve herd immunity?
To date, there is no vaccine for COVID-19. Researchers around the world are still testing dozens of COVID-19 vaccine candidates to find the best one. Hence, formation herd immunity with vaccination is not yet possible.
Reach herd immunity in the way Sweden went, it did not appear to be the right choice either. This is because the number of cases and deaths in Indonesia is still rising every day even with large-scale social restrictions (PSBB).
Without restrictions, positive numbers in Indonesia could skyrocket to exceed hospital capacity. This is certainly dangerous for risk groups such as the elderly, people with weak immune systems, and those with comorbidities.
Researchers still need to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 and learn more about the disease before it can reach herd immunity in a safe way. Currently, the steps you can do is wash your hands, apply physical distancing, and maintain health to prevent transmission.
