"statement ID;""time"";""document ID"";""document title"";""author"";""source"";""section"";""type"";""text"";""person"";""organization"";""concept"";""agreement"";""Organization_Type"""
"62;2020-03-13 12:00:00;398;""UPHILL BATTLE When will the coronavirus pandemic peak?"";""Debbie White"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He added: If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back [the disease] and it bounces back at the wrong time. Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely.Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness [and] build up some kind of herd immunity more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.At the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"63;2020-03-13 12:00:00;398;""UPHILL BATTLE When will the coronavirus pandemic peak?"";""Debbie White"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He added: If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back [the disease] and it bounces back at the wrong time. Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely.Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness [and] build up some kind of herd immunity more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.At the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"56;2020-03-13 12:00:00;399;""BRACE YOURSELF Coronavirus: Millions in Scots MUST catch it to develop ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick Vallance the governments chief scientific advisor told Sky News :�We think this virus is likely to be one that comes year on year becomes like a seasonal virus.Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"59;2020-03-13 12:00:00;399;""BRACE YOURSELF Coronavirus: Millions in Scots MUST catch it to develop ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He told Radio 4: If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back “ and it bounces back at the wrong time. So our aim is to try and reduce the peak “ broaden the peak “ not to suppress it completely.Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity as well.So more people are immune to this disease so we reduce the transmission at the same time and protect those who are most vulnerable from it.�He added: What we dont want is everybody getting it in a short period of time so we swamp an overwhelmed NHS services.Thats the flattening of the peak. You cant stop it so that you should end up with a broader peak.During which time you would anticipate more people to get immunity to this and that in itself becomes a protective part of this process.And this is quite likely to become an annual seasonal infection.�Asked about whether the virus could mutate and come back in a more dangerous form in the future Sir Patrick said: If the virus mutates a lot then you dont necessarily get immunity to that variety.But in general what you would expect is that in a virus where theres no particular pressure on it to mutate to become nastier then the mutations are unlikely to go in that direction and tend to get a bit milder if anything because for the virus it wants to be more transmissible and less lethal to the person it infects.Thats the sort of survival of the virus as it were.We will end up with a number of people getting it and they will get immunity and that will be helpful for the overall protection of society. At the peak really protecting the elderly and vulnerable.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"60;2020-03-13 12:00:00;399;""BRACE YOURSELF Coronavirus: Millions in Scots MUST catch it to develop ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He told Radio 4: If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back “ and it bounces back at the wrong time. So our aim is to try and reduce the peak “ broaden the peak “ not to suppress it completely.Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity as well.So more people are immune to this disease so we reduce the transmission at the same time and protect those who are most vulnerable from it.�He added: What we dont want is everybody getting it in a short period of time so we swamp an overwhelmed NHS services.Thats the flattening of the peak. You cant stop it so that you should end up with a broader peak.During which time you would anticipate more people to get immunity to this and that in itself becomes a protective part of this process.And this is quite likely to become an annual seasonal infection.�Asked about whether the virus could mutate and come back in a more dangerous form in the future Sir Patrick said: If the virus mutates a lot then you dont necessarily get immunity to that variety.But in general what you would expect is that in a virus where theres no particular pressure on it to mutate to become nastier then the mutations are unlikely to go in that direction and tend to get a bit milder if anything because for the virus it wants to be more transmissible and less lethal to the person it infects.Thats the sort of survival of the virus as it were.We will end up with a number of people getting it and they will get immunity and that will be helpful for the overall protection of society. At the peak really protecting the elderly and vulnerable.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"61;2020-03-13 12:00:00;399;""BRACE YOURSELF Coronavirus: Millions in Scots MUST catch it to develop ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He told Radio 4: If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back “ and it bounces back at the wrong time. So our aim is to try and reduce the peak “ broaden the peak “ not to suppress it completely.Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity as well.So more people are immune to this disease so we reduce the transmission at the same time and protect those who are most vulnerable from it.�He added: What we dont want is everybody getting it in a short period of time so we swamp an overwhelmed NHS services.Thats the flattening of the peak. You cant stop it so that you should end up with a broader peak.During which time you would anticipate more people to get immunity to this and that in itself becomes a protective part of this process.And this is quite likely to become an annual seasonal infection.�Asked about whether the virus could mutate and come back in a more dangerous form in the future Sir Patrick said: If the virus mutates a lot then you dont necessarily get immunity to that variety.But in general what you would expect is that in a virus where theres no particular pressure on it to mutate to become nastier then the mutations are unlikely to go in that direction and tend to get a bit milder if anything because for the virus it wants to be more transmissible and less lethal to the person it infects.Thats the sort of survival of the virus as it were.We will end up with a number of people getting it and they will get immunity and that will be helpful for the overall protection of society. At the peak really protecting the elderly and vulnerable.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"57;2020-03-13 12:00:00;400;""The government hopes to ''build up some kind of herd immunity'' to coronavirus -the chief scientific adviser has defended decision to keep schools open in UK"";""Gemma Mullin"";""manchestereveningnews.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He later told the BBC that the advice the government is following for tackling coronavirus is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Read more of today's top storiesAsked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics.If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it' he said.Those are the key things we need to do.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"58;2020-03-13 12:00:00;400;""The government hopes to ''build up some kind of herd immunity'' to coronavirus -the chief scientific adviser has defended decision to keep schools open in UK"";""Gemma Mullin"";""manchestereveningnews.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He later told the BBC that the advice the government is following for tackling coronavirus is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Read more of today's top storiesAsked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics.If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it' he said.Those are the key things we need to do.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"54;2020-03-13 12:00:00;401;""Chief scientific adviser says coronavirus could come back every year"";""Ben Turner"";""liverpoolecho.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Speaking with LBC radio today he said: 'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and at the wrong time so our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not to suppress it completely.'Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity so that more people are immune to the disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time as protecting those that are most vulnerable from it.'I do not think thats correct. I think the modelling and the behavioural science and the clinical science come together. It is absolutely not the case that behavioural science takes predominance but of course its an important consideration.'It is the case of course that if you completely locked down everything probably for a period of four months or more then you would suppress this virus.'All the evidence from previous pandemics is that if you do that and then you release it it comes back again.'So the other part of this is to make sure we dont end up with a sudden peak again in the winter even larger which causes even more problems.'We want to suppress it not get rid of it which you cant do anyway. And allow enough of us who are going to get a mild form of illness to become immune to this to help the whole population response which protect everybody.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"55;2020-03-13 12:00:00;401;""Chief scientific adviser says coronavirus could come back every year"";""Ben Turner"";""liverpoolecho.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Speaking with LBC radio today he said: 'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and at the wrong time so our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not to suppress it completely.'Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity so that more people are immune to the disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time as protecting those that are most vulnerable from it.'I do not think thats correct. I think the modelling and the behavioural science and the clinical science come together. It is absolutely not the case that behavioural science takes predominance but of course its an important consideration.'It is the case of course that if you completely locked down everything probably for a period of four months or more then you would suppress this virus.'All the evidence from previous pandemics is that if you do that and then you release it it comes back again.'So the other part of this is to make sure we dont end up with a sudden peak again in the winter even larger which causes even more problems.'We want to suppress it not get rid of it which you cant do anyway. And allow enough of us who are going to get a mild form of illness to become immune to this to help the whole population response which protect everybody.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"52;2020-03-13 12:00:00;402;""What is herd immunity? How government''''s coronavirus approach works"";""James Rodger"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick told the BBC that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics.'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"53;2020-03-13 12:00:00;402;""What is herd immunity? How government''''s coronavirus approach works"";""James Rodger"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick told the BBC that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics.'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"50;2020-03-13 12:00:00;403;""Government ''want 40m to get coronavirus'' to build herd immunity"";""Graeme Brown"";""coventrytelegraph.net"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics.'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.                                                                                        'Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"51;2020-03-13 12:00:00;403;""Government ''want 40m to get coronavirus'' to build herd immunity"";""Graeme Brown"";""coventrytelegraph.net"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics.'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.                                                                                        'Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"49;2020-03-13 12:00:00;404;""Britain‚„s counter-virus strategy is a gamble"";""Unspecified"";""Financial Times (FT.Com)"";"""";"""";""Facing criticism that the policy is too timid Sir Patrick has said the aim is to  pull down and broaden� the peak of the pandemic. This would allow the UK population to build up herd immunity� over the summer to protect against a second wave of infection next winter and future rounds of what Sir Patrick says might become an annual seasonal illness."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"47;2020-03-13 12:00:00;405;""Defiant Boris Johnson tries to keep Britain open for business"";""George Parker Clive Crookson Sebastian Payne"";""Financial Times (FT.Com)"";"""";"""";""Some countries such as Singapore or Hong Kong have tried to quickly stamp out the disease with social distancing measures but Patrick Vallance Mr Johnsons chief scientific adviser said it was desirable to build up herd immunity� in the population to protect the country in the longer term.About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity� Sir Patrick told Sky News on Friday."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"48;2020-03-13 12:00:00;405;""Defiant Boris Johnson tries to keep Britain open for business"";""George Parker Clive Crookson Sebastian Payne"";""Financial Times (FT.Com)"";"""";"""";""The problem is we dontknow if herd immunity can be achieved. Other coronaviruses can reinfect a few months down the line. We dont know yet for Covid-19.�"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"44;2020-03-13 12:00:00;406;""UK‚„s chief scientific adviser defends ‚herd immunity‚„ strategy for coronavirus"";""George Parker Jim Packard Laura Hughes"";""Financial Times (FT.Com)"";"""";"""";""Defending Prime Minister Boris Johnsons decision not to follow other European countries by closing schools and banning mass gatherings Patrick Vallance said itwas the governments aim to reduce the peak of the epidemic pull it down and broaden it� while protecting the elderly and vulnerable.But Sir Patrick told Sky News that experts estimated that about 60 per cent of the UKs 66m population would have to contract coronavirus in order for society to build up immunity.Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term� he said. About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"45;2020-03-13 12:00:00;406;""UK‚„s chief scientific adviser defends ‚herd immunity‚„ strategy for coronavirus"";""George Parker Jim Packard Laura Hughes"";""Financial Times (FT.Com)"";"""";"""";""If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.�He added: Our aim is to try to reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"46;2020-03-13 12:00:00;406;""UK‚„s chief scientific adviser defends ‚herd immunity‚„ strategy for coronavirus"";""George Parker Jim Packard Laura Hughes"";""Financial Times (FT.Com)"";"""";"""";""If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.�He added: Our aim is to try to reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"40;2020-03-13 12:00:00;407;""Coronavirus to ''return every winter'' with 60 per cent of UK to be infected"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said What we dont want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services “ thats the flattening of the peak.You cant stop it so you should end up with a broader peak during which time youd anticipate that more people would get immunity to this. That in itself becomes a protective part of this process.This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"41;2020-03-13 12:00:00;407;""Coronavirus to ''return every winter'' with 60 per cent of UK to be infected"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said What we dont want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services “ thats the flattening of the peak.You cant stop it so you should end up with a broader peak during which time youd anticipate that more people would get immunity to this. That in itself becomes a protective part of this process.This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"42;2020-03-13 12:00:00;407;""Coronavirus to ''return every winter'' with 60 per cent of UK to be infected"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""She said: I think if the virus goes through a population they may start to develop their own immunity but it is too early to know what that looks like.We are a long way from what we would technically call herd immunity.�"";""Nicola Rose"";""Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"43;2020-03-13 12:00:00;407;""Coronavirus to ''return every winter'' with 60 per cent of UK to be infected"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Hanneke Schuitemaker a professor in virology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre in the Netherlands said: We may indeed see waves and we really dont know whether there will be herd immunity or not in the near future.We are trying to contain the outbreak as much as possible -this then gives us time for vaccines to become available so you would be able to get into a situation like with flu where you have a vaccine for the vulnerable population available in the future.�"";""Hanneke Schuitemaker"";""Amsterdam University Medical Centre"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"30;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""On Twitter Prof Costello said: 'Doesn't this herd immunity strategy conflict with WHO policy? After the announcement of this being a pandemic Dr Tedros Director General WHO said 'The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous'.'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"31;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""On Twitter Prof Costello said: 'Doesn't this herd immunity strategy conflict with WHO policy? After the announcement of this being a pandemic Dr Tedros Director General WHO said 'The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous'.'"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"32;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""But he tweeted a series of questions showing scepticism for the policy including: 'Will it impair efforts to restrict the immediate epidemic and cause more infections and deaths in the near term? Evidence suggests people shed virus early and those without symptoms may cause substantial spread...'He also questioned whether 'coronavirus cause strong herd immunity or is it like flu where new strains emerge each year needing repeat vaccines? We have much to learn about Co-V immune responses.'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"33;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""But he tweeted a series of questions showing scepticism for the policy including: 'Will it impair efforts to restrict the immediate epidemic and cause more infections and deaths in the near term? Evidence suggests people shed virus early and those without symptoms may cause substantial spread...'He also questioned whether 'coronavirus cause strong herd immunity or is it like flu where new strains emerge each year needing repeat vaccines? We have much to learn about Co-V immune responses.'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"34;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'Vaccines are a safer way to develop herd immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself. Is it ethical to adopt a policy that threatens immediate casualties on the basis of an uncertain future benefit?'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"35;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'Vaccines are a safer way to develop herd immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself. Is it ethical to adopt a policy that threatens immediate casualties on the basis of an uncertain future benefit?'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"36;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""In a separate tweet Devi Sridhar professor of global public health at Edinburgh University said: 'Part of my job is speaking truth to power. And the UK govt is (in my view) getting it wrong.'Other countries have shown speed is crucial. There is a middle path between complete shutdown & carrying on as normal.'"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"37;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'Yet if we slow the spread of the virus but are relying on herd immunity to protect the most vulnerable people we would still need 47 million people to be infected.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"38;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'Yet if we slow the spread of the virus but are relying on herd immunity to protect the most vulnerable people we would still need 47 million people to be infected.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"39;2020-03-13 12:00:00;408;""CORONAVIRUS: SCIENTISTS QUESTION GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HERD IMMUNITY"";""Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""However Martin Hibberd professor of emerging infectious disease at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said it was unclear how the UK policieswill work compared to other European policies 'but I suspect they will be similar'.He added: 'The Government plan assumes that herd immunity will eventually happen and from my reading hopes that this occurs before the winter season when the disease might be expected to become more prevalent.'However I do worry that making plans that assume such a large proportion of the population will become infected (and hopefully recovered and immune) may not be the very best that we can do.'Another strategy might be to try to contain longer and perhaps long enough for a therapy to emerge that might allow some kind of treatment.'"";""Martin Hibbard"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"28;2020-03-13 12:00:00;409;""Coronavirus UK: What is herd immunity? Government plan ‚at odds‚„ with WHO"";""Liam Doyle"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: He appears to want #Covid19 to SPREAD to build herd immunity whilst protecting vulnerable groups and flattening the peak. This seems at odds with WHO policy and the policies of China Korea Japan etc.�"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"29;2020-03-13 12:00:00;409;""Coronavirus UK: What is herd immunity? Government plan ‚at odds‚„ with WHO"";""Liam Doyle"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced itwas dangerous� to mitigate rather than contain the virus."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"24;2020-03-13 12:00:00;410;""UK LONG WAY AWAY FROM HERD IMMUNITY STAGE EXPERTS SAY"";""Nilima Marshall"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Britain is still 'a long way away' from the stage where the population develops herd immunity to control the impact of the coronavirus outbreak experts have said.Their comments come a day after Sir Patrick Vallance the UK's chief scientific adviser said the Government's 'contain and delay' approach to tackling Covid-19 will see people developing resistance to the contagious disease through infection which in turn will make it harder for the virus to spread in the future."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"25;2020-03-13 12:00:00;410;""UK LONG WAY AWAY FROM HERD IMMUNITY STAGE EXPERTS SAY"";""Nilima Marshall"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Speaking at a media briefing in London she said: 'I think if the virus goes through a population they may start to develop their own immunity but it is too early to know what that looks like.'We are a long way from what we would technically call herd immunity.'"";""Nicola Rose"";""Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"26;2020-03-13 12:00:00;410;""UK LONG WAY AWAY FROM HERD IMMUNITY STAGE EXPERTS SAY"";""Nilima Marshall"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Meanwhile Hanneke Schuitemaker a professor in virology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre in the Netherlands said it was 'worthwhile to keep all the efforts going' in developing a vaccine although it may take as long as 18 months to get to market.When asked about whether herd immunity would make it futile to continue working on vaccines she said: 'I don't think we should say now that it is pointless - we do not know how long natural immunity will last.'"";""Hanneke Schuitemaker"";""Amsterdam University Medical Centre"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"27;2020-03-13 12:00:00;410;""UK LONG WAY AWAY FROM HERD IMMUNITY STAGE EXPERTS SAY"";""Nilima Marshall"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'We may indeed see waves and we really don't know whether there will be herd immunity or not in the near future.'We are trying to contain the outbreak as much as possible - this then gives us time for vaccines to become available so you would be able to get into a situation like with flu where you have a vaccine for the vulnerable population available in the future.'"";""Melanie Saville"";""Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"21;2020-03-13 12:00:00;411;""CORONAVIRUS: WHAT IS HERD IMMUNITY?"";""Catherine Wylie Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""He said the aim is to 'reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"22;2020-03-13 12:00:00;411;""CORONAVIRUS: WHAT IS HERD IMMUNITY?"";""Catherine Wylie Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'If you cocoon the elderly and you increase herd immunity then the spread of the virus in the community in a few months is going to be lower' she said.Asking people to self-isolate at home for seven days if they are ill is a way of slowing down transmission and 'flattening the curve' she said.But she added that she believes those at most risk of severe illness - such as those with serious underlying health conditions - should already be practising self- isolation.'The people who are not as vulnerable will be the first to acquire immunity I expect but that will never be 100%' she added. 'Allowing free spread to nursing homes and so on would be a disaster.'"";""Beate Kampmann"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"23;2020-03-13 12:00:00;411;""CORONAVIRUS: WHAT IS HERD IMMUNITY?"";""Catherine Wylie Jane Kirby"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'If you cocoon the elderly and you increase herd immunity then the spread of the virus in the community in a few months is going to be lower' she said.Asking people to self-isolate at home for seven days if they are ill is a way of slowing down transmission and 'flattening the curve' she said.But she added that she believes those at most risk of severe illness - such as those with serious underlying health conditions - should already be practising self- isolation.'The people who are not as vulnerable will be the first to acquire immunity I expect but that will never be 100%' she added. 'Allowing free spread to nursing homes and so on would be a disaster.'"";""Beate Kampmann"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"20;2020-03-13 12:00:00;412;""Coronavirus cases hit 798 as expert claims 60% of Brits must catch bug"";""Emily Parker"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The UK's Chief Science advisor Sir Patrick Vallance said: 'Around 60 percent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity. 'We want to suppress it not get rid of it completely -which you can't do anyway.'Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.'We think this virus is likely to be one that comes back year on year become like a seasonal virus.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"18;2020-03-13 12:00:00;413;""Rishi Sunak was right to splash the cash but where were his plans to encourage enterprise?"";""John Longworth"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Reading between the lines the briefing struck a balance between the need to garner naturally scarce medical resources during peak epidemic most effectively protecting those at greatest risk and recognising the need to create herd immunity. Without ensuring that enough people are infected there is a danger that the disease will return with a vengeance in the winter of 2020/2021 with all the social and economic consequences.Even if it is not explicit the current measures appear designed to minimise social and economic disruption which could otherwise be in a different way as damaging as the disease."";""John Longworth"";""Independent Business Network"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Business"""
"19;2020-03-13 12:00:00;413;""Rishi Sunak was right to splash the cash but where were his plans to encourage enterprise?"";""John Longworth"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Reading between the lines the briefing struck a balance between the need to garner naturally scarce medical resources during peak epidemic most effectively protecting those at greatest risk and recognising the need to create herd immunity. Without ensuring that enough people are infected there is a danger that the disease will return with a vengeance in the winter of 2020/2021 with all the social and economic consequences.Even if it is not explicit the current measures appear designed to minimise social and economic disruption which could otherwise be in a different way as damaging as the disease."";""John Longworth"";""Independent Business Network"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Business"""
"17;2020-03-13 12:00:00;414;""Coronavirus: ''We want 60% of people to catch deadly bug'' admits government"";""Kate Nelson"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Speaking this morning England chief science advisor Sir Patrick Vallance said: 'Around 60 percent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.'We want to suppress it not get rid of it completely -which you can't do anyway.'Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.'We think this virus is likely to be one that comes back year on year become like a seasonal virus.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"15;2020-03-13 12:00:00;415;""Coronavirus: Government want 60% of population to get infected to build ''herd immunity''"";""Oliver Milne"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The UK's chief scientific adviser said that Britain will tackle the coronavirus when 60% of the country get infected to create a 'herd immunity' to the disease.Sir Patrick Vallance said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.He told Sky News that at least 60% of the population needs to contract COVID-19 in order to develop 'herd immunity' to prevent further transmission in the future.He also said some of the social distancing measures put in place by the Government including self-isolating for seven days if symptoms develop are 'actually quite extreme'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"16;2020-03-13 12:00:00;415;""Coronavirus: Government want 60% of population to get infected to build ''herd immunity''"";""Oliver Milne"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics.'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"12;2020-03-13 12:00:00;416;""BRACE YOURSELF Millions in UK MUST catch coronavirus so we develop ‚herd immunity‚„ says top scientist"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"13;2020-03-13 12:00:00;416;""BRACE YOURSELF Millions in UK MUST catch coronavirus so we develop ‚herd immunity‚„ says top scientist"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He told Radio 4: If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back “ and it bounces back at the wrong time. So our aim is to try and reduce the peak “ broaden the peak “ not to suppress it completely.Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity as well.So more people are immune to this disease so we reduce the transmission at the same time and protect those who are most vulnerable from it.� https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AG-EPIDEMIC-GRAPH.jpgHe added: What we dont want is everybody getting it in a short period of time so we swamp an overwhelmed NHS services.Thats the flattening of the peak. You cant stop it so that you should end up with a broader peak.During which time you would anticipate more people to get immunity to this and that in itself becomes a protective part of this process.And this is quite likely to become an annual seasonal infection.�Asked about whether the virus could mutate and come back in a more dangerous form in the future Sir Patrick said: If the virus mutates a lot then you dont necessarily get immunity to that variety.But in general what you would expect is that in a virus where theres no particular pressure on it to mutate to become nastier then the mutations are unlikely to go in that direction and tend to get a bit milder if anything because for the virus it wants to be more transmissible and less lethal to the person it infects.Thats the sort of survival of the virus as it were.We will end up with a number of people getting it and they will get immunity and that will be helpful for the overall protection of society. At the peak really protecting the elderly and vulnerable.� He also said some of the social distancing measures put in place by the Government including self-isolating for seven days if symptoms develop are actually quite extreme�."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"14;2020-03-13 12:00:00;416;""BRACE YOURSELF Millions in UK MUST catch coronavirus so we develop ‚herd immunity‚„ says top scientist"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He told Radio 4: If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back “ and it bounces back at the wrong time. So our aim is to try and reduce the peak “ broaden the peak “ not to suppress it completely.Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity as well.So more people are immune to this disease so we reduce the transmission at the same time and protect those who are most vulnerable from it.� https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AG-EPIDEMIC-GRAPH.jpgHe added: What we dont want is everybody getting it in a short period of time so we swamp an overwhelmed NHS services.Thats the flattening of the peak. You cant stop it so that you should end up with a broader peak.During which time you would anticipate more people to get immunity to this and that in itself becomes a protective part of this process.And this is quite likely to become an annual seasonal infection.�Asked about whether the virus could mutate and come back in a more dangerous form in the future Sir Patrick said: If the virus mutates a lot then you dont necessarily get immunity to that variety.But in general what you would expect is that in a virus where theres no particular pressure on it to mutate to become nastier then the mutations are unlikely to go in that direction and tend to get a bit milder if anything because for the virus it wants to be more transmissible and less lethal to the person it infects.Thats the sort of survival of the virus as it were.We will end up with a number of people getting it and they will get immunity and that will be helpful for the overall protection of society. At the peak really protecting the elderly and vulnerable.� He also said some of the social distancing measures put in place by the Government including self-isolating for seven days if symptoms develop are actually quite extreme�."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"10;2020-03-13 12:00:00;417;""More than half of UK needs to catch coronavirus to develop ''herd immunity'' Government''s chief scientist says"";""Bonnie Christian"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""'Communities will become immune to it and that's going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.'About 60% is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.'Sir Patrick later told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that the Governments approach is also about flattening the broader peak� of the epidemic.What we dont want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services “ thats the flattening of the peak� he said.You cant stop it so you should end up with a broader peak during which time youd anticipate that more people would get immunity to this. That in itself becomes a protective part of this process.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"11;2020-03-13 12:00:00;417;""More than half of UK needs to catch coronavirus to develop ''herd immunity'' Government''s chief scientist says"";""Bonnie Christian"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""'Communities will become immune to it and that's going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.'About 60% is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.'Sir Patrick later told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that the Governments approach is also about flattening the broader peak� of the epidemic.What we dont want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services “ thats the flattening of the peak� he said.You cant stop it so you should end up with a broader peak during which time youd anticipate that more people would get immunity to this. That in itself becomes a protective part of this process.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"6;2020-03-13 12:00:00;418;""Coronavirus: 60% of UK population need to become infected so country can build ''herd immunity'' government''s chief scientist says"";""Shaun Lintern"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""He said: What we don't want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services -that's the flattening of the peak' he said."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"9;2020-03-13 12:00:00;418;""Coronavirus: 60% of UK population need to become infected so country can build ''herd immunity'' government''s chief scientist says"";""Shaun Lintern"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""'You can't stop it so you should end up with a broader peak during which time you'd anticipate that more people would get immunity to this. That in itself becomes a protective part of this process."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"7;2020-03-13 12:00:00;418;""Coronavirus: 60% of UK population need to become infected so country can build ''herd immunity'' government''s chief scientist says"";""Shaun Lintern"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"8;2020-03-13 12:00:00;418;""Coronavirus: 60% of UK population need to become infected so country can build ''herd immunity'' government''s chief scientist says"";""Shaun Lintern"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"3;2020-03-13 12:00:00;419;""Coronavirus UK: COVID-19 to become ''yearly virus'' 60% Britons must build ''immunity''"";""Aurora Bosotti"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'60 percent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.'We think this virus is likely to be one that comes back year on year become like a seasonal virus.'Sir Patrick added: 'Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.'One aim of the Government strategy is to reduce transmission make sure we end up with a broader epidemic not a very sharp one that overloads the system."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"4;2020-03-13 12:00:00;419;""Coronavirus UK: COVID-19 to become ''yearly virus'' 60% Britons must build ''immunity''"";""Aurora Bosotti"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'60 percent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.'We think this virus is likely to be one that comes back year on year become like a seasonal virus.'Sir Patrick added: 'Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.'One aim of the Government strategy is to reduce transmission make sure we end up with a broader epidemic not a very sharp one that overloads the system."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"5;2020-03-13 12:00:00;419;""Coronavirus UK: COVID-19 to become ''yearly virus'' 60% Britons must build ''immunity''"";""Aurora Bosotti"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'The second is of course protect the elderly and the vulnerable to make sure during that peak they are protected.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"1;2020-03-13 12:00:00;420;""Covid-19: Queen''s virus experts set record straight for our readers"";""Jonathan Bell"";""Belfast Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Dr Bamford: The idea is that if you are infected (and build up an immunity) there will be a period afterwards where you cannot be infected.For it to have a real effect you would need a sizeable amount of the population to be infected probably 50%. That will lead to a considerable number of deaths so I think that really isn't (a good way) of stopping the virus. The best way to get herd immunity is through a vaccine."";""Connor Bamford"";""Queen's University Belfast"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"2;2020-03-13 12:00:00;420;""Covid-19: Queen''s virus experts set record straight for our readers"";""Jonathan Bell"";""Belfast Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Dr Bamford: The idea is that if you are infected (and build up an immunity) there will be a period afterwards where you cannot be infected.For it to have a real effect you would need a sizeable amount of the population to be infected probably 50%. That will lead to a considerable number of deaths so I think that really isn't (a good way) of stopping the virus. The best way to get herd immunity is through a vaccine."";""Connor Bamford"";""Queen's University Belfast"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"194;2020-03-14 12:00:00;354;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""After Donald Trump extended a ban on certain foreign nationals entering the US to include Britons Boris Johnson called the president to explain the British governments stance but he faced growing questions over whether he was doing enough to protect the public. The open letter from the academics said the UK was seeing infections grow at the same rate as in Italy Spain France and Germany which meant Britains infected would be in the order of thousands within a few days�.Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks� the letter states adding the NHS would be at serious risk� of not being able to cope.Going for ˜herd immunity at this point does not seem a viable option as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary. By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"195;2020-03-14 12:00:00;354;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""After Donald Trump extended a ban on certain foreign nationals entering the US to include Britons Boris Johnson called the president to explain the British governments stance but he faced growing questions over whether he was doing enough to protect the public. The open letter from the academics said the UK was seeing infections grow at the same rate as in Italy Spain France and Germany which meant Britains infected would be in the order of thousands within a few days�.Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks� the letter states adding the NHS would be at serious risk� of not being able to cope.Going for ˜herd immunity at this point does not seem a viable option as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary. By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"196;2020-03-14 12:00:00;354;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""After Donald Trump extended a ban on certain foreign nationals entering the US to include Britons Boris Johnson called the president to explain the British governments stance but he faced growing questions over whether he was doing enough to protect the public. The open letter from the academics said the UK was seeing infections grow at the same rate as in Italy Spain France and Germany which meant Britains infected would be in the order of thousands within a few days�.Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks� the letter states adding the NHS would be at serious risk� of not being able to cope.Going for ˜herd immunity at this point does not seem a viable option as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary. By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"197;2020-03-14 12:00:00;354;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""A Department of Health spokesman responded: Herd immunity is not part of our action plan but is a natural by-product of an epidemic.� He said every measure was based on the best scientific evidence�. Our awareness of the likely levels of immunity in the country over the coming months will ensure our planning and response is as accurate and effective as possible.�"";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"198;2020-03-14 12:00:00;354;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Earlier Whitty defended the governments approach: I understand this increase in the number of deaths will be a cause for concern. The public should know every measure we are taking is seeking to save lives and protect the most vulnerable.�;Chris Whitty"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Government"""
"199;2020-03-14 12:00:00;354;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""he WHO raised concerns over the governments strategy to develop herd immunity� “ where a large proportion of the population catch recover and therefore develop immunity from the virus. Margaret Harris of WHO said: We dont know enough about the science of this virus it hasnt been in our population for long enough to know what it does in immunological terms. Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.�"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"190;2020-03-14 12:00:00;355;""''Herd immunity is a scientific concept not our goal or a strategy'': Matt Hancock and MPs now distance themselves from virus strategy after criticism - insisting to..."";""Sophia Tanno Glen Owen"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The row blew up after Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said public gatherings such as football matches were not being abandoned as quickly as those in other countries because it would be beneficial if a proportion of the population could be exposed to the new virus - and build up a 'herd immunity' to it - otherwise Britain would be vulnerable to future epidemics."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"191;2020-03-14 12:00:00;355;""''Herd immunity is a scientific concept not our goal or a strategy'': Matt Hancock and MPs now distance themselves from virus strategy after criticism - insisting to..."";""Sophia Tanno Glen Owen"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Herd immunity is not a part of it.'The health minister added that heard immunity was a scientific concept rather than a strategy.He continued: 'Our goal is to protect life from this virus our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"192;2020-03-14 12:00:00;355;""''Herd immunity is a scientific concept not our goal or a strategy'': Matt Hancock and MPs now distance themselves from virus strategy after criticism - insisting to..."";""Sophia Tanno Glen Owen"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""She said: 'We don't know enough about the science of this virus it hasn't been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile. We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action'."";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"193;2020-03-14 12:00:00;355;""''Herd immunity is a scientific concept not our goal or a strategy'': Matt Hancock and MPs now distance themselves from virus strategy after criticism - insisting to..."";""Sophia Tanno Glen Owen"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""A Department of Health and Social care spokesman said: 'Herd immunity is not part of our action plan but is a natural by-product of an epidemic. Our aims are to save lives protect the most vulnerable and relieve pressure on our NHS.'"";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"174;2020-03-14 12:00:00;359;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Observer"";"""";"""";""The open letter from the academics said the UK was seeing infections grow at the same rate as in Italy Spain France and Germany which meant Britains infected would be in the order of thousands within a few days�.Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks� the letter states adding the NHS would be at serious risk� of not being able to cope.Going for ˜herd immunity at this point does not seem a viable option as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary. By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"175;2020-03-14 12:00:00;359;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Observer"";"""";"""";""The open letter from the academics said the UK was seeing infections grow at the same rate as in Italy Spain France and Germany which meant Britains infected would be in the order of thousands within a few days�.Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks� the letter states adding the NHS would be at serious risk� of not being able to cope.Going for ˜herd immunity at this point does not seem a viable option as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary. By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"176;2020-03-14 12:00:00;359;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Observer"";"""";"""";""The open letter from the academics said the UK was seeing infections grow at the same rate as in Italy Spain France and Germany which meant Britains infected would be in the order of thousands within a few days�.Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks� the letter states adding the NHS would be at serious risk� of not being able to cope.Going for ˜herd immunity at this point does not seem a viable option as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary. By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"177;2020-03-14 12:00:00;359;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Observer"";"""";"""";""A Department of Health spokesman responded: Herd immunity is not part of our action plan but is a natural by-product of an epidemic.� He said every measure was based on the best scientific evidence�. Our awareness of the likely levels of immunity in the country over the coming months will ensure our planning and response is as accurate and effective as possible.�"";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"178;2020-03-14 12:00:00;359;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Observer"";"""";"""";""I understand this increase in the number of deaths will be a cause for concern. The public should know every measure we are taking is seeking to save lives and protect the most vulnerable.�"";""Chris Whitty"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"179;2020-03-14 12:00:00;359;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Observer"";"""";"""";""I understand this increase in the number of deaths will be a cause for concern. The public should know every measure we are taking is seeking to save lives and protect the most vulnerable.�"";""Chris Whitty"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Government"""
"180;2020-03-14 12:00:00;359;""NHS and private hospitals join forces to fight coronavirus crisis"";""Denis Campbell James Tapper Robin McKie Toby Helm"";""The Observer"";"""";"""";""Margaret Harris of WHO said: We dont know enough about the science of this virus it hasnt been in our population for long enough to know what it does in immunological terms. Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.�"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"130;2020-03-14 12:00:00;371;""Coronavirus: Hundreds of scientists warn UK government‚„s response to outbreak ‚risking lives‚„"";""Peter Stubley"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Hundreds of scientists have warned the British government that their response to the coronavirus epidemic is risking many more lives than necessary�.In an open letter published on Saturday night  more than 295 academics living and working in the UK backed calls for immediate measures to restrict the spread of Covid-19.They criticised the UKs strategy of delaying restrictions in a bid to achieve �herd immunity� arguing that it would put the NHS under even more stress. By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared� the letter adds.We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"131;2020-03-14 12:00:00;371;""Coronavirus: Hundreds of scientists warn UK government‚„s response to outbreak ‚risking lives‚„"";""Peter Stubley"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Hundreds of scientists have warned the British government that their response to the coronavirus epidemic is risking many more lives than necessary�.In an open letter published on Saturday night  more than 295 academics living and working in the UK backed calls for immediate measures to restrict the spread of Covid-19.They criticised the UKs strategy of delaying restrictions in a bid to achieve �herd immunity� arguing that it would put the NHS under even more stress. By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared� the letter adds.We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"132;2020-03-14 12:00:00;371;""Coronavirus: Hundreds of scientists warn UK government‚„s response to outbreak ‚risking lives‚„"";""Peter Stubley"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Hundreds of scientists have warned the British government that their response to the coronavirus epidemic is risking many more lives than necessary�.In an open letter published on Saturday night  more than 295 academics living and working in the UK backed calls for immediate measures to restrict the spread of Covid-19.They criticised the UKs strategy of delaying restrictions in a bid to achieve �herd immunity� arguing that it would put the NHS under even more stress. By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared� the letter adds.We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"133;2020-03-14 12:00:00;371;""Coronavirus: Hundreds of scientists warn UK government‚„s response to outbreak ‚risking lives‚„"";""Peter Stubley"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity is not part of our action plan but is a natural by-product of an epidemic� a spokesman said. Our aims are to save lives protect the most vulnerableand relieve pressure on our NHS.�"";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"134;2020-03-14 12:00:00;371;""Coronavirus: Hundreds of scientists warn UK government‚„s response to outbreak ‚risking lives‚„"";""Peter Stubley"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity is not part of our action plan but is a natural by-product of an epidemic� a spokesman said. Our aims are to save lives protect the most vulnerableand relieve pressure on our NHS.�"";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"135;2020-03-14 12:00:00;371;""Coronavirus: Hundreds of scientists warn UK government‚„s response to outbreak ‚risking lives‚„"";""Peter Stubley"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity is not part of our action plan but is a natural by-product of an epidemic� a spokesman said. Our aims are to save lives protect the most vulnerableand relieve pressure on our NHS.�"";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Government"""
