[call_me_dana]

“Herd immunity is only relevant if we have a transmission-blocking vaccine. If we don’t, then the only way to get herd immunity in the population is to give everyone the vaccine,” says Shweta Bansal, a mathematical biologist at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Does... Not... Compute. She is contradicting herself in the very next sentence.

Herd immunity is only possible with a transmission blocking vaccine. This makes sense, as once you’re vaccinated, you are unable to transmit the virus to someone else.

With that first statement, herd immunity is now not relevant, and therefore is not possible, so why mention it as a possibility?

It’s not possible, but we’re just going to vaccinate everyone anyways. Is she benefiting financially from this or something? I don’t understand.

Until we have transmission blocking vaccines, the concept of herd immunity is irrelevant. That goes not just for COVID-19, but for every other vaccination campaign as well. Large scale vaccination campaigns likely decrease transmission, but it doesn’t guarantee the end of any outbreak.