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by edoloughlin 4408 days ago
That said, I do not think it is right to try to guilt people into using things they do not want to use because you think it could possibly aid your health

There is a case to be made for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity

3 comments

No, Herd Immunity is for infection risks which are SHARED across the whole herd. The point is to prevent the infection from reaching "critical mass".

What we're talking about here is different, it's a risk which applies to a small minority of specific individuals.

Herd Immunity has nothing to do with our personal bacteria cultures!

We are bacteria through and through! So much of our bodies and lives are dependent on bacteria.

You can't get herd immunity to a building block of our existence. You shouldn't want it.

The key point for herd immunity is epidemiological - keep resistance high so that most people will never encounter the bad pathogen even if they may be unusually weak against it. That doesn't apply to bacteria that are already prevalent everywhere and known to be less bad than other bacteria they're likely to replace.