"129;2020-03-14 12:00:00;372;""''Herd immunity could beat virus''"";""Unspecified"";""The Evening Chronicle Newcastle"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"128;2020-03-14 12:00:00;373;""''Herd immunity could beat virus''"";""Unspecified"";""Daily Post"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"127;2020-03-14 12:00:00;374;""THEY SAID WHAT?"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it' - UK chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"124;2020-03-14 12:00:00;375;""Britain still ''a long way away'' from herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick Vallance the UK's chief scientific adviser said the Government's 'contain and delay' approach to tackling Covid-19 will see people developing resistance to the contagious disease through infection which in turn will make it harder for the virus to spread in the future."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"125;2020-03-14 12:00:00;375;""Britain still ''a long way away'' from herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""But Dr Nicola Rose of the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) a government body responsible for ensuring that medicines workand are safe to use said it was too early to predict whether the so-called herd immunity which would require 60% of the UK population to become infected with coronavirus will have any immediate benefit.She said yesterda: 'If the virus goes through a population they may start to develop their own immunity but it is too early to know what that looks like. We are a long way from what we would technically call herd immunity.'"";""Nicola Rose"";""Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"126;2020-03-14 12:00:00;375;""Britain still ''a long way away'' from herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""Meanwhile Hanneke Schuitemaker a professor in virology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre said it was 'worthwhile to keep all the efforts going' in developing a vaccine although it may take as long as 18 months to get to market.When asked about whether herd immunity would make it futile to continue working on vaccines she said: 'I don't think we should say now that it is pointless - we do not know how long natural immunity will last.'"";""Hanneke Schuitemaker"";""Amsterdam University Medical Centre"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"120;2020-03-14 12:00:00;376;""Coronavirus: Scientists demand harsher measures in UK and attack ''herd immunity'' plan"";""Keith McLeod"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The letter continues: 'Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks.'This will most probably put the NHS at serious risk of not being able to cope with the flow of patients needing intensive care as the number of ICU beds in the UK is not larger than that available in other neighbouring countries with a similar population.'The letter continues: 'Going for 'herd immunity' at this pointdoes not seem a viable option as this will put NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary.'By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. US travel ban extended to UK and Ireland over coronavirus fears'We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.'We urge anyone who has sympathy with our views and access to the government strategy group to make our concerns more widely known.'"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"121;2020-03-14 12:00:00;376;""Coronavirus: Scientists demand harsher measures in UK and attack ''herd immunity'' plan"";""Keith McLeod"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The letter continues: 'Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks.'This will most probably put the NHS at serious risk of not being able to cope with the flow of patients needing intensive care as the number of ICU beds in the UK is not larger than that available in other neighbouring countries with a similar population.'The letter continues: 'Going for 'herd immunity' at this pointdoes not seem a viable option as this will put NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary.'By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. US travel ban extended to UK and Ireland over coronavirus fears'We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.'We urge anyone who has sympathy with our views and access to the government strategy group to make our concerns more widely known.'"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"122;2020-03-14 12:00:00;376;""Coronavirus: Scientists demand harsher measures in UK and attack ''herd immunity'' plan"";""Keith McLeod"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The letter continues: 'Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks.'This will most probably put the NHS at serious risk of not being able to cope with the flow of patients needing intensive care as the number of ICU beds in the UK is not larger than that available in other neighbouring countries with a similar population.'The letter continues: 'Going for 'herd immunity' at this pointdoes not seem a viable option as this will put NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary.'By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. US travel ban extended to UK and Ireland over coronavirus fears'We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.'We urge anyone who has sympathy with our views and access to the government strategy group to make our concerns more widely known.'"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"123;2020-03-14 12:00:00;376;""Coronavirus: Scientists demand harsher measures in UK and attack ''herd immunity'' plan"";""Keith McLeod"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The letter continues: 'Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks.'This will most probably put the NHS at serious risk of not being able to cope with the flow of patients needing intensive care as the number of ICU beds in the UK is not larger than that available in other neighbouring countries with a similar population.'The letter continues: 'Going for 'herd immunity' at this pointdoes not seem a viable option as this will put NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary.'By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared. US travel ban extended to UK and Ireland over coronavirus fears'We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.'We urge anyone who has sympathy with our views and access to the government strategy group to make our concerns more widely known.'"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"118;2020-03-14 12:00:00;377;""''Herd immunity could beat virus''"";""Unspecified"";""Liverpool Echo"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"119;2020-03-14 12:00:00;377;""''Herd immunity could beat virus''"";""Unspecified"";""Liverpool Echo"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"116;2020-03-14 12:00:00;378;""''Herd immunity could beat virus''"";""Unspecified"";""Huddersfield Examiner"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' whileprotecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"117;2020-03-14 12:00:00;378;""''Herd immunity could beat virus''"";""Unspecified"";""Huddersfield Examiner"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' whileprotecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"114;2020-03-14 12:00:00;379;""''Herd immunity could beat virus''"";""Unspecified"";""Manchester Evening News"";"""";"""";""ir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"115;2020-03-14 12:00:00;379;""''Herd immunity could beat virus''"";""Unspecified"";""Manchester Evening News"";"""";"""";""ir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"113;2020-03-14 12:00:00;380;""UK''s strategy for tackling coronavirus questioned by World Health Organisation"";""Olivia Tobin"";""liverpoolecho.co.uk"";"""";"""";""WHO spokeswoman Dr Harris questioned the UK's approach to developing 'herd immunity' against Covid-19 telling BBC Radio 4's Today: 'We don't know enough about the science of this virus it hasn't been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.'We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"111;2020-03-14 12:00:00;381;""''''Herd immunity could beat virus''''"";""Unspecified"";""Coventry Telegraph"";"""";"""";""ir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"112;2020-03-14 12:00:00;381;""''''Herd immunity could beat virus''''"";""Unspecified"";""Coventry Telegraph"";"""";"""";""ir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"109;2020-03-14 12:00:00;382;""''''Herd immunity could beat virus''''"";""Unspecified"";""Evening Gazette"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"110;2020-03-14 12:00:00;382;""''''Herd immunity could beat virus''''"";""Unspecified"";""Evening Gazette"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said that the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it.Asked if there is a fear that clamping down too hard on its spread could see it return Sir Patrick said: 'That is exactly the risk you would expect from previous epidemics. If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"108;2020-03-14 12:00:00;383;""Britain''s counter-virus strategy is a gamble"";""Unspecified"";""Financial Times (FT.Com)"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick has said the aim is to 'pull down and broaden' the peak of the epidemic. This would allow the UK population to build up 'herd immunity' over the summer to protect against a second wave of infection next winter and future rounds of what Sir Patrick says might become an annual seasonal illness."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"106;2020-03-14 12:00:00;384;""WHO experts take a SECOND swipe at UK''s coronavirus plans saying ''we need to look at ACTION'' and Boris Johnson''s ''herd immunity'' plan is a gamble because ''we don''t know enough about this virus''"";""Harry Howard Jack Newman Tim Stickings"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Yesterday the body's director general had said every country should find and test every possible case and warned not to 'just let this fire burn'."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"107;2020-03-14 12:00:00;384;""WHO experts take a SECOND swipe at UK''s coronavirus plans saying ''we need to look at ACTION'' and Boris Johnson''s ''herd immunity'' plan is a gamble because ''we don''t know enough about this virus''"";""Harry Howard Jack Newman Tim Stickings"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.'We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"102;2020-03-14 12:00:00;385;""Coronavirus: science chief defends UK plan from criticism"";""Heather Stewart Mattha Busby"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""What we dont want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services “ thats the flattening of the peak� he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it. Those are the key things we need to do.�He added: This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"103;2020-03-14 12:00:00;385;""Coronavirus: science chief defends UK plan from criticism"";""Heather Stewart Mattha Busby"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""What we dont want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services “ thats the flattening of the peak� he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it. Those are the key things we need to do.�He added: This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"104;2020-03-14 12:00:00;385;""Coronavirus: science chief defends UK plan from criticism"";""Heather Stewart Mattha Busby"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time� he said. The government is concerned that if not enough people catch the virus now it will re-emerge in the winter when the NHS is already overstretched."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"105;2020-03-14 12:00:00;385;""Coronavirus: science chief defends UK plan from criticism"";""Heather Stewart Mattha Busby"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time� he said. The government is concerned that if not enough people catch the virus now it will re-emerge in the winter when the NHS is already overstretched."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"101;2020-03-14 12:00:00;386;""''''Do it NOW'''' Boris Johnson urged to put UK on coronavirus lockdown  100k sign petition"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Urging Mr Johnson to avoid any further delay she adds: 'It is time the government should prioritise the health of the public and should consider how vital it is to implement effective containment now.'It is better to spend money to contain the virus and treating the relatively low numbers who are ill now rather than wait for more casualties.'Dr Harris told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she had concerns with the concept of relying on the population's collection immune system to fight off infections. DON'T MISSLiberal Democrats suffer Brexit backlash for coronavirus Remain excuse [SHOCK]Rishi Sunak poised to unveil Dominic Cummings' Treasury masterplan [REVEALED]Brexit LIVE: Pressure on UK to ˜swallow pride and request extension [LIVE]She said: 'We don't know enough about the science of this virus it hasn't been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.'We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"181;2020-03-14 12:00:00;387;""Coronavirus: Power of the herd can protect those most at risk of infection"";""Tom Whipple"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We dont think of ourselves as a herd. The idea of the needs of the collective subsuming those of the individual is antithetical to much of western culture. According to the governments chief scientific adviser we might have to reacquaint ourselves with the concept.Because to control coronavirus says Patrick Vallance will require something called herd immunity�. It will also require controlling who in the herd it is who gains that immunity.Herd immunity does not require everyone in Britains herd� to be infected. It happens before that when just a proportion of them have. That proportion is the second most important number in epidemic modelling. To see how it is calculated ” and perhaps even changed ” requires however understanding the most important number in epidemic modelling: R0.R0 is a measure of how infectious a disease is. If R0 is 2 say then it means that every person infected goes on on average to infect two others. If it is 20 as is the case for measles then each person infects 20 others.R0 is important because so long as it is more than 1 ” even if it is 1.000001 ” a disease proliferates exponentially. If it is less than 1 ” even if it is 0.9999999 ” the disease is doomed.Infection rates though are not fixed for eternity. Imagine a disease with an R0 of 2 which spreads through a single sneeze. At the start of an outbreak of this disease you sneeze on two people and infect them. In the middle of an outbreak it is different. Infected people still sneeze the same amount but some of those downwind of the sneeze will have had the disease already and be immune.Until the point comes where 50 per cent of the population have been infected. Then if you sneeze on two people on average only one will be susceptible. The infection rate has now dropped from 2 to 1 ” and the disease dies out. Herd immunity has been achieved.For coronavirus R0 is 2.5. That means in this simplified example that for every 2.5 people you sneeze on you want 1.5 to already be immune. Herd immunity for coronavirus then is 1.5 divided by 2.5 or 60 per cent.If indeed it is the governments belief that the coronavirus cannot be stopped until we gain herd immunity then that seems at least superficially to be an astonishing admission: an acceptance that more than 40 million people will get the disease. With even a 1 per cent fatality rate that is 400000 deaths.There are good reasons to think it will be nowhere near that bad and there is one good reason to think it could be worse.One reason it will not be so bad is that the 60 per cent who get it need not be a random sample of the population. Instead with sensible measures and cocooning� of those most at risk it may be possible to protect the elderly and sick even as the virus sweeps through the healthy.The second reason is that the number R0 is just that ” a number.People are not equations and cannot be reduced to a single figure. It may well be the case that in 2019 Britain coronavirus had an R0 of 2.5. But in 2020 Britain a Britain that has reacquainted itself with handwashing and deacquainted itself with air kissing R0 could well be very different.So what is the reason it could be worse? The entire calculation rests on the idea that people maintain their immunity that once infected they cannot be reinfected for a long period of time. The problem is as with so much about the virus we dont know enough to be absolutely certain that that is true.What we do know though is that individualism only goes so far. Coronavirus has reminded us we are indeed a herd ” bonded by common obligations. For all the vagaries of disease modelling and complexities of viral mutation scientists are unanimous on one piece of advice among the most well-validated in modern medicine. To protect everyone wash your hands.PROFILE: SIR PATRICK VALLANCE THE VIRUS ADVISER WITH SKIN IN THE GAMEIf Sir Patrick Vallance refuses to rely on a vaccine to save the day its not because he is ignorant of the promise of drugs and technology. Its because he knows too much about them.Before Sir Patrick59 was the governments chief scientific adviser he was head of research and development at the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Before that he was head of medicine at UCL Medical School in Bloomsbury London. He confessed that he came in at GSK as a sceptic ” he had accused big pharmaceutical companies of funding studies more helpful to marketing than to advancing clinical care�.In his new role however he learnt to respect the way the companies worked through testing hypotheses to destruction� and to appreciate what that meant for drug development.When you start to make a drug youre on a ten-year path maybe 20� he said. You are looking at spending well over a billion dollars to do that.� And he added only one in 20 works.It is difficult to think of a CV more suited to the year ahead than that of Sir Patrick. The governments chief scientist can come from any discipline. Past holders of the office have been physicists chemists even zoologists. Sir Patrick who has held the post since 2018 has been a clinician a medical researcher and a drug developer.He has in other words worked with the people who will treat coronavirus the people who will research ways to beat the disease and the people who might eventually turn some of those ideas into a usable product.It is also worth mentioning that as a man on the cusp of his sixties he is in the group most at risk of the virus. Even without his wife and three children he has skin in the game.There are hints as to what that will mean. While at GSK he was interviewed inTheBMJ. The medical journal asked him which health secretary he most admired. His answer was Frank Dobson.The reason was illuminating. Mr Dobson introduced the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) the body that rigorously evaluates the costeffectiveness of drugs he said.In the years it has been running Nice has been lambasted by tabloids weathered scorn from patient groups and been described as death panels� in America. Throughout it has maintained a rigorously utilitarian approach to healthcare. Sir Patrick may well need the same skills.Although he confessed another motive for liking Mr Dobson. He helped me challenge a parking ticket I got when delayed on a ward round between Christmas and New Year� he explained. A patient had had a cardiac arrest.�THE SCEPTICS WHO THINK THERE ARE BETTER OPTIONS Jeremy Hunt former health secretaryThe senior Conservative MP was the first big figure to criticise the government saying it was concerning� that action such as cancelling large events was not being taken. Yesterday he warned Boris Johnson that the clock is ticking� to stop Britain becoming Italy.The government is rightly following scientific advice ” but even scientists have to make judgments and assumptions to inform their modelling� he wrote in the Evening Standard. There are other things the more successful countries have done that we are not doing. I hope they will be [announced] soon. ˜Social distancing ” measures that stop people getting too close to each other ” is the most important.�He cited travel restrictions school closures and quarantining of the elderly in Singapore Taiwan and Japan and said he was surprised� that visits to care homes are still being allowed in Britain.Richard Horton editor of The LancetThe most prominent medical critic has said that Britain is on the edge of an avoidable calamity� citing desperate pleas from Italian doctors. The UK government ” Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson ” claim they are following the science. That is not true. The evidence is clear. The government is playing roulette with the public. This is a major error� he tweeted.The UK is on the edge of an avoidable calamity. In addition to deaths preventable by more aggressive government action it will be health workers who absorb the brunt of government complacency. I am not being alarmist. What is happening in Italy is real. Our government is not preparing us for that reality. We need immediate and assertive social distancing and closure policies. We need to prepare the NHS.�Martin Hibberd professor of emerging infectious disease London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineHe expressed concerns about government planning that assumes the virus cannot be stopped and instead aims for a controlled peak in the summer that gives the population herd immunity that protects the elderly. I do worry that making plans that assume such a large proportion of the population will become infected (and hopefully recovered and immune) may not be the very best that we can do� he said.Another strategy might be to try to contain longer and perhaps long enough for a therapy to emerge that might allow some kind of treatment. This seems to be the strategy of countries such as Singapore . . . In this approach extensive contact tracing and testing is able to rapidly identify new cases and fully isolate them. When put together with other social distancing measures some confidence is gained that the pandemic can be more controllable and shops can remain open.�Gordon Brownformer prime ministerMr Brown has said that delays in testing in Britain sum up why fears are growing for our safety: the government still seems behind the curve�. He criticised national silos� in fighting coronavirus and called for a more international response. National leaders still seem unable to apply or even absorb the hard-earned lesson that crises teach us from the Sars epidemic to the financial meltdown: that global problems need global not just local and national responses� he wrote inThe Guardian.�What dialogue has there been between the main global players ” Presidents Xi Trump Moon of South Korea and prime minister Conte of Italy ” to benefit from each others insights on travel restrictions lockdowns and social distancing?�"";""Tom Whipple"";""The Times"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"100;2020-03-14 12:00:00;387;""Coronavirus: Power of the herd can protect those most at risk of infection"";""Tom Whipple"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""I do worry that making plans that assume such a large proportion of the population will become infected (and hopefully recovered and immune) may not be the very best that we can do� he said.Another strategy might be to try to contain longer and perhaps long enough for a therapy to emerge that might allow some kind of treatment. This seems to be the strategy of countries such as Singapore . . . In this approach extensive contact tracing and testing is able to rapidly identify new cases and fully isolate them. When put together with other social distancing measures some confidence is gained that the pandemic can be more controllable and shops can remain open.�"";""Martin Hibbard"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"95;2020-03-14 12:00:00;388;""Coronavirus herd immunity is a ''big risk for Britain but it may pay off''"";""Danya Bazaraa Unzela Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The Government is aiming to help create 'herd immunity' towards the bug rather than suppressing it completely according to the UK's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"96;2020-03-14 12:00:00;388;""Coronavirus herd immunity is a ''big risk for Britain but it may pay off''"";""Danya Bazaraa Unzela Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Donald whose Twitter profile says he's from the University of Liverpool says a UK assumption is that a high number of the UK population will inevitablyget infected so instead of stopping it the government is managing it.He tweeted: 'The UK wants infection BUT of particular categories of people. The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible. Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection.'That's herd immunity. Based on this idea at the moment the govt wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate. Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital = the number leaving.'That balance is the big risk.'"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"97;2020-03-14 12:00:00;388;""Coronavirus herd immunity is a ''big risk for Britain but it may pay off''"";""Danya Bazaraa Unzela Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Donald whose Twitter profile says he's from the University of Liverpool says a UK assumption is that a high number of the UK population will inevitablyget infected so instead of stopping it the government is managing it.He tweeted: 'The UK wants infection BUT of particular categories of people. The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible. Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection.'That's herd immunity. Based on this idea at the moment the govt wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate. Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital = the number leaving.'That balance is the big risk.'"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"98;2020-03-14 12:00:00;388;""Coronavirus herd immunity is a ''big risk for Britain but it may pay off''"";""Danya Bazaraa Unzela Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Donald whose Twitter profile says he's from the University of Liverpool says a UK assumption is that a high number of the UK population will inevitablyget infected so instead of stopping it the government is managing it.He tweeted: 'The UK wants infection BUT of particular categories of people. The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible. Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection.'That's herd immunity. Based on this idea at the moment the govt wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate. Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital = the number leaving.'That balance is the big risk.'"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"99;2020-03-14 12:00:00;388;""Coronavirus herd immunity is a ''big risk for Britain but it may pay off''"";""Danya Bazaraa Unzela Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Spokeswoman Margaret Harris said not enough is known about the science of the coronavirus and that while 'theories' can be talked about the current situation requires 'action'."";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"91;2020-03-14 12:00:00;389;""Coronavirus: UK ''taking big risk'' using herd immunity ''but it may pay off''"";""Danya Bazaraa"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The UK's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"92;2020-03-14 12:00:00;389;""Coronavirus: UK ''taking big risk'' using herd immunity ''but it may pay off''"";""Danya Bazaraa"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Donald whose Twitter profile says he's from the University of Liverpool says a UK assumption is that a high number of the UK population will inevitablyget infected so instead of stopping it the government is managing it.Have you or a family member been affected by coronavirus Email webnews@mirror.co.ukHe tweeted : 'The UK wants infection BUT of particular categories of people. The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible. Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection.'That's herd immunity. Based on this idea at the moment the govt wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate. Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital = the number leaving.'That balance is the big risk.'"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"93;2020-03-14 12:00:00;389;""Coronavirus: UK ''taking big risk'' using herd immunity ''but it may pay off''"";""Danya Bazaraa"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Donald whose Twitter profile says he's from the University of Liverpool says a UK assumption is that a high number of the UK population will inevitablyget infected so instead of stopping it the government is managing it.Have you or a family member been affected by coronavirus Email webnews@mirror.co.ukHe tweeted : 'The UK wants infection BUT of particular categories of people. The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible. Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection.'That's herd immunity. Based on this idea at the moment the govt wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate. Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital = the number leaving.'That balance is the big risk.'"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"94;2020-03-14 12:00:00;389;""Coronavirus: UK ''taking big risk'' using herd immunity ''but it may pay off''"";""Danya Bazaraa"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Donald whose Twitter profile says he's from the University of Liverpool says a UK assumption is that a high number of the UK population will inevitablyget infected so instead of stopping it the government is managing it.Have you or a family member been affected by coronavirus Email webnews@mirror.co.ukHe tweeted : 'The UK wants infection BUT of particular categories of people. The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible. Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection.'That's herd immunity. Based on this idea at the moment the govt wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate. Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital = the number leaving.'That balance is the big risk.'"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"86;2020-03-14 12:00:00;390;""UK coronavirus: Herd immunity strategy risky  experts warn ''Go in hard and fast''"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The UK's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said the advice the Government is following is not looking to 'suppress' the disease entirely but to help create a 'herd immunity in the UK' while protecting the most vulnerable from it."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"88;2020-03-14 12:00:00;390;""UK coronavirus: Herd immunity strategy risky  experts warn ''Go in hard and fast''"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'The UK wants infection BUT of particular categories of people. The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible. Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection.'That's herd immunity. Based on this idea at the moment the govt wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate. Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital = the number leaving.'That balance is the big risk.'"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"89;2020-03-14 12:00:00;390;""UK coronavirus: Herd immunity strategy risky  experts warn ''Go in hard and fast''"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'The UK wants infection BUT of particular categories of people. The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible. Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection.'That's herd immunity. Based on this idea at the moment the govt wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate. Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital = the number leaving.'That balance is the big risk.'"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"90;2020-03-14 12:00:00;390;""UK coronavirus: Herd immunity strategy risky  experts warn ''Go in hard and fast''"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'The UK wants infection BUT of particular categories of people. The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible. Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection.'That's herd immunity. Based on this idea at the moment the govt wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate. Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital = the number leaving.'That balance is the big risk.'"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"87;2020-03-14 12:00:00;390;""UK coronavirus: Herd immunity strategy risky  experts warn ''Go in hard and fast''"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Spokeswoman Margaret Harris said not enough is known about the science of the coronavirus and that while 'theories' can be talked about the current situation requires 'action'."";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"83;2020-03-14 12:00:00;391;""Coronavirus: WHO calls for countries to test every case after British government says move ''''no longer necessary''''"";""Lizzie Dearden"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said the government's approach to tackling coronavirus hopes to create a herd immunity� to the disease."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"84;2020-03-14 12:00:00;391;""Coronavirus: WHO calls for countries to test every case after British government says move ''''no longer necessary''''"";""Lizzie Dearden"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile' she said speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday.We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.�"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"85;2020-03-14 12:00:00;391;""Coronavirus: WHO calls for countries to test every case after British government says move ''''no longer necessary''''"";""Lizzie Dearden"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Tedros called on countries do to everything possible to reduce transmission by quarantining people who had contact with infected people. Even if you cannot stop transmission you can slow it down and save lives� he added. Do not just let this fire burn.�"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"81;2020-03-14 12:00:00;392;""WHO takes swipe at UK coronavirus response as experts cast doubt on ''herd immunity'' plan"";""Oli Smith"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Harris told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'We don't know enough about the science of this virus it hasn't been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.'We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"82;2020-03-14 12:00:00;392;""WHO takes swipe at UK coronavirus response as experts cast doubt on ''herd immunity'' plan"";""Oli Smith"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Martin Hibberd professor of emerging infectious disease at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said: 'I do worry that making plans that assume sucha large proportion of the population will become infected and hopefully recovered and immune may not be the very best that we can do.'"";""Martin Hibbard"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"77;2020-03-14 12:00:00;393;""''''Want to kill 200k people?'''' Expert left face in hands as he crushes UK''''s coronavirus plan"";""Alessandra Scotto"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""r Pueyo blasted: This is like deciding you know what? This forest might burn so lets cut a third of it. This is crazy! We want to have 10-30 percent of the population catch this? The UK has what? 66 million people thats around 20 million people and 1 percent of these people are going to die.Related articlesSo youre saying you want to kill 200000 people in the UK?�He added: We need to understand what this ˜herd immunity means.Theyre saying everybody is going to catch it so once they catch it they cant catch it anymore.Thats crazy. We dont want people to catch it we want people not to catch it because otherwise theyre going to die.And right now the cases are growing exponentially. In a week the NHS is going to start collapsing.In two weeks its going to be completely collapsed if we dont take measures now.And people are going to panic not today if we dont take the measures but theyre going to definitely panic next week or in two weeks.READ MORE: Man Utd news LIVE: Woodward wants two transfers Fernandes predictionWe have 13 days of advance compared to Italy. They thought the exact same thing two weeks ago. And then one week later they realised oh my god this is exploding. They have now 17000 cases. Its exploding there.They realised too late that they were not containing this. The UK now has an opportunity to catch this before the weekend.�"";""Tomas Pueyo"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Business"""
"78;2020-03-14 12:00:00;393;""''''Want to kill 200k people?'''' Expert left face in hands as he crushes UK''''s coronavirus plan"";""Alessandra Scotto"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""r Pueyo blasted: This is like deciding you know what? This forest might burn so lets cut a third of it. This is crazy! We want to have 10-30 percent of the population catch this? The UK has what? 66 million people thats around 20 million people and 1 percent of these people are going to die.Related articlesSo youre saying you want to kill 200000 people in the UK?�He added: We need to understand what this ˜herd immunity means.Theyre saying everybody is going to catch it so once they catch it they cant catch it anymore.Thats crazy. We dont want people to catch it we want people not to catch it because otherwise theyre going to die.And right now the cases are growing exponentially. In a week the NHS is going to start collapsing.In two weeks its going to be completely collapsed if we dont take measures now.And people are going to panic not today if we dont take the measures but theyre going to definitely panic next week or in two weeks.READ MORE: Man Utd news LIVE: Woodward wants two transfers Fernandes predictionWe have 13 days of advance compared to Italy. They thought the exact same thing two weeks ago. And then one week later they realised oh my god this is exploding. They have now 17000 cases. Its exploding there.They realised too late that they were not containing this. The UK now has an opportunity to catch this before the weekend.�"";""Tomas Pueyo"";"""";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Business"""
"79;2020-03-14 12:00:00;393;""''''Want to kill 200k people?'''' Expert left face in hands as he crushes UK''''s coronavirus plan"";""Alessandra Scotto"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""r Pueyo blasted: This is like deciding you know what? This forest might burn so lets cut a third of it. This is crazy! We want to have 10-30 percent of the population catch this? The UK has what? 66 million people thats around 20 million people and 1 percent of these people are going to die.Related articlesSo youre saying you want to kill 200000 people in the UK?�He added: We need to understand what this ˜herd immunity means.Theyre saying everybody is going to catch it so once they catch it they cant catch it anymore.Thats crazy. We dont want people to catch it we want people not to catch it because otherwise theyre going to die.And right now the cases are growing exponentially. In a week the NHS is going to start collapsing.In two weeks its going to be completely collapsed if we dont take measures now.And people are going to panic not today if we dont take the measures but theyre going to definitely panic next week or in two weeks.READ MORE: Man Utd news LIVE: Woodward wants two transfers Fernandes predictionWe have 13 days of advance compared to Italy. They thought the exact same thing two weeks ago. And then one week later they realised oh my god this is exploding. They have now 17000 cases. Its exploding there.They realised too late that they were not containing this. The UK now has an opportunity to catch this before the weekend.�"";""Tomas Pueyo"";"""";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Business"""
"80;2020-03-14 12:00:00;393;""''''Want to kill 200k people?'''' Expert left face in hands as he crushes UK''''s coronavirus plan"";""Alessandra Scotto"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""WHO spokeswoman Dr Harris questioned the UK's approach to developing 'herd immunity' against COVID-19 telling BBC Radio 4's Today: 'We don't know enough about the science of this virus it hasn't been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.DON'T MISS:Coronavirus LIVE: EU urges health checks at borders [LIVE BLOG] Coronavirus USA: 'No need' for Trump to be tested [INSIGHT] UK coronavirus horror: Frail patients could be taken off ventilators [ANALYSIS]Related articles'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.'We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"74;2020-03-14 12:00:00;394;""Coronavirus: Experts cast doubt on UK plan for ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Shaun Lintern"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""He told Sky News: Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term. About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"75;2020-03-14 12:00:00;394;""Coronavirus: Experts cast doubt on UK plan for ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Shaun Lintern"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Nicola Rose head of virology at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control said: Obviously contain and delay is the approach being taken in theUK and in a number of different countries. The approaches are really to buy time in context of the healthcare system and time for vaccines to be developed.We dont know how the pandemic will evolve. With flu for example it comes and goes in waves. This may well be the case here. We really dont know whether there will be herd immunity or not.As the virus goes through a population people may start to develop their own immunity. It is early days really with this virus to understand what that looks like. I think were a long way from what we would technically call herd immunity.�"";""Nicola Rose"";""National Institute for Biological Standards and Control"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"76;2020-03-14 12:00:00;394;""Coronavirus: Experts cast doubt on UK plan for ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Shaun Lintern"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Professor Hanneke Schuitemaker global head of viral vaccine discovery for Janssen Vaccines said: We dont know how long natural immunity will last. And if people who have experienced the infection will be protected forever thereafter or whether we will need vaccines to support them that gives continuous protection against reinfection.�On the variation between different countries attitudes on how best to tackle the virus she added: I think all governments should look at countries where measures have failed and try to do better. And thats why I dont understand why we dont have a European approach.�"";""Hanneke Schuitemaker"";""Janssen Vaccines"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Business"""
"69;2020-03-14 12:00:00;395;""Herd immunity: will the UK''s coronavirus strategy work?"";""Sarah Boseley"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""I do worry that making plans that assume such a large proportion of the population will become infected (and hopefully recovered and immune) may not be the very best that we can do� said Martin Hibberd professor of emerging infectious disease at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine."";""Martin Hibbard"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"70;2020-03-14 12:00:00;395;""Herd immunity: will the UK''s coronavirus strategy work?"";""Sarah Boseley"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Theres going to be a point assuming the epidemic flows and grows as we think it probably will do where youll want to cocoon youll want to protect those at-risk groups so that they basically dont catch the disease and by the time they come out of their cocooning herd immunitys been achieved in the rest of the population.�"";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Business"""
"71;2020-03-14 12:00:00;395;""Herd immunity: will the UK''s coronavirus strategy work?"";""Sarah Boseley"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Theres going to be a point assuming the epidemic flows and grows as we think it probably will do where youll want to cocoon youll want to protect those at-risk groups so that they basically dont catch the disease and by the time they come out of their cocooning herd immunitys been achieved in the rest of the population.�"";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Business"""
"72;2020-03-14 12:00:00;395;""Herd immunity: will the UK''s coronavirus strategy work?"";""Sarah Boseley"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus the WHO director general who said: The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong anddangerous.�"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"73;2020-03-14 12:00:00;395;""Herd immunity: will the UK''s coronavirus strategy work?"";""Sarah Boseley"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity might not even last Costello said. Does coronavirus cause strong herd immunity or is it like flu where new strains emerge each year needing repeat vaccines? We have much to learn about Co-V immune responses.� Vaccines he said were a much safer way of bringing it about."";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"67;2020-03-14 12:00:00;396;""HEALTH CHIEFS PUT THEIR FAITH IN ''HERD IMMUNITY''"";""Unspecified"";""Scottish Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time' he told the Radio 4 Today programme.'Our aim is to try to reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"68;2020-03-14 12:00:00;396;""HEALTH CHIEFS PUT THEIR FAITH IN ''HERD IMMUNITY''"";""Unspecified"";""Scottish Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time' he told the Radio 4 Today programme.'Our aim is to try to reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"64;2020-03-14 12:00:00;397;""Experts cast doubt on UK plan for ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Shaun Lintern"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""He told Sky News: Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term. About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"65;2020-03-14 12:00:00;397;""Experts cast doubt on UK plan for ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Shaun Lintern"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""Dr Nicola Rose head of virology at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control said: Obviously contain and delay is the approach being taken in the UK and in a number of different countries. The approaches are really to buy time in context of the healthcare system and time for vaccines to be developed. We dont know how the pandemic will evolve. With flu for example it comes and goes in waves. This may well be the case here. We really dont know whether there will be herd immunity or not. As the virus goes through a population people may start to develop their own immunity. It is early days really with this virus to understand what that looks like. I think were a long way from what we would technically call herd immunity.�"";""Nicola Rose"";""National Institute for Biological Standards and Control"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"219;2020-03-15 12:00:00;347;""Coronavirus: No 10 facing questions about herd immunity‚„s human cost"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick set out the governments approach to managing the epidemic last week saying: Our aim is to try to reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress itcompletely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"220;2020-03-15 12:00:00;347;""Coronavirus: No 10 facing questions about herd immunity‚„s human cost"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity is not our policy its not our goal. Our goal is to protect life and our policy is to fight the virus and protect the vulnerable and the NHS. Of course there is a scientific debate around scientific concepts.�Asked whether young healthy people should aim to get the virus to try to achieve herd immunity he said: No the consequence of the infection rate rising too fast is very clear."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"221;2020-03-15 12:00:00;347;""Coronavirus: No 10 facing questions about herd immunity‚„s human cost"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""David Spiegelhalter of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge said: [Herd immunity] is never mentioned as ashort-term goal in the published strategies and Patrick Vallance only mentioned it in relation to the longer term if the virus returns annually. It is unfortunate that he did not immediately add that this was not a short-term goal.�"";""David Spiegelhalter"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"218;2020-03-15 12:00:00;348;""Immunology experts slam government''s ''herd immunity'' approach to tackling Covid-19"";""Robert Dalling"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""In his letter Mr Akbar wrote: 'The world faces a huge challenge in light of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.'The UKs public health strategy differs from many other countries with an aim to build herd immunity to protect the population.'Within the immunology community we have significant questions about this strategy. The ultimate aim of herd immunity is to stop disease spread and protect the most vulnerable in society.'However this strategy only works to reduce serious disease if when building that immunity vulnerable individuals are protected from becoming ill for example through social distancing. If not the consequences could be severe.'Additionally Mr Akbar added there are 'many unknowns in how the SARS-CoV-2 virus interacts with the human immune system and how this might play into current scenarios'.'For example we dont yet know if this novel virus will induce long-term immunity in those affected as other related viruses do not' he wrote. 'Therefore it would be prudent to prevent infection in the first place. More research is urgently needed on this front.'The UK leads the world for the quality of our immunology research. Given our current lack of knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 our community of immunologists have two asks. Firstly we feel more needs to be done to ensure social distancing to limit the number of COVID-19 cases in the short term especially for vulnerable members of our communities.'This will enable us to buy time until we understand the virus better and can begin to develop therapeutics.'Secondly to aid efforts we call on the government to release their modelling data to allow scrutiny from the scientific community to better predict the course of this outbreak.'We have a small window of opportunity to protect our nation to learn about this new emerging virus and to deal with this unprecedented threat to global health.' The UK Government has been approached for comment."";""Arne Akbar"";""The British Society of Immunology"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"214;2020-03-15 12:00:00;349;""‚Herd immunity strategy‚„ for Covid-19 called into question"";""Unspecified"";""Sunday Herald"";"""";"""";""The university experts warn that the Governments current approach will put the NHS under additional stress and risk many more lives than necessary�. They also slated comments made by Sir Patrick Vallance the Governments chief scientific adviser about managing the spread of the infection to make thepopulation immune.In the open letter the group said: Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks.This will most probably put the NHS at serious risk of not being able to cope with the flow of patients needing intensive care. Going for ˜herd immunity at this point does not seem a viable option as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary.By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared.We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"215;2020-03-15 12:00:00;349;""‚Herd immunity strategy‚„ for Covid-19 called into question"";""Unspecified"";""Sunday Herald"";"""";"""";""The university experts warn that the Governments current approach will put the NHS under additional stress and risk many more lives than necessary�. They also slated comments made by Sir Patrick Vallance the Governments chief scientific adviser about managing the spread of the infection to make thepopulation immune.In the open letter the group said: Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks.This will most probably put the NHS at serious risk of not being able to cope with the flow of patients needing intensive care. Going for ˜herd immunity at this point does not seem a viable option as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary.By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared.We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"216;2020-03-15 12:00:00;349;""‚Herd immunity strategy‚„ for Covid-19 called into question"";""Unspecified"";""Sunday Herald"";"""";"""";""The university experts warn that the Governments current approach will put the NHS under additional stress and risk many more lives than necessary�. They also slated comments made by Sir Patrick Vallance the Governments chief scientific adviser about managing the spread of the infection to make thepopulation immune.In the open letter the group said: Under unconstrained growth this outbreak will affect millions of people in the next few weeks.This will most probably put the NHS at serious risk of not being able to cope with the flow of patients needing intensive care. Going for ˜herd immunity at this point does not seem a viable option as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress risking many more lives than necessary.By putting in place social distancing measures now the growth can be slowed down dramatically and thousands of lives can be spared.We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately as it is already happening in other countries across the world.�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"217;2020-03-15 12:00:00;349;""‚Herd immunity strategy‚„ for Covid-19 called into question"";""Unspecified"";""Sunday Herald"";"""";"""";""Spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris said not enough is known about the science of the coronavirus and that while theories� can be talked about the current situation requires action�. Her comments came as plans get under way to ban mass gatherings from next week as the Government finally looks to implement more extreme measures in the fight against Covid-19.Boris Johnson has come under fire for not taking such actions despite similar steps being taken by other European countries as the pandemic worsens.Emergency legislation bringing in beefed-up powers will be published next week and there could also be a move towards more people working from home a Whitehall source said. Harris added: We dont know enough about the science of this virus it hasnt been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms. Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile. We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.�"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"207;2020-03-15 12:00:00;351;""UK Government ''risky'' herd immunity coronavirus plan aims to get people infected"";""Tim McNulty"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Ian Donald who worked atUniversity of Liverpool's Institute of Population Health Sciences said: The government strategy on coronavirus is more refined than those used in other countries and potentially very effective. But it is also riskier and based on a number of assumptions.'They need to be correct and the measures they introduce need to work when they are supposed to.A UK starting assumption is that a high number of the population will inevitably get infected whatever is done “ up to 80%. As you cant stop it so it is best to manage it.Coronavirus super-spreaders: What are they and how do they transmit the virusThere are limited health resources so the aim is to manage the flow of the seriously ill to these.The Italian model the aims to stop infection. The UKs wants infection but of particular categories of people.The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible.Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection. That's herd immunity.Based on this idea at the moment the government wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate.Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital equal the number leaving. That balance is the big risk.All the time people are being treated other mildly ill people are recovering and the population grows a higher percent of immune people who cant infect. They can also return to work and keep things going normally - and go to the pubs.The risk is being able to accurately manage infection flow relative to health case resources. Data on infection rates needs to be accurate the measures they introduce need to work and at the time they want them to and to the degree they want or the system is overwhelmed.DonaldSchools: Kids generally wont get very ill so the government can use them as a tool to infect others when you want to increase infection. When you need to slow infection that tap can be turned off “ at that point they close the schools. Politically risky for them to say this.The same for large scale events - stop them when you want to slow infection rates turn another tap off. This means schools etc are closed for a shorter period and disruption generally is therefore for a shorter period AND with a growing immune population. This is sustainable.After a while most of the population is immune the seriously ill have all received treatment and the country is resistant. The more vulnerable are then less at risk. This is the end state the government is aiming for and could achieve.But a key issue during this process is protection of those for whom the virus is fatal. It's not clear the full measures there are to protect those people. It assumes they can measure infection that their behavioural expectations are met - people do what they think they will.                                         UK coronavirus death toll almost doubles in a day as 10 more patients die The Italian (and others) strategy is to stop as much infection as possible - or all infection. This is appealing but then what? The restrictions are not sustainable for months. So they will need to be relaxed. But that will lead to reemergence of infections.Then rates will then start to climb again. So they will have to reintroduce the restrictions each time infection rates rise. That is not a sustainable model and takes much longer to achieve the goal of a largely immune population with low risk of infection of the vulnerable.As the government tries to achieve equilibrium between hospitalisations and infections more interventions will appear. It's perhaps why there are at the moment few public information films on staying at home. They are treading a tight path but possibly a sensible one.This is probably the best strategy but they should explain it more clearly. It relies on a lot of assumptions so it would be good to know what they are - especially behavioural. Most encouraging it's way too clever for Boris Johnson to have had any role in developing.�"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"208;2020-03-15 12:00:00;351;""UK Government ''risky'' herd immunity coronavirus plan aims to get people infected"";""Tim McNulty"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Ian Donald who worked atUniversity of Liverpool's Institute of Population Health Sciences said: The government strategy on coronavirus is more refined than those used in other countries and potentially very effective. But it is also riskier and based on a number of assumptions.'They need to be correct and the measures they introduce need to work when they are supposed to.A UK starting assumption is that a high number of the population will inevitably get infected whatever is done “ up to 80%. As you cant stop it so it is best to manage it.Coronavirus super-spreaders: What are they and how do they transmit the virusThere are limited health resources so the aim is to manage the flow of the seriously ill to these.The Italian model the aims to stop infection. The UKs wants infection but of particular categories of people.The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible.Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection. That's herd immunity.Based on this idea at the moment the government wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate.Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital equal the number leaving. That balance is the big risk.All the time people are being treated other mildly ill people are recovering and the population grows a higher percent of immune people who cant infect. They can also return to work and keep things going normally - and go to the pubs.The risk is being able to accurately manage infection flow relative to health case resources. Data on infection rates needs to be accurate the measures they introduce need to work and at the time they want them to and to the degree they want or the system is overwhelmed.DonaldSchools: Kids generally wont get very ill so the government can use them as a tool to infect others when you want to increase infection. When you need to slow infection that tap can be turned off “ at that point they close the schools. Politically risky for them to say this.The same for large scale events - stop them when you want to slow infection rates turn another tap off. This means schools etc are closed for a shorter period and disruption generally is therefore for a shorter period AND with a growing immune population. This is sustainable.After a while most of the population is immune the seriously ill have all received treatment and the country is resistant. The more vulnerable are then less at risk. This is the end state the government is aiming for and could achieve.But a key issue during this process is protection of those for whom the virus is fatal. It's not clear the full measures there are to protect those people. It assumes they can measure infection that their behavioural expectations are met - people do what they think they will.                                         UK coronavirus death toll almost doubles in a day as 10 more patients die The Italian (and others) strategy is to stop as much infection as possible - or all infection. This is appealing but then what? The restrictions are not sustainable for months. So they will need to be relaxed. But that will lead to reemergence of infections.Then rates will then start to climb again. So they will have to reintroduce the restrictions each time infection rates rise. That is not a sustainable model and takes much longer to achieve the goal of a largely immune population with low risk of infection of the vulnerable.As the government tries to achieve equilibrium between hospitalisations and infections more interventions will appear. It's perhaps why there are at the moment few public information films on staying at home. They are treading a tight path but possibly a sensible one.This is probably the best strategy but they should explain it more clearly. It relies on a lot of assumptions so it would be good to know what they are - especially behavioural. Most encouraging it's way too clever for Boris Johnson to have had any role in developing.�"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"209;2020-03-15 12:00:00;351;""UK Government ''risky'' herd immunity coronavirus plan aims to get people infected"";""Tim McNulty"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Ian Donald who worked atUniversity of Liverpool's Institute of Population Health Sciences said: The government strategy on coronavirus is more refined than those used in other countries and potentially very effective. But it is also riskier and based on a number of assumptions.'They need to be correct and the measures they introduce need to work when they are supposed to.A UK starting assumption is that a high number of the population will inevitably get infected whatever is done “ up to 80%. As you cant stop it so it is best to manage it.Coronavirus super-spreaders: What are they and how do they transmit the virusThere are limited health resources so the aim is to manage the flow of the seriously ill to these.The Italian model the aims to stop infection. The UKs wants infection but of particular categories of people.The aim of the UK is to have as many lower risk people infected as possible.Immune people cannot infect others the more there are the lower the risk of infection. That's herd immunity.Based on this idea at the moment the government wants people to get infected up until hospitals begin to reach capacity. At that they want to reduce but not stop infection rate.Ideally they balance it so the numbers entering hospital equal the number leaving. That balance is the big risk.All the time people are being treated other mildly ill people are recovering and the population grows a higher percent of immune people who cant infect. They can also return to work and keep things going normally - and go to the pubs.The risk is being able to accurately manage infection flow relative to health case resources. Data on infection rates needs to be accurate the measures they introduce need to work and at the time they want them to and to the degree they want or the system is overwhelmed.DonaldSchools: Kids generally wont get very ill so the government can use them as a tool to infect others when you want to increase infection. When you need to slow infection that tap can be turned off “ at that point they close the schools. Politically risky for them to say this.The same for large scale events - stop them when you want to slow infection rates turn another tap off. This means schools etc are closed for a shorter period and disruption generally is therefore for a shorter period AND with a growing immune population. This is sustainable.After a while most of the population is immune the seriously ill have all received treatment and the country is resistant. The more vulnerable are then less at risk. This is the end state the government is aiming for and could achieve.But a key issue during this process is protection of those for whom the virus is fatal. It's not clear the full measures there are to protect those people. It assumes they can measure infection that their behavioural expectations are met - people do what they think they will.                                         UK coronavirus death toll almost doubles in a day as 10 more patients die The Italian (and others) strategy is to stop as much infection as possible - or all infection. This is appealing but then what? The restrictions are not sustainable for months. So they will need to be relaxed. But that will lead to reemergence of infections.Then rates will then start to climb again. So they will have to reintroduce the restrictions each time infection rates rise. That is not a sustainable model and takes much longer to achieve the goal of a largely immune population with low risk of infection of the vulnerable.As the government tries to achieve equilibrium between hospitalisations and infections more interventions will appear. It's perhaps why there are at the moment few public information films on staying at home. They are treading a tight path but possibly a sensible one.This is probably the best strategy but they should explain it more clearly. It relies on a lot of assumptions so it would be good to know what they are - especially behavioural. Most encouraging it's way too clever for Boris Johnson to have had any role in developing.�"";""Ian Donald"";""University of Liverpool"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"210;2020-03-15 12:00:00;351;""UK Government ''risky'' herd immunity coronavirus plan aims to get people infected"";""Tim McNulty"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Anthony Costello the former director at the World Health Organisation professor of international child health and director of the University College London Institute for Global Health took to Twitter to take issue with the 'herd immunity' plan.He said: Unlike all other countries the UK strategy aims to build herd immunity by allowing the steady spread of Covid-19.The government argue it will block a second peak in several months time. Here are eight questions about this herd immunity strategy. Coronavirus in Scotland LIVE as 121 confirmed cases and first person dies1. Will it impair efforts to restrict the immediate epidemic and cause more infections and deaths in the near term? Evidence suggests people shed virus early and those without symptoms may cause substantial spread. This argues for policies against mass gatherings for school closures and for strict national and local measures for social distancing.2. Will it weaken containment systems (testing screening radiography isolation)? China quickly built a robust nation-wide system of mobilised communities/workers for identifying cases promptly isolating contacts and treating vulnerable people promptly to contain the outbreak.3. Does coronavirus cause strong herd immunity or is it like flu where new strains emerge each year needing repeat vaccines? We have much to learn about Co-V immune responses.4. Doesnt this herd immunity strategy conflict with WHO Policy? After the announcement of this being a pandemic Dr Tedros Director General WHO said: The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous.Top news stories today5. Shouldnt we wait to see the China situation? They've contained the epidemic after 7 weeks of intense national effort. Will their strengthened systems not contain outbreaks quickly? What is their herd immunity? We dont have serology available yet? It might be substantial.6. Without an all-out national mobilisation plan for social distancing are the UK government behavioural and nudge strategies really evidence-based to flatten the peak? Or simply based on models?7. On the precautionary principle shouldnt we go all-out to snuff this UK epidemic out with national mobilisation at all levels using all possible preventive measures (whether evidence is strong uncertain or weak) and worry about herd immunity when we have more evidence?8. Vaccines are a safer way to develop herd immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself. Is it ethical to adopt a policy that threatens immediate casualties on the basis of an uncertain future benefit?'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"211;2020-03-15 12:00:00;351;""UK Government ''risky'' herd immunity coronavirus plan aims to get people infected"";""Tim McNulty"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Anthony Costello the former director at the World Health Organisation professor of international child health and director of the University College London Institute for Global Health took to Twitter to take issue with the 'herd immunity' plan.He said: Unlike all other countries the UK strategy aims to build herd immunity by allowing the steady spread of Covid-19.The government argue it will block a second peak in several months time. Here are eight questions about this herd immunity strategy. Coronavirus in Scotland LIVE as 121 confirmed cases and first person dies1. Will it impair efforts to restrict the immediate epidemic and cause more infections and deaths in the near term? Evidence suggests people shed virus early and those without symptoms may cause substantial spread. This argues for policies against mass gatherings for school closures and for strict national and local measures for social distancing.2. Will it weaken containment systems (testing screening radiography isolation)? China quickly built a robust nation-wide system of mobilised communities/workers for identifying cases promptly isolating contacts and treating vulnerable people promptly to contain the outbreak.3. Does coronavirus cause strong herd immunity or is it like flu where new strains emerge each year needing repeat vaccines? We have much to learn about Co-V immune responses.4. Doesnt this herd immunity strategy conflict with WHO Policy? After the announcement of this being a pandemic Dr Tedros Director General WHO said: The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous.Top news stories today5. Shouldnt we wait to see the China situation? They've contained the epidemic after 7 weeks of intense national effort. Will their strengthened systems not contain outbreaks quickly? What is their herd immunity? We dont have serology available yet? It might be substantial.6. Without an all-out national mobilisation plan for social distancing are the UK government behavioural and nudge strategies really evidence-based to flatten the peak? Or simply based on models?7. On the precautionary principle shouldnt we go all-out to snuff this UK epidemic out with national mobilisation at all levels using all possible preventive measures (whether evidence is strong uncertain or weak) and worry about herd immunity when we have more evidence?8. Vaccines are a safer way to develop herd immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself. Is it ethical to adopt a policy that threatens immediate casualties on the basis of an uncertain future benefit?'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"213;2020-03-15 12:00:00;351;""UK Government ''risky'' herd immunity coronavirus plan aims to get people infected"";""Tim McNulty"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Anthony Costello the former director at the World Health Organisation professor of international child health and director of the University College London Institute for Global Health took to Twitter to take issue with the 'herd immunity' plan.He said: Unlike all other countries the UK strategy aims to build herd immunity by allowing the steady spread of Covid-19.The government argue it will block a second peak in several months time. Here are eight questions about this herd immunity strategy. Coronavirus in Scotland LIVE as 121 confirmed cases and first person dies1. Will it impair efforts to restrict the immediate epidemic and cause more infections and deaths in the near term? Evidence suggests people shed virus early and those without symptoms may cause substantial spread. This argues for policies against mass gatherings for school closures and for strict national and local measures for social distancing.2. Will it weaken containment systems (testing screening radiography isolation)? China quickly built a robust nation-wide system of mobilised communities/workers for identifying cases promptly isolating contacts and treating vulnerable people promptly to contain the outbreak.3. Does coronavirus cause strong herd immunity or is it like flu where new strains emerge each year needing repeat vaccines? We have much to learn about Co-V immune responses.4. Doesnt this herd immunity strategy conflict with WHO Policy? After the announcement of this being a pandemic Dr Tedros Director General WHO said: The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous.Top news stories today5. Shouldnt we wait to see the China situation? They've contained the epidemic after 7 weeks of intense national effort. Will their strengthened systems not contain outbreaks quickly? What is their herd immunity? We dont have serology available yet? It might be substantial.6. Without an all-out national mobilisation plan for social distancing are the UK government behavioural and nudge strategies really evidence-based to flatten the peak? Or simply based on models?7. On the precautionary principle shouldnt we go all-out to snuff this UK epidemic out with national mobilisation at all levels using all possible preventive measures (whether evidence is strong uncertain or weak) and worry about herd immunity when we have more evidence?8. Vaccines are a safer way to develop herd immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself. Is it ethical to adopt a policy that threatens immediate casualties on the basis of an uncertain future benefit?'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"212;2020-03-15 12:00:00;351;""UK Government ''risky'' herd immunity coronavirus plan aims to get people infected"";""Tim McNulty"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Tedros Director General WHO said: The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"206;2020-03-15 12:00:00;352;""UK''''s ''''herd immunity'''' approach to tackling coronavirus questioned by World Health Organisation"";""Steph Cockroft"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Questioning the approach Dr Harris told BBC Radio 4s Today: We dont know enough about the science of this virus it hasnt been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.�"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"201;2020-03-15 12:00:00;353;""''It''s going to be daunting'': UK mulls allowing more people to contract virus Can you allow Covid-19 to slowly infect lower-risk people so..."";""Quentin Fottrell"";""Financial News"";"""";"""";""'What we don't want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm [National Health Service] services' he told BBC Radio 4on Friday. 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely.'His aim is to build up a herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease thereby reducing the rate of transmission and protecting those who are most at risk of dying from Covid-19 the disease caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time' Vallance said."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"202;2020-03-15 12:00:00;353;""''It''s going to be daunting'': UK mulls allowing more people to contract virus Can you allow Covid-19 to slowly infect lower-risk people so..."";""Quentin Fottrell"";""Financial News"";"""";"""";""'What we don't want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm [National Health Service] services' he told BBC Radio 4on Friday. 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely.'His aim is to build up a herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease thereby reducing the rate of transmission and protecting those who are most at risk of dying from Covid-19 the disease caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time' Vallance said."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"203;2020-03-15 12:00:00;353;""''It''s going to be daunting'': UK mulls allowing more people to contract virus Can you allow Covid-19 to slowly infect lower-risk people so..."";""Quentin Fottrell"";""Financial News"";"""";"""";""'What we don't want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm [National Health Service] services' he told BBC Radio 4on Friday. 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely.'His aim is to build up a herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease thereby reducing the rate of transmission and protecting those who are most at risk of dying from Covid-19 the disease caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.'If you suppress something very very hard when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time' Vallance said."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"204;2020-03-15 12:00:00;353;""''It''s going to be daunting'': UK mulls allowing more people to contract virus Can you allow Covid-19 to slowly infect lower-risk people so..."";""Quentin Fottrell"";""Financial News"";"""";"""";""The success is premised on the ability to keep those two groups separated but I don't know if you can' Amesh Adalja a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America told MarketWatch.'It's a challenging approach' Adalja said adding that social distancing is the 'good part' of what China did to slow down the rapid increase in coronavirus cases. 'It's going to be daunting. It's not as if those two demographics never interact. None of these intervention options is cost free.'"";""Amesh Adalja"";""John Hopkins University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"205;2020-03-15 12:00:00;353;""''It''s going to be daunting'': UK mulls allowing more people to contract virus Can you allow Covid-19 to slowly infect lower-risk people so..."";""Quentin Fottrell"";""Financial News"";"""";"""";""The success is premised on the ability to keep those two groups separated but I don't know if you can' Amesh Adalja a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America told MarketWatch.'It's a challenging approach' Adalja said adding that social distancing is the 'good part' of what China did to slow down the rapid increase in coronavirus cases. 'It's going to be daunting. It's not as if those two demographics never interact. None of these intervention options is cost free.'"";""Amesh Adalja"";""John Hopkins University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"184;2020-03-15 12:00:00;356;""Herd immunity coronavirus policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""On Friday the governments Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said that the aim was to ˜broaden the peak of illness but not suppress it"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"185;2020-03-15 12:00:00;356;""Herd immunity coronavirus policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Yesterday Matt Hancock appeared to u-turn on the idea  stating that ˜herd immunity was a ˜scientific concept rather than the governments goal or policy."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"186;2020-03-15 12:00:00;356;""Herd immunity coronavirus policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""In a letter to the health secretary Sir Patrick and the Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty The British Society of Immunology (BSI) warned that there could be ˜severe consequences of infecting large numbers of people when knowledge of the virus was still so limited."";""The British Society of Immunology"";""The British Society of Immunology"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"187;2020-03-15 12:00:00;356;""Herd immunity coronavirus policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""In a letter to the health secretary Sir Patrick and the Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty The British Society of Immunology (BSI) warned that there could be ˜severe consequences of infecting large numbers of people when knowledge of the virus was still so limited."";""The British Society of Immunology"";""The British Society of Immunology"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"188;2020-03-15 12:00:00;356;""Herd immunity coronavirus policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""We dont yet know if this novel virus will induce long-term immunity in those affected as other related viruses do not� said President Arne Akbar. Therefore it would be prudent to prevent infection in the first place.�"";""Arne Akbar"";""The British Society of Immunology"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"189;2020-03-15 12:00:00;356;""Herd immunity coronavirus policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Doug Brown the Chief Executive of the BSI We have over 4000 members and researchers and were really quite surprised and concerned that herd immunity appeared to be the government policy.There are a number of unknowns we dont enough about the virus to develop long term immunity. The common cold is a coronavirus and three months there is no longer term immunity to catching it again. We dont know if that will be the case here.We would like to see more social distancing measures that have been brought in in other European countries such as limiting movement within communities abd banning large scale events and more working from home.�We should also make sure we are testing some of the most vulnerable people in the community and get them the care and support and treatment they need.�"";""Doug Brown"";""The British Society of Immunology"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"183;2020-03-15 12:00:00;358;""Herd immunity meaning: What is herd immunity?"";""Myriam Toua"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The VKP says that herd immunity works only if the vast majority of a population has been vaccinated against a disease and added that it does not protect against all vaccine-preventable diseases�.They added: Unlike vaccination herd immunity does not give a high level of individual protection and so it is not a good alternative to getting vaccinated.�"";"""";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"167;2020-03-15 12:00:00;361;""Coronavirus chaos: Furious row between medical experts caught on TV - COVID-19 confusion"";""Oli Smith"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr John Ashton called chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance unethical and unacceptable� for urging herd immunity in the UK."";""John Ashton"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Individual"""
"166;2020-03-15 12:00:00;361;""Coronavirus chaos: Furious row between medical experts caught on TV - COVID-19 confusion"";""Oli Smith"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Ashston said: Valance should go. He represents a narrow science.'We dont have enough beds for when this virus peaks in May maybe June and people are going to have to be nursed at home.This cannot be sorted by three men in London telling people what to do.'"";""John Ashton"";"""";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Individual"""
"169;2020-03-15 12:00:00;361;""Coronavirus chaos: Furious row between medical experts caught on TV - COVID-19 confusion"";""Oli Smith"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Im glad John is not involved in the decision-making tree because John is ill-informed and what he is doing is now is the exact opposite of what leading medical professionals should do.We should be looking and supporting the government and their decisions to fight the coronavirus.'DON'T MISS:Meghan's brother in heartbreaking plea: Dad's dying wish is to see Archie [WORLD EXCLUSIVE]Meghan Markle broke down in tears just moments before Kate and William's Commonwealth snub [VIDEO] Brussels crisis: EU states revolt against von der Leyen's demands with border shutdown [VIDEO]Related articlesShe continued: 'Im not arguing about the right response. The right response is the government response.We are not in that room. At the end of the day they come out with a decision and we have to trust that.�"";""Clare Gerada"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Individual"""
"168;2020-03-15 12:00:00;361;""Coronavirus chaos: Furious row between medical experts caught on TV - COVID-19 confusion"";""Oli Smith"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that herd immunity is not our goal or policy� - marking an embarrassing U-turn for the government."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"162;2020-03-15 12:00:00;362;""I‚„m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ coronavirus plan I thought it was satire"";""William Hanage"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Your house is on fire and the people whom you have trusted with your care are not trying to put it out. Even though they knew it was coming and could see what happened to the neighbours as they were overwhelmed with terrifying speed the UK government has inexplicably chosen to encourage the flames in the misguided notion that somehow they will be able to control them.When I first heard about this I could not believe it. I research and teach the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvards Chan School of Public Health. My colleagues here in the US even as they are reeling from the stumbling response of the Donald Trump administration to the crisis assumed that reports of the UK policy were satire “ an example of the wry humour for which the country is famed. But they are all too real.Let me take the arguments on their merits. The stated aim has been to achieve herd immunity� in order to manage the outbreak and prevent a catastrophic second wave� next winter “ even if Matt Hancock has tried to put that particular genie back in the bottle this weekend . A large proportion of the population is at lower risk of developing severe disease: roughly speaking anyone up to the age of 40. So the reasoning goes that even though in a perfect world wed not want anyone to take the risk of infection generating immunity in younger people is a way of protecting the population as a whole.We talk about vaccines generating herd immunity so why is this different? Because this is not a vaccine. This is an actual pandemic that will make a very large number of people sick and some of them will die. Even though the mortality rate is likely quite low a small fraction of a very large number is still a large number. And the mortality rate will climb when the NHS is overwhelmed. This would be expected to happen even if we make the generous assumption that the government were entirely successful in restricting the virus to the low-risk population at the peak of the outbreak the numbers requiring critical care would be greater than the number of beds available. This is made worse by the fact that people who are badly ill tend to remain so for a long time which increases the burden.And of course you cant restrict it to this age group. Think of all the people aged between 20 and 40 who work in healthcare or old peoples homes. You dont need many introductions into settings like these for what we might coyly call severe outcomes�. In Washington State nearly all the deaths reported so far have been associated with nursing homes. Is everyone in a high-risk group supposed to withdraw themselves from society for six months until they can emerge once the (so far entirely imaginary) second wave has been averted?About that second wave: let me be clear. Second waves are real things and we have seen them in flu pandemics. This is not a flu pandemic. Flu rules do not apply. There might well be a second wave I honestly dont know. But vulnerable people should not be exposed to a virus right now in the service of a hypothetical future.Keeping people safe means self-isolation if you develop symptoms but the official advice here is also misleading. While it is of paramount importance that sick people stay at home to avoid infecting others it is increasingly clear that transmission can occur before symptoms develop. We know this is true from modelling and observational studies. I have seen it happen myself. We do not know how often it occurs or how important it is in the epidemiology but it definitely does happen.However arguments about the case fatality rate the transmission parameters and presymptomatic transmission all miss the point. This virus is capable of shutting down countries. You should not want to be the next after Wuhan Iran Italy or Spain. In those places the healthcare systems have broken down. In Italy the choices of whom to save and whom to allow to die are real. You should instead look to the example of South Korea which through a combination of intense surveillance and social distancing appears to have gained some semblance of control over the virus. We can learn from South Korea Singapore Hong Kong and Taiwan all of which have so far done a good job mitigating the worst outcomes despite having reported cases early in the pandemic and in the case of South Korea suffering a substantial outbreak.The UK should not be trying to create herd immunity that will take care of itself. Policy should be directed at slowing the outbreak to a (more) manageable rate. What this looks like is strong social distancing. Anyone who can work from home should. People who do not yet work from home should be encouraged to do so. Employers should guarantee sick pay including for contacts of known cases and do everything they can to discourage the practice of presenteeism�. You should not shake hands. Not with anyone. You should wash your hands for 20 seconds several times a day and whenever you enter your home (or someone elses home). Call a halt to large gatherings. Educate people about masks and how they should be reserved for the medical professionals who need them. All this and more should have started weeks ago.Deciding whether to close schools is hard they do so much more than just education. But this is a pandemic and so you should expect they will be shut sooner or later. In Hong Kong they have been shut for weeks. If you hear any talking head on TV explain that kids dont get sick remember that doesnt mean kids cannot be infected and transmit. Its probably a good idea to hold off on visits to Nana and Grandpa.The most fundamental function of a government is to keep its people safe. It is from this that it derives its authority the confidence of the people and its legitimacy. Nobody should be under the illusion that this is something that can be dodged through somehow manipulating a virus that we are only beginning to understand. This will not pass you by this is not a tornado it is a hurricane."";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"163;2020-03-15 12:00:00;362;""I‚„m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ coronavirus plan I thought it was satire"";""William Hanage"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Your house is on fire and the people whom you have trusted with your care are not trying to put it out. Even though they knew it was coming and could see what happened to the neighbours as they were overwhelmed with terrifying speed the UK government has inexplicably chosen to encourage the flames in the misguided notion that somehow they will be able to control them.When I first heard about this I could not believe it. I research and teach the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvards Chan School of Public Health. My colleagues here in the US even as they are reeling from the stumbling response of the Donald Trump administration to the crisis assumed that reports of the UK policy were satire “ an example of the wry humour for which the country is famed. But they are all too real.Let me take the arguments on their merits. The stated aim has been to achieve herd immunity� in order to manage the outbreak and prevent a catastrophic second wave� next winter “ even if Matt Hancock has tried to put that particular genie back in the bottle this weekend . A large proportion of the population is at lower risk of developing severe disease: roughly speaking anyone up to the age of 40. So the reasoning goes that even though in a perfect world wed not want anyone to take the risk of infection generating immunity in younger people is a way of protecting the population as a whole.We talk about vaccines generating herd immunity so why is this different? Because this is not a vaccine. This is an actual pandemic that will make a very large number of people sick and some of them will die. Even though the mortality rate is likely quite low a small fraction of a very large number is still a large number. And the mortality rate will climb when the NHS is overwhelmed. This would be expected to happen even if we make the generous assumption that the government were entirely successful in restricting the virus to the low-risk population at the peak of the outbreak the numbers requiring critical care would be greater than the number of beds available. This is made worse by the fact that people who are badly ill tend to remain so for a long time which increases the burden.And of course you cant restrict it to this age group. Think of all the people aged between 20 and 40 who work in healthcare or old peoples homes. You dont need many introductions into settings like these for what we might coyly call severe outcomes�. In Washington State nearly all the deaths reported so far have been associated with nursing homes. Is everyone in a high-risk group supposed to withdraw themselves from society for six months until they can emerge once the (so far entirely imaginary) second wave has been averted?About that second wave: let me be clear. Second waves are real things and we have seen them in flu pandemics. This is not a flu pandemic. Flu rules do not apply. There might well be a second wave I honestly dont know. But vulnerable people should not be exposed to a virus right now in the service of a hypothetical future.Keeping people safe means self-isolation if you develop symptoms but the official advice here is also misleading. While it is of paramount importance that sick people stay at home to avoid infecting others it is increasingly clear that transmission can occur before symptoms develop. We know this is true from modelling and observational studies. I have seen it happen myself. We do not know how often it occurs or how important it is in the epidemiology but it definitely does happen.However arguments about the case fatality rate the transmission parameters and presymptomatic transmission all miss the point. This virus is capable of shutting down countries. You should not want to be the next after Wuhan Iran Italy or Spain. In those places the healthcare systems have broken down. In Italy the choices of whom to save and whom to allow to die are real. You should instead look to the example of South Korea which through a combination of intense surveillance and social distancing appears to have gained some semblance of control over the virus. We can learn from South Korea Singapore Hong Kong and Taiwan all of which have so far done a good job mitigating the worst outcomes despite having reported cases early in the pandemic and in the case of South Korea suffering a substantial outbreak.The UK should not be trying to create herd immunity that will take care of itself. Policy should be directed at slowing the outbreak to a (more) manageable rate. What this looks like is strong social distancing. Anyone who can work from home should. People who do not yet work from home should be encouraged to do so. Employers should guarantee sick pay including for contacts of known cases and do everything they can to discourage the practice of presenteeism�. You should not shake hands. Not with anyone. You should wash your hands for 20 seconds several times a day and whenever you enter your home (or someone elses home). Call a halt to large gatherings. Educate people about masks and how they should be reserved for the medical professionals who need them. All this and more should have started weeks ago.Deciding whether to close schools is hard they do so much more than just education. But this is a pandemic and so you should expect they will be shut sooner or later. In Hong Kong they have been shut for weeks. If you hear any talking head on TV explain that kids dont get sick remember that doesnt mean kids cannot be infected and transmit. Its probably a good idea to hold off on visits to Nana and Grandpa.The most fundamental function of a government is to keep its people safe. It is from this that it derives its authority the confidence of the people and its legitimacy. Nobody should be under the illusion that this is something that can be dodged through somehow manipulating a virus that we are only beginning to understand. This will not pass you by this is not a tornado it is a hurricane."";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"164;2020-03-15 12:00:00;362;""I‚„m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ coronavirus plan I thought it was satire"";""William Hanage"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Your house is on fire and the people whom you have trusted with your care are not trying to put it out. Even though they knew it was coming and could see what happened to the neighbours as they were overwhelmed with terrifying speed the UK government has inexplicably chosen to encourage the flames in the misguided notion that somehow they will be able to control them.When I first heard about this I could not believe it. I research and teach the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvards Chan School of Public Health. My colleagues here in the US even as they are reeling from the stumbling response of the Donald Trump administration to the crisis assumed that reports of the UK policy were satire “ an example of the wry humour for which the country is famed. But they are all too real.Let me take the arguments on their merits. The stated aim has been to achieve herd immunity� in order to manage the outbreak and prevent a catastrophic second wave� next winter “ even if Matt Hancock has tried to put that particular genie back in the bottle this weekend . A large proportion of the population is at lower risk of developing severe disease: roughly speaking anyone up to the age of 40. So the reasoning goes that even though in a perfect world wed not want anyone to take the risk of infection generating immunity in younger people is a way of protecting the population as a whole.We talk about vaccines generating herd immunity so why is this different? Because this is not a vaccine. This is an actual pandemic that will make a very large number of people sick and some of them will die. Even though the mortality rate is likely quite low a small fraction of a very large number is still a large number. And the mortality rate will climb when the NHS is overwhelmed. This would be expected to happen even if we make the generous assumption that the government were entirely successful in restricting the virus to the low-risk population at the peak of the outbreak the numbers requiring critical care would be greater than the number of beds available. This is made worse by the fact that people who are badly ill tend to remain so for a long time which increases the burden.And of course you cant restrict it to this age group. Think of all the people aged between 20 and 40 who work in healthcare or old peoples homes. You dont need many introductions into settings like these for what we might coyly call severe outcomes�. In Washington State nearly all the deaths reported so far have been associated with nursing homes. Is everyone in a high-risk group supposed to withdraw themselves from society for six months until they can emerge once the (so far entirely imaginary) second wave has been averted?About that second wave: let me be clear. Second waves are real things and we have seen them in flu pandemics. This is not a flu pandemic. Flu rules do not apply. There might well be a second wave I honestly dont know. But vulnerable people should not be exposed to a virus right now in the service of a hypothetical future.Keeping people safe means self-isolation if you develop symptoms but the official advice here is also misleading. While it is of paramount importance that sick people stay at home to avoid infecting others it is increasingly clear that transmission can occur before symptoms develop. We know this is true from modelling and observational studies. I have seen it happen myself. We do not know how often it occurs or how important it is in the epidemiology but it definitely does happen.However arguments about the case fatality rate the transmission parameters and presymptomatic transmission all miss the point. This virus is capable of shutting down countries. You should not want to be the next after Wuhan Iran Italy or Spain. In those places the healthcare systems have broken down. In Italy the choices of whom to save and whom to allow to die are real. You should instead look to the example of South Korea which through a combination of intense surveillance and social distancing appears to have gained some semblance of control over the virus. We can learn from South Korea Singapore Hong Kong and Taiwan all of which have so far done a good job mitigating the worst outcomes despite having reported cases early in the pandemic and in the case of South Korea suffering a substantial outbreak.The UK should not be trying to create herd immunity that will take care of itself. Policy should be directed at slowing the outbreak to a (more) manageable rate. What this looks like is strong social distancing. Anyone who can work from home should. People who do not yet work from home should be encouraged to do so. Employers should guarantee sick pay including for contacts of known cases and do everything they can to discourage the practice of presenteeism�. You should not shake hands. Not with anyone. You should wash your hands for 20 seconds several times a day and whenever you enter your home (or someone elses home). Call a halt to large gatherings. Educate people about masks and how they should be reserved for the medical professionals who need them. All this and more should have started weeks ago.Deciding whether to close schools is hard they do so much more than just education. But this is a pandemic and so you should expect they will be shut sooner or later. In Hong Kong they have been shut for weeks. If you hear any talking head on TV explain that kids dont get sick remember that doesnt mean kids cannot be infected and transmit. Its probably a good idea to hold off on visits to Nana and Grandpa.The most fundamental function of a government is to keep its people safe. It is from this that it derives its authority the confidence of the people and its legitimacy. Nobody should be under the illusion that this is something that can be dodged through somehow manipulating a virus that we are only beginning to understand. This will not pass you by this is not a tornado it is a hurricane."";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"165;2020-03-15 12:00:00;362;""I‚„m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ coronavirus plan I thought it was satire"";""William Hanage"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Your house is on fire and the people whom you have trusted with your care are not trying to put it out. Even though they knew it was coming and could see what happened to the neighbours as they were overwhelmed with terrifying speed the UK government has inexplicably chosen to encourage the flames in the misguided notion that somehow they will be able to control them.When I first heard about this I could not believe it. I research and teach the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvards Chan School of Public Health. My colleagues here in the US even as they are reeling from the stumbling response of the Donald Trump administration to the crisis assumed that reports of the UK policy were satire “ an example of the wry humour for which the country is famed. But they are all too real.Let me take the arguments on their merits. The stated aim has been to achieve herd immunity� in order to manage the outbreak and prevent a catastrophic second wave� next winter “ even if Matt Hancock has tried to put that particular genie back in the bottle this weekend . A large proportion of the population is at lower risk of developing severe disease: roughly speaking anyone up to the age of 40. So the reasoning goes that even though in a perfect world wed not want anyone to take the risk of infection generating immunity in younger people is a way of protecting the population as a whole.We talk about vaccines generating herd immunity so why is this different? Because this is not a vaccine. This is an actual pandemic that will make a very large number of people sick and some of them will die. Even though the mortality rate is likely quite low a small fraction of a very large number is still a large number. And the mortality rate will climb when the NHS is overwhelmed. This would be expected to happen even if we make the generous assumption that the government were entirely successful in restricting the virus to the low-risk population at the peak of the outbreak the numbers requiring critical care would be greater than the number of beds available. This is made worse by the fact that people who are badly ill tend to remain so for a long time which increases the burden.And of course you cant restrict it to this age group. Think of all the people aged between 20 and 40 who work in healthcare or old peoples homes. You dont need many introductions into settings like these for what we might coyly call severe outcomes�. In Washington State nearly all the deaths reported so far have been associated with nursing homes. Is everyone in a high-risk group supposed to withdraw themselves from society for six months until they can emerge once the (so far entirely imaginary) second wave has been averted?About that second wave: let me be clear. Second waves are real things and we have seen them in flu pandemics. This is not a flu pandemic. Flu rules do not apply. There might well be a second wave I honestly dont know. But vulnerable people should not be exposed to a virus right now in the service of a hypothetical future.Keeping people safe means self-isolation if you develop symptoms but the official advice here is also misleading. While it is of paramount importance that sick people stay at home to avoid infecting others it is increasingly clear that transmission can occur before symptoms develop. We know this is true from modelling and observational studies. I have seen it happen myself. We do not know how often it occurs or how important it is in the epidemiology but it definitely does happen.However arguments about the case fatality rate the transmission parameters and presymptomatic transmission all miss the point. This virus is capable of shutting down countries. You should not want to be the next after Wuhan Iran Italy or Spain. In those places the healthcare systems have broken down. In Italy the choices of whom to save and whom to allow to die are real. You should instead look to the example of South Korea which through a combination of intense surveillance and social distancing appears to have gained some semblance of control over the virus. We can learn from South Korea Singapore Hong Kong and Taiwan all of which have so far done a good job mitigating the worst outcomes despite having reported cases early in the pandemic and in the case of South Korea suffering a substantial outbreak.The UK should not be trying to create herd immunity that will take care of itself. Policy should be directed at slowing the outbreak to a (more) manageable rate. What this looks like is strong social distancing. Anyone who can work from home should. People who do not yet work from home should be encouraged to do so. Employers should guarantee sick pay including for contacts of known cases and do everything they can to discourage the practice of presenteeism�. You should not shake hands. Not with anyone. You should wash your hands for 20 seconds several times a day and whenever you enter your home (or someone elses home). Call a halt to large gatherings. Educate people about masks and how they should be reserved for the medical professionals who need them. All this and more should have started weeks ago.Deciding whether to close schools is hard they do so much more than just education. But this is a pandemic and so you should expect they will be shut sooner or later. In Hong Kong they have been shut for weeks. If you hear any talking head on TV explain that kids dont get sick remember that doesnt mean kids cannot be infected and transmit. Its probably a good idea to hold off on visits to Nana and Grandpa.The most fundamental function of a government is to keep its people safe. It is from this that it derives its authority the confidence of the people and its legitimacy. Nobody should be under the illusion that this is something that can be dodged through somehow manipulating a virus that we are only beginning to understand. This will not pass you by this is not a tornado it is a hurricane."";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"160;2020-03-15 12:00:00;363;""UK coronavirus U-turn: Government abandons herd immunity strategy after huge backlash"";""Oli Smith"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Hancock confirmed that herd immunity is not our goal or policy�."