[votepaunchy]

> We never got to herd immunity with the flu either.

We get to herd immunity with the flu every year around this time (in the Northern hemisphere). Respiratory virus season ends and rates of transmission fall below 1.0.

“While not every single individual may be immune, the group as a whole has protection. This is because there are fewer high-risk people overall. The infection rates drop, and the disease peters out.”

https://www.webmd.com/lung/what-is-herd-immunity

[ashtonkem]

Right, but as a species we don’t have herd immunity; if we did then we would only have flu outbreaks when it jumped species rather than yearly. Currently it shifts around and mutates on a yearly basis because not everyone gets the shot worldwide.

It’s obviously better to completely kill off Covid (or any infectious disease) with global herd immunity, but a yearly outbreak suppressed by regular vaccination is something we have a model for, and it’s far better than where we’re at with Covid.