Tagged: herd immunity

Featured image: Why eliminating Covid-19 is critical: Since more waves of infection, hospitalisations and deaths are inevitable for other countries until a vaccine arrives

Why eliminating Covid-19 is critical: Since more waves of infection, hospitalisations and deaths are inevitable for other countries until a vaccine arrives - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Apr 19, 2020 •

Prof Rod Jackson (Epidemiologist, Auckland University) There are really only three ways that a population can beat Covid-19. 1. Eliminate the virus and keep infected people out (the approach NZ is taking) 2. Allow a sufficient proportion of the population to get infected and become immune to re-infection so there are no longer enough non-immune people to allow the virus … Read More

Featured image: About those cries of ‘over-reaction’ on NZ’s Covid-19 response

About those cries of ‘over-reaction’ on NZ’s Covid-19 response - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Apr 15, 2020 •

A group of six New Zealand academics yesterday announced their “vision for a balanced response” to the Covid-19 pandemic. They are calling that vision “Plan B”. They even have a website and a PR firm attached. They are clearly serious. Their plan is for New Zealand to return “to normality as soon … Read More

Featured image: The ‘herd immunity’ route to fighting coronavirus is unethical and potentially dangerous

The ‘herd immunity’ route to fighting coronavirus is unethical and potentially dangerous - Guest Work

Guest Author • Mar 18, 2020 •

As most of the world tries to suppress the coronavirus spread, some countries are going it alone – trying to manage the pandemic through so-called “herd immunity”. Herd immunity means letting a large number of people catch a disease, and hence develop immunity to it, to stop the virus spreading. The Netherlands reportedly plans to use herd immunity to … Read More

Featured image: The three phases of Covid-19 – and how we can make it manageable

The three phases of Covid-19 – and how we can make it manageable - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 09, 2020 •

In a post last week, I showed you a picture of how the Covid-19 outbreak has played out in China. It was a graph of the number of cases reported each day, something we call an epidemic curve. It looked a bit like this. We can use the epidemic curve as a visual way to think about how Covid-19 … Read More

Featured image: Measles outbreaks and the role of anti-vax misinformation

Measles outbreaks and the role of anti-vax misinformation - BioBlog

Alison Campbell • Jan 28, 2019 •

Recently Grant Jacobs discussed a paper which indicates that many people strongly opposed to genetic modification think they are well-informed, but in reality know little about the subject. On current evidence, the same applies to those opposed to vaccination. I originally sat down to write about this piece of nonsense, but it can wait. Instead – NZ readers will probably … Read More

Featured image: Engaging online simulator of measles outbreaks (& how NZ needs to do better in eliminating measles)

Engaging online simulator of measles outbreaks (& how NZ needs to do better in eliminating measles) - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Mar 30, 2016 •

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Osman Mansoor, Prof Michael Baker To help explain the concept of ‘herd immunity’, The Guardian Newspaper has produced a clever online simulator of measles spread. We comment on why this simulator is informative and how it also demonstrates chance effects in the spread of infectious diseases. Then we take the opportunity to explain why NZ should … Read More