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"161;2020-03-15 12:00:00;363;""UK coronavirus U-turn: Government abandons herd immunity strategy after huge backlash"";""Oli Smith"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Just yesterday World Health Organisation spokeswoman Margaret Harris called the approach into question .She told the BBC: 'We don't know enough about the science of this virus it hasn't been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.'We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"149;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""He said the aim is to 'reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"150;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""'That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"151;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Professor Beate Kampmann director of the vaccine centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said the Government appears to be carrying outa two-pronged approach.She said cocooning means that a 'ring of immune people' protect the vulnerable people in the middle.'If you cocoon the elderly and you increase herd immunity then the spread of the virus in the community in a few months is going to be lower' she said.Asking people to self-isolate at home for seven days if they are ill is a way of slowing down transmission and 'flattening the curve' she said.But she added that she believes those at most risk of severe illness-such as those with serious underlying health conditions-should already be practising self- isolation.'The people who are not as vulnerable will be the first to acquire immunity I expect but that will never be 100%' she added. 'Allowing free spread to nursing homes and so on would be a disaster.'"";""Beate Kampmann"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"152;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Harris told BBC Radio 4s Today: 'We dont know enough about the science of this virus it hasnt been in our population for long enough for us to know what itdoes in immunological terms.'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile. We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"153;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Anthony Costello professor of international child health and director of the University College London Institute for Global Health questioned the tactics and argued they looked like they were against the policy set down by the WHO where he used to be a director.On Twitter Prof Costello said: 'Doesn't this herd immunity strategy conflict with WHO policy? After the announcement of this being a pandemic Dr Tedros Director General WHO said 'The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous'.'Prof Costello said the Government was arguing that allowing a proportion of the population to catch the virus and gain immunity 'will block a second peak in several months' time'.This isn't a strategy. It's surrender. https://t.co/yAkReeoTaA ” Anthony Costello (@globalhlthtwit) March 132020But he tweeted a series of questions showing scepticism for the policy including: 'Will it impair efforts to restrict the immediate epidemic and cause more infections and deaths in the near term? Evidence suggests people shed virus early and those without symptoms may cause substantial spread...'He also questioned whether 'coronavirus cause strong herd immunity or is it like flu where new strains emerge each year needing repeat vaccines? We have much to learn about Co-V immune responses.'He said there was also an argument to see what happened in China where the epidemic there has been contained 'after 7 weeks of intense national effort'.He added: 'Without an all-out national mobilisation plan for social distancing are the UK government behavioural and nudge strategies really evidence-based to flatten the peak? Or simply based on models?'Prof Costello suggested that 'shouldn't we go all-out to snuff this UK epidemic out with national mobilisation at all levels using all possible preventive measures (whether evidence is strong uncertain or weak) and worry about herd immunity when we have more evidence?'He continued: 'Vaccines are a safer way to develop herd immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself. Is it ethical to adopt a policy that threatens immediate casualties on the basis of an uncertain future benefit?'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"154;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Tedros Director General WHO said 'The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous'.'"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"155;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""In a separate tweet Devi Sridhar professor of global public health at Edinburgh University said: 'Part of my job is speaking truth to power. And the UK govt is (in my view) getting it wrong.'Other countries have shown speed is crucial. There is a middle path between complete shutdown & carrying on as normal.'I've been talking to other academics science journalists private companies & gov't people all of today and still struggling to understand this. The gov't seems to befollowing flu playbook strategy. But this is not the flu. COVID-19 is much worse & health outcomes are sobering https://t.co/VIU8iJ18EQ ” Devi Sridhar (@devisridhar) March 13 2020"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"156;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""'Yet if we slow the spread of the virus but are relying on herd immunity to protect the most vulnerable people we would still need 47 million people to be infected."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"157;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""'Yet if we slow the spread of the virus but are relying on herd immunity to protect the most vulnerable people we would still need 47 million people to be infected."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"158;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""'Yet if we slow the spread of the virus but are relying on herd immunity to protect the most vulnerable people we would still need 47 million people to be infected."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"159;2020-03-15 12:00:00;364;""What is herd immunity and will it stop coronavirus in the UK?"";""Gareth Davies"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""However Martin Hibberd professor of emerging infectious disease at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said it was unclear how the UK policieswill work compared to other European policies 'but I suspect they will be similar'.He added: 'The Government plan assumes that herd immunity will eventually happen and from my reading hopes that this occurs before the winter season when the disease might be expected to become more prevalent.'However I do worry that making plans that assume such a large proportion of the population will become infected (and hopefully recovered and immune) may not be the very best that we can do."";""Martin Hibbard"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"146;2020-03-15 12:00:00;365;""Matt Hancock insists ''''''''herd immunity'''''''' not part of government''''''''s plan for tackling coronavirus"";""Unspecified"";""PoliticsHome"";"""";"""";""Speaking Radio Four's Today programme on Friday chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.'At the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it. Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"147;2020-03-15 12:00:00;365;""Matt Hancock insists ''''''''herd immunity'''''''' not part of government''''''''s plan for tackling coronavirus"";""Unspecified"";""PoliticsHome"";"""";"""";""Speaking Radio Four's Today programme on Friday chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.'At the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it. Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"148;2020-03-15 12:00:00;365;""Matt Hancock insists ''''''''herd immunity'''''''' not part of government''''''''s plan for tackling coronavirus"";""Unspecified"";""PoliticsHome"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock added: 'Herd immunity is not a part of it. That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"144;2020-03-15 12:00:00;366;""UK EXPERTS REJECT CRITICISM OF HERD TACTICS"";""Glen Owen"";""Mail on Sunday"";"""";"""";""The row blew up after Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said public gatherings such as football matches were not being abandoned as quickly as those in other countries because it would be beneficial if a proportion of the population could be exposed to the new virus ' and build up a herd immunity to it ' otherwise Britain would be vulnerable to future epidemics."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"145;2020-03-15 12:00:00;366;""UK EXPERTS REJECT CRITICISM OF HERD TACTICS"";""Glen Owen"";""Mail on Sunday"";"""";"""";""She said: We dont know enough about the science of this virus it hasnt been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile. We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action."";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"143;2020-03-15 12:00:00;367;""WHO queries ''herd immunity'' approach of UK"";""Sarah Henderson"";""Sunday Life"";"""";"""";""WHO spokeswoman Dr Harris questioned the UK's approach to developing 'herd immunity' against Covid-19 saying: 'We don't know enough about the science of this virus it hasn't been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile. We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"141;2020-03-15 12:00:00;368;""W.H.O. BLASTS HERD IDEA"";""Unspecified"";""Sunday People"";"""";"""";""The WHO's Dr Margaret Harris said not enough is known about the virus to allow millions of Brits to become infected to boost our resistance. She said: 'At the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.' The UK's chief scientific adviser said about 60 per cent would need to get ill to reach herd immunity."";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"142;2020-03-15 12:00:00;368;""W.H.O. BLASTS HERD IDEA"";""Unspecified"";""Sunday People"";"""";"""";""HO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: 'Do not just let this fire burn."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"139;2020-03-15 12:00:00;369;""PM''s immunity plan blasted again by WHO"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""Dr Margaret Harris said 'not enough is known about the science of the virus' to let millions of Britons become infected in order to boost our resistance. 'This virus hasn't been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms' she said.'Every virus will function differently in your body and will stimulate a different immunological profile.'We can talk theories but at this moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"140;2020-03-15 12:00:00;369;""PM''s immunity plan blasted again by WHO"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who said: 'Do not just let this fire burn.'"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"136;2020-03-15 12:00:00;370;""Ministers deny aim is ''''herd immunity''''"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Times"";"""";"""";""They wrote: 'The current data about the number of infections in the UK is in line with the growth curves already observed in other countries including Italy Spain France and Germany.'The same data suggests that the number of infected will be in the order of dozens of thousands within a few days.' They added: 'We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately.'"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"137;2020-03-15 12:00:00;370;""Ministers deny aim is ''''herd immunity''''"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Times"";"""";"""";""They wrote: 'The current data about the number of infections in the UK is in line with the growth curves already observed in other countries including Italy Spain France and Germany.'The same data suggests that the number of infected will be in the order of dozens of thousands within a few days.' They added: 'We consider the social distancing measures taken as of today as insufficient and we believe that additional and more restrictive measures should be taken immediately.'"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"138;2020-03-15 12:00:00;370;""Ministers deny aim is ''''herd immunity''''"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Times"";"""";"""";""'to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"240;2020-03-16 12:00:00;341;""Immunity is side-effect containment is priority"";""Julian Glover"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""IN RECENT days there have been suggestions that the UK Covid-19 strategy is to sit back and do nothing with the aim of creating 'herd immunity'. This is a dangerous and misleading message.Having large numbers infected is not the aim here it's just a tragic consequence of having a virus that based on current evidence is unlikely to be fully controllable in the long term in the UK. Sadly even large-scale changes like those other European countries are making and we may soon may not control Covid for long.We must flatten the curve as much as possible to reduce the impact on the NHS but many people could still get infected. The side-effect may end up being immunity but this is merely a consequence of a very difficult situation albeit one that may help prevent another outbreak. We are in this for the long term.We need to change our routines now: self-isolate if we get a cough or fever practise good hand hygiene support people in risk groups. We must all be ready to act."";""Adam Kucharski"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"241;2020-03-16 12:00:00;341;""Immunity is side-effect containment is priority"";""Julian Glover"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""IN RECENT days there have been suggestions that the UK Covid-19 strategy is to sit back and do nothing with the aim of creating 'herd immunity'. This is a dangerous and misleading message.Having large numbers infected is not the aim here it's just a tragic consequence of having a virus that based on current evidence is unlikely to be fully controllable in the long term in the UK. Sadly even large-scale changes like those other European countries are making and we may soon may not control Covid for long.We must flatten the curve as much as possible to reduce the impact on the NHS but many people could still get infected. The side-effect may end up being immunity but this is merely a consequence of a very difficult situation albeit one that may help prevent another outbreak. We are in this for the long term.We need to change our routines now: self-isolate if we get a cough or fever practise good hand hygiene support people in risk groups. We must all be ready to act."";""Adam Kucharski"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"236;2020-03-16 12:00:00;342;""My NHS colleagues and I won‚„t stand by while the government gambles with our lives. We must change our coronavirus strategy"";""Dominic Pimenta"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""We simply dont have the bedsYesterday I did the Covid-19 protective training for NHS staff. The atmosphere was nearly jovial though the laughter was a little forced. On the way up Id been reading about the situation abroad. Ten per cent of Lombardis coronavirus cases have been healthcare workers hundreds of Chinese doctors and nurses have died treating the pandemic. The government is taking an enormous risk with its herd immunity� strategy “ and our lives hang in the balance.Today over 1000 NHS frontline healthcare workers sign a http://independent.co.uk/voices/letters/coronavirus-uk-plan-herd-immunity-work-nhs-health-service- a9404846.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/coronavirus-uk-plan-herd-immunity-work-nhs-health-service-a9404846.htmlcalling on the government to abandon its herd immunity� strategy and attempt “ as the rest of the international community is doing “ to contain the virus.The crisis has not yet truly hit and already we are running out of face masks. This week Public Health England (PHE) downgraded its guidance for those treatingcoronavirus patients from a full respirator mask to only a surgical mask unless we are doing an invasive procedure or administering CPR. This isnt because PHE decided staff were at any less risk than previously thought “ simply because it realised the NHS lacks the necessary respirator masks.Boris Johnsons coronavirus house of cards is already collapsing. Its no wonder: it was built on the deeply flawed assumption that allowing the epidemic to spread will produce herd immunity� in the population thereby flattening the curve� of the infection rate. Yet we dont actually know for certain that Covid-19 can confer immunity the British Society of Immunology is sceptical that it can.Furthermore whatever the epidemic strategy the NHS has a finite capacity. We dont for example have sufficient ventilators or staff to run them to for the epidemic- size coronavirus outbreak for which we are supposedly planning as we plough full-steam ahead into the exponential growth phase of the pandemic plans to manufacture new ventilators are only just being announced. Leaked Public Health England documents suggest we expect up to 80% of the population or 53million people to be infected. Spread out over a year this would mean tens of thousands hospital admissions every day. We simply dont have the beds.If we allow coronavirus to run its course as the government plans to the NHS will be overrun within weeks. Instead the government should be attempting to limit the number of cases as much as possible. This runs the risk of a second peak later in the year “ yet by the time this peak comes we will be better prepared to deal with it.That is why we are asking the government to immediately escalate its policy and do its utmost to aggressively contain this virus by any means possible. We need time to implement the wholesale changes that it will require to mobilise an army of healthcare professionals to fight the epidemic and to do so safely “ time to manufacture ventilators and protective equipment to train additional staff and organise our hospitals to allow treatments such as antivirals and vaccines to become available.What happens if we continue down this path isnt a mystery “ its happening right now in Italy. We need to act immediately to ensure we dont share their fate.                                                                          "";""Dominic Pimenta"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"237;2020-03-16 12:00:00;342;""My NHS colleagues and I won‚„t stand by while the government gambles with our lives. We must change our coronavirus strategy"";""Dominic Pimenta"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""We simply dont have the bedsYesterday I did the Covid-19 protective training for NHS staff. The atmosphere was nearly jovial though the laughter was a little forced. On the way up Id been reading about the situation abroad. Ten per cent of Lombardis coronavirus cases have been healthcare workers hundreds of Chinese doctors and nurses have died treating the pandemic. The government is taking an enormous risk with its herd immunity� strategy “ and our lives hang in the balance.Today over 1000 NHS frontline healthcare workers sign a http://independent.co.uk/voices/letters/coronavirus-uk-plan-herd-immunity-work-nhs-health-service- a9404846.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/coronavirus-uk-plan-herd-immunity-work-nhs-health-service-a9404846.htmlcalling on the government to abandon its herd immunity� strategy and attempt “ as the rest of the international community is doing “ to contain the virus.The crisis has not yet truly hit and already we are running out of face masks. This week Public Health England (PHE) downgraded its guidance for those treatingcoronavirus patients from a full respirator mask to only a surgical mask unless we are doing an invasive procedure or administering CPR. This isnt because PHE decided staff were at any less risk than previously thought “ simply because it realised the NHS lacks the necessary respirator masks.Boris Johnsons coronavirus house of cards is already collapsing. Its no wonder: it was built on the deeply flawed assumption that allowing the epidemic to spread will produce herd immunity� in the population thereby flattening the curve� of the infection rate. Yet we dont actually know for certain that Covid-19 can confer immunity the British Society of Immunology is sceptical that it can.Furthermore whatever the epidemic strategy the NHS has a finite capacity. We dont for example have sufficient ventilators or staff to run them to for the epidemic- size coronavirus outbreak for which we are supposedly planning as we plough full-steam ahead into the exponential growth phase of the pandemic plans to manufacture new ventilators are only just being announced. Leaked Public Health England documents suggest we expect up to 80% of the population or 53million people to be infected. Spread out over a year this would mean tens of thousands hospital admissions every day. We simply dont have the beds.If we allow coronavirus to run its course as the government plans to the NHS will be overrun within weeks. Instead the government should be attempting to limit the number of cases as much as possible. This runs the risk of a second peak later in the year “ yet by the time this peak comes we will be better prepared to deal with it.That is why we are asking the government to immediately escalate its policy and do its utmost to aggressively contain this virus by any means possible. We need time to implement the wholesale changes that it will require to mobilise an army of healthcare professionals to fight the epidemic and to do so safely “ time to manufacture ventilators and protective equipment to train additional staff and organise our hospitals to allow treatments such as antivirals and vaccines to become available.What happens if we continue down this path isnt a mystery “ its happening right now in Italy. We need to act immediately to ensure we dont share their fate.                                                                          "";""Dominic Pimenta"";""National Health Service"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"238;2020-03-16 12:00:00;342;""My NHS colleagues and I won‚„t stand by while the government gambles with our lives. We must change our coronavirus strategy"";""Dominic Pimenta"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""We simply dont have the bedsYesterday I did the Covid-19 protective training for NHS staff. The atmosphere was nearly jovial though the laughter was a little forced. On the way up Id been reading about the situation abroad. Ten per cent of Lombardis coronavirus cases have been healthcare workers hundreds of Chinese doctors and nurses have died treating the pandemic. The government is taking an enormous risk with its herd immunity� strategy “ and our lives hang in the balance.Today over 1000 NHS frontline healthcare workers sign a http://independent.co.uk/voices/letters/coronavirus-uk-plan-herd-immunity-work-nhs-health-service- a9404846.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/coronavirus-uk-plan-herd-immunity-work-nhs-health-service-a9404846.htmlcalling on the government to abandon its herd immunity� strategy and attempt “ as the rest of the international community is doing “ to contain the virus.The crisis has not yet truly hit and already we are running out of face masks. This week Public Health England (PHE) downgraded its guidance for those treatingcoronavirus patients from a full respirator mask to only a surgical mask unless we are doing an invasive procedure or administering CPR. This isnt because PHE decided staff were at any less risk than previously thought “ simply because it realised the NHS lacks the necessary respirator masks.Boris Johnsons coronavirus house of cards is already collapsing. Its no wonder: it was built on the deeply flawed assumption that allowing the epidemic to spread will produce herd immunity� in the population thereby flattening the curve� of the infection rate. Yet we dont actually know for certain that Covid-19 can confer immunity the British Society of Immunology is sceptical that it can.Furthermore whatever the epidemic strategy the NHS has a finite capacity. We dont for example have sufficient ventilators or staff to run them to for the epidemic- size coronavirus outbreak for which we are supposedly planning as we plough full-steam ahead into the exponential growth phase of the pandemic plans to manufacture new ventilators are only just being announced. Leaked Public Health England documents suggest we expect up to 80% of the population or 53million people to be infected. Spread out over a year this would mean tens of thousands hospital admissions every day. We simply dont have the beds.If we allow coronavirus to run its course as the government plans to the NHS will be overrun within weeks. Instead the government should be attempting to limit the number of cases as much as possible. This runs the risk of a second peak later in the year “ yet by the time this peak comes we will be better prepared to deal with it.That is why we are asking the government to immediately escalate its policy and do its utmost to aggressively contain this virus by any means possible. We need time to implement the wholesale changes that it will require to mobilise an army of healthcare professionals to fight the epidemic and to do so safely “ time to manufacture ventilators and protective equipment to train additional staff and organise our hospitals to allow treatments such as antivirals and vaccines to become available.What happens if we continue down this path isnt a mystery “ its happening right now in Italy. We need to act immediately to ensure we dont share their fate.                                                                          "";""Dominic Pimenta"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"232;2020-03-16 12:00:00;343;""Herd immunity policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""On Friday Sir Patrick Vallance the chief scientific adviser said the aim was to 'broaden the peak' of the illness but not suppress it adding that if many people caught it and became immune then transmission would stop."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"233;2020-03-16 12:00:00;343;""Herd immunity policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Yesterday Matt Hancock appeared to backtrack on the idea stating that 'herd immunity' was a 'scientific concept' rather than the Government's goal or policy."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"234;2020-03-16 12:00:00;343;""Herd immunity policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""In a letter to the Health Secretary Sir Patrick and Prof Chris Whitty the Government's chief medical officer the British Society for Immunology (BSI) warned there could be 'severe consequences' of infecting large numbers of people when knowledge of the virus was still so limited. 'We don't yet know if this novel virus will induce longterm immunity in those affected as other related viruses do not' said Arne Akbar the society president. 'Therefore it would be prudent to prevent infection in the first place.'"";""The British Society of Immunology"";""The British Society of Immunology"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"235;2020-03-16 12:00:00;343;""Herd immunity policy may have ''severe consequences'' say experts"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Dr Doug Brown the BSI chief executive said: 'We have over 4000 members and researchers and were really quite surprised and concerned that herd immunity appeared to be the government policy.'Dr Brown said there were a 'number of unknowns' regarding the virus and that scientists did not know enough about whether those who catch it would develop long term immunity.'The common cold is a coronavirus and after three months there is no longer-term immunity to catching it again. We don't know if that will be the case here. We would like to see more social distancing measures that have been brought in in other European countries such as limiting movement within communities and banning large scale events and more home-working."";""Doug Brown"";""The British Society of Immunology"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"228;2020-03-16 12:00:00;344;""UK government urged to provide clarity on ''herd immunity'' worry"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick set out the government's approach to managing the epidemic last week saying: 'Our aim is to try to reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress itcompletely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"229;2020-03-16 12:00:00;344;""UK government urged to provide clarity on ''herd immunity'' worry"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock told the BBC yesterday: 'Herd immunity is not our policy it's not our goal. Our goal is to protect life and our policy is to fight the virus and protect the vulnerable and the NHS. Of course there is a scientific debate around scientific concepts.'Asked whether young healthy people should aim to get the virus to try to achieve herd immunity he said: 'No the consequence of the infection rate rising too fast is very clear. That's why we need to bring the infection rate down at the same time as doing the work to increase the NHS capacity especially in the areas of most need like ventilators.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"230;2020-03-16 12:00:00;344;""UK government urged to provide clarity on ''herd immunity'' worry"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Professor David Spiegelhalter of the Winton centre for risk and evidence communication at the University of Cambridge said: '[Herd immunity] is never mentionedas a short-term goal in the published strategies and Patrick Vallance only mentioned it in relation to the longer term if the virus returns annually. It is unfortunate that he did not immediately add that this was not a short-term goal.'"";""David Spiegelhalter"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"231;2020-03-16 12:00:00;344;""UK government urged to provide clarity on ''herd immunity'' worry"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Mr Hunt said that the health secretary's remarks came as a 'huge relief'. He said of the herd immunity concept: 'The cost in terms of lives lost would be catastrophic irrespective of the longerterm merits of herd immunity.'"";""Jeremy Hunt"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"224;2020-03-16 12:00:00;345;""No 10 facing questions about herd immunity''s human cost"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick set out the government's approach to managing the epidemic last week saying: 'Our aim is to try to reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"225;2020-03-16 12:00:00;345;""No 10 facing questions about herd immunity''s human cost"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock told the BBC yesterday: 'Herd immunity is not our policy it's not our goal. Our goal is to protect life and our policy is to fight the virus and protect the vulnerable and the NHS. Of course there is a scientific debate around scientific concepts.'Asked whether young healthy people should aim to get the virus to try to achieve herd immunity he said: 'No the consequence of the infection rate rising too fast is very clear."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"226;2020-03-16 12:00:00;345;""No 10 facing questions about herd immunity''s human cost"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""David Spiegelhalter of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge said: '[Herd immunity] is never mentioned as a short-term goal in the published strategies and PatrickVallance only mentioned it in relation to the longer term if the virus returns annually. It is unfortunate that he did not immediately add that this was not a short-term goal.'"";""David Spiegelhalter"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"227;2020-03-16 12:00:00;345;""No 10 facing questions about herd immunity''s human cost"";""Lucy Fisher Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Mr Hunt said that the health secretary's remarks came as a 'huge relief'. He said of the herd immunity concept: 'The cost in terms of lives lost would be catastrophic irrespective of the longerterm merits of herd immunity.' More drastic measures are needed if the government wants to curb the epidemic he suggested.'If we are now seeking to suppress the virus we need to follow the countries that have done that successfully including moving immediately to more social distancing policies not just for the elderly but anyone who might come into contact with them' he said."";""Jeremy Hunt"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"223;2020-03-16 12:00:00;346;""Dangers of ''''''''herd immunity''''''''"";""Matt Hancock"";""I "";"""";"""";""We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it. That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate. (Matt Hancock MP)"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"242;2020-03-17 12:00:00;340;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity? How government believes it will stop Covid-19 in UK"";""Ariana Sohrabi-Shiraz"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick explained how the aim is to reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely�.He continued: Because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of her immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"243;2020-03-17 12:00:00;340;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity? How government believes it will stop Covid-19 in UK"";""Ariana Sohrabi-Shiraz"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""However according to UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock herd immunity is not the governments actual plan.He said: Herd immunity is not our goal or policy.�In the press conference on Monday March 16 Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not reiterate whether herd immunity was still what they were hoping to achieve."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"257;2020-03-18 12:00:00;335;""China''s top coronavirus expert says ''herd immunity'' WILL NOT curb the pandemic because the disease is too infectious and lethal"";""Emilia Jiang"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Herd immunity won't solve the problem' Dr Zhong Nanshan said in a press conference today.'We don't have the evidence to prove that if you are infected once you would be immune for life.''Our next step is to develop effective vaccines which requires global cooperation' he added."";""Zhong Nanshan"";""Chinese Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"258;2020-03-18 12:00:00;335;""China''s top coronavirus expert says ''herd immunity'' WILL NOT curb the pandemic because the disease is too infectious and lethal"";""Emilia Jiang"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We don't know enough about the science of this virus it hasn't been in our population for long enough for us to know what it does in immunological terms.'Every virus functions differently in your body and stimulates a different immunological profile.'We can talk theories but at the moment we are really facing a situation where we have got to look at action.'"";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"252;2020-03-18 12:00:00;336;""LETHAL SPREAD China‚„s top coronavirus expert says ‚herd immunity‚„ has ZERO chance of curbing pandemic because it‚„s too infectious"";""Tariq Tahir"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity wont solve the problem� said Dr Zhong.We dont have the evidence to prove that if you are infected once you would be immune for life. Our next step is to develop effective vaccines which requires global cooperation.�"";""Zhong Nanshan"";""Chinese Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"253;2020-03-18 12:00:00;336;""LETHAL SPREAD China‚„s top coronavirus expert says ‚herd immunity‚„ has ZERO chance of curbing pandemic because it‚„s too infectious"";""Tariq Tahir"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"254;2020-03-18 12:00:00;336;""LETHAL SPREAD China‚„s top coronavirus expert says ‚herd immunity‚„ has ZERO chance of curbing pandemic because it‚„s too infectious"";""Tariq Tahir"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""But Health Secretary Matt Hancock denied that was the Governments policy describing it as a scientific concept�."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"255;2020-03-18 12:00:00;336;""LETHAL SPREAD China‚„s top coronavirus expert says ‚herd immunity‚„ has ZERO chance of curbing pandemic because it‚„s too infectious"";""Tariq Tahir"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The approach had been criticised by a group of scientists from UK universities who said it risks many more lives than necessary�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"256;2020-03-18 12:00:00;336;""LETHAL SPREAD China‚„s top coronavirus expert says ‚herd immunity‚„ has ZERO chance of curbing pandemic because it‚„s too infectious"";""Tariq Tahir"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The approach had been criticised by a group of scientists from UK universities who said it risks many more lives than necessary�"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"249;2020-03-18 12:00:00;337;""I WON''T BE BORIS JOHNSON''S CORONAVIRUS GUINEA PIG - FRENCHMAN WHO FLED LONDON"";""Aine Fox"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""England's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said last week that a herd immunity approach - where a large portion of the public are exposed to the disease -could be beneficial but Health Secretary Matt Hancock denied that was the Government's policy describing it as a 'scientific concept'."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"250;2020-03-18 12:00:00;337;""I WON''T BE BORIS JOHNSON''S CORONAVIRUS GUINEA PIG - FRENCHMAN WHO FLED LONDON"";""Aine Fox"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The approach had been criticised by a group of scientists from UK universities who said it risks 'many more lives than necessary';Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"251;2020-03-18 12:00:00;337;""I WON''T BE BORIS JOHNSON''S CORONAVIRUS GUINEA PIG - FRENCHMAN WHO FLED LONDON"";""Aine Fox"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The approach had been criticised by a group of scientists from UK universities who said it risks 'many more lives than necessary';Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"244;2020-03-18 12:00:00;338;""‚I won‚„t be Boris Johnson‚„s guinea pig‚„ says cancer survivor who fled London amid anger at UK response"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely� Sir Patrick told the BBCs Today on Friday.Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce thetransmission. At the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"245;2020-03-18 12:00:00;338;""‚I won‚„t be Boris Johnson‚„s guinea pig‚„ says cancer survivor who fled London amid anger at UK response"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely� Sir Patrick told the BBCs Today on Friday.Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce thetransmission. At the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"246;2020-03-18 12:00:00;338;""‚I won‚„t be Boris Johnson‚„s guinea pig‚„ says cancer survivor who fled London amid anger at UK response"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Health secretary Matt Hancock later denied that was the governments policy describing herd immunity as a scientific concept not a goal or strategy�."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"247;2020-03-18 12:00:00;338;""‚I won‚„t be Boris Johnson‚„s guinea pig‚„ says cancer survivor who fled London amid anger at UK response"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The approach had been criticised by a group of scientists from UK universities who said it risks many more lives than necessary�;Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"248;2020-03-18 12:00:00;338;""‚I won‚„t be Boris Johnson‚„s guinea pig‚„ says cancer survivor who fled London amid anger at UK response"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The approach had been criticised by a group of scientists from UK universities who said it risks many more lives than necessary�;Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"170;2020-03-20 12:00:00;360;""HEALTH SECRETARY DENIES ''''HERD IMMUNITY'''' IS POLICY TO TACKLE CORONAVIRUS"";""Sam Blewett"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""This approach has been criticised by a group of 229 scientists from UK universities who said it risks 'many more lives than necessary' and called into question by the World Health Organisation (WHO)."";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"171;2020-03-20 12:00:00;360;""HEALTH SECRETARY DENIES ''''HERD IMMUNITY'''' IS POLICY TO TACKLE CORONAVIRUS"";""Sam Blewett"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""This approach has been criticised by a group of 229 scientists from UK universities who said it risks 'many more lives than necessary' and called into question by the World Health Organisation (WHO)."";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"172;2020-03-20 12:00:00;360;""HEALTH SECRETARY DENIES ''''HERD IMMUNITY'''' IS POLICY TO TACKLE CORONAVIRUS"";""Sam Blewett"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday: 'What we will do is listen to all the credible scientists and we will look at all the evidence.'Herd immunity is not our goal or policy it's a scientific concept. Our policy is to protect lives and to beat this virus.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"173;2020-03-20 12:00:00;360;""HEALTH SECRETARY DENIES ''''HERD IMMUNITY'''' IS POLICY TO TACKLE CORONAVIRUS"";""Sam Blewett"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris has also said 'action' is needed over 'theories' while there is insufficient knowledge of the science of the coronavirus."";""Margaret Harris"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"288;2020-03-22 12:00:00;323;""Downing Street fury over ''let OAPs die'' accusation: No 10 angrily denies claims that Dominic Cummings said pensioners should be sacrificed..."";""Larisa Brown"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""On March 15 Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted the Governments overriding objective was to save lives amid the coronavirus outbreak. ˜We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it he wrote in the Telegraph ."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"269;2020-03-22 12:00:00;330;""Furious Downing Street blasts claim that the PM''s top aide Dominic Cummings once backed ''herd immunity'' coronavirus strategy by saying ''if that means some pensioners die too bad''"";""Danielle Sheridan"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""But Mr Hancock insisted the government's overriding objective was to save lives amid the coronavirus outbreak.'We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists' he wrote in the Telegraph. 'Herd immunity is not a part of it.';Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"260;2020-03-22 12:00:00;334;""Gary Lineker takes aim at ''sickening'' coronavirus plan as death toll rises"";""Warren Muggleton"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Gary Lineker dubbed reports over ˜herd immunity theories reportedly heard from Boris Johnsons adviser Dominic Cummings ˜sickeningGary Lineker dubbed the governments rumoured coronavirus plan sickening� as the diseases death toll continues to rise."";""Gary Lineker"";""Leicester Football Club"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Business"""
"259;2020-03-22 12:00:00;334;""Gary Lineker takes aim at ''sickening'' coronavirus plan as death toll rises"";""Warren Muggleton"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick Vallance said last week: 'Around 60 percent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.'We want to suppress it not get rid of it completely -which you can't do anyway.'Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"285;2020-03-23 12:00:00;324;""No 10 fury over ''let OAPs die'' accusation"";""Larisa Brown"";""Scottish Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""On March 15 Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted the Government's overriding objective was to save lives amid the coronavirus outbreak. 'We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it' he wrote in the Telegraph."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"278;2020-03-23 12:00:00;327;""No 10 denies Cummings implied it was ''''too bad'''' if pensioners died"";""Danielle Sheridan"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Matt Hancock the Health Secretary has previously said that herd immunity is not a part of the Government's strategy. 'Our goal is to protect life from this virus our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"275;2020-03-23 12:00:00;328;""NO 10 FURY OVER ''LET OAPS DIE'' ACCUSATION"";""Lizzy Buchan"";""Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""'We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it' he wrote in the Telegraph."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"270;2020-03-23 12:00:00;329;""No 10: Cummings didn‚„t vow to protect the economy and let pensioners die"";""Unspecified"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock said the governments overriding goal was to protect life� and herd immunity was a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy�."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"291;2020-03-25 12:00:00;321;""Professor: half the country may have caught it already"";""Rhys Blakely"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""However the researchers suggest that the vast majority of people who contract Covid-19 may suffer little or no illness. They believe that as few as one in a thousand could require hospital treatment an assumption that suggests according to their model that half of the country could now be immune.'Even if it's one in a hundred [who fall seriously ill] you still get to 35 per cent immunity' Sunetra Gupta a professor of theoretical epidemiology at Oxford who led the study said."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"292;2020-03-30 12:00:00;320;""Of course we must stop coronavirus but not at the cost of becoming a police state"";""Nigel Farage"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""I was delighted when the Government performed its dramatic U-turn a few weeks ago and moved away from a herd immunity strategy rapid spread of Covid-19. To have allowed 500000 people to die while watching the NHS being overwhelmed would have been immoral."";""Nigel Farage"";""Reform Party"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"293;2020-03-30 12:00:00;320;""Of course we must stop coronavirus but not at the cost of becoming a police state"";""Nigel Farage"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""I was delighted when the Government performed its dramatic U-turn a few weeks ago and moved away from a herd immunity strategy rapid spread of Covid-19. To have allowed 500000 people to die while watching the NHS being overwhelmed would have been immoral."";""Nigel Farage"";""Reform Party"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"294;2020-03-30 12:00:00;320;""Of course we must stop coronavirus but not at the cost of becoming a police state"";""Nigel Farage"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""I was delighted when the Government performed its dramatic U-turn a few weeks ago and moved away from a herd immunity strategy rapid spread of Covid-19. To have allowed 500000 people to die while watching the NHS being overwhelmed would have been immoral."";""Nigel Farage"";""Reform Party"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"1249;2020-03-31 12:00:00;315;""Britain didn''t properly prepare for coronavirus testing because it planned to rely on discredited ''herd immunity'' strategy claims leading scientist"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Early on in the UK's outbreak the Government suggested one way of beating the virus was by allowing 80 per cent of Britons to get infected to build 'herd immunity'. Professor Sridhar tweeted today that this kind of thinking 'resulted in the UK giving up on containment too early.''Planning and preparing for unprecedented testing and using big data/apps for tracing were taken off the table. In my view we went down the wrong path' she said."";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"297;2020-03-31 12:00:00;316;""Chief scientific adviser wants 40million Britons - 60 percent of the entire population - to catch coronavirus for herd immunity to take effect"";""Martin Robinson"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""He said: 'All of the evidence from previous epidemics suggests that when you do that and then you release it it all comes back again... this is to make sure we don't end up with a sudden peak again in the winter which is even larger which causes even more problems.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1250;2020-03-31 12:00:00;316;""Chief scientific adviser wants 40million Britons - 60 percent of the entire population - to catch coronavirus for herd immunity to take effect"";""Martin Robinson"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""He said: 'All of the evidence from previous epidemics suggests that when you do that and then you release it it all comes back again... this is to make sure we don't end up with a sudden peak again in the winter which is even larger which causes even more problems.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Government"""
"298;2020-03-31 12:00:00;316;""Chief scientific adviser wants 40million Britons - 60 percent of the entire population - to catch coronavirus for herd immunity to take effect"";""Martin Robinson"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""He told CNN last night: 'This is a very eccentric policy and I am troubled by it on a number of different levels.'One of them is if the UK with all its resources as a major economy is one of the only countries to actually allow this virus to spread quickly that will pose huge strains for the rest of the world system."";""Rory Stewart"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Individual"""
"1251;2020-03-31 12:00:00;316;""Chief scientific adviser wants 40million Britons - 60 percent of the entire population - to catch coronavirus for herd immunity to take effect"";""Martin Robinson"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Secondly this problem is this theory is based on very very complex modelling and they are putting a lot of faith in the mathematical modelling to be able to land theirpeak in the summer.'And thirdly I think they underestimating the impact that I think is going to hit our health system if they allow it to go in this direction.'"";""Rory Stewart"";"""";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Individual"""
