I heard it through the grapevine: On herd immunity and why it is important

Abstract

A. David Napier has been studying immunology and immunologists for more than three decades. In this article, he argues that the medicalization of viral epidemics has distracted us from the importance of their true social drivers: that is, the behaviour of people when they are together – what epidemiologists call human herds. On their own, viruses cannot ‘invade’ us. Our cells bring them to life and make them infectious through our social actions. Confusing viruses with invasive microbes not only leads us to misuse antibiotics, but fosters xenophobic responses towards outside carriers – as even our neighbours become categorical ‘others’ in the face of a foreign threat. Indeed, new work in viral epidemiology indicates that many viruses have infectious potential long before an epidemic develops. It is not only changes within viruses that cause epidemics, but also the condition of human herds – how we behave socially – that ignites the rapid circulation of viral information.

 

Biography

David Napier is Professor of Medical Anthropology at University College London (UCL) and Director of its Science, Medicine, and Society Network. Napier has been involved in three Lancet commissions, leading the 2014 Lancet Commission on Culture and Health. He is currently International Chair, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee on the Cultural Contexts of Health and Wellbeing. He is also Innovations Lead for Sonar‐Global, a European Commission social science network responding to infectious disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance. His email is d.napier@ucl.ac.uk.