"1252;2020-03-31 12:00:00;316;""Chief scientific adviser wants 40million Britons - 60 percent of the entire population - to catch coronavirus for herd immunity to take effect"";""Martin Robinson"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""He said: 'We want to suppress it not get rid of it completely which you can't do anyway and also allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this to help with the sort of whole population response which would protect everybody.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1253;2020-03-31 12:00:00;316;""Chief scientific adviser wants 40million Britons - 60 percent of the entire population - to catch coronavirus for herd immunity to take effect"";""Martin Robinson"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'What we don't want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services - that's the flattening of the peak' he said. 'You can't stop it so you should end up with a broader peak during which time you'd anticipate that more people would get immunity to this. That in itself becomes aprotective part of this process.'This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1254;2020-03-31 12:00:00;316;""Chief scientific adviser wants 40million Britons - 60 percent of the entire population - to catch coronavirus for herd immunity to take effect"";""Martin Robinson"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'What we don't want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services - that's the flattening of the peak' he said. 'You can't stop it so you should end up with a broader peak during which time you'd anticipate that more people would get immunity to this. That in itself becomes aprotective part of this process.'This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"1255;2020-03-31 12:00:00;316;""Chief scientific adviser wants 40million Britons - 60 percent of the entire population - to catch coronavirus for herd immunity to take effect"";""Martin Robinson"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'What we don't want is everybody to end up getting it in a short period of time so we swamp and overwhelm NHS services - that's the flattening of the peak' he said. 'You can't stop it so you should end up with a broader peak during which time you'd anticipate that more people would get immunity to this. That in itself becomes aprotective part of this process.'This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"295;2020-03-31 12:00:00;318;""Herd immunity is the only way out of this impasse"";""Julien Gaer"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";"" Just over two weeks ago Patrick Vallance told the Today programme that the governments strategy for fighting the Covid-19 outbreak was built aroundherd immunity . This is a tried and tested method for managing outbreaks of infectious disease: once a sufficiently large proportion of the population has some form of immunity acquired either through vaccination or surviving a disease it becomes impossible for it to spread. Herd immunity worked for smallpox and it worked for measles-or at least it did until the anti-vaxxers decided that they would exercise their freedom of choice by refusing to immunise themselves or their children.The problem with herd immunity acquired through infection is that it comes at a price: namely that in this first epidemic (and be in no doubt that this is not the only outbreak of Covid-19 that we will endure) the disease runs riot and the mortality is substantial. A large number of at-risk people will die while the rest of the population is acquiring immunity. This is likely why once the reality of what herd immunity implies had started to dawn on the population at largewe have heard no more about it .The alternative strategy is to do what China and to a lesser extent Israel have done. In China the state knows where you are or more specifically where your mobile phone is at any given time. It can prevent you attending subversive events it can tell whether you really are off sick or have just decided to spend a lazy day in bed. It can tell immediately if you have decided to breach the curfew send a drone to tell you off and deliver an on-the-spot fine.In 1948 the government of Israel declared a state of emergency to enable it to manage the war that followed the founding of the nation that state of emergency has been in place ever since. History has shown repeatedly that liberties surrendered however noble the cause may be a long time returning.So there is both a medical and a philosophical reason why the authoritarian approach is not necessarily the answer.Medically fighting an epidemic by suppressing it through draconian restrictions of liberty achieves the opposite of herd immunity. It ensures that the majority of survivors have no immunity and so are at just as much risk next time around. Of course the advocates of this approach are banking on the development of vaccines and other therapies for the management of the next epidemic. But a usable vaccine will almost certainly not be available by the time this disease comes back for an encore. Novel treatments based on anti-malarial drugs and antibiotics will also need to be evaluated in proper clinical trials. So we will have to do the same again next time with the attendant risks to the economy and the fabric of society.The philosophical question therefore is in fighting this disease what kind of society and economy do we want to leave to our children and grandchildren? To what extent are we prepared to throw the baby out with the bathwater?Much has been written and said about how this is the greatest emergency facing our nation “ indeed the world “ since the Second World War . Then more than 30 million people died fighting fascist ideology. There are few who question the justness of that struggle.For centuries we have found no difficulty in asking young men and women to put their lives at risk in defence of our democracy to say nothing of asking them to do so in pursuit of some often questionable economic and colonial aims. The difference this time is that it would be those of us in the last third of our lives being asked to bear the greatest risk as opposed to those who should still have decades of life ahead of them.I strongly suspect that herd immunity has not disappeared from the agenda of the Cobra committee. I certainly hope that is the case because when our children and grandchildren emerge blinking into the post-apocalyptic dawn I for one hope that the society into which they emerge is broadly-speaking the same as the one in which I have lived my life “ not one that resembles the Peoples Republic of China."";""Julian Gaer"";"""";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"296;2020-03-31 12:00:00;318;""Herd immunity is the only way out of this impasse"";""Julien Gaer"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";"" Just over two weeks ago Patrick Vallance told the Today programme that the governments strategy for fighting the Covid-19 outbreak was built aroundherd immunity . This is a tried and tested method for managing outbreaks of infectious disease: once a sufficiently large proportion of the population has some form of immunity acquired either through vaccination or surviving a disease it becomes impossible for it to spread. Herd immunity worked for smallpox and it worked for measles-or at least it did until the anti-vaxxers decided that they would exercise their freedom of choice by refusing to immunise themselves or their children.The problem with herd immunity acquired through infection is that it comes at a price: namely that in this first epidemic (and be in no doubt that this is not the only outbreak of Covid-19 that we will endure) the disease runs riot and the mortality is substantial. A large number of at-risk people will die while the rest of the population is acquiring immunity. This is likely why once the reality of what herd immunity implies had started to dawn on the population at largewe have heard no more about it .The alternative strategy is to do what China and to a lesser extent Israel have done. In China the state knows where you are or more specifically where your mobile phone is at any given time. It can prevent you attending subversive events it can tell whether you really are off sick or have just decided to spend a lazy day in bed. It can tell immediately if you have decided to breach the curfew send a drone to tell you off and deliver an on-the-spot fine.In 1948 the government of Israel declared a state of emergency to enable it to manage the war that followed the founding of the nation that state of emergency has been in place ever since. History has shown repeatedly that liberties surrendered however noble the cause may be a long time returning.So there is both a medical and a philosophical reason why the authoritarian approach is not necessarily the answer.Medically fighting an epidemic by suppressing it through draconian restrictions of liberty achieves the opposite of herd immunity. It ensures that the majority of survivors have no immunity and so are at just as much risk next time around. Of course the advocates of this approach are banking on the development of vaccines and other therapies for the management of the next epidemic. But a usable vaccine will almost certainly not be available by the time this disease comes back for an encore. Novel treatments based on anti-malarial drugs and antibiotics will also need to be evaluated in proper clinical trials. So we will have to do the same again next time with the attendant risks to the economy and the fabric of society.The philosophical question therefore is in fighting this disease what kind of society and economy do we want to leave to our children and grandchildren? To what extent are we prepared to throw the baby out with the bathwater?Much has been written and said about how this is the greatest emergency facing our nation “ indeed the world “ since the Second World War . Then more than 30 million people died fighting fascist ideology. There are few who question the justness of that struggle.For centuries we have found no difficulty in asking young men and women to put their lives at risk in defence of our democracy to say nothing of asking them to do so in pursuit of some often questionable economic and colonial aims. The difference this time is that it would be those of us in the last third of our lives being asked to bear the greatest risk as opposed to those who should still have decades of life ahead of them.I strongly suspect that herd immunity has not disappeared from the agenda of the Cobra committee. I certainly hope that is the case because when our children and grandchildren emerge blinking into the post-apocalyptic dawn I for one hope that the society into which they emerge is broadly-speaking the same as the one in which I have lived my life “ not one that resembles the Peoples Republic of China."";""Julian Gaer"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1256;2020-03-31 12:00:00;319;""Coronavirus lockdown measures may have saved 59000 lives in Europe already says new study"";""Anna Gulland"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Our estimates imply that the populations in Europe are not close to herd immunity� the authors said. They added that because the interventions will continue to trigger a drop in transmission rates the rate of acquisition of herd immunity will slow down rapidly�.This implies that the virus will be able to spread rapidly should interventions be lifted� the researchers warned."";"""";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"880;2020-04-01 12:00:00;310;""Trump in rant over Brit herd immunity"";""James Beal"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""He said: 'I guess it's a concept if you don't mind a lot of death.'All of a sudden they went hard the other way because they started seeing things that weren't good. 'They put themselves in a little bit of a problem.'It would have been very catastrophic I think if that would have happened.'"";""Donald Trump"";""United States Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"881;2020-04-01 12:00:00;310;""Trump in rant over Brit herd immunity"";""James Beal"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""He said: 'I guess it's a concept if you don't mind a lot of death.'All of a sudden they went hard the other way because they started seeing things that weren't good. 'They put themselves in a little bit of a problem.'It would have been very catastrophic I think if that would have happened.'"";""Donald Trump"";""United States Government"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"878;2020-04-01 12:00:00;311;""‚A LOT OF DEATH‚„ Donald Trump says Boris Johnson‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ coronavirus response would‚„ve been ‚catastrophic‚„"";""Niamh Cavanagh"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Mr Trump claimed the British government had put themselves in a little bit of a problem� over its original plan to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak.Addressing US measures he added: A lot of people were saying: ˜Lets just ride it out.This is not to be ridden out because then you would have been looking at potentially 2.2 million people (dying in the US).If you remember they were looking at that concept “ I guess its a concept if you dont mind death a lot of death “ but they were looking at that in the UK remember.All of sudden they went hard the other way because they started seeing things that werent good. They put themselves in a little bit of a problem.�Mr Trump added: They have a name for it but we wont even go by the name “ it would have been very catastrophic I think if that would have happened.�"";""Donald Trump"";""United States Government"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"879;2020-04-01 12:00:00;311;""‚A LOT OF DEATH‚„ Donald Trump says Boris Johnson‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ coronavirus response would‚„ve been ‚catastrophic‚„"";""Niamh Cavanagh"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Mr Trump claimed the British government had put themselves in a little bit of a problem� over its original plan to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak.Addressing US measures he added: A lot of people were saying: ˜Lets just ride it out.This is not to be ridden out because then you would have been looking at potentially 2.2 million people (dying in the US).If you remember they were looking at that concept “ I guess its a concept if you dont mind death a lot of death “ but they were looking at that in the UK remember.All of sudden they went hard the other way because they started seeing things that werent good. They put themselves in a little bit of a problem.�Mr Trump added: They have a name for it but we wont even go by the name “ it would have been very catastrophic I think if that would have happened.�"";""Donald Trump"";""United States Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"299;2020-04-01 12:00:00;312;""‚A LOT OF DEATH‚„ Donald Trump says Boris Johnson‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ coronavirus response would‚„ve been ‚catastrophic‚„"";""Niamh Cavanagh"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Mr Trump claimed the British government had put themselves in a little bit of a problem� over its original plan to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak.Addressing US measures he added: A lot of people were saying: ˜Lets just ride it out.This is not to be ridden out because then you would have been looking at potentially 2.2 million people (dying in the US).If you remember they were looking at that concept “ I guess its a concept if you dont mind death a lot of death “ but they were looking at that in the UK remember.All of sudden they went hard the other way because they started seeing things that werent good. They put themselves in a little bit of a problem.�Mr Trump added: They have a name for it but we wont even go by the name “ it would have been very catastrophic I think if that would have happened.�"";""Donald Trump"";""United States Government"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"300;2020-04-01 12:00:00;312;""‚A LOT OF DEATH‚„ Donald Trump says Boris Johnson‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ coronavirus response would‚„ve been ‚catastrophic‚„"";""Niamh Cavanagh"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Mr Trump claimed the British government had put themselves in a little bit of a problem� over its original plan to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak.Addressing US measures he added: A lot of people were saying: ˜Lets just ride it out.This is not to be ridden out because then you would have been looking at potentially 2.2 million people (dying in the US).If you remember they were looking at that concept “ I guess its a concept if you dont mind death a lot of death “ but they were looking at that in the UK remember.All of sudden they went hard the other way because they started seeing things that werent good. They put themselves in a little bit of a problem.�Mr Trump added: They have a name for it but we wont even go by the name “ it would have been very catastrophic I think if that would have happened.�"";""Donald Trump"";""United States Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"875;2020-04-01 12:00:00;313;""BAD SCIENCE? Discredited ‚herd immunity‚„ theory meant UK gave up on containing coronavirus too soon claims leading scientist"";""Lucy Jones"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sridhar tweeted yesterday morning: I fear (˜herd immunity) resulted in the UK giving up on containment too early and assuming everyone will get it. Planning and preparing for unprecedented testing and using big data/apps for tracing were taken off the table. In my view we went down the wrong path.�It comes after the UKs death toll yesterday surged to 1829 with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the country standing at 25150The UK has been slow to test in comparison to other countries “ with less than 5000 daily swabs being carried out until March.And Prof Sridhar added that it was this delay in testing that could mean the UK will be stuck in lockdown for a longer duration of time than other countries.We will be stuck in lockdown until we get test trace isolation plan� she said.We are basically pressing pause on the spread of virus while we race to catch up. If were not using the time now then were just wasting days/months in lockdown not aggressively figuring out where virus is.�"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"876;2020-04-01 12:00:00;313;""BAD SCIENCE? Discredited ‚herd immunity‚„ theory meant UK gave up on containing coronavirus too soon claims leading scientist"";""Lucy Jones"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sridhar tweeted yesterday morning: I fear (˜herd immunity) resulted in the UK giving up on containment too early and assuming everyone will get it. Planning and preparing for unprecedented testing and using big data/apps for tracing were taken off the table. In my view we went down the wrong path.�It comes after the UKs death toll yesterday surged to 1829 with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the country standing at 25150The UK has been slow to test in comparison to other countries “ with less than 5000 daily swabs being carried out until March.And Prof Sridhar added that it was this delay in testing that could mean the UK will be stuck in lockdown for a longer duration of time than other countries.We will be stuck in lockdown until we get test trace isolation plan� she said.We are basically pressing pause on the spread of virus while we race to catch up. If were not using the time now then were just wasting days/months in lockdown not aggressively figuring out where virus is.�"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"877;2020-04-01 12:00:00;313;""BAD SCIENCE? Discredited ‚herd immunity‚„ theory meant UK gave up on containing coronavirus too soon claims leading scientist"";""Lucy Jones"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sridhar tweeted yesterday morning: I fear (˜herd immunity) resulted in the UK giving up on containment too early and assuming everyone will get it. Planning and preparing for unprecedented testing and using big data/apps for tracing were taken off the table. In my view we went down the wrong path.�It comes after the UKs death toll yesterday surged to 1829 with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the country standing at 25150The UK has been slow to test in comparison to other countries “ with less than 5000 daily swabs being carried out until March.And Prof Sridhar added that it was this delay in testing that could mean the UK will be stuck in lockdown for a longer duration of time than other countries.We will be stuck in lockdown until we get test trace isolation plan� she said.We are basically pressing pause on the spread of virus while we race to catch up. If were not using the time now then were just wasting days/months in lockdown not aggressively figuring out where virus is.�"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"872;2020-04-01 12:00:00;314;""BAD SCIENCE? Discredited ‚herd immunity‚„ theory meant UK gave up on containing coronavirus too soon claims leading scientist"";""Lucy Jones"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""I fear (˜herd immunity) resulted in the UK giving up on containment too early and assuming everyone will get it.Planning and preparing for unprecedented testing and using big data/apps for tracing were taken off the table. In my view we went down the wrong path.�It comes after the UKs death toll yesterday surged to 1829 with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the country standing at 25150The UK has been slow to test in comparison to other countries “ with less than 5000 daily swabs being carried out until March.And Prof Sridhar added that it was this delay in testing that could mean the UK will be stuck in lockdown for a longer duration of time than other countries.We will be stuck in lockdown until we get test trace isolation plan� she said.We are basically pressing pause on the spread of virus while we race to catch up. If were not using the time now then were just wasting days/months in lockdown not aggressively figuring out where virus is.�"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"873;2020-04-01 12:00:00;314;""BAD SCIENCE? Discredited ‚herd immunity‚„ theory meant UK gave up on containing coronavirus too soon claims leading scientist"";""Lucy Jones"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""South Korea never had lockdown only 152 deaths and didnt expose health staff to unnecessary risk and pressure� Prof Sridhar added. Each day in lockdown: kids fall into poverty domestic abuse increases social fabric comes apart major economic hit.Lockdowns are expensive. We need to use the time.�"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"874;2020-04-01 12:00:00;314;""BAD SCIENCE? Discredited ‚herd immunity‚„ theory meant UK gave up on containing coronavirus too soon claims leading scientist"";""Lucy Jones"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""South Korea never had lockdown only 152 deaths and didnt expose health staff to unnecessary risk and pressure� Prof Sridhar added. Each day in lockdown: kids fall into poverty domestic abuse increases social fabric comes apart major economic hit.Lockdowns are expensive. We need to use the time.�"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"883;2020-04-02 12:00:00;309;""What is ''herd immunity'' and how is Sweden''s coronavirus response different to the rest of the world?"";""Ellena Cruse"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Before entering lockdown Mr Hancock told Skys Sophy Ridge: What we will do is listen to all the credible scientists and we will look at all the evidence. Herd immunity is not our goal or policy its a scientific concept. Our policy is to protect lives and to beat this virus.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"882;2020-04-02 12:00:00;309;""What is ''herd immunity'' and how is Sweden''s coronavirus response different to the rest of the world?"";""Ellena Cruse"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Sweden is an outlier on the European scene at least� said Johan Giesecke the countrys former chief epidemiologist and now adviser to the Swedish Health Agency a government body. 'And I think thats good.�"";""Johan Gisecke"";""Swedish Health Agency"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"884;2020-04-02 12:00:00;309;""What is ''herd immunity'' and how is Sweden''s coronavirus response different to the rest of the world?"";""Ellena Cruse"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Sten Linnarsson a professor at Karolinska Institute a prominent medical university in Sweden said the concern centres on the assessments and the course that the Swedish government has taken through this epidemic and especially because there is really a lack of scientific evidence being put forward for these policies�.Mr Linnarsson compared Swedens handling of the virus to letting a kitchen fire burn with the intent of extinguishing it later. That doesnt make any sense. And the danger of course is that it burns the whole house down� he said."";""Sten Linnarsson"";""Karolinska Institute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"885;2020-04-02 12:00:00;309;""What is ''herd immunity'' and how is Sweden''s coronavirus response different to the rest of the world?"";""Ellena Cruse"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Sten Linnarsson a professor at Karolinska Institute a prominent medical university in Sweden said the concern centres on the assessments and the course that the Swedish government has taken through this epidemic and especially because there is really a lack of scientific evidence being put forward for these policies�.Mr Linnarsson compared Swedens handling of the virus to letting a kitchen fire burn with the intent of extinguishing it later. That doesnt make any sense. And the danger of course is that it burns the whole house down� he said."";""Sten Linnarsson"";""Karolinska Institute"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"887;2020-04-02 12:00:00;309;""What is ''herd immunity'' and how is Sweden''s coronavirus response different to the rest of the world?"";""Ellena Cruse"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""The goal is to slow down the amount of new people getting infected so that health care gets a reasonable chance to take care of them. And thats what we all do in every country in Europe� Mr Tegnell said. We just choose different methods to do it.�"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"888;2020-04-02 12:00:00;309;""What is ''herd immunity'' and how is Sweden''s coronavirus response different to the rest of the world?"";""Ellena Cruse"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""The goal is to slow down the amount of new people getting infected so that health care gets a reasonable chance to take care of them. And thats what we all do in every country in Europe� Mr Tegnell said. We just choose different methods to do it.�"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"889;2020-04-02 12:00:00;309;""What is ''herd immunity'' and how is Sweden''s coronavirus response different to the rest of the world?"";""Ellena Cruse"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""The goal is to slow down the amount of new people getting infected so that health care gets a reasonable chance to take care of them. And thats what we all do in every country in Europe� Mr Tegnell said. We just choose different methods to do it.�"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"903;2020-04-03 12:00:00;304;""Coronavirus adviser to PM wants ''herd immunity'' considered again to end lockdown"";""Anna MacSwan"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Medley said: We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so theres a big decision coming up on April 13. 'In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people or notThe measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic and I dont mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children.�Professor Medley has described the choice facing ministers as a trade-off between harming the young or the old.In the last fortnight nearly a million people have applied for Universal Credit benefits.At the same time millions of other workers have been furloughed as businesses struggle to cope with the fall-out of social distancing measures.Government wants 60% of population to get coronavirus to build up 'herd immunity'If we carry on with lockdown it buys us more time we can get more thought put into it but it doesnt resolve anything ” its a placeholder� he continued.The public health expert added that there is no way to relax lockdown rules such as allowing people to return to work and schools to re-open without a surge in infections."";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"904;2020-04-03 12:00:00;304;""Coronavirus adviser to PM wants ''herd immunity'' considered again to end lockdown"";""Anna MacSwan"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Medley said: We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so theres a big decision coming up on April 13. 'In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people or notThe measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic and I dont mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children.�Professor Medley has described the choice facing ministers as a trade-off between harming the young or the old.In the last fortnight nearly a million people have applied for Universal Credit benefits.At the same time millions of other workers have been furloughed as businesses struggle to cope with the fall-out of social distancing measures.Government wants 60% of population to get coronavirus to build up 'herd immunity'If we carry on with lockdown it buys us more time we can get more thought put into it but it doesnt resolve anything ” its a placeholder� he continued.The public health expert added that there is no way to relax lockdown rules such as allowing people to return to work and schools to re-open without a surge in infections."";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"897;2020-04-03 12:00:00;306;""Coronavirus: Boris Johnson urged to reconsider lockdown strategy by virus adviser"";""Peter Stubley"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Graham Medley an expert in the spread of infectious diseases suggested the government had painted itself into a corner� by imposing widespread restrictions on movement that he claims may cause more damage than the epidemic itself.He suggested the potential harm caused by the restrictions included economic damage. I dont mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children particularly the school closure aspect� he told The Times.There will also be actual harms in terms of mental health in terms of domestic violence and child abuse and in terms of food poverty.�He argued that the UK may still have to reconsider the herd immunity strategy to allow people to catch the virus in the least deadly way possible� the newspaper claimed.This would involve accepting the heightened risk to the elderly rather than harming younger generations with rising unemployment domestic violence and mental illness it suggests."";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"898;2020-04-03 12:00:00;306;""Coronavirus: Boris Johnson urged to reconsider lockdown strategy by virus adviser"";""Peter Stubley"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Graham Medley an expert in the spread of infectious diseases suggested the government had painted itself into a corner� by imposing widespread restrictions on movement that he claims may cause more damage than the epidemic itself.He suggested the potential harm caused by the restrictions included economic damage. I dont mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children particularly the school closure aspect� he told The Times.There will also be actual harms in terms of mental health in terms of domestic violence and child abuse and in terms of food poverty.�He argued that the UK may still have to reconsider the herd immunity strategy to allow people to catch the virus in the least deadly way possible� the newspaper claimed.This would involve accepting the heightened risk to the elderly rather than harming younger generations with rising unemployment domestic violence and mental illness it suggests."";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"895;2020-04-03 12:00:00;306;""Coronavirus: Boris Johnson urged to reconsider lockdown strategy by virus adviser"";""Peter Stubley"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Matt Hancock insisted that herd immunity was a scientific concept not a goal or strategy�."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"892;2020-04-03 12:00:00;307;""Despite what Matt Hancock says the government''s policy is still herd immunity"";""Anthony Costello"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""On 12 March the chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty announced that the UK had moved from containing the virus to delaying its spread . Their plan was to flatten the curve of the epidemic that would sweep through our population. They reassured us that herd immunity would kick in once 60% of the population had been infected. Social distancing and washing our hands would ease the pressure on health services they said. Crucially community testing and contract tracing would stop immediately. At that point we were still four weeks behind Italy. The media felt safe reassured by two eminent physicians.The trouble is those scientists were wrong. The maths wasnt difficult: working off their figures about 40 million people in the UK would be infected by coronavirus and between 200000 and 400000 would eventually die. When the governments mathematicians modelled figures from Italy and showed that 30% of people admitted to hospital ended up in intensive care they warned the government that the NHS would be overwhelmed . The government backtracked within three days and shifted to suppressing rather than mitigating the virus.In reality little changed. The governments beliefs were founded on the assumption that coronavirus behaves like flu. It doesnt. Its mortality rate is higher there is little evidence that it is seasonal and it poses a far greater threat to the NHS. Without a programme of community surveillance and contact tracing the virus will continue to spread. Britain will be subject to routine flare-ups and repeated lockdowns."";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"893;2020-04-03 12:00:00;307;""Despite what Matt Hancock says the government''s policy is still herd immunity"";""Anthony Costello"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""On 12 March the chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty announced that the UK had moved from containing the virus to delaying its spread . Their plan was to flatten the curve of the epidemic that would sweep through our population. They reassured us that herd immunity would kick in once 60% of the population had been infected. Social distancing and washing our hands would ease the pressure on health services they said. Crucially community testing and contract tracing would stop immediately. At that point we were still four weeks behind Italy. The media felt safe reassured by two eminent physicians.The trouble is those scientists were wrong. The maths wasnt difficult: working off their figures about 40 million people in the UK would be infected by coronavirus and between 200000 and 400000 would eventually die. When the governments mathematicians modelled figures from Italy and showed that 30% of people admitted to hospital ended up in intensive care they warned the government that the NHS would be overwhelmed . The government backtracked within three days and shifted to suppressing rather than mitigating the virus.In reality little changed. The governments beliefs were founded on the assumption that coronavirus behaves like flu. It doesnt. Its mortality rate is higher there is little evidence that it is seasonal and it poses a far greater threat to the NHS. Without a programme of community surveillance and contact tracing the virus will continue to spread. Britain will be subject to routine flare-ups and repeated lockdowns."";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"894;2020-04-03 12:00:00;307;""Despite what Matt Hancock says the government''s policy is still herd immunity"";""Anthony Costello"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""On 12 March the chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty announced that the UK had moved from containing the virus to delaying its spread . Their plan was to flatten the curve of the epidemic that would sweep through our population. They reassured us that herd immunity would kick in once 60% of the population had been infected. Social distancing and washing our hands would ease the pressure on health services they said. Crucially community testing and contract tracing would stop immediately. At that point we were still four weeks behind Italy. The media felt safe reassured by two eminent physicians.The trouble is those scientists were wrong. The maths wasnt difficult: working off their figures about 40 million people in the UK would be infected by coronavirus and between 200000 and 400000 would eventually die. When the governments mathematicians modelled figures from Italy and showed that 30% of people admitted to hospital ended up in intensive care they warned the government that the NHS would be overwhelmed . The government backtracked within three days and shifted to suppressing rather than mitigating the virus.In reality little changed. The governments beliefs were founded on the assumption that coronavirus behaves like flu. It doesnt. Its mortality rate is higher there is little evidence that it is seasonal and it poses a far greater threat to the NHS. Without a programme of community surveillance and contact tracing the virus will continue to spread. Britain will be subject to routine flare-ups and repeated lockdowns."";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"890;2020-04-03 12:00:00;308;""Of course we should fight to save lives  but those dying of coronavirus deserve to do so in dignity"";""Yasmin Gunaratnam"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Today deaths from Covid-19 rose by 684 on to 3605. The governments herd immunity� approach inadequate testing and provision of personal protective equipment have all contributed to the UKs failure to minimise this number."";""Yasmin Gunaratnam"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Individual"""
"891;2020-04-03 12:00:00;308;""Of course we should fight to save lives  but those dying of coronavirus deserve to do so in dignity"";""Yasmin Gunaratnam"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Today deaths from Covid-19 rose by 684 on to 3605. The governments herd immunity� approach inadequate testing and provision of personal protective equipment have all contributed to the UKs failure to minimise this number."";""Yasmin Gunaratnam"";"""";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Individual"""
"896;2020-04-04 12:00:00;301;""Boris Johnson has totally mismanaged coronavirus but Brits STILL feel sorry for him"";""John Niven"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""This is the guy who was toying with the herd immunity� idea as recently as three weeks ago.You know the idea that would have gotten hundreds of thousands of British people killed.In fact he was the guy who brought the guy who suggested the herd immunity rubbish into the heart of government in the first place. (Dominic Cummings last seenfleeing Downing Street at a good pace having played his part in the herd immunity thing by actually getting the virus.)Herd immunity turned out to be such a phenomenally bad idea that even Trump the global village idiot mocked it at a press conference."";""John Niven"";"""";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Individual"""
"899;2020-04-04 12:00:00;301;""Boris Johnson has totally mismanaged coronavirus but Brits STILL feel sorry for him"";""John Niven"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""This is the guy who was toying with the herd immunity� idea as recently as three weeks ago.You know the idea that would have gotten hundreds of thousands of British people killed.In fact he was the guy who brought the guy who suggested the herd immunity rubbish into the heart of government in the first place. (Dominic Cummings last seenfleeing Downing Street at a good pace having played his part in the herd immunity thing by actually getting the virus.)Herd immunity turned out to be such a phenomenally bad idea that even Trump the global village idiot mocked it at a press conference."";""John Niven"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Individual"""
"908;2020-04-04 12:00:00;302;""Herd immunity to combat coronavirus may need to be reconsidered says Government expert"";""Ben Perrin"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Speaking to the Times  Professor Medley said: We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so theres a big decision coming up on April 13.'In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people or notThe measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic and I dont mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children.�Professor Medley described the choice facing ministers as a trade-off between harming the young or the old.If we carry on with lockdown it buys us more time we can get more thought put into it but it doesnt resolve anything ” its a placeholder�"";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"909;2020-04-04 12:00:00;302;""Herd immunity to combat coronavirus may need to be reconsidered says Government expert"";""Ben Perrin"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Speaking to the Times  Professor Medley said: We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so theres a big decision coming up on April 13.'In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people or notThe measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic and I dont mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children.�Professor Medley described the choice facing ministers as a trade-off between harming the young or the old.If we carry on with lockdown it buys us more time we can get more thought put into it but it doesnt resolve anything ” its a placeholder�"";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"906;2020-04-04 12:00:00;303;""Coronavirus adviser to PM wants ''herd immunity'' considered again to end lockdown"";""Ffion Lewis"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Describing the stark choices facing the government he argued that long indefinite periods of lockdown could cause more harm than the virus itself by leading to soaring unemployment domestic violence food poverty and mental illness.Speaking to the Times Professor Medley said: We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so theres a big decision coming up on April 13. 'In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people or notThe measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic and I dont mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children.�If we carry on with lockdown it buys us more time we can get more thought put into it but it doesnt resolve anything ” its a placeholder� he continued."";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"907;2020-04-04 12:00:00;303;""Coronavirus adviser to PM wants ''herd immunity'' considered again to end lockdown"";""Ffion Lewis"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Describing the stark choices facing the government he argued that long indefinite periods of lockdown could cause more harm than the virus itself by leading to soaring unemployment domestic violence food poverty and mental illness.Speaking to the Times Professor Medley said: We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so theres a big decision coming up on April 13. 'In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people or notThe measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic and I dont mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children.�If we carry on with lockdown it buys us more time we can get more thought put into it but it doesnt resolve anything ” its a placeholder� he continued."";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"900;2020-04-04 12:00:00;305;""PM''''s virus adviser calls for way out of lockdown"";""Chris Smyth "";""The Times"";"""";"""";""'This disease is so nasty that we had to suppress it completely' he said . 'Then we've kind of painted ourselves into a corner because then the question will be what do we do now? We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so there's a big decision coming up on April 13. In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people or not?' It is understood that work is under way to quantify health harms caused by lockdown although this has not yet reached ministers. They have said this trade-off has not featured in government decision-making and Downing Street is giving all its attention to social distancing and building NHS capacity.Nearly a million people have applied for benefits in the past two weeks and millions more have been furloughed. Professor Medley said: 'The measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic and I don't mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children particularly the school closure aspect ... There will also be actual harms in terms of mental health in terms of domestic violence and child abuse and in terms of food poverty.'"";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"901;2020-04-04 12:00:00;305;""PM''''s virus adviser calls for way out of lockdown"";""Chris Smyth "";""The Times"";"""";"""";""'This disease is so nasty that we had to suppress it completely' he said . 'Then we've kind of painted ourselves into a corner because then the question will be what do we do now? We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so there's a big decision coming up on April 13. In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people or not?' It is understood that work is under way to quantify health harms caused by lockdown although this has not yet reached ministers. They have said this trade-off has not featured in government decision-making and Downing Street is giving all its attention to social distancing and building NHS capacity.Nearly a million people have applied for benefits in the past two weeks and millions more have been furloughed. Professor Medley said: 'The measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic and I don't mean to the economy generally I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children particularly the school closure aspect ... There will also be actual harms in terms of mental health in terms of domestic violence and child abuse and in terms of food poverty.'"";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1247;2020-04-05 12:00:00;300;""The perils of herd immunity plans revealed: Do nothing approach to tackle coronavirus epidemic could have led to almost 500000 deaths with 87 per cent of population being infec..."";""Harry Howard"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of peopleget a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1248;2020-04-05 12:00:00;300;""The perils of herd immunity plans revealed: Do nothing approach to tackle coronavirus epidemic could have led to almost 500000 deaths with 87 per cent of population being infec..."";""Harry Howard"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Herd immunity is not a part of it. That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1244;2020-04-06 12:00:00;298;""PM''s virus adviser warns Britain might still need to adopt herd immunity in its fight against coronavirus as lockdown measures have ''painted the country into a corner'' - after UK death toll soars past China''s to 3605 with ..."";""Jack Elsom Danyal Hussain"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick told the BBC on March 13: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of peopleget a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1245;2020-04-06 12:00:00;298;""PM''s virus adviser warns Britain might still need to adopt herd immunity in its fight against coronavirus as lockdown measures have ''painted the country into a corner'' - after UK death toll soars past China''s to 3605 with ..."";""Jack Elsom Danyal Hussain"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Herd immunity is not a part of it. That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1246;2020-04-06 12:00:00;298;""PM''s virus adviser warns Britain might still need to adopt herd immunity in its fight against coronavirus as lockdown measures have ''painted the country into a corner'' - after UK death toll soars past China''s to 3605 with ..."";""Jack Elsom Danyal Hussain"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""But Prof Medley is now warning that the controversial method may be the only solution as under his modelling simply allowing people suddenly back to work or school would cause a resurgence in cases of the virus.He said an antibody test which shows whether a person has had the virus and could therefor be immune could help but that one had never before been used in the management of such an outbreak.                                                                                                  A professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine he told theTimessuppress it completely.'Then we've kind of painted ourselves into a corner because then the question will be what do we do now?'"";""Graham Medley"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"902;2020-04-06 12:00:00;299;""Coronavirus POLL: Is Boris Johnson doing a good job dealing with the outbreak? VOTE HERE"";""Brian McGleenon"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Even Mr Johnson's counterpart in the Whitehouse Donald Trump has claimed the Prime Minister's early approach to the coronavirus outbreak would have been 'very catastrophic' for the UK if he had not changed tack.The US President suggested the Prime Minister had initially looked to 'ride out' the virus in an approach that would have caused 'a lot of death'."";""Donald Trump"";""United States Government"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"905;2020-04-06 12:00:00;299;""Coronavirus POLL: Is Boris Johnson doing a good job dealing with the outbreak? VOTE HERE"";""Brian McGleenon"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Even Mr Johnson's counterpart in the Whitehouse Donald Trump has claimed the Prime Minister's early approach to the coronavirus outbreak would have been 'very catastrophic' for the UK if he had not changed tack.The US President suggested the Prime Minister had initially looked to 'ride out' the virus in an approach that would have caused 'a lot of death'."";""Donald Trump"";""United States Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"910;2020-04-06 12:00:00;299;""Coronavirus POLL: Is Boris Johnson doing a good job dealing with the outbreak? VOTE HERE"";""Brian McGleenon"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick Vallance the UK's chief scientific adviser told the BBC on March 13 the Government's 'aim' was to 'not suppress coronavirus completely but to build upsome kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1243;2020-04-09 12:00:00;297;""Coronavirus: Home Office accused of risking lives after Passport Office staff told to return to work amid lockdown"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""An immediate investigation into the comments was called for by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members of which accused the government oftreating staff like 'guinea pigs to test herd immunity on' and described the call as 'shocking' 'dismissive' and 'patronising'."";"""";""Public and Commercial Services Union"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Union"""
"1176;2020-04-12 12:00:00;296;""Documents contradict UK government stance on Covid-19 ''herd immunity''"";""Paul Lewis David Conn"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it. That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1177;2020-04-12 12:00:00;296;""Documents contradict UK government stance on Covid-19 ''herd immunity''"";""Paul Lewis David Conn"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity is not our policy its not our goal.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1240;2020-04-12 12:00:00;296;""Documents contradict UK government stance on Covid-19 ''herd immunity''"";""Paul Lewis David Conn"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Theres going to be a point assuming the epidemic flows and grows as it will do where you want to cocoon to protect those at-risk groups so they dont catch thedisease� Halpern said. By the time they come out of their cocooning herd immunity has been achieved in the rest of the population.�"";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Business"""
"1241;2020-04-12 12:00:00;296;""Documents contradict UK government stance on Covid-19 ''herd immunity''"";""Paul Lewis David Conn"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Theres going to be a point assuming the epidemic flows and grows as it will do where you want to cocoon to protect those at-risk groups so they dont catch thedisease� Halpern said. By the time they come out of their cocooning herd immunity has been achieved in the rest of the population.�"";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Business"""
"1242;2020-04-12 12:00:00;296;""Documents contradict UK government stance on Covid-19 ''herd immunity''"";""Paul Lewis David Conn"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity is not part of our action plan but is a natural by-product of an epidemic.�"";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1174;2020-04-16 12:00:00;295;""Social restrictions vital until vaccine is found Sturgeon says"";""Mark McLaughlin"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""'Coronavirus is not simply going to go away and that we know for certain. We know that herd immunity has become one of these phrases that is often talked about in misleading ways.'Herd immunity is what you can get through a vaccine for example. We know a vaccine is still some time away although hopefully not that far away so we are going to have to continue to manage and suppress the virus for some time to come.'"";""Nicola Sturgeon"";""Scottish Parliament"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1175;2020-04-16 12:00:00;295;""Social restrictions vital until vaccine is found Sturgeon says"";""Mark McLaughlin"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""'gradually increase the number of people [infected] over a very controlled period so that we get herd immunity'."";""Jason Leitch"";""Scottish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1237;2020-04-17 12:00:00;292;""Britain could have 40000 coronavirus deaths in first wave of outbreak as former  World Health Organization official warns the UKK may be h...herd immunity"";""Stephen Matthews Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'So the idea of herd immunity would mean another five six waves maybe in order to get to 60 per cent.' Last night he said the UK could have 10 more waves.In a scathing interview Professor Costello told the Daily Telegraph: 'We wont get herd immunity if what the latest models show are correct.'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1238;2020-04-17 12:00:00;292;""Britain could have 40000 coronavirus deaths in first wave of outbreak as former  World Health Organization official warns the UKK may be h...herd immunity"";""Stephen Matthews Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'not our goal or policy'."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1239;2020-04-17 12:00:00;292;""Britain could have 40000 coronavirus deaths in first wave of outbreak as former  World Health Organization official warns the UKK may be h...herd immunity"";""Stephen Matthews Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""What we should have done is crush the epidemic and then keep it down.'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"912;2020-04-17 12:00:00;293;""UK faces eight to 10 waves of coronavirus before population achieves herd immunity"";""Robert Mendick"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Prof Costello added: 'It is a total mess and we have been wrong every stage of the way. We have to change our policy and at the moment I don't hear anything to suggest we are. They keep talking about flattening the curve which implies they are seeking herd immunity but what we should have done is crushed the epidemic and then keep it down.' SAGE 'have got most of it wrong'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"911;2020-04-17 12:00:00;294;""New research deals a blow to hopes of herd immunity"";""Robert Mendick"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""He said: 'We won't get herd immunity if what the latest models show are correct. ' He also pointed to another study by Prof Karl Friston a neuroscientist at UCL who suggested that on average just 6.4 per cent of people in Europe will have acquired immunity by the end of the first lockdown.Prof Costello described the Government as a 'one-club golfer' for using only one strategy - lockdown - adding: 'It should be combined with testing tracing and digital apps that have been used so successfully in South Korea.'He added: 'It is a total mess and we have been wrong every stage of the way. We have to change our policy and at the moment I don't hear anything to suggest we are. They keep talking Continued on Page 2 Immunity Continued from Page 1 about flattening the curve which implies they are seeking herd immunity but what we should have done is crush the epidemic and then keep it down.'"";""Anthony Costello"";""University College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1229;2020-04-19 12:00:00;289;""Sweden could have ''''''''herd immunity'''''''' by next month claims its infectious diseases chief amid as deaths stay low despite relaxed lockdown measures"";""Jack Wright"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Tegnell said: 'According to our modellers [at the Public Health Agency of Sweden] we are starting to see so many immune people in the population in Stockholmthat it is starting to have an effect on the spread of the infection.'Our models point to some time in May.'He told Norwegian TV: 'These are mathematical models they're only as good as the data we put into them. We will see if they are right.'Dr Tegnell's assessment came after the national death toll was recorded at 1511 with 13822 confirmed cases.Asked about the death rate Dr Tegnell said: 'It is not a failure for the overall strategy but it is a failure to protect our elderly who live in care homes.'"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1230;2020-04-19 12:00:00;289;""Sweden could have ''''''''herd immunity'''''''' by next month claims its infectious diseases chief amid as deaths stay low despite relaxed lockdown measures"";""Jack Wright"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Tegnell said: 'According to our modellers [at the Public Health Agency of Sweden] we are starting to see so many immune people in the population in Stockholmthat it is starting to have an effect on the spread of the infection.'Our models point to some time in May.'He told Norwegian TV: 'These are mathematical models they're only as good as the data we put into them. We will see if they are right.'Dr Tegnell's assessment came after the national death toll was recorded at 1511 with 13822 confirmed cases.Asked about the death rate Dr Tegnell said: 'It is not a failure for the overall strategy but it is a failure to protect our elderly who live in care homes.'"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"1231;2020-04-19 12:00:00;289;""Sweden could have ''''''''herd immunity'''''''' by next month claims its infectious diseases chief amid as deaths stay low despite relaxed lockdown measures"";""Jack Wright"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'The authorities and the Government stupidly did not believe that the epidemic would reach Sweden at all' Bo Lundback a professor of epidemiology at the University of Gothenburg alleged this week."";""Bo Lundback"";""University of Gothenburg"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1232;2020-04-19 12:00:00;289;""Sweden could have ''''''''herd immunity'''''''' by next month claims its infectious diseases chief amid as deaths stay low despite relaxed lockdown measures"";""Jack Wright"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""He told the paper that Sweden was 'following' the UK's original approach of resisting lockdown and was 'disappointed' by Britain's abrupt U-turn.'I am very sceptical of lockdowns altogether but if you ever do them you should do them at an early stage' Dr Tegnell claimed.He added: 'So far what we are doing is working. In a sense we are beating it and I am confident we are doing the best we can in the circumstances.'Dr Tegnell has described the virus as a manageable risk saying: 'I still go to restaurants. We can't kill all our services.'And unemployed people are a great threat to public health.'It's a factor you need to think about.'"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1233;2020-04-19 12:00:00;289;""Sweden could have ''''''''herd immunity'''''''' by next month claims its infectious diseases chief amid as deaths stay low despite relaxed lockdown measures"";""Jack Wright"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""He told the paper that Sweden was 'following' the UK's original approach of resisting lockdown and was 'disappointed' by Britain's abrupt U-turn.'I am very sceptical of lockdowns altogether but if you ever do them you should do them at an early stage' Dr Tegnell claimed.He added: 'So far what we are doing is working. In a sense we are beating it and I am confident we are doing the best we can in the circumstances.'Dr Tegnell has described the virus as a manageable risk saying: 'I still go to restaurants. We can't kill all our services.'And unemployed people are a great threat to public health.'It's a factor you need to think about.'"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Government"""
"1234;2020-04-19 12:00:00;290;""As lockdown lingers herd immunity rears its head again"";""Daniel Foggo Katherine Rushton Sophie Barnes"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""We want to...not suppress it so we get the second peak and also allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this to help with the sort of whole population response which would protect everybody.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1235;2020-04-19 12:00:00;290;""As lockdown lingers herd immunity rears its head again"";""Daniel Foggo Katherine Rushton Sophie Barnes"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""I keep saying to people we have as many if not more people dying of pneumonia and loads of other conditions. I think life has to start renormalizing again with sufficient care and attention to the vulnerable.�In addition to the search for a vaccine comprehensive testing of the population so that infected people “ and anyone they have had contact with-can remain in isolation will also be essential. Only then it seems can the rest of us “ with or without masks “ realistically hope to return to something resembling normality.But with the government struggling to even reach its projected target for the end of the month of 100000 tests a day  that goal feels a long way off as does a vaccine which could take a year or even two to produce on the necessary scale. According to some scientists the only other option might involve us coming full circle.Prof Sullivan says that even after sorting out testing and the provision of adequate personal protection equipment Im afraid it comes down to this problem of are we going to wait for two years for a vaccine which may never happen?Of course not. The British economy and society will be finished by then. So your only option here is about building up herd immunity.�"";""Richard Sullivan"";""King's College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1236;2020-04-19 12:00:00;290;""As lockdown lingers herd immunity rears its head again"";""Daniel Foggo Katherine Rushton Sophie Barnes"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""I keep saying to people we have as many if not more people dying of pneumonia and loads of other conditions. I think life has to start renormalizing again with sufficient care and attention to the vulnerable.�In addition to the search for a vaccine comprehensive testing of the population so that infected people “ and anyone they have had contact with-can remain in isolation will also be essential. Only then it seems can the rest of us “ with or without masks “ realistically hope to return to something resembling normality.But with the government struggling to even reach its projected target for the end of the month of 100000 tests a day  that goal feels a long way off as does a vaccine which could take a year or even two to produce on the necessary scale. According to some scientists the only other option might involve us coming full circle.Prof Sullivan says that even after sorting out testing and the provision of adequate personal protection equipment Im afraid it comes down to this problem of are we going to wait for two years for a vaccine which may never happen?Of course not. The British economy and society will be finished by then. So your only option here is about building up herd immunity.�"";""Richard Sullivan"";""King's College London"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"264;2020-04-21 12:00:00;288;""Mass testing is best way to beat virus"";""Emma O''Neill"";""The Herald"";"""";"""";""Dr Perez-Reche said: Our results demonstrate that the current suppression strategies being employed in Germany Hubei Italy Spain and the UK will not facilitate sufficient levels of herd immunity in the population that would control and eventually eradicate the virus.We predict however that partial relaxation of ongoing lockdowns could keep the number of daily deaths to less than 100.�"";""Francisco Perez-Riche"";""University of Aberdeen"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1226;2020-04-23 12:00:00;287;""How UK may climb to a second peak"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'We want to not suppress it so we get the second peak and also allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to helpwith the sort of whole population response which would protect everybody.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1227;2020-04-23 12:00:00;287;""How UK may climb to a second peak"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""There is almost no herdimmunity and a very large risk of a second peak if we relax current measures without something to put in their place.'"";""Neil Ferguson"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1228;2020-04-23 12:00:00;287;""How UK may climb to a second peak"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'We're nowhere near herd immunity' he says 'You look at countries like Austria where they opened garden centres and small shops a week ago they seem to have more cases again so it is a real worry.'"";""Karol Sikora"";""University of Buckingham"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"913;2020-04-28 12:00:00;286;""East Lancashire Tory MPs'''' fury at crime commissioners''''s herd immunity Facebook post"";""Aban Quaynor"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Mr Grunshaw said the Government had chosen a ˜strategy allowing people to catch the disease and die. Callously accepting that this would kill many elderly and vulnerable people.He also called for mass testing to ˜trace and isolate the infection - until such time that a vaccine becomes available and said the ˜government started on the wrong path and have become lost and confused."";""Clive Grunshaw"";""Lancashire County"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"914;2020-04-28 12:00:00;286;""East Lancashire Tory MPs'''' fury at crime commissioners''''s herd immunity Facebook post"";""Aban Quaynor"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Mr Grunshaw said the Government had chosen a ˜strategy allowing people to catch the disease and die. Callously accepting that this would kill many elderly and vulnerable people.He also called for mass testing to ˜trace and isolate the infection - until such time that a vaccine becomes available and said the ˜government started on the wrong path and have become lost and confused."";""Clive Grunshaw"";""Lancashire County"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Government"""
"919;2020-04-29 12:00:00;285;""The Guardian view on herd immunity: yes it was ‚part of the plan‚„"";""Unspecified"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The governments early approach to the Covid-19 crisis despite its denials was to let the disease spreadCoronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIn his seminal work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions the philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn developed the notion of the paradigm� as a way of understanding how a community of researchers makes its judgments. A shared paradigm observed Kuhn is a mode of seeing a problem that makes certain presumptions and privileges particular perspectives. It sees things. But it also misses things.As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world the British government relied on the wrong paradigm. The health secretary Matt Hancock has insisted thatherd immunity “ the idea that allowing a virus to spread will eventually build up sufficient resistance in a population “ was never a part of the plan� in the battle against Covid-19. But todays Guardians investigation into the governments early handling of the crisis leaves little room for doubt: the concept was fundamental to the governments decision-making in the crucial months of February and March as most of the rest of the world took a different path . It was abandoned only when it became clear that the NHS would be utterly overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands of Britons could conceivably die.There were other reasons why Britain remained a relatively relaxed outlier in early March as Italy France and Spain moved towards lockdowns and Germany followed South Korea in pursuing a rigorous test trace and contact strategy. The distraction of Brexit played a part. A reluctance on the part of Boris Johnson to overly impinge on the rights of free-born Englishmen� also influenced government strategy. It may have been assumed that because outbreaks of deadly diseases such as Sars-CoV had been confined to Asia the new coronavirus would follow a similar pattern. Our investigation also suggests that ministers could have exaggerated the likely resistance from the public to more stringent measures.Above all though the framework was wrong. The laissez-faire blueprint for the governments response to the crisis was overwhelmingly derived from previous experience of pandemic influenza. In the absence of a vaccine flu spreads fast becomes milder as it mutates and populations can eventually acquire resistance once a majority of people have become infected. Herd immunity distasteful as it sounds can work. But as we now know Covid-19 is horribly devastatingly different. In the words of David Nabarro the World Health Organizations envoy to Britain: Coronaviruses are horrible. You cant just let this thing ... wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�Britain finally entered into lockdown on 23 March. By then the despair of overwhelmed Italian doctors had been broadcast around the world. That footage and a now famous Imperial College advice paper  which predicted up to 250000 deaths if the governments strategy was continued smashed the herd immunity framework. The same figure had appeared in a 2 March paper. Only now did it concentrate ministerial minds.Well over 26000 Britons have died from Covid-19 and there are fears that Britain will emerge from the crisis with the worst fatality rate in Europe. The ministerial mantra has been that the right decisions were taken at the right time�. But lives would have been saved if rigorous social distancing had been imposed earlier and the transmission of the virus reduced. This is a truth that should be acknowledged by the prime minister and his government. But it should also inform policymaking now that the debate has turned to easing the lockdown amid fears of economic collapse. There is still no vaccine “ and nothing approaching a herd immunity strategy can be contemplated again. Until a testing regime can be established that matches the efficiency of those in Germany and South Korea stringent restrictions must remain. No more unnecessary risks should be taken with peoples lives."";"""";""The Guardian"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"920;2020-04-29 12:00:00;285;""The Guardian view on herd immunity: yes it was ‚part of the plan‚„"";""Unspecified"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The governments early approach to the Covid-19 crisis despite its denials was to let the disease spreadCoronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIn his seminal work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions the philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn developed the notion of the paradigm� as a way of understanding how a community of researchers makes its judgments. A shared paradigm observed Kuhn is a mode of seeing a problem that makes certain presumptions and privileges particular perspectives. It sees things. But it also misses things.As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world the British government relied on the wrong paradigm. The health secretary Matt Hancock has insisted thatherd immunity “ the idea that allowing a virus to spread will eventually build up sufficient resistance in a population “ was never a part of the plan� in the battle against Covid-19. But todays Guardians investigation into the governments early handling of the crisis leaves little room for doubt: the concept was fundamental to the governments decision-making in the crucial months of February and March as most of the rest of the world took a different path . It was abandoned only when it became clear that the NHS would be utterly overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands of Britons could conceivably die.There were other reasons why Britain remained a relatively relaxed outlier in early March as Italy France and Spain moved towards lockdowns and Germany followed South Korea in pursuing a rigorous test trace and contact strategy. The distraction of Brexit played a part. A reluctance on the part of Boris Johnson to overly impinge on the rights of free-born Englishmen� also influenced government strategy. It may have been assumed that because outbreaks of deadly diseases such as Sars-CoV had been confined to Asia the new coronavirus would follow a similar pattern. Our investigation also suggests that ministers could have exaggerated the likely resistance from the public to more stringent measures.Above all though the framework was wrong. The laissez-faire blueprint for the governments response to the crisis was overwhelmingly derived from previous experience of pandemic influenza. In the absence of a vaccine flu spreads fast becomes milder as it mutates and populations can eventually acquire resistance once a majority of people have become infected. Herd immunity distasteful as it sounds can work. But as we now know Covid-19 is horribly devastatingly different. In the words of David Nabarro the World Health Organizations envoy to Britain: Coronaviruses are horrible. You cant just let this thing ... wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�Britain finally entered into lockdown on 23 March. By then the despair of overwhelmed Italian doctors had been broadcast around the world. That footage and a now famous Imperial College advice paper  which predicted up to 250000 deaths if the governments strategy was continued smashed the herd immunity framework. The same figure had appeared in a 2 March paper. Only now did it concentrate ministerial minds.Well over 26000 Britons have died from Covid-19 and there are fears that Britain will emerge from the crisis with the worst fatality rate in Europe. The ministerial mantra has been that the right decisions were taken at the right time�. But lives would have been saved if rigorous social distancing had been imposed earlier and the transmission of the virus reduced. This is a truth that should be acknowledged by the prime minister and his government. But it should also inform policymaking now that the debate has turned to easing the lockdown amid fears of economic collapse. There is still no vaccine “ and nothing approaching a herd immunity strategy can be contemplated again. Until a testing regime can be established that matches the efficiency of those in Germany and South Korea stringent restrictions must remain. No more unnecessary risks should be taken with peoples lives."";"""";""The Guardian"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"921;2020-04-29 12:00:00;285;""The Guardian view on herd immunity: yes it was ‚part of the plan‚„"";""Unspecified"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The governments early approach to the Covid-19 crisis despite its denials was to let the disease spreadCoronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIn his seminal work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions the philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn developed the notion of the paradigm� as a way of understanding how a community of researchers makes its judgments. A shared paradigm observed Kuhn is a mode of seeing a problem that makes certain presumptions and privileges particular perspectives. It sees things. But it also misses things.As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world the British government relied on the wrong paradigm. The health secretary Matt Hancock has insisted thatherd immunity “ the idea that allowing a virus to spread will eventually build up sufficient resistance in a population “ was never a part of the plan� in the battle against Covid-19. But todays Guardians investigation into the governments early handling of the crisis leaves little room for doubt: the concept was fundamental to the governments decision-making in the crucial months of February and March as most of the rest of the world took a different path . It was abandoned only when it became clear that the NHS would be utterly overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands of Britons could conceivably die.There were other reasons why Britain remained a relatively relaxed outlier in early March as Italy France and Spain moved towards lockdowns and Germany followed South Korea in pursuing a rigorous test trace and contact strategy. The distraction of Brexit played a part. A reluctance on the part of Boris Johnson to overly impinge on the rights of free-born Englishmen� also influenced government strategy. It may have been assumed that because outbreaks of deadly diseases such as Sars-CoV had been confined to Asia the new coronavirus would follow a similar pattern. Our investigation also suggests that ministers could have exaggerated the likely resistance from the public to more stringent measures.Above all though the framework was wrong. The laissez-faire blueprint for the governments response to the crisis was overwhelmingly derived from previous experience of pandemic influenza. In the absence of a vaccine flu spreads fast becomes milder as it mutates and populations can eventually acquire resistance once a majority of people have become infected. Herd immunity distasteful as it sounds can work. But as we now know Covid-19 is horribly devastatingly different. In the words of David Nabarro the World Health Organizations envoy to Britain: Coronaviruses are horrible. You cant just let this thing ... wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�Britain finally entered into lockdown on 23 March. By then the despair of overwhelmed Italian doctors had been broadcast around the world. That footage and a now famous Imperial College advice paper  which predicted up to 250000 deaths if the governments strategy was continued smashed the herd immunity framework. The same figure had appeared in a 2 March paper. Only now did it concentrate ministerial minds.Well over 26000 Britons have died from Covid-19 and there are fears that Britain will emerge from the crisis with the worst fatality rate in Europe. The ministerial mantra has been that the right decisions were taken at the right time�. But lives would have been saved if rigorous social distancing had been imposed earlier and the transmission of the virus reduced. This is a truth that should be acknowledged by the prime minister and his government. But it should also inform policymaking now that the debate has turned to easing the lockdown amid fears of economic collapse. There is still no vaccine “ and nothing approaching a herd immunity strategy can be contemplated again. Until a testing regime can be established that matches the efficiency of those in Germany and South Korea stringent restrictions must remain. No more unnecessary risks should be taken with peoples lives."";"""";""The Guardian"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""News/Media"""
"915;2020-04-29 12:00:00;285;""The Guardian view on herd immunity: yes it was ‚part of the plan‚„"";""Unspecified"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Matt Hancock has insisted thatherd immunity “ the idea that allowing a virus to spread will eventually build up sufficient resistance in a population “ was never a part of the plan� in the battle against Covid-19."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"916;2020-04-29 12:00:00;285;""The Guardian view on herd immunity: yes it was ‚part of the plan‚„"";""Unspecified"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Coronaviruses are horrible. You cant just let this thing ... wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�"";""David Nabarro"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"917;2020-04-29 12:00:00;285;""The Guardian view on herd immunity: yes it was ‚part of the plan‚„"";""Unspecified"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Coronaviruses are horrible. You cant just let this thing ... wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�"";""David Nabarro"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"918;2020-04-29 12:00:00;285;""The Guardian view on herd immunity: yes it was ‚part of the plan‚„"";""Unspecified"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Coronaviruses are horrible. You cant just let this thing ... wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�"";""David Nabarro"";""World Health Organization"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1171;2020-04-30 12:00:00;284;""Nigel Farage exposes UK''s hidden motive behind ''negligent'' border control amid COVID-19"";""Naomi Adedokun"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'You cant just let this thing wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�"";""David Nabarro"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1172;2020-04-30 12:00:00;284;""Nigel Farage exposes UK''s hidden motive behind ''negligent'' border control amid COVID-19"";""Naomi Adedokun"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'You cant just let this thing wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�"";""David Nabarro"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1173;2020-04-30 12:00:00;284;""Nigel Farage exposes UK''s hidden motive behind ''negligent'' border control amid COVID-19"";""Naomi Adedokun"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Health Secretary Matt Hancock has insisted that herd immunity was never a part of the plan� in the UK strategy"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1169;2020-05-01 12:00:00;283;""Boris Johnson ‚still secretly going for herd immunity‚„"";""Rob Merrick"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""Communities will become immune to it and thats going to be an important part of controlling this longer term. About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1170;2020-05-01 12:00:00;283;""Boris Johnson ‚still secretly going for herd immunity‚„"";""Rob Merrick"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""It was never government policy.It is a term that epidemiologists and others use to describe a particular stage in the development of a disease if a particular set of principles are followed. But itsnot government policy.�"";""Michael Gove"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"816;2020-05-05 12:00:00;281;""Australian Prime Minister lashes out at UK''s ''death sentence'' coronavirus handling"";""Dylan Donnelly"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'This idea of herd immunity nobody's got herd immunity.'The United States haven't reached it Sweden hasn't reached it. The UK hasn't reached it.'You've got to get to about 60 percent of your population.'Even with all the death and devastation we've seen in all of those countries they're nowhere near herd immunity.'The idea that it's some sort of path you can go down that's a death sentence.'That's not something that Australia has ever contemplated.''This could have all happened here. We could have gone down that path.�"";""Scott Morrison"";""Government of Australia"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"817;2020-05-05 12:00:00;281;""Australian Prime Minister lashes out at UK''s ''death sentence'' coronavirus handling"";""Dylan Donnelly"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'This idea of herd immunity nobody's got herd immunity.'The United States haven't reached it Sweden hasn't reached it. The UK hasn't reached it.'You've got to get to about 60 percent of your population.'Even with all the death and devastation we've seen in all of those countries they're nowhere near herd immunity.'The idea that it's some sort of path you can go down that's a death sentence.'That's not something that Australia has ever contemplated.''This could have all happened here. We could have gone down that path.�"";""Scott Morrison"";""Government of Australia"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"1211;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""That week although more physical distancing had been advised by Johnson normal life mostly continued until the compulsory lockdown pubs restaurants and gyms stayed open as did schools until Friday 20 March. Sazuze who served 10 years in the British army before studying to be a nurse himself says he never liked that herd immunity idea�.During those weeks the virus was allowed to spread� he says. We have suffered such a painful blow. I strongly believe that if the government had acted more quickly we wouldnt have lost so many lives and my wife could be here today.�"";""Ken Sazuze"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Individual"""
"1212;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""That week although more physical distancing had been advised by Johnson normal life mostly continued until the compulsory lockdown pubs restaurants and gyms stayed open as did schools until Friday 20 March. Sazuze who served 10 years in the British army before studying to be a nurse himself says he never liked that herd immunity idea�.During those weeks the virus was allowed to spread� he says. We have suffered such a painful blow. I strongly believe that if the government had acted more quickly we wouldnt have lost so many lives and my wife could be here today.�"";""Ken Sazuze"";"""";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Individual"""
"1213;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""part of the plan�."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1214;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Theyre rather stable and incredibly well designed to wreak havoc among populations because they are very very easy to transmit and quite tough to contain. You cant just let this thing go and let it wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�"";""David Nabarro"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1215;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Theyre rather stable and incredibly well designed to wreak havoc among populations because they are very very easy to transmit and quite tough to contain. You cant just let this thing go and let it wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�"";""David Nabarro"";""World Health Organization"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1216;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Theyre rather stable and incredibly well designed to wreak havoc among populations because they are very very easy to transmit and quite tough to contain. You cant just let this thing go and let it wash over your society because it will kill lots of old people and a few younger people it will make hospitals into a big mess and it will endanger health workers.�"";""David Nabarro"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1217;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Theres going to be a point assuming the epidemic flows and grows as we think it probably will do where youll want to cocoon youll want to protect those at-risk groups so that they basically dont catch the disease and by the time they come out of their cocooning herd immunitys been achieved in the rest of the population.�"";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Business"""
"1218;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Theres going to be a point assuming the epidemic flows and grows as we think it probably will do where youll want to cocoon youll want to protect those at-risk groups so that they basically dont catch the disease and by the time they come out of their cocooning herd immunitys been achieved in the rest of the population.�"";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Business"""
"1219;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists� Hancock wrote. Herd immunity is not a part of it. That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1220;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""By then a dizzying number of experts were sounding the alarm. An open letter issued on 14 March dismissing herd immunity as not a viable option� and calling for stricter social distancing measures so that thousands of lives can be spared� was signed by more than 500 UK scientists."";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1221;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""By then a dizzying number of experts were sounding the alarm. An open letter issued on 14 March dismissing herd immunity as not a viable option� and calling for stricter social distancing measures so that thousands of lives can be spared� was signed by more than 500 UK scientists."";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Letter: March Scientists"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"1222;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Prof Azra Ghani said: Under strategies we were pursuing we were expecting a degree of herd immunity to build up. If we now realise its not possible to cope with that in the current health system and it may not be acceptable in terms of the numbers then we need to try and reduce transmission.�"";""Azra Ghani"";""Imperial College London"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"1223;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Prof Azra Ghani said: Under strategies we were pursuing we were expecting a degree of herd immunity to build up. If we now realise its not possible to cope with that in the current health system and it may not be acceptable in terms of the numbers then we need to try and reduce transmission.�"";""Azra Ghani"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1224;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""We didnt know we were infecting ourselves� Ken says. I am really annoyed when I start thinking about it too much. I am furious with the government with people making decisions that the virus was spreading at that time.�"";""Ken Sazuze"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Individual"""
"1225;2020-05-05 12:00:00;282;""Revealed: the inside story of the UK''s Covid-19 crisis"";""Felicity Lawrence Severin Carrell Harry Davies David Pegg Paul Lewis David Conn Rob Evans"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""This is an unprecedented global pandemic and we have taken the right steps at the right time to combat it guided by the best scientific advice. We are so grateful for the response of the public who have helped us to slow the spread of the virus and stop the NHS from being overwhelmed. The government has been working day and night to battle coronavirus delivering a strategy designed to protect our NHS and save lives. Herd immunity has never been a policy or goal. We have provided the NHS with all the support it needs made sure everyone requiring treatment has received it and taken unprecedented steps to support businesses and workers to protect the economy.�The spokesperson for Vallance said: Herd immunity was a scientific point that ultimately immunity is an important way to tackle infectious disease ideally through vaccination.�"";"""";""Downing 10"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1167;2020-05-06 12:00:00;280;""The UK government''s changing coronavirus strategy"";""Haroon Siddique"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Our aim is to try to reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it. Those are the key things we need to do."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1168;2020-05-06 12:00:00;280;""The UK government''s changing coronavirus strategy"";""Haroon Siddique"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""I should be clear about what I was trying to say and if I didnt say this clearly enough then I apologise. What I was trying to say was that in the absence of a therapeutic the way in which you can stop a community becoming susceptible to this is through immunity and immunity can be obtained by vaccination or it can be obtained by people who have the infection."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1165;2020-05-12 12:00:00;276;""Rishi Sunak says UK recession is ''already happening'' as he extends furlough scheme to October"";""Unspecified"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""* WHO: Herd immunity for the coronavirus is a 'dangerous concept'"";"""";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"813;2020-05-12 12:00:00;277;""WHO: Herd immunity for the coronavirus is a ''dangerous concept''"";""Unspecified"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Mike Ryan  executive director of the WHO's health emergencies programme told a press briefing in Geneva: 'Humans are not herds and as such the concept of herd immunity is generally reserved for calculating how many people will need to be vaccinated and the population in order to generate that effect.'This is a serious disease this is public enemy number one we have been saying it over and over and over and over again.'He said 'no one is safe until everyone is safe' adding: 'So I do think this idea that 'maybe countries who had lax measures and haven't done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity and so what if we lose a few old people along the way?'-this is a really dangerous dangerous calculation.'And not one I believe most member states are willing to make that arithmetic.'Responsible member states will look at all their population-they value every member of society and they try to do everything possible to protect health while at the same time obviously protecting society and protecting the economy and other things. We need to get our priorities right as we enter the next phase of this fight.'"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"814;2020-05-12 12:00:00;277;""WHO: Herd immunity for the coronavirus is a ''dangerous concept''"";""Unspecified"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Mike Ryan  executive director of the WHO's health emergencies programme told a press briefing in Geneva: 'Humans are not herds and as such the concept of herd immunity is generally reserved for calculating how many people will need to be vaccinated and the population in order to generate that effect.'This is a serious disease this is public enemy number one we have been saying it over and over and over and over again.'He said 'no one is safe until everyone is safe' adding: 'So I do think this idea that 'maybe countries who had lax measures and haven't done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity and so what if we lose a few old people along the way?'-this is a really dangerous dangerous calculation.'And not one I believe most member states are willing to make that arithmetic.'Responsible member states will look at all their population-they value every member of society and they try to do everything possible to protect health while at the same time obviously protecting society and protecting the economy and other things. We need to get our priorities right as we enter the next phase of this fight.'"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"922;2020-05-12 12:00:00;278;""Coronavirus: WHO condemns idea of herd immunity for Covid-19 as ''dangerous''"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Ryan told a press briefing in Geneva: Humans are not herds and as such the concept of herd immunity is generally reserved for calculating how many people will need to be vaccinated and the population in order to generate that effect.�The WHO director added: So I do think this idea that ˜maybe countries who had lax measures and havent done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity and so what if we lose a few old people along the way? This is a really dangerous dangerous calculation.�"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1166;2020-05-12 12:00:00;278;""Coronavirus: WHO condemns idea of herd immunity for Covid-19 as ''dangerous''"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Maria Van Kerkhove technical lead of the WHOs Covid-19 response said preliminary data from studies has shown that very low levels of the population have actually been infected with the illness.There seems to be a consistent pattern so far that a low proportion of people have these antibodies� she told the press conference in Geneva. And that is important ... because you mentioned this word ˜herd immunity which is normally a phrase thats used when you think about vaccination.You think what amount of the population needs to have an immunity to be able to protect the rest of the population? We dont know exactly what that level needs to be for Covid-19. But it certainly needs to be higher than what were seeing in seroprevalence studies.�Seroprevalence refers to the level of a pathogen in a population as measured in blood serum.Dr Van Kerkhove added: What the sero-epidemiologic studies indicate to us is that theres a large portion of the population that remains susceptible.�"";""Maria Van Kerkhove"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"812;2020-05-12 12:00:00;279;""HERD IMMUNITY FOR COVID-19 ''DANGEROUS'' CONCEPT - WHO"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Dr Mike Ryan executive director of the WHO's health emergencies programme told a press briefing in Geneva: 'Humans are not herds and as such the concept of herd immunity is generally reserved for calculating how many people will need to be vaccinated and the population in order to generate that effect.'This is a serious disease this is public enemy number one we have been saying it over and over and over and over again.'He said 'no one is safe until everyone is safe' adding: 'So I do think this idea that 'maybe countries who had lax measures and haven't done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity and so what if we lose a few old people along the way?' - this is a really dangerous dangerous calculation.'And not one I believe most member states are willing to make that arithmetic.'Responsible member states will look at all their population - they value every member of society and they try to do everything possible to protect health while at the same time obviously protecting society and protecting the economy and other things. We need to get our priorities right as we enter the next phase of this fight.'"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"815;2020-05-12 12:00:00;279;""HERD IMMUNITY FOR COVID-19 ''DANGEROUS'' CONCEPT - WHO"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Dr Mike Ryan executive director of the WHO's health emergencies programme told a press briefing in Geneva: 'Humans are not herds and as such the concept of herd immunity is generally reserved for calculating how many people will need to be vaccinated and the population in order to generate that effect.'This is a serious disease this is public enemy number one we have been saying it over and over and over and over again.'He said 'no one is safe until everyone is safe' adding: 'So I do think this idea that 'maybe countries who had lax measures and haven't done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity and so what if we lose a few old people along the way?' - this is a really dangerous dangerous calculation.'And not one I believe most member states are willing to make that arithmetic.'Responsible member states will look at all their population - they value every member of society and they try to do everything possible to protect health while at the same time obviously protecting society and protecting the economy and other things. We need to get our priorities right as we enter the next phase of this fight.'"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"808;2020-05-13 12:00:00;275;""Herd immunity is a dangerous concept says WHO official"";""Unspecified"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";"" a WHO director said 'no one is safe until everyone is safe' and it was dangerous to think that countries could 'magically reach herd immunity'."";"""";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"809;2020-05-13 12:00:00;275;""Herd immunity is a dangerous concept says WHO official"";""Unspecified"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";"" a WHO director said 'no one is safe until everyone is safe' and it was dangerous to think that countries could 'magically reach herd immunity'."";"""";""World Health Organization"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"810;2020-05-13 12:00:00;275;""Herd immunity is a dangerous concept says WHO official"";""Unspecified"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'Humans are not herds and as such the concept of herd immunity is generally reserved for calculating how many people will need to be vaccinated to generate that effect.'This is a serious disease this is public enemy number one. This idea that 'maybe countries who had lax measures and haven't done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity and so what if we lose a few old people along the way?' - this is a really dangerous dangerous calculation.'"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"811;2020-05-13 12:00:00;275;""Herd immunity is a dangerous concept says WHO official"";""Unspecified"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'Humans are not herds and as such the concept of herd immunity is generally reserved for calculating how many people will need to be vaccinated to generate that effect.'This is a serious disease this is public enemy number one. This idea that 'maybe countries who had lax measures and haven't done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity and so what if we lose a few old people along the way?' - this is a really dangerous dangerous calculation.'"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"806;2020-05-14 12:00:00;273;""China says UK ''needs a miracle'' to beat coronavirus in scathing attack on Boris response"";""Katie Harris"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Then when almost every country was trying to curb the spread of the virus through the standard practice of public health - testing people and tracing contacts - and through restrictive measures such as instituting quarantine and social distancing the UK government led by Boris Johnson just adopted an utterly different strategy - ˜herd immunity - a policy tantamount to doing nothing.�And the state-run newspaper lambasted Mr Johnsons moves to ease the lockdown.READ MORE: World on alert: China seals off major city in second wave panicRelated articlesIt said: Before a ˜test trace isolate system was put in place Boris on Sunday revealed his plan to bring the UK lockdown to an end and get the country ˜back to work apparently prioritising concerns about economic damage over virus control.�The article added the UK is not supposed to end up like this�.It said: After all it is where the Industrial Revolution started. It has abundant capital and medical resources.DON'T MISSCoronavirus map LIVE: Terrifying study shows TRUE scale of infection [LIVE BLOG]China in DENIAL: Sky host in disbelief as ambassador rejects probe [VIDEO]US threatens China with sanctions over coronavirus investigation [INSIGHT]To put it in Chinese proverbs it didn't play well despite having good cards in hand.�"";"""";""The Global Times (China)"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"807;2020-05-14 12:00:00;274;""NOBODIES Blow for Spain‚„s hope of beating second coronavirus wave as antibody tests show ‚just 5%‚„ of population have immunity"";""Debbie White"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Health Minister Salvador Illa told reporters: We have not been surprised.There is no herd immunity in Spain.�"";""Salvador Illa"";""Government of Spain"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"798;2020-05-16 12:00:00;271;""Government scientists talked up herd immunity despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""'build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"799;2020-05-16 12:00:00;271;""Government scientists talked up herd immunity despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Two days earlier David Halpern the chief executive of the government-owned Behavioural Insights Team had suggested that high risk groups could be 'cocooned' until 'herd immunity has been achieved in the rest of the population'."";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Business"""
"800;2020-05-16 12:00:00;271;""Government scientists talked up herd immunity despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Two days earlier David Halpern the chief executive of the government-owned Behavioural Insights Team had suggested that high risk groups could be 'cocooned' until 'herd immunity has been achieved in the rest of the population'."";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Business"""
"801;2020-05-16 12:00:00;271;""Government scientists talked up herd immunity despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it. Those are the key things we need to do.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"802;2020-05-16 12:00:00;271;""Government scientists talked up herd immunity despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it. Those are the key things we need to do.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"803;2020-05-16 12:00:00;271;""Government scientists talked up herd immunity despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""'We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it. That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"804;2020-05-16 12:00:00;271;""Government scientists talked up herd immunity despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";"" We have repeatedly made clear that herd immunity has never been the Governments policy or goal.This is an unprecedented global pandemic and we have taken the right steps at the right time to combat it.'"";"""";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"795;2020-05-17 12:00:00;272;""Herd immunity talked up despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Sunday Telegraph"";"""";"""";""he private warnings were issued on March 13 the same day that Sir Patrick Vallance the Chief Scientific Adviser caused controversy when he said the Government's aim was to 'build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"796;2020-05-17 12:00:00;272;""Herd immunity talked up despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Sunday Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"797;2020-05-17 12:00:00;272;""Herd immunity talked up despite warnings about early reinfection"";""Edward Malnick"";""The Sunday Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"793;2020-05-19 12:00:00;270;""Economists must regain the upper hand in the Covid intellectual battle"";""Philip Aldrick"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""The common thread running through the Covid Economics papers however is that herd immunity is unavoidable. Without a vaccine there is no other way of managing the virus. 'The economic cost of suppression is now considered unbearable in many countries' Christian Gollier wrote. 'If the objective is herd immunity on whom should it be built?' His answer was the young. 'Young people face a mortality rate at least a thousand times smaller than people aged 70 and more.' Using his native France as a model he showed that cocooning the fifth of the population aged 65 and over but releasing the rest would increase deaths among those under 20 by 32 individuals but would save 276000 people aged 80 and over."";""Christian Goller"";"""";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Individual"""
"794;2020-05-19 12:00:00;270;""Economists must regain the upper hand in the Covid intellectual battle"";""Philip Aldrick"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""The common thread running through the Covid Economics papers however is that herd immunity is unavoidable. Without a vaccine there is no other way of managing the virus. 'The economic cost of suppression is now considered unbearable in many countries' Christian Gollier wrote. 'If the objective is herd immunity on whom should it be built?' His answer was the young. 'Young people face a mortality rate at least a thousand times smaller than people aged 70 and more.' Using his native France as a model he showed that cocooning the fifth of the population aged 65 and over but releasing the rest would increase deaths among those under 20 by 32 individuals but would save 276000 people aged 80 and over."";""Christian Goller"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Individual"""
"1164;2020-05-21 12:00:00;269;""Chilling warning herd immunity and mass testing won''t stop UK coronavirus spread"";""Kyle O''Sullivan"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'So the antibodies get made more slowly than usual perhaps fewer antibodies than usual and dont get maintained for a long as wed usually see with another virus.'The idea behind 'herd immunity' is that if enough of the population are infected and become immune to the virus then it could fade away. However the current evidence seems to show that not enough people will ever produce enough antibodies for this to work.Professor Barkley added: 'We can never achieve that high level where enough people at once have the antibodies that would mean the virus would be stuck and have nowhere to go.'"";""Wendy Barclay"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"791;2020-05-22 12:00:00;268;""Herd immunity theory professor says pubs could reopen safely"";""Bill Gardner"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Prof Sunetra Gupta said there was a 'strong possibility' that the hospitality industry could get back to work without posing a danger to the public. In an interview the professor of theoretical epidemiology at the University of Oxford called for a 'rapid exit' from lockdown adding that the Covid-19 epidemic is already 'on the way out'.Much of the UK population may already have been exposed to the virus before the Government ordered people to stay at home she added. 'I think there's a chance we might have done better by doing nothing at all' she said."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"792;2020-05-22 12:00:00;268;""Herd immunity theory professor says pubs could reopen safely"";""Bill Gardner"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Prof Sunetra Gupta said there was a 'strong possibility' that the hospitality industry could get back to work without posing a danger to the public. In an interview the professor of theoretical epidemiology at the University of Oxford called for a 'rapid exit' from lockdown adding that the Covid-19 epidemic is already 'on the way out'.Much of the UK population may already have been exposed to the virus before the Government ordered people to stay at home she added. 'I think there's a chance we might have done better by doing nothing at all' she said."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1162;2020-05-26 12:00:00;267;""Sturgeon denies herd immunity policy amid mounting questions"";""Mark McLaughlin"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Jason Leitch the Scottish government's national clinical director resisted calls to ban large sporting events and concerts.He told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: 'The science tells us that there is almost nothing to be gained at this point with stopping large gatherings or closing schools ... we have got to time that right so you want to gradually increase the number of people [infected] over a very controlled period so that we get herd immunity.'"";""Jason Leitch"";""Scottish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1163;2020-05-26 12:00:00;267;""Sturgeon denies herd immunity policy amid mounting questions"";""Mark McLaughlin"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""'to build up some degree of herd immunity'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1160;2020-05-29 12:00:00;263;""Let‚„s all just hope the scientists were wrong"";""Matthrew Parris"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Estimates are that one person may infect as many as 2-3 others on average meaning herd immunity should kick in at 50-67 per cent of the population [being] immune ... This is where the 60 per cent of the population statistic has come from ... [T]aking the low fatality rate estimate of 1 per cent even 50 per cent of the UK population infected by Covid-19 is an unthinkable level of mortality.� This reasoning shocked the government into the lockdown from which ministers now wish gradually to extricate us."";""Matthew Baylis"";""University of Liverpool"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"1161;2020-05-29 12:00:00;263;""Let‚„s all just hope the scientists were wrong"";""Matthrew Parris"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Estimates are that one person may infect as many as 2-3 others on average meaning herd immunity should kick in at 50-67 per cent of the population [being] immune ... This is where the 60 per cent of the population statistic has come from ... [T]aking the low fatality rate estimate of 1 per cent even 50 per cent of the UK population infected by Covid-19 is an unthinkable level of mortality.� This reasoning shocked the government into the lockdown from which ministers now wish gradually to extricate us."";""Matthew Baylis"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"787;2020-05-29 12:00:00;264;""Coronavirus in Scotland: Clinical director Jason Leitch sorry for his herd immunity claim"";""Mark McLaughlin"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: Any suggestion that any adviser wants people to die during this pandemic and that will make the world a safer place . . . is completely false and upsetting.The suggestion that immunity will be helpful for the virus and a pandemic remains true we just dont know what that immunity means yet. Five months in we dont know if we get long-term immunity we dont know if that immunity means you cant reinfected but it looks as though from the global evidence you probably cant.If you watch the whole Channel 4 interview I was asked ˜Do you agree with Sir Patrick Vallance? and I said ˜yes because Patrick Vallance is the chief scientific adviser of the UK and weve tried as much as possible to have consensual clinical advice.So I am unusually sorry that that word has become something bigger than it was ever intended to be in those early interviews two and half months ago and thing have moved on considerably including the science.�"";""Jason Leitch"";""Scottish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"788;2020-05-29 12:00:00;264;""Coronavirus in Scotland: Clinical director Jason Leitch sorry for his herd immunity claim"";""Mark McLaughlin"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: Any suggestion that any adviser wants people to die during this pandemic and that will make the world a safer place . . . is completely false and upsetting.The suggestion that immunity will be helpful for the virus and a pandemic remains true we just dont know what that immunity means yet. Five months in we dont know if we get long-term immunity we dont know if that immunity means you cant reinfected but it looks as though from the global evidence you probably cant.If you watch the whole Channel 4 interview I was asked ˜Do you agree with Sir Patrick Vallance? and I said ˜yes because Patrick Vallance is the chief scientific adviser of the UK and weve tried as much as possible to have consensual clinical advice.So I am unusually sorry that that word has become something bigger than it was ever intended to be in those early interviews two and half months ago and thing have moved on considerably including the science.�"";""Jason Leitch"";""Scottish Government"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"789;2020-05-29 12:00:00;265;""HERD MIX MESSAGES Coronavirus Scotland: Professor Jason Leitch says his ‚herd immunity‚„ remarks were mangled"";""Christine Lavelle"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""In it Prof Leitch signalled support for raising the number with the virus over a very controlled period so that we get herd immunity in the community�.Asked about the comment he said: A number of things have been conflated.�Coronavirus Scotland: Face coverings could become mandatory if science changes says Jason LeitchHe added: The suggestion that immunity will be helpful is true and remains true we just dont know what that immunity quite means yet.Im unusually sorry that [herd immunity] has become something bigger than was intended.�"";""Jason Leitch"";""Scottish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"790;2020-05-29 12:00:00;265;""HERD MIX MESSAGES Coronavirus Scotland: Professor Jason Leitch says his ‚herd immunity‚„ remarks were mangled"";""Christine Lavelle"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""In it Prof Leitch signalled support for raising the number with the virus over a very controlled period so that we get herd immunity in the community�.Asked about the comment he said: A number of things have been conflated.�Coronavirus Scotland: Face coverings could become mandatory if science changes says Jason LeitchHe added: The suggestion that immunity will be helpful is true and remains true we just dont know what that immunity quite means yet.Im unusually sorry that [herd immunity] has become something bigger than was intended.�"";""Jason Leitch"";""Scottish Government"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"1158;2020-05-30 12:00:00;260;""Is herd immunity working in Sweden? The reality of no lockdown"";""Louise Callaghan"";""sundaytimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The advantage with herd immunity is that once you have it the country is safe� said Britton. But the downside is that the country will get infected and if it happens too quickly the hospitals wont manage. My point of view is that it is better to slow it down than to stop it.�"";""Tom Britton"";""Stockholm University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1159;2020-05-30 12:00:00;260;""Is herd immunity working in Sweden? The reality of no lockdown"";""Louise Callaghan"";""sundaytimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The advantage with herd immunity is that once you have it the country is safe� said Britton. But the downside is that the country will get infected and if it happens too quickly the hospitals wont manage. My point of view is that it is better to slow it down than to stop it.�"";""Tom Britton"";""Stockholm University"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"785;2020-05-30 12:00:00;261;""Clinical director sorry for his herd immunity claim"";""Mark McLaughlin"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Any suggestion that any adviser wants people to die during this pandemic and that will make the world a safer place ... is completely false and upsetting.'The suggestion that immunity will be helpful for the virus and a pandemic remains true we just don't know what that immunity means yet. Five months in we don't know if we get long-term immunity we don't know if that immunity means you can't reinfected but it looks as though from the global evidence you probably can't.'If you watch the whole Channel 4 interview I was asked 'Do you agree with Sir Patrick Vallance?' and I said 'yes' because Patrick Vallance is the chief scientific adviser of the UK and we've tried as much as possible to have consensual clinical advice.'So I am unusually sorry that that word has become something bigger than it was ever intended to be in those early interviews two and half months ago and thing have moved on considerably including the science.'"";""Jason Leitch"";""Scottish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"784;2020-05-30 12:00:00;262;""HERD MIX MESSAGES"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""Jason Leitch stressed yesterday his 'herd immunity' remarks had been mangled branding any suggestion he'd wanted people to die as 'false and upsetting'. The national clinical director said remarks he'd made in an interview on March 10 at the start of the crisis had 'grown arms and legs'.In it Prof Leitch left signalled support for raising the number with the virus 'over a very controlled period so that we get herd immunity in the community'. Asked yesterday about the comment he said: 'A number of things have been conflated.'He added: 'The suggestion that immunity will be helpful is true and remains true we just don't know what that immunity quite means yet. I'm unusually sorry that [herd immunity] has become something bigger than was intended.'"";""Jason Leitch"";""Scottish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"786;2020-05-30 12:00:00;262;""HERD MIX MESSAGES"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""Jason Leitch stressed yesterday his 'herd immunity' remarks had been mangled branding any suggestion he'd wanted people to die as 'false and upsetting'. The national clinical director said remarks he'd made in an interview on March 10 at the start of the crisis had 'grown arms and legs'.In it Prof Leitch left signalled support for raising the number with the virus 'over a very controlled period so that we get herd immunity in the community'. Asked yesterday about the comment he said: 'A number of things have been conflated.'He added: 'The suggestion that immunity will be helpful is true and remains true we just don't know what that immunity quite means yet. I'm unusually sorry that [herd immunity] has become something bigger than was intended.'"";""Jason Leitch"";""Scottish Government"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"924;2020-06-02 12:00:00;258;""Boris Johnson accused of telling Italian PM he wanted ''''''''''''''''herd immunity''''''''''''''''"";""Harriet Line"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Mr Conte is said to have recounted the conversation to Mr Sileri who told Channel Four's Dispatches: 'I spoke with Conte to tell President Conte that I'd tested positive.'And he told me that he'd spoken with Boris Johnson and that they'd also talked about the situation in Italy. I remember he said 'He told me that he wants herd immunity'.'I remember that after hanging up I said to myself that I hope Boris Johnson goes for a lockdown.'"";""Pierpaolo Sileri"";""Government of Italy"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"923;2020-06-02 12:00:00;259;""VIRUS FIGHT Boris Johnson told Italy‚„s PM he wanted ‚herd immunity‚„ as a way to defeat coronavirus TV doc claims"";""Matthew Dathan"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""I remember he said ˜He told me that he wants herd immunity.I remember that after hanging up I said to myself that I hope Boris Johnson goes for a lockdown.�"";""Pierpaolo Sileri"";""Government of Italy"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1155;2020-06-03 12:00:00;257;""Boris Johnson failed to take threat of Covid-19 seriously until the outbreak spiralled out of control government adviser claims"";""Sam Blanchard"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'I remember he said: 'He told me that he wants herd immunity'. I remember that after hanging up I said to myself that I hope Boris Johnson goes for a lockdown.'"";""Pierpaolo Sileri"";""Government of Italy"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1156;2020-06-03 12:00:00;257;""Boris Johnson failed to take threat of Covid-19 seriously until the outbreak spiralled out of control government adviser claims"";""Sam Blanchard"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""He said: 'We want to suppress it [the virus] not get rid of it completely which you can't do anyway and also allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this to help with the sort of whole population response which would protect everybody.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1157;2020-06-03 12:00:00;257;""Boris Johnson failed to take threat of Covid-19 seriously until the outbreak spiralled out of control government adviser claims"";""Sam Blanchard"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'The Government has been very clear that herd immunity has never been our policy or goal."";"""";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"783;2020-06-04 12:00:00;256;""Boris Johnson ‚told Italy‚„s prime minister‚„ he wanted ‚herd immunity‚„ to defeat coronavirus TV documentary reveals"";""Rob Merrick"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""I spoke with [Giuseppe] Conte to tell President Conte that Id tested positive [for coronavirus].� Pierpaolo Sileri told Channel 4s Dispatches -although Mr Conte is actually the prime minister.And he told me that hed spoken with Boris Johnson and that theyd also talked about the situation in Italy. I remember he said ˜He told me that he wants herd immunity.I remember that after hanging up I said to myself that I hope Boris Johnson goes for a lockdown.�"";""Pierpaolo Sileri"";""Government of Italy"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"781;2020-06-05 12:00:00;255;""No 10 fails to deny reports Johnson told Italian PM he wanted herd immunity"";""Lizzy Buchan"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""The position of the government is that herd immunity has never been our policy.�"";"""";""Downing 10"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"782;2020-06-05 12:00:00;255;""No 10 fails to deny reports Johnson told Italian PM he wanted herd immunity"";""Lizzy Buchan"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""Mr Sileri said. I spoke with Conte to tell [him] that Id tested positive. And he told me that hed spoken with Boris Johnson and that theyd also talked about the situation in Italy. I remember he said ˜He told me that he wants herd immunity.I remember that after hanging up I said to myself that I hope Boris Johnson goes for a lockdown.�"";""Pierpaolo Sileri"";""Government of Italy"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"779;2020-06-08 12:00:00;254;""China sees coronavirus breakthrough as first vaccine could be ready by autumn"";""Melanie Kaidan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity is the situation where enough residents of a specific place have acquired immunity to a pathogen so that it cannot be transmitted within the group. Dr Zhong said: A country needs to have 60 to 70 percent of its population to be infected [for herd immunity].If so seven percent of those would die [from the disease].�The epidemiologist added that the concept could result in 30 to 40 million deaths. He did not clarify how the figures were obtained.That's shocking. It is too costly� he added."";""Zhong Nanshan"";""Chinese Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"780;2020-06-08 12:00:00;254;""China sees coronavirus breakthrough as first vaccine could be ready by autumn"";""Melanie Kaidan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity is the situation where enough residents of a specific place have acquired immunity to a pathogen so that it cannot be transmitted within the group. Dr Zhong said: A country needs to have 60 to 70 percent of its population to be infected [for herd immunity].If so seven percent of those would die [from the disease].�The epidemiologist added that the concept could result in 30 to 40 million deaths. He did not clarify how the figures were obtained.That's shocking. It is too costly� he added."";""Zhong Nanshan"";""Chinese Government"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Government"""
"771;2020-06-10 12:00:00;252;""GLIMMER OF HOPE Italy ‚close to herd immunity‚„ as more than half of residents‚„ in province worst-hit by coronavirus have antibodies"";""Henry Holloway"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Ebba Busch-Thor leader of the Christian Democrat party said: The greater part of those who are now mourning over those they have lost this spring are doing so because Sweden quite knowingly allowed a large spread of the infection.�"";""Ebba Busch-Thor"";""Riksdag"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"772;2020-06-10 12:00:00;252;""GLIMMER OF HOPE Italy ‚close to herd immunity‚„ as more than half of residents‚„ in province worst-hit by coronavirus have antibodies"";""Henry Holloway"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Ebba Busch-Thor leader of the Christian Democrat party said: The greater part of those who are now mourning over those they have lost this spring are doing so because Sweden quite knowingly allowed a large spread of the infection.�"";""Ebba Busch-Thor"";""Riksdag"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"773;2020-06-10 12:00:00;252;""GLIMMER OF HOPE Italy ‚close to herd immunity‚„ as more than half of residents‚„ in province worst-hit by coronavirus have antibodies"";""Henry Holloway"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: I remember that after hanging up I said to myself that I hope Boris Johnson goes for a lockdown.�"";""Pierpaolo Sileri"";""Government of Italy"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"774;2020-06-10 12:00:00;252;""GLIMMER OF HOPE Italy ‚close to herd immunity‚„ as more than half of residents‚„ in province worst-hit by coronavirus have antibodies"";""Henry Holloway"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Meanwhile Dr. Marybeth Sexton told Today that pursuing a herd immunity strategy risks overwhelming healthcare systems.She said: The best way for us to get herd immunity for Covid-19 is going to be a vaccine.�"";""Marybeth Sexton"";""Emory University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"777;2020-06-10 12:00:00;253;""GLIMMER OF HOPE Italy ‚close to herd immunity‚„ as more than half of residents‚„ in province worst-hit by coronavirus have antibodies"";""Henry Holloway"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Ebba Busch-Thor leader of the Christian Democrat party said: The greater part of those who are now mourning over those they have lost this spring are doing so because Sweden quite knowingly allowed a large spread of the infection.�"";""Ebba Busch-Thor"";""Riksdag"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"778;2020-06-10 12:00:00;253;""GLIMMER OF HOPE Italy ‚close to herd immunity‚„ as more than half of residents‚„ in province worst-hit by coronavirus have antibodies"";""Henry Holloway"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Ebba Busch-Thor leader of the Christian Democrat party said: The greater part of those who are now mourning over those they have lost this spring are doing so because Sweden quite knowingly allowed a large spread of the infection.�"";""Ebba Busch-Thor"";""Riksdag"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"776;2020-06-10 12:00:00;253;""GLIMMER OF HOPE Italy ‚close to herd immunity‚„ as more than half of residents‚„ in province worst-hit by coronavirus have antibodies"";""Henry Holloway"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Italian health minister Pierpaolo Sileri revealed on Channel 4s Dispatches that Mr Johnson told Italys PM Guiseppe Conte of the controversial approach. He said: I remember that after hanging up I said to myself that I hope Boris Johnson goes for a lockdown.� "";""Pierpaolo Sileri"";""Government of Italy"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"775;2020-06-10 12:00:00;253;""GLIMMER OF HOPE Italy ‚close to herd immunity‚„ as more than half of residents‚„ in province worst-hit by coronavirus have antibodies"";""Henry Holloway"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Meanwhile Dr. Marybeth Sexton told Today that pursuing a herd immunity strategy risks overwhelming healthcare systems.She said: The best way for us to get herd immunity for Covid-19 is going to be a vaccine.�"";""Marybeth Sexton"";""Emory University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"769;2020-06-11 12:00:00;251;""TOO LATE Ex-science chief says UK death toll could have been just 10k if Gov had lockdown one WEEK earlier"";""Alexander Brown"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""So had we introduced lockdown measures a week earlier we would have reduced the final death toll by at least a half.�Speaking today Sir David also accused the Government of starting off with the wrong policy.He said: Once the PM made a speech about how we would ride through lockdown while other countries were going into lockdown our economy would grow and we would emerge like Superman.What he was referring to was a policy of herd immunity.I do believe that the government was favouring this idea that we should allow the disease to spread but no more than the NHS could manage to cope with the cases.�"";""Sir David King"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"770;2020-06-11 12:00:00;251;""TOO LATE Ex-science chief says UK death toll could have been just 10k if Gov had lockdown one WEEK earlier"";""Alexander Brown"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""So had we introduced lockdown measures a week earlier we would have reduced the final death toll by at least a half.�Speaking today Sir David also accused the Government of starting off with the wrong policy.He said: Once the PM made a speech about how we would ride through lockdown while other countries were going into lockdown our economy would grow and we would emerge like Superman.What he was referring to was a policy of herd immunity.I do believe that the government was favouring this idea that we should allow the disease to spread but no more than the NHS could manage to cope with the cases.�"";""Sir David King"";""University of Cambridge"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"764;2020-06-12 12:00:00;250;""Remainers think Rory Stewart has been proven right about Covid-19. But the truth is not so simple"";""Tom Harris"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Britain is trying to follow a theory of herd immunity “ in other words [the government] believe its impossible to get on top of this disease and therefore you have to ultimately let it run through the population� he said "";""Rory Stewart"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Individual"""
"1154;2020-06-12 12:00:00;250;""Remainers think Rory Stewart has been proven right about Covid-19. But the truth is not so simple"";""Tom Harris"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""So he was absolutely right in one respect back in March “ pursuing herd immunity would have been a bad idea. Lets all be thankful that Rory and Boris were as one."";""Rory Stewart"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Individual"""
"765;2020-06-16 12:00:00;249;""Government‚„s top behavioural scientist showed ‚lack of concern‚„ over coronavirus deaths says advisor"";""Ben Chu"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""It does seem to indicate a lack of concern with the deaths of many people and particularly of vulnerable members of the population� said Stephen Reicher a professor of social psychology at St Andrews University who also sits on the behavioural science sub-group that feeds advice into SAGE.If you are trying to bring the population on board and work with you its not a good look to refer to them as a herd. It sent out a very clear message to the community that the government had at least implicitly a dismissive attitude towards them.�"";""Stephen Reicher"";""St. Andrews University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"766;2020-06-16 12:00:00;249;""Government‚„s top behavioural scientist showed ‚lack of concern‚„ over coronavirus deaths says advisor"";""Ben Chu"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""It does seem to indicate a lack of concern with the deaths of many people and particularly of vulnerable members of the population� said Stephen Reicher a professor of social psychology at St Andrews University who also sits on the behavioural science sub-group that feeds advice into SAGE.If you are trying to bring the population on board and work with you its not a good look to refer to them as a herd. It sent out a very clear message to the community that the government had at least implicitly a dismissive attitude towards them.�"";""Stephen Reicher"";""St. Andrews University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"767;2020-06-16 12:00:00;249;""Government‚„s top behavioural scientist showed ‚lack of concern‚„ over coronavirus deaths says advisor"";""Ben Chu"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The idea of herd immunity “ he didnt invent that term. Thats a well known term. He said we want herd immunity for a certain segment of the population “ those who arent particularly vulnerable to the disease.�Mr Sunstein added: Im not sure I would subscribe to that as the right policy “ in fact I think I wouldnt “ but that has nothing to do with behavioural science.�"";""Cass Sunstein"";""Harvard University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"768;2020-06-16 12:00:00;249;""Government‚„s top behavioural scientist showed ‚lack of concern‚„ over coronavirus deaths says advisor"";""Ben Chu"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The idea of herd immunity “ he didnt invent that term. Thats a well known term. He said we want herd immunity for a certain segment of the population “ those who arent particularly vulnerable to the disease.�Mr Sunstein added: Im not sure I would subscribe to that as the right policy “ in fact I think I wouldnt “ but that has nothing to do with behavioural science.�"";""Cass Sunstein"";""Harvard University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"1152;2020-06-24 12:00:00;248;""Herd immunity could develop from just 43% of people catching Covid-19 as long as it infects the most socially active scientists claim"";""Sam Blanchard"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'We want to suppress it [the virus] not get rid of it completely which you can't do anyway and also allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this to help with the sort of whole population response which would protect everybody.'Sir Patrick added: 'We think that this virus is likely to be one that comes back year on year become like a seasonal virus and communities will become immune to it and that's going to be an important part of controlling this longer term.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1153;2020-06-24 12:00:00;248;""Herd immunity could develop from just 43% of people catching Covid-19 as long as it infects the most socially active scientists claim"";""Sam Blanchard"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'I remember he said: 'He told me that he wants herd immunity'. I remember that after hanging up I said to myself that I hope Boris Johnson goes for a lockdown.'"";""Pierpaolo Sileri"";""Government of Italy"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"762;2020-06-26 12:00:00;246;""SW1A"";""Evening Standard"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""JEREMY HUNT says that as 'we are a humane society' he doesn't believe 'we will ever accept the principle of herd immunity' in a swipe at the Government's briefly-declared strategy in March. The former health secretary told a Politico event that this meant 'if there are no other alternatives' in the face of a second spike another lockdown was 'the ultimate blunderbuss weapon'."";""Jeremy Hunt"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"763;2020-06-26 12:00:00;247;""The Londoner: Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah defiant after controversy"";""Unspecified"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""JEREMY HUNT says that as we are a humane society� he doesnt believe we will ever accept the principle of herd immunity� in a swipe at the Governments briefly declared strategy in March. The former health secretary told a Politico event that this meant if there are no other alternatives� in the face of a second spike another lockdown was the ultimate blunderbuss weapon�. March seems a lifetime ago."";""Jeremy Hunt"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"761;2020-07-04 12:00:00;244;""SAGE''s David King warns herd immunity still UK coronavirus strategy behind closed doors"";""Alessandra Scotto"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Herd immunity may well still be the policy and they're just not telling us.'Asked whether he believes the reopening of pubs and restaurants will cost lives he replied: 'No question'.He added: 'We are running a terrible risk and it's all down to a degree of impatience in my view.'We should have stayed in lockdown for a few more weeks and we would have got ourselves in a much better position."";""Sir David King"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1151;2020-07-04 12:00:00;244;""SAGE''s David King warns herd immunity still UK coronavirus strategy behind closed doors"";""Alessandra Scotto"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Herd immunity may well still be the policy and they're just not telling us.'Asked whether he believes the reopening of pubs and restaurants will cost lives he replied: 'No question'.He added: 'We are running a terrible risk and it's all down to a degree of impatience in my view.'We should have stayed in lockdown for a few more weeks and we would have got ourselves in a much better position."";""Sir David King"";""University of Cambridge"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"760;2020-07-08 12:00:00;243;""Government felt that virus control was ''futile'' - Hunt"";""Henry Bodkin"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'I don't think we are aiming for herd immunity but because our mindset was around tackling flu pandemics there was a sense that basically it would be impossible to hold the prevalence rate of this disease below 50 per cent of the population and ultimately 60 per cent catching it was an inevitability' Mr Hunt told a meeting of the Independent Sage group of scientists chaired by the British Medical Journal.'So we had that mindset that this was a futile exercise. That is why we took so long to really embrace test and trace... ultimately we thought once community transmission has got beyond a certain point there's just no point.'"";""Jeremy Hunt"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"759;2020-07-12 12:00:00;242;""Coronavirus: Immunity to Covid-19 can vanish in months study suggests"";""Vincent Wood"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Most importantly it puts another nail in the coffin of the dangerous concept of herd immunity� he said of the UK study."";""Jonathan Heeney"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"758;2020-07-13 12:00:00;241;""Immunity to coronavirus may only last for three months"";""Will Hayward"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Jonathan Heeney a virologist at the University of Cambridge also told The Guardian that the study 'puts another nail in the coffin of the dangerous                                                                                                     concept of herd immunity�.He said he 'cannot underscore how important it is that the public understands that getting infected by this virus is not a good thing'.It is not all bad news."";""Jonathan Heeney"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1147;2020-07-16 12:00:00;239;""Coronavirus: Levels of herd immunity in UK may already be high enough to prevent second wave study suggests"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""another nail in the coffin of the dangerous concept of herd immunity�."";""Jonathan Heeney"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1148;2020-07-16 12:00:00;239;""Coronavirus: Levels of herd immunity in UK may already be high enough to prevent second wave study suggests"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick Vallance defended trying to broaden the peak� in order to build up some kind of herd immunity� “ 10 critical days before the UK went into lockdown."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1149;2020-07-16 12:00:00;239;""Coronavirus: Levels of herd immunity in UK may already be high enough to prevent second wave study suggests"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said this would mean that more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it� adding: This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"1150;2020-07-16 12:00:00;239;""Coronavirus: Levels of herd immunity in UK may already be high enough to prevent second wave study suggests"";""Andrew Gregory"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said this would mean that more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it� adding: This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"756;2020-07-17 12:00:00;235;""Coronavirus breakthrough: Oxford University says Britons may already be IMMUNE to virus"";""Bill McLoughlin"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""In the study professor Suneptra Gupta and colleagues stated: Immunity measures of 10-20 per cent are entirely compatible with local levels of immunity having approached or even exceeded the herd immunity threshold in which case the risk and scale of resurgence is lower than currently perceived.It is widely believed that the herd immunity threshold required to prevent a resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 is in excess of 50 per cent.Here we demonstrate HIT may be greatly reduced if a fraction of the population is unable to transmit the virus due to innate resistance or cross-protection from exposure to seasonal coronaviruses.Significant reductions in expected mortality can also be observed in settings where a fraction of the population is resistant to infection.These results help to explain the large degree of regional variation observed in seroprevalence how many people have signs of immunity and cumulative deaths and suggest that sufficient herd-immunity may already be in place to substantially mitigate a potential second wave.�"";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"757;2020-07-17 12:00:00;236;""Dr Hilary advises public to be ''vigilant'' after mixed claims over herd immunity"";""Charlotte Tutton"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'But we dont even know if herd immunity would even last very long even if we have it so I think we shouldn't rest on our laws and we still need to be vigilant and we still need to be cautious.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"1143;2020-07-17 12:00:00;238;""‚Herd immunity‚„ in the UK may prevent second wave"";""Andrew Gregory"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""Prof Jonathan Heeney a virologist at the University of Cambridge said the findings had put another nail in the coffin of the dangerous concept of herd immunity�."";""Jonathan Heeney"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1144;2020-07-17 12:00:00;238;""‚Herd immunity‚„ in the UK may prevent second wave"";""Andrew Gregory"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""broaden the peak� in order to build up some kind of herd immunity� “ 10 critical days before the UK went into lockdown."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1145;2020-07-17 12:00:00;238;""‚Herd immunity‚„ in the UK may prevent second wave"";""Andrew Gregory"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said this would mean that more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it� adding: This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1146;2020-07-17 12:00:00;238;""‚Herd immunity‚„ in the UK may prevent second wave"";""Andrew Gregory"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""Sir Patrick said this would mean that more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it� adding: This is quite likely I think to become an annual virus an annual seasonal infection.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Government"""
"746;2020-07-18 12:00:00;225;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"748;2020-07-18 12:00:00;226;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""Daily Echo"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"749;2020-07-18 12:00:00;227;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""Bournemouth Echo"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"750;2020-07-18 12:00:00;228;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""Worcester News"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"751;2020-07-18 12:00:00;229;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""Bradford Telegraph and Argus"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"752;2020-07-18 12:00:00;230;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""Echo"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"753;2020-07-18 12:00:00;231;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""Falmouth Packet"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"754;2020-07-18 12:00:00;232;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""Dorset Echo"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"755;2020-07-18 12:00:00;233;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""Gazette"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"747;2020-07-19 12:00:00;223;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''''s what the experts say"";""Salisbury Journal"";""Salisbury Journal"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"745;2020-07-19 12:00:00;224;""Can you get Covid-19 twice? Here''s what the experts say"";""Unspecified"";""South Wales Argus"";"""";"""";""'My clinical interpretation from these new studies is that until we have a vaccine that is widely available societies will not naturally develop their own herd immunity' Nolan said. 'These new findings suggest that persons might get reinfected.'"";""Melissa Nolan"";""University of South Carolina"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"743;2020-07-24 12:00:00;221;""''SELFISH'' This Morning viewers horrified as guest refuses to follow new facemask rules  insisting UK has ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Jamie Downham"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""She said: Professor Sunetra Gupta [from Oxford University] said weve already achieved herd immunity. These draconian laws the Government keep implementing dont really make any sense.�She added: There are so many flip-flops in the Governments advice and now we have these peculiar rules “ you do wear them here and you dont wear them there but youre in the same shop.�"";""Leah Butler-Smith"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Individual"""
"744;2020-07-24 12:00:00;222;""''SELFISH'' This Morning viewers horrified as guest refuses to follow new facemask rules  insisting UK has ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Jamie Downham"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""She said: Professor Sunetra Gupta [from Oxford University] said weve already achieved herd immunity. These draconian laws the Government keep implementing dont really make any sense.�She added: There are so many flip-flops in the Governments advice and now we have these peculiar rules “ you do wear them here and you dont wear them there but youre in the same shop.�"";""Leah Butler-Smith"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Individual"""
"1141;2020-07-27 12:00:00;219;""''Council were preparing for over 1000 coronavirus deaths in the borough under herd immunity strategy''"";""Ryan Evans"";""Basingstoke Gazette"";"""";"""";""'Had herd immunity been pursued 75 per cent of public caught the virus that would have been a repeat of the 1918 levels of death and that would have meant over a thousand deaths in the borough."";""Andy McCormick"";""Basingstoke"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"1142;2020-07-27 12:00:00;219;""''Council were preparing for over 1000 coronavirus deaths in the borough under herd immunity strategy''"";""Ryan Evans"";""Basingstoke Gazette"";"""";"""";""'Had herd immunity been pursued 75 per cent of public caught the virus that would have been a repeat of the 1918 levels of death and that would have meant over a thousand deaths in the borough."";""Andy McCormick"";""Basingstoke"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1210;2020-07-31 12:00:00;217;""Herd immunity is the long term solution to beat coronavirus claims British scientist"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""In an article published in the journal Public Health in Practice he wrote: Herd immunity provokes hostility and controversy as it is usually interpreted as allowing the pandemic to unfold without interventions. The concept needs revisiting.If safe and effective vaccines and life-saving preventative and therapeutic medications are not found lengthy lockdowns prove impossible and the pandemic does not disappear spontaneously population immunity is the only long-term solution.�"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"741;2020-08-01 12:00:00;216;""''''Taboo'''' herd immunity is only long-term solution says professor"";""Camilla Turner"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'We cannot unfortunately pin all hopes on vaccines as they may only work for a short time especially if the virus evolves new strains' Prof Bhopal writes. 'A vaccine that is effective proven to be safe that is manufacturable in billions of doses and available globally is unlikely this year and may take years even decades.'Prof Bhopal also argues a vaccine may not work well for older people and those people with underlying health conditions.His paper also says: 'Herd immunity provokes hostility and controversy as it is usually interpreted as allowing the pandemic to unfold without interventions. The concept needs revisiting. 'If safe and effective vaccines and life-saving preventive and therapeutic medications are not found lengthy lockdowns prove impossible and the pandemic does not disappear spontaneously population immunity is the only long-term solution.'Prof Bhopal who has advised the Government on public health issues believes the 40-50 per cent infection rate needed for herd immunity could be reached by allowing Covid-19 to spread among young healthy people.'Allowing infection in those at very low risk while making it safer for them and wider society needs consideration but is currently taboo' he said.He told The Daily Telegraph: 'Why do we not like herd immunity? 'Discussion of it has been closed down because people equate it with letting the pandemic rip through a population without any control measures at all. I am completely against that it would be insane. I am not advocating we dispense with all control measures.'We still need to wash our hands keep our distance and do everything we are being advised to.'The bottom line is that older people have got a lot to gain from lockdowns and a lot to lose from the infection.'Young people have a lot to lose from lockdowns and not much to lose from the infection. Our efforts should be directed towards protecting people who are at high risk.''Young people have a lot to lose from lockdowns and not much to lose from the infection'"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"742;2020-08-01 12:00:00;216;""''''Taboo'''' herd immunity is only long-term solution says professor"";""Camilla Turner"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'We cannot unfortunately pin all hopes on vaccines as they may only work for a short time especially if the virus evolves new strains' Prof Bhopal writes. 'A vaccine that is effective proven to be safe that is manufacturable in billions of doses and available globally is unlikely this year and may take years even decades.'Prof Bhopal also argues a vaccine may not work well for older people and those people with underlying health conditions.His paper also says: 'Herd immunity provokes hostility and controversy as it is usually interpreted as allowing the pandemic to unfold without interventions. The concept needs revisiting. 'If safe and effective vaccines and life-saving preventive and therapeutic medications are not found lengthy lockdowns prove impossible and the pandemic does not disappear spontaneously population immunity is the only long-term solution.'Prof Bhopal who has advised the Government on public health issues believes the 40-50 per cent infection rate needed for herd immunity could be reached by allowing Covid-19 to spread among young healthy people.'Allowing infection in those at very low risk while making it safer for them and wider society needs consideration but is currently taboo' he said.He told The Daily Telegraph: 'Why do we not like herd immunity? 'Discussion of it has been closed down because people equate it with letting the pandemic rip through a population without any control measures at all. I am completely against that it would be insane. I am not advocating we dispense with all control measures.'We still need to wash our hands keep our distance and do everything we are being advised to.'The bottom line is that older people have got a lot to gain from lockdowns and a lot to lose from the infection.'Young people have a lot to lose from lockdowns and not much to lose from the infection. Our efforts should be directed towards protecting people who are at high risk.''Young people have a lot to lose from lockdowns and not much to lose from the infection'"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"731;2020-08-04 12:00:00;212;""Scientist: No panic over Covid"";""Paul Rodger"";""Daily Record"";"""";"""";""Professor Raj Bhopal said it is 'not an infection we should be panicking about' as deaths among those under 25 are 'rare'.Prof Bhopal emeritus professor of public health at Edinburgh University believes young people should be allowed to live normally again to establish herd immunity as an alternative to 'severe' lockdown measures.Prof Bhopal believes other conditions such as flu pose more of a danger to the younger generation. He has argued in the journal Public Health in Practice that the worst effect of the virus is confined to old people who should be the focus of lockdown measures.The herd immunity approach - where enough people are immune to the infection through previous exposure that it will no longer significantly spread among the rest of the population - has been rejected by ministers.Prof Bhopal said: 'If about 40 to 50 per cent of the population has some level of immunity from this virus we would actually clear the virus over time from the population.'How are we going to reach that number? 'We can reach it through immunisation but currently we don't have a vaccine.'The best estimates are we will have a partially effective vaccine perhaps by next summer. It's a long time to wait especially for low and middle-income countries. So the other way to get it (immunisation) is by allowing some people to get the infection. We have to see this in perspective.'"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"732;2020-08-04 12:00:00;212;""Scientist: No panic over Covid"";""Paul Rodger"";""Daily Record"";"""";"""";""Professor Raj Bhopal said it is 'not an infection we should be panicking about' as deaths among those under 25 are 'rare'.Prof Bhopal emeritus professor of public health at Edinburgh University believes young people should be allowed to live normally again to establish herd immunity as an alternative to 'severe' lockdown measures.Prof Bhopal believes other conditions such as flu pose more of a danger to the younger generation. He has argued in the journal Public Health in Practice that the worst effect of the virus is confined to old people who should be the focus of lockdown measures.The herd immunity approach - where enough people are immune to the infection through previous exposure that it will no longer significantly spread among the rest of the population - has been rejected by ministers.Prof Bhopal said: 'If about 40 to 50 per cent of the population has some level of immunity from this virus we would actually clear the virus over time from the population.'How are we going to reach that number? 'We can reach it through immunisation but currently we don't have a vaccine.'The best estimates are we will have a partially effective vaccine perhaps by next summer. It's a long time to wait especially for low and middle-income countries. So the other way to get it (immunisation) is by allowing some people to get the infection. We have to see this in perspective.'"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"733;2020-08-04 12:00:00;213;""Professor: Young people must build up herd immunity"";""Paul Rodger"";""Scottish Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""Professor Bhopal said: 'If 40 to 50 per cent of the population had some level of immunity from this virus we would actually clear the virus over time from the population.'How are we going to reach that number? 'We can reach it through immunisation but currently we don't have a vaccine.'The best estimates are we will have a partially effective vaccine perhaps by next summer. 'It's a long time to wait especially for low and middle-income countries. So the other way to get it [widespread immunity] is by allowing some people to get the infection.' He acknowledged that Covid-19 is known to have a more serious impact on those over 70 and people with immune disorders such as type 2 diabetes. But he said: 'This is a very very rare cause of death in people under 25 especially women and girls.'So I'm not sure why we're asking them to undergo lockdown with the severe restrictions on their lifestyles. They're doing it for the older people like myself who are at higher risk.'So my view is we should be allowing young people to get on with their lives their careers while we make special efforts to look after the older people.' There were 61 deaths from coronavirus in people under 19 until the end of June - but more than twice that from influenza and ten times that from road traffic accidents. Professor Bhopal said: 'You see that actually this is not an infection we need to be panicking about.'We have to put things into perspective. Under-30s especially women are at very little risk from this infection certainly not of death.'That doesn't mean to say there will never be a death - there will be. But there's deaths from influenza there's deaths from road traffic accidents. We have to see this in perspective.' Last month scientists suggested immunity to Covid-19 might be lost within months."";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"734;2020-08-04 12:00:00;213;""Professor: Young people must build up herd immunity"";""Paul Rodger"";""Scottish Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""Professor Bhopal said: 'If 40 to 50 per cent of the population had some level of immunity from this virus we would actually clear the virus over time from the population.'How are we going to reach that number? 'We can reach it through immunisation but currently we don't have a vaccine.'The best estimates are we will have a partially effective vaccine perhaps by next summer. 'It's a long time to wait especially for low and middle-income countries. So the other way to get it [widespread immunity] is by allowing some people to get the infection.' He acknowledged that Covid-19 is known to have a more serious impact on those over 70 and people with immune disorders such as type 2 diabetes. But he said: 'This is a very very rare cause of death in people under 25 especially women and girls.'So I'm not sure why we're asking them to undergo lockdown with the severe restrictions on their lifestyles. They're doing it for the older people like myself who are at higher risk.'So my view is we should be allowing young people to get on with their lives their careers while we make special efforts to look after the older people.' There were 61 deaths from coronavirus in people under 19 until the end of June - but more than twice that from influenza and ten times that from road traffic accidents. Professor Bhopal said: 'You see that actually this is not an infection we need to be panicking about.'We have to put things into perspective. Under-30s especially women are at very little risk from this infection certainly not of death.'That doesn't mean to say there will never be a death - there will be. But there's deaths from influenza there's deaths from road traffic accidents. We have to see this in perspective.' Last month scientists suggested immunity to Covid-19 might be lost within months."";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"735;2020-08-04 12:00:00;213;""Professor: Young people must build up herd immunity"";""Paul Rodger"";""Scottish Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""Professor Bhopal said: 'If 40 to 50 per cent of the population had some level of immunity from this virus we would actually clear the virus over time from the population.'How are we going to reach that number? 'We can reach it through immunisation but currently we don't have a vaccine.'The best estimates are we will have a partially effective vaccine perhaps by next summer. 'It's a long time to wait especially for low and middle-income countries. So the other way to get it [widespread immunity] is by allowing some people to get the infection.' He acknowledged that Covid-19 is known to have a more serious impact on those over 70 and people with immune disorders such as type 2 diabetes. But he said: 'This is a very very rare cause of death in people under 25 especially women and girls.'So I'm not sure why we're asking them to undergo lockdown with the severe restrictions on their lifestyles. They're doing it for the older people like myself who are at higher risk.'So my view is we should be allowing young people to get on with their lives their careers while we make special efforts to look after the older people.' There were 61 deaths from coronavirus in people under 19 until the end of June - but more than twice that from influenza and ten times that from road traffic accidents. Professor Bhopal said: 'You see that actually this is not an infection we need to be panicking about.'We have to put things into perspective. Under-30s especially women are at very little risk from this infection certainly not of death.'That doesn't mean to say there will never be a death - there will be. But there's deaths from influenza there's deaths from road traffic accidents. We have to see this in perspective.' Last month scientists suggested immunity to Covid-19 might be lost within months."";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"736;2020-08-04 12:00:00;214;""Scientist supports virus herd immunity policy"";""Unspecified"";""The Herald"";"""";"""";""Raj Bhopal emeritus professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh believes young people should be allowed to live normally again to establish herd immunity as an alternative to ˜severe lockdown measures.Despite Covid-19 claiming more than 46000 lives in the UK and no vaccine available professor Bhopal said coronavirus is ˜not an infection we should be panicking about as deaths among those under 25 are ˜rare.Professor Bhopal believes other conditions such as the flu pose more of a danger to the younger generation.He has argued in a paper for the journal Public Health in Practice that the worst effect of the virus is confined to old people who should be the focus of lockdown measures.The herd immunity approach whereby enough people are immune to the infection through previous exposure that it will no longer significantly spread  has been rejected by ministers.Professor Bhopal said: If about 40 to 50 per cent of the population has some level of immunity from this virus we would actually clear the virus over time from the population.How are we going to reach that number?We can reach it through immunisation but currently we dont have a vaccine.The best estimates are we will have a partially effective vaccine perhaps by next summer. Its a long time to wait especially for low and middle income countries. So the other way to get it (immunisation) is by allowing some people toget the infection.This is a very very rare cause of death in people under 25. So Im not sure why were asking them to undergo lockdown.�."";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"737;2020-08-04 12:00:00;214;""Scientist supports virus herd immunity policy"";""Unspecified"";""The Herald"";"""";"""";""Raj Bhopal emeritus professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh believes young people should be allowed to live normally again to establish herd immunity as an alternative to ˜severe lockdown measures.Despite Covid-19 claiming more than 46000 lives in the UK and no vaccine available professor Bhopal said coronavirus is ˜not an infection we should be panicking about as deaths among those under 25 are ˜rare.Professor Bhopal believes other conditions such as the flu pose more of a danger to the younger generation.He has argued in a paper for the journal Public Health in Practice that the worst effect of the virus is confined to old people who should be the focus of lockdown measures.The herd immunity approach whereby enough people are immune to the infection through previous exposure that it will no longer significantly spread  has been rejected by ministers.Professor Bhopal said: If about 40 to 50 per cent of the population has some level of immunity from this virus we would actually clear the virus over time from the population.How are we going to reach that number?We can reach it through immunisation but currently we dont have a vaccine.The best estimates are we will have a partially effective vaccine perhaps by next summer. Its a long time to wait especially for low and middle income countries. So the other way to get it (immunisation) is by allowing some people toget the infection.This is a very very rare cause of death in people under 25. So Im not sure why were asking them to undergo lockdown.�."";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"738;2020-08-04 12:00:00;214;""Scientist supports virus herd immunity policy"";""Unspecified"";""The Herald"";"""";"""";""Raj Bhopal emeritus professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh believes young people should be allowed to live normally again to establish herd immunity as an alternative to ˜severe lockdown measures.Despite Covid-19 claiming more than 46000 lives in the UK and no vaccine available professor Bhopal said coronavirus is ˜not an infection we should be panicking about as deaths among those under 25 are ˜rare.Professor Bhopal believes other conditions such as the flu pose more of a danger to the younger generation.He has argued in a paper for the journal Public Health in Practice that the worst effect of the virus is confined to old people who should be the focus of lockdown measures.The herd immunity approach whereby enough people are immune to the infection through previous exposure that it will no longer significantly spread  has been rejected by ministers.Professor Bhopal said: If about 40 to 50 per cent of the population has some level of immunity from this virus we would actually clear the virus over time from the population.How are we going to reach that number?We can reach it through immunisation but currently we dont have a vaccine.The best estimates are we will have a partially effective vaccine perhaps by next summer. Its a long time to wait especially for low and middle income countries. So the other way to get it (immunisation) is by allowing some people toget the infection.This is a very very rare cause of death in people under 25. So Im not sure why were asking them to undergo lockdown.�."";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"739;2020-08-04 12:00:00;215;""Prof: Relax youth rules"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""Professor Raj Bhopal of Edinburgh Uni says under-25s should not face lockdown rules as virus deaths are rare for them.In a paper for journal Public Health in Practice he said: 'If 50 per cent of the population has some level of immunity we'd clear the virus. 'We don't have a vaccine. The other way is by allowing some to get the infection. We should let the young get on with their lives while we make special efforts to look after older people.'"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"740;2020-08-04 12:00:00;215;""Prof: Relax youth rules"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""Professor Raj Bhopal of Edinburgh Uni says under-25s should not face lockdown rules as virus deaths are rare for them.In a paper for journal Public Health in Practice he said: 'If 50 per cent of the population has some level of immunity we'd clear the virus. 'We don't have a vaccine. The other way is by allowing some to get the infection. We should let the young get on with their lives while we make special efforts to look after older people.'"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"262;2020-08-09 12:00:00;208;""IAN BIRRELL: Why Sweden pilloried by the whole world for refusing to lock down - with schools staying open and no face mask lawss - may b...herd immunity"";""Ian Birrell"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Anna Mia Ekstrom a clinical doctor and professor of global infectious disease epidemiology at Stockholms Karolinska Institutet said the key was to look at trends showing Swedens steady decline in cases and deaths since their peak in mid-April.She argued it may not be possible nor even desirable to restrict infection rates to zero for a sustainable period of time especially when most people are unaffected by the virus and as long as those most at risk such as the elderly are protected.Prof Ekstrom believes Stockholm currently down to ˜two or three patients in intensive care in its infectious disease hospitals may be coming close to herd immunity as shown by the sustained fall in critically ill patients and fatalities “ and that this is a consequence of avoiding lockdown.The capital home to a million people was the worst-hit region because of families bringing back infections from half-term winter breaks in Italy and Spain.A fifth of residents have antibodies while a larger proportion may be protected through the response of T-cells which ˜remember infections and kill pathogens that reappear.˜It is not yet herd immunity but immunity levels have so far been growing steadily said Prof Ekstrom. (Although even Tegnell admitted to me that he was left confused by the ˜mystery of immunity with this disease).Prof Ekstrom added that evidence from elsewhere indicated that lockdowns were unsustainable. ˜You go crazy after a while she said.˜We have a more acceptable approach that can last a long time since it lets people move around so their mental and physical health suffer less “ though they must stick to social distancing.'We are in a better situation compared to other countries now though smaller cluster outbreaks will emerge.'Lockdown is a blunt unsustainable and harmful instrument over any prolonged period especially damaging for younger populations wider healthcare and the economy with poorer people hit hardest. Closing down primary schools especially is a huge mistake."";""Anna Mia Ekstrom"";""Karolinska Institute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"263;2020-08-09 12:00:00;208;""IAN BIRRELL: Why Sweden pilloried by the whole world for refusing to lock down - with schools staying open and no face mask lawss - may b...herd immunity"";""Ian Birrell"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Anna Mia Ekstrom a clinical doctor and professor of global infectious disease epidemiology at Stockholms Karolinska Institutet said the key was to look at trends showing Swedens steady decline in cases and deaths since their peak in mid-April.She argued it may not be possible nor even desirable to restrict infection rates to zero for a sustainable period of time especially when most people are unaffected by the virus and as long as those most at risk such as the elderly are protected.Prof Ekstrom believes Stockholm currently down to ˜two or three patients in intensive care in its infectious disease hospitals may be coming close to herd immunity as shown by the sustained fall in critically ill patients and fatalities “ and that this is a consequence of avoiding lockdown.The capital home to a million people was the worst-hit region because of families bringing back infections from half-term winter breaks in Italy and Spain.A fifth of residents have antibodies while a larger proportion may be protected through the response of T-cells which ˜remember infections and kill pathogens that reappear.˜It is not yet herd immunity but immunity levels have so far been growing steadily said Prof Ekstrom. (Although even Tegnell admitted to me that he was left confused by the ˜mystery of immunity with this disease).Prof Ekstrom added that evidence from elsewhere indicated that lockdowns were unsustainable. ˜You go crazy after a while she said.˜We have a more acceptable approach that can last a long time since it lets people move around so their mental and physical health suffer less “ though they must stick to social distancing.'We are in a better situation compared to other countries now though smaller cluster outbreaks will emerge.'Lockdown is a blunt unsustainable and harmful instrument over any prolonged period especially damaging for younger populations wider healthcare and the economy with poorer people hit hardest. Closing down primary schools especially is a huge mistake."";""Anna Mia Ekstrom"";""Karolinska Institute"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1130;2020-08-11 12:00:00;206;""Only 15% of Stockholm residents caught coronavirus despite no Swedish lockdown in blow for hopes that herd immunity will combat the disease"";""Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""d they were also exploring the idea of herd immunity.Sir Patrick Vallance the Government's chief scientific advisor said on March 13: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1131;2020-08-11 12:00:00;206;""Only 15% of Stockholm residents caught coronavirus despite no Swedish lockdown in blow for hopes that herd immunity will combat the disease"";""Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""d they were also exploring the idea of herd immunity.Sir Patrick Vallance the Government's chief scientific advisor said on March 13: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"1132;2020-08-11 12:00:00;206;""Only 15% of Stockholm residents caught coronavirus despite no Swedish lockdown in blow for hopes that herd immunity will combat the disease"";""Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Simon Clarke of the University of Reading said: 'Natural herd immunity generated by letting Covid-19 sweep through a population may have been an appealingnotion to some because of the lack of a lockdown or curbs on people's freedoms but it was nothing more than an idea which lacked supporting data.'The Swedish experience of attempting to achieve this compared to other Nordic countries responses resulted in much higher numbers of infections and deaths per capita in addition to a prolonged outbreak.'These findings should prove a salutary warning that appealing concepts and theories require supporting data when people's lives are at stake and should not be used to fit pre-conceived narratives."";""Simon Clarke"";""University of Reading"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1133;2020-08-11 12:00:00;206;""Only 15% of Stockholm residents caught coronavirus despite no Swedish lockdown in blow for hopes that herd immunity will combat the disease"";""Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Simon Clarke of the University of Reading said: 'Natural herd immunity generated by letting Covid-19 sweep through a population may have been an appealingnotion to some because of the lack of a lockdown or curbs on people's freedoms but it was nothing more than an idea which lacked supporting data.'The Swedish experience of attempting to achieve this compared to other Nordic countries responses resulted in much higher numbers of infections and deaths per capita in addition to a prolonged outbreak.'These findings should prove a salutary warning that appealing concepts and theories require supporting data when people's lives are at stake and should not be used to fit pre-conceived narratives."";""Simon Clarke"";""University of Reading"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"1134;2020-08-11 12:00:00;207;""Coronavirus infection rate in London similar to Stockholm  despite Sweden‚„s lockdown snub study suggests"";""Independent Online"";""Andrew Gregory"";"""";"""";""The paper titled Four months into the Covid-19 pandemic Swedens prized herd immunity is nowhere in sight� noted it was striking� how few differences there were in the preventative measures taken by countries across the world in the four months after the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a pandemic on 11 March.However only two advanced countries ” Sweden and the UK ” have seriously considered a softer general approach to this challenge namely to shield the more vulnerable while accepting some viral infection continuing to spread among the less vulnerable majority�"";""David Goldsmith"";"""";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Individual"""
"1135;2020-08-11 12:00:00;207;""Coronavirus infection rate in London similar to Stockholm  despite Sweden‚„s lockdown snub study suggests"";""Independent Online"";""Andrew Gregory"";"""";"""";""The paper titled Four months into the Covid-19 pandemic Swedens prized herd immunity is nowhere in sight� noted it was striking� how few differences there were in the preventative measures taken by countries across the world in the four months after the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a pandemic on 11 March.However only two advanced countries ” Sweden and the UK ” have seriously considered a softer general approach to this challenge namely to shield the more vulnerable while accepting some viral infection continuing to spread among the less vulnerable majority�"";""David Goldsmith"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Individual"""
"1136;2020-08-11 12:00:00;207;""Coronavirus infection rate in London similar to Stockholm  despite Sweden‚„s lockdown snub study suggests"";""Independent Online"";""Andrew Gregory"";"""";"""";""The paper titled Four months into the Covid-19 pandemic Swedens prized herd immunity is nowhere in sight� noted it was striking� how few differences there were in the preventative measures taken by countries across the world in the four months after the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a pandemic on 11 March.However only two advanced countries ” Sweden and the UK ” have seriously considered a softer general approach to this challenge namely to shield the more vulnerable while accepting some viral infection continuing to spread among the less vulnerable majority�"";""Eric Orlowski"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1137;2020-08-11 12:00:00;207;""Coronavirus infection rate in London similar to Stockholm  despite Sweden‚„s lockdown snub study suggests"";""Independent Online"";""Andrew Gregory"";"""";"""";""The paper titled Four months into the Covid-19 pandemic Swedens prized herd immunity is nowhere in sight� noted it was striking� how few differences there were in the preventative measures taken by countries across the world in the four months after the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a pandemic on 11 March.However only two advanced countries ” Sweden and the UK ” have seriously considered a softer general approach to this challenge namely to shield the more vulnerable while accepting some viral infection continuing to spread among the less vulnerable majority�"";""Eric Orlowski"";"""";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1198;2020-08-18 12:00:00;202;""World is NOWHERE near reaching herd immunity against the coronavirus and the controversial strategy is ''NOT a solution we should be looking at'' the WHO warns"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""He said: 'As a global population we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting. This is not a solution and not a solution we should be looking to.'"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1199;2020-08-18 12:00:00;202;""World is NOWHERE near reaching herd immunity against the coronavirus and the controversial strategy is ''NOT a solution we should be looking at'' the WHO warns"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Our aim is not to stop everyone getting it you can't do that. And it's not desirable because you want to get some immunity in the population. We need to have immunity to protect ourselves from this in the future.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1200;2020-08-18 12:00:00;202;""World is NOWHERE near reaching herd immunity against the coronavirus and the controversial strategy is ''NOT a solution we should be looking at'' the WHO warns"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The Government has been very clear that herd immunity has never been our policy or goal.'"";"""";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1201;2020-08-18 12:00:00;202;""World is NOWHERE near reaching herd immunity against the coronavirus and the controversial strategy is ''NOT a solution we should be looking at'' the WHO warns"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'The epidemic is now being slowed down in a way that I think few of us would have believed a week or so ago' he said. 'It really is yet another sign that the Swedish strategy is working.'"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1202;2020-08-18 12:00:00;202;""World is NOWHERE near reaching herd immunity against the coronavirus and the controversial strategy is ''NOT a solution we should be looking at'' the WHO warns"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Hanage said: 'What happens this winter will reflect that. The question of what it means for the population as a whole however is much more fraught.'"";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1203;2020-08-18 12:00:00;202;""World is NOWHERE near reaching herd immunity against the coronavirus and the controversial strategy is ''NOT a solution we should be looking at'' the WHO warns"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'It's quite sobering if you imagine that what had actually happened in New York City was not the result of social distancing but the natural epidemic curve' he said.'That came at the cost of nearly 300 deaths per 100000 in the population.'Imagine that per capita mortality rate over the entirety of the US getting [around] 900000 deaths.'But he added: 'The more immunity there is in the population the more benefit you're going to get from non-pharmacological interventions (like social distancing) - it's better bang for your buck.'"";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"1204;2020-08-18 12:00:00;203;""Is herd immunity closer than scientists first thought? Experts now believe pockets of New York and London could be immune from Covid-19 and as few as 10% of people ne..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Hanage said: 'What happens this winter will reflect that. The question of what it means for the population as a whole however is much more fraught.'"";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1205;2020-08-18 12:00:00;203;""Is herd immunity closer than scientists first thought? Experts now believe pockets of New York and London could be immune from Covid-19 and as few as 10% of people ne..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Our aim is not to stop everyone getting it you can't do that. And it's not desirable because you want to get some immunity in the population. We need to have immunity to protect ourselves from this in the future.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1206;2020-08-18 12:00:00;203;""Is herd immunity closer than scientists first thought? Experts now believe pockets of New York and London could be immune from Covid-19 and as few as 10% of people ne..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The Government has been very clear that herd immunity has never been our policy or goal.'"";"""";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1207;2020-08-18 12:00:00;203;""Is herd immunity closer than scientists first thought? Experts now believe pockets of New York and London could be immune from Covid-19 and as few as 10% of people ne..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'The epidemic is now being slowed down in a way that I think few of us would have believed a week or so ago' he said. 'It really is yet another sign that the Swedish strategy is working.'"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1208;2020-08-18 12:00:00;203;""Is herd immunity closer than scientists first thought? Experts now believe pockets of New York and London could be immune from Covid-19 and as few as 10% of people ne..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'It's quite sobering if you imagine that what had actually happened in New York City was not the result of social distancing but the natural epidemic curve' he said. 'That came at the cost of nearly 300 deaths per 100000 in the population.'Imagine that per capita mortality rate over the entirety of the US getting [around] 900000 deaths.'But he added: 'The more immunity there is in the population the more benefit you're going to get from non-pharmacological interventions (like social distancing) - it's better bang for your buck.' Other researchers say just 10 per cent of the population need to catch the disease to gain herd immunity."";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"1209;2020-08-18 12:00:00;203;""Is herd immunity closer than scientists first thought? Experts now believe pockets of New York and London could be immune from Covid-19 and as few as 10% of people ne..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""At least in countries we applied it to we could never get any signal that herd immunity thresholds are higher.'I think it's good to have this horizon that it may be just a few more months of pandemic.'"";""Gabriela Gomes"";""University of Strathclyd"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1126;2020-08-18 12:00:00;204;""CATCHING ON Parts of London & New York ‚could have coronavirus herd immunity‚„ as scientists say as little as 10% may need infection"";""Allice Fuller"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He added: While we would all like to believe that we are past the worst of this outbreak the rising cases across many European countries would indicate that we are far from herd immunity and measures need to remain in force if we are to prevent a second wave even worse that the first.�"";""Matt Keeling"";""University of Warwick"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1127;2020-08-18 12:00:00;204;""CATCHING ON Parts of London & New York ‚could have coronavirus herd immunity‚„ as scientists say as little as 10% may need infection"";""Allice Fuller"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The World Health Organization today warned the world is nowhere near� achieving herd immunity and it is not a solution we should be looking to�."";"""";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1128;2020-08-18 12:00:00;205;""CATCHING ON Parts of London & New York ‚could have coronavirus herd immunity‚„ as scientists say as little as 10% may need infection"";""Allice Fuller"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""And Matt Keeling professor of Populations and Disease University of Warwick said he was sceptical�.He added: While we would all like to believe that we are past the worst of this outbreak the rising cases across many European countries would indicate that we are far from herd immunity and measures need to remain in force if we are to prevent a second wave even worse that the first.�"";""Matt Keeling"";""University of Warwick"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1129;2020-08-18 12:00:00;205;""CATCHING ON Parts of London & New York ‚could have coronavirus herd immunity‚„ as scientists say as little as 10% may need infection"";""Allice Fuller"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The World Health Organization today warned the world is nowhere near� achieving herd immunity and it is not a solution we should be looking to�."";"""";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1112;2020-08-19 12:00:00;198;""Jeremy Corbyn: government lectured me about herd immunity"";""Kate Proctor"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""We were involved in meetings with the government throughout the spring of this year and Jon Ashworth and I remember distinctly going to a meeting at the Cabinet Office where we got a lecture about herd immunity.The last time I discussed herd immunity was when I worked on a pig farm 40 years ago. It was absurd that actually [you] would build up herd immunity by allowing people to die.And so while the government was going into eugenic formulas and discussing all this stuff they were not making adequate preparations.�"";""Jeremy Corbyn"";""House of Commons"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"1113;2020-08-19 12:00:00;198;""Jeremy Corbyn: government lectured me about herd immunity"";""Kate Proctor"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""We were involved in meetings with the government throughout the spring of this year and Jon Ashworth and I remember distinctly going to a meeting at the Cabinet Office where we got a lecture about herd immunity.The last time I discussed herd immunity was when I worked on a pig farm 40 years ago. It was absurd that actually [you] would build up herd immunity by allowing people to die.And so while the government was going into eugenic formulas and discussing all this stuff they were not making adequate preparations.�"";""Jeremy Corbyn"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1114;2020-08-19 12:00:00;198;""Jeremy Corbyn: government lectured me about herd immunity"";""Kate Proctor"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";"" Matt Hancock said herd immunity was not the governments goal.He said at the time: Our goal is to protect life. I want to be absolutely crystal clear that we will do what is necessary to protect life.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1115;2020-08-19 12:00:00;198;""Jeremy Corbyn: government lectured me about herd immunity"";""Kate Proctor"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""A government spokesperson said on Wednesday: It is categorically wrong to suggest herd immunity was the governments aim.�"";"""";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1116;2020-08-19 12:00:00;199;""SEEN BUT NOT HERD World is NOWHERE near coronavirus herd immunity and we must immediately abandon any hope of reaching it soon WHO warns"";""Debbie White"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""On Tuesday he told reporters that we should not live in hope of achieving natural herd immunity .Dr Ryan said: As a global population we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting. This is not a solution and not a solution we should be looking to.�"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1117;2020-08-19 12:00:00;199;""SEEN BUT NOT HERD World is NOWHERE near coronavirus herd immunity and we must immediately abandon any hope of reaching it soon WHO warns"";""Debbie White"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""You want to plan to get high coverage and not get lulled into a dangerously seductive suggestion that (the herd immunity threshold) could be low.�"";""Bruce Aylward"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1118;2020-08-19 12:00:00;200;""SEEN BUT NOT HERD World is NOWHERE near coronavirus herd immunity and we must immediately abandon any hope of reaching it soon WHO warns"";""Debbie White"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""On Tuesday he told reporters that we should not live in hope of achieving natural herd immunity.Dr Ryan said: As a global population we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting. This is not a solution and not a solution we should be looking to.�"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1119;2020-08-19 12:00:00;200;""SEEN BUT NOT HERD World is NOWHERE near coronavirus herd immunity and we must immediately abandon any hope of reaching it soon WHO warns"";""Debbie White"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Bruce Aylward a senior adviser to WHOs director-general added that any mass immunisation campaign with a Covid-19 vaccine would aim to cover far more than 50 per cent of the worlds population.He said: We dont want to be wrong.You want to plan to get high coverage and not get lulled into a dangerously seductive suggestion that (the herd immunity threshold) could be low.�"";""Bruce Aylward"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1120;2020-08-19 12:00:00;201;""Jeremy Corbyn says he was given ''herd immunity lecture'' in government coronavirus briefing"";""Dan Bloom"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We were involved with meetings with the government throughout the spring of this year.'[Shadow Health Secretary] Jon Ashworth and I I remember distinctly going to a meeting at the Cabinet Office where we got a lecture about herd immunity.'The last time I discussed herd immunity was when I worked on a pig farm 40 years ago.'It was absurd: that you would actually build up herd immunity by allowing people to die.'And so whilst the government was going into eugenic formulas of discussing all this stuff they were not making adequate preparations.'The idea that an epidemic or pandemic would cause a real problem in Britain was actually mooted in 2008 and even then they identified Britains lack of preparedness for dealing with it.'"";""Jeremy Corbyn"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1121;2020-08-19 12:00:00;201;""Jeremy Corbyn says he was given ''herd immunity lecture'' in government coronavirus briefing"";""Dan Bloom"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We were involved with meetings with the government throughout the spring of this year.'[Shadow Health Secretary] Jon Ashworth and I I remember distinctly going to a meeting at the Cabinet Office where we got a lecture about herd immunity.'The last time I discussed herd immunity was when I worked on a pig farm 40 years ago.'It was absurd: that you would actually build up herd immunity by allowing people to die.'And so whilst the government was going into eugenic formulas of discussing all this stuff they were not making adequate preparations.'The idea that an epidemic or pandemic would cause a real problem in Britain was actually mooted in 2008 and even then they identified Britains lack of preparedness for dealing with it.'"";""Jeremy Corbyn"";""House of Commons"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"1122;2020-08-19 12:00:00;201;""Jeremy Corbyn says he was given ''herd immunity lecture'' in government coronavirus briefing"";""Dan Bloom"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely.'Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"1123;2020-08-19 12:00:00;201;""Jeremy Corbyn says he was given ''herd immunity lecture'' in government coronavirus briefing"";""Dan Bloom"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely.'Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'Those are the key things we need to do.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1124;2020-08-19 12:00:00;201;""Jeremy Corbyn says he was given ''herd immunity lecture'' in government coronavirus briefing"";""Dan Bloom"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Herd immunity is not our policy it's not our goal. Our goal is to protect life. I want to be absolutely crystal clear that we will do what is necessary to protect life.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1125;2020-08-19 12:00:00;201;""Jeremy Corbyn says he was given ''herd immunity lecture'' in government coronavirus briefing"";""Dan Bloom"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'It is categorically wrong to suggest herd immunity was the governments aim.'Our goal is to reduce the impact of coronavirus -protecting the most vulnerable and ensuring our NHS and social care system has capacity to cope while leading the world on scientific research into therapeutics and a vaccine.'This is an unprecedented global pandemic -our strategy was clearly set out and guided at every stage by the advice of scientific experts.'Our response ensured the NHS was not overwhelmed even at the virus peak so that everyone was always able to get the best possible care.';"";Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"730;2020-08-20 12:00:00;197;""Corbyn hits out at herd immunity"";""Richard Vaughan"";""I "";"""";"""";""I remember distinctly going to a meeting at the Cabinet Office where we got a lecture about herd immunity. The last time I discussed herd immunity was when I worked on a pig farm 40 years ago. It was absurd that actually [you] would build up herd immunity by allowing people to die' the Labour leader said in a Tribune podcast. 'While the Government was going into eugenic formulas and discussing all this stuff they were not making adequate preparations.'"";""Jeremy Corbyn"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1197;2020-08-20 12:00:00;197;""Corbyn hits out at herd immunity"";""Richard Vaughan"";""I "";"""";"""";""I remember distinctly going to a meeting at the Cabinet Office where we got a lecture about herd immunity. The last time I discussed herd immunity was when I worked on a pig farm 40 years ago. It was absurd that actually [you] would build up herd immunity by allowing people to die' the Labour leader said in a Tribune podcast. 'While the Government was going into eugenic formulas and discussing all this stuff they were not making adequate preparations.'"";""Jeremy Corbyn"";""House of Commons"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"1110;2020-08-23 12:00:00;195;""Coronavirus immunity breakthrough is a shot in the arm for everyone"";""Andrew Gregory"";""sundaytimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Even in areas of the country where theres a relatively high rate of antibody positivity 80%-90% of the population are still vulnerable ” in other words they havent been infected� said Openshaw. Whitelegg said a vaccine was still needed."";""Peter Openshaw"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1111;2020-08-23 12:00:00;196;""Immunity breakthrough is a shot in the arm for everyone"";""Andrew Gregory"";""The Sunday Times"";"""";"""";""'Even in areas of the country where there's a relatively high rate of antibody positivity 80%-90% of the population are still vulnerable ” in other words they haven't been infected' said Openshaw. "";""Peter Openshaw"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"729;2020-08-28 12:00:00;194;""GMB‚„s Dr Hilary warns not to get ''complacent'' amid local COVID-19 spikes"";""Verity Sulway"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'We don't know how long immunity lasts remember you would like to think herd immunity that we see with many other viruses like measles you have immunity for life.'However we don't know that at all about COVID-19 in fact one or two cases of reinfection have occurred already with a slightly different strain. 'So it could be the antibodies don't protect for very long maybe just a few months we can't rest assured herd immunity is a factor at all.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"727;2020-09-01 12:00:00;193;""Coronavirus will be with us ''forever'' unless we find a vaccine says expert"";""Michael Moran"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It comes as Dr Anthony Fauci America's most senior expert in the study of infectious diseases said that hoping that the population will achieve a natural herd immunity could lead to an 'enormous' death toll."";""Anthony Fauci"";""National Institute of Health (US)"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"728;2020-09-01 12:00:00;193;""Coronavirus will be with us ''forever'' unless we find a vaccine says expert"";""Michael Moran"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It comes as Dr Anthony Fauci America's most senior expert in the study of infectious diseases said that hoping that the population will achieve a natural herd immunity could lead to an 'enormous' death toll."";""Anthony Fauci"";""National Institute of Health (US)"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"725;2020-09-01 12:00:00;193;""Coronavirus will be with us ''forever'' unless we find a vaccine says expert"";""Michael Moran"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Pressed as to how herd immunity could be achieved he said we would see more suffering and more death� and added that even people who had recovered from the disease would still be capable of passing it to others if they become reinfected."";""Paul Offit"";""Vaccine Education Centre"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"726;2020-09-01 12:00:00;193;""Coronavirus will be with us ''forever'' unless we find a vaccine says expert"";""Michael Moran"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Pressed as to how herd immunity could be achieved he said we would see more suffering and more death� and added that even people who had recovered from the disease would still be capable of passing it to others if they become reinfected."";""Paul Offit"";""Vaccine Education Centre"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"723;2020-09-01 12:00:00;193;""Coronavirus will be with us ''forever'' unless we find a vaccine says expert"";""Michael Moran"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Leana Wen agrees with him adding: 'If we're waiting until 60% to 80% of people have it we're talking about 200 million-plus Americans getting this... and at a fatality rate of 1% let's say that's 2 million Americans who will die in this effort to try to get herd immunity.'Those are preventable deaths of our loved ones that we can just not let happen under our watch.'"";""Leana Wen"";""Cable News Network"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"724;2020-09-01 12:00:00;193;""Coronavirus will be with us ''forever'' unless we find a vaccine says expert"";""Michael Moran"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Leana Wen agrees with him adding: 'If we're waiting until 60% to 80% of people have it we're talking about 200 million-plus Americans getting this... and at a fatality rate of 1% let's say that's 2 million Americans who will die in this effort to try to get herd immunity.'Those are preventable deaths of our loved ones that we can just not let happen under our watch.'"";""Leana Wen"";""Cable News Network"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"720;2020-09-03 12:00:00;192;""In defence of a ''''herd immunity'''' strategy"";""Jullien Gaer"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";"" The lockdown has crippled our economy but there was an alternative approach that makes medical senseThe term 'herd immunity' is an unfortunate one. Recently Jeremy Corbyn likened it to the discredited pseudo-science of eugenics saying that it reminded him of his time working on a pig farm. It is ironic that a man whose tenure over the Labour Party was marked by his apparent blindness to anti-Semitism should have leapt so quickly to accuse others of following a doctrine favoured by the Nazis. Suffice it to say that is a grotesque distortion of what 'herd immunity' actually entails. The French equivalent immunit© collective or collective immunity is a less emotive term which we might do well to adopt in future pandemics.Whatever we decide to call it herd immunity is the process whereby populations acquire resistance to disease. When 60 to 70 per cent of the 'herd' have antibodies to the pathogen in question the virus may spread initially but quickly comes up against the two-thirds of the population who are immune and so it is stopped in its tracks. Those who have either survived infection or have had the good fortune to be vaccinated act as a barrier preventing the virus from coming into contact with those who have been neither infected nor vaccinated.In effect the 'strong' protect the vulnerable. It is in fact almost the exact opposite of eugenics. But whatever we choose to call it whether achieved through infection or vaccination that is the route out of this pandemic.Despite rising numbers of Covid-19 infections the number of weekly deaths from any cause in the UK was lower than the average for the corresponding week over the previous five years for eight of the past nine weeks for which data are available. As the respected statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter has pointed out theproblem with Covid-19 is not its lethality but its virulence it was not the number of people killed in the pandemic which drove the Government into a U-turn on collective immunity it was the speed with which the virus swept through the population.Hospitals in Northern Italy some of the best equipped and most sophisticated hospitals in Europe had all but been overwhelmed. No government could survive the image of bodies piling up on the streets and Boris Johnson decided that no one should die for lack of an intensive care bed. Alongside stringent lockdown conditions for the population as a whole - the opposite of what would have been required to achieve collective immunity - hospitals were emptied and ITU capacity increased in an unprecedented fashion. The knock-on effects from elderly patients discharged into care homes without having been Covid tested to stopping the elective treatment of other diseases will be a crucial part of any future inquiry.What distinguishes clinical medicine from the public health advice extolled by the likes of Prof Chris Whitty is that a clinician is required to give the best advice to each individual patient whereas the latter has to balance his or her advice for cohorts of the population or the population as a whole the political dimension is inescapable.To each of my many friends and relatives who through age or comorbidity is at elevated risk in the pandemic my advice has been unequivocal: follow the rules and take every reasonable precaution to avoid becoming infected. Happily I am answerable only to the patients under my care. Were I in the shoes of one of the Government's health advisers I might well have had to advise the Prime Minister that the safer course entailed allowing the disease to sweep through the population more or less unchecked.The Swedes have been criticised for their no-lockdown approach but as infection rates are climbing once more in much of the rest of Europe they may well be vindicated especially as their economy seems to have been less severely hit than that of many comparable nations. It is after all an inescapable truism of public health that poverty kills more people than does communicable disease and it should have been possible in this country to protect the vulnerable without destroying the economy."";""Julian Gaer"";"""";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"721;2020-09-03 12:00:00;192;""In defence of a ''''herd immunity'''' strategy"";""Jullien Gaer"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";"" The lockdown has crippled our economy but there was an alternative approach that makes medical senseThe term 'herd immunity' is an unfortunate one. Recently Jeremy Corbyn likened it to the discredited pseudo-science of eugenics saying that it reminded him of his time working on a pig farm. It is ironic that a man whose tenure over the Labour Party was marked by his apparent blindness to anti-Semitism should have leapt so quickly to accuse others of following a doctrine favoured by the Nazis. Suffice it to say that is a grotesque distortion of what 'herd immunity' actually entails. The French equivalent immunit© collective or collective immunity is a less emotive term which we might do well to adopt in future pandemics.Whatever we decide to call it herd immunity is the process whereby populations acquire resistance to disease. When 60 to 70 per cent of the 'herd' have antibodies to the pathogen in question the virus may spread initially but quickly comes up against the two-thirds of the population who are immune and so it is stopped in its tracks. Those who have either survived infection or have had the good fortune to be vaccinated act as a barrier preventing the virus from coming into contact with those who have been neither infected nor vaccinated.In effect the 'strong' protect the vulnerable. It is in fact almost the exact opposite of eugenics. But whatever we choose to call it whether achieved through infection or vaccination that is the route out of this pandemic.Despite rising numbers of Covid-19 infections the number of weekly deaths from any cause in the UK was lower than the average for the corresponding week over the previous five years for eight of the past nine weeks for which data are available. As the respected statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter has pointed out theproblem with Covid-19 is not its lethality but its virulence it was not the number of people killed in the pandemic which drove the Government into a U-turn on collective immunity it was the speed with which the virus swept through the population.Hospitals in Northern Italy some of the best equipped and most sophisticated hospitals in Europe had all but been overwhelmed. No government could survive the image of bodies piling up on the streets and Boris Johnson decided that no one should die for lack of an intensive care bed. Alongside stringent lockdown conditions for the population as a whole - the opposite of what would have been required to achieve collective immunity - hospitals were emptied and ITU capacity increased in an unprecedented fashion. The knock-on effects from elderly patients discharged into care homes without having been Covid tested to stopping the elective treatment of other diseases will be a crucial part of any future inquiry.What distinguishes clinical medicine from the public health advice extolled by the likes of Prof Chris Whitty is that a clinician is required to give the best advice to each individual patient whereas the latter has to balance his or her advice for cohorts of the population or the population as a whole the political dimension is inescapable.To each of my many friends and relatives who through age or comorbidity is at elevated risk in the pandemic my advice has been unequivocal: follow the rules and take every reasonable precaution to avoid becoming infected. Happily I am answerable only to the patients under my care. Were I in the shoes of one of the Government's health advisers I might well have had to advise the Prime Minister that the safer course entailed allowing the disease to sweep through the population more or less unchecked.The Swedes have been criticised for their no-lockdown approach but as infection rates are climbing once more in much of the rest of Europe they may well be vindicated especially as their economy seems to have been less severely hit than that of many comparable nations. It is after all an inescapable truism of public health that poverty kills more people than does communicable disease and it should have been possible in this country to protect the vulnerable without destroying the economy."";""Julian Gaer"";"""";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"722;2020-09-03 12:00:00;192;""In defence of a ''''herd immunity'''' strategy"";""Jullien Gaer"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";"" The lockdown has crippled our economy but there was an alternative approach that makes medical senseThe term 'herd immunity' is an unfortunate one. Recently Jeremy Corbyn likened it to the discredited pseudo-science of eugenics saying that it reminded him of his time working on a pig farm. It is ironic that a man whose tenure over the Labour Party was marked by his apparent blindness to anti-Semitism should have leapt so quickly to accuse others of following a doctrine favoured by the Nazis. Suffice it to say that is a grotesque distortion of what 'herd immunity' actually entails. The French equivalent immunit© collective or collective immunity is a less emotive term which we might do well to adopt in future pandemics.Whatever we decide to call it herd immunity is the process whereby populations acquire resistance to disease. When 60 to 70 per cent of the 'herd' have antibodies to the pathogen in question the virus may spread initially but quickly comes up against the two-thirds of the population who are immune and so it is stopped in its tracks. Those who have either survived infection or have had the good fortune to be vaccinated act as a barrier preventing the virus from coming into contact with those who have been neither infected nor vaccinated.In effect the 'strong' protect the vulnerable. It is in fact almost the exact opposite of eugenics. But whatever we choose to call it whether achieved through infection or vaccination that is the route out of this pandemic.Despite rising numbers of Covid-19 infections the number of weekly deaths from any cause in the UK was lower than the average for the corresponding week over the previous five years for eight of the past nine weeks for which data are available. As the respected statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter has pointed out theproblem with Covid-19 is not its lethality but its virulence it was not the number of people killed in the pandemic which drove the Government into a U-turn on collective immunity it was the speed with which the virus swept through the population.Hospitals in Northern Italy some of the best equipped and most sophisticated hospitals in Europe had all but been overwhelmed. No government could survive the image of bodies piling up on the streets and Boris Johnson decided that no one should die for lack of an intensive care bed. Alongside stringent lockdown conditions for the population as a whole - the opposite of what would have been required to achieve collective immunity - hospitals were emptied and ITU capacity increased in an unprecedented fashion. The knock-on effects from elderly patients discharged into care homes without having been Covid tested to stopping the elective treatment of other diseases will be a crucial part of any future inquiry.What distinguishes clinical medicine from the public health advice extolled by the likes of Prof Chris Whitty is that a clinician is required to give the best advice to each individual patient whereas the latter has to balance his or her advice for cohorts of the population or the population as a whole the political dimension is inescapable.To each of my many friends and relatives who through age or comorbidity is at elevated risk in the pandemic my advice has been unequivocal: follow the rules and take every reasonable precaution to avoid becoming infected. Happily I am answerable only to the patients under my care. Were I in the shoes of one of the Government's health advisers I might well have had to advise the Prime Minister that the safer course entailed allowing the disease to sweep through the population more or less unchecked.The Swedes have been criticised for their no-lockdown approach but as infection rates are climbing once more in much of the rest of Europe they may well be vindicated especially as their economy seems to have been less severely hit than that of many comparable nations. It is after all an inescapable truism of public health that poverty kills more people than does communicable disease and it should have been possible in this country to protect the vulnerable without destroying the economy."";""Julian Gaer"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1109;2020-09-11 12:00:00;189;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Unlike vaccination herd immunity does not give a high level of individual protection and so it is not a good alternative to getting vaccinated� the Vaccine Knowledge Project says."";"""";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1099;2020-09-11 12:00:00;189;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""However Vaccine Knowledge project manager Tonia Thomas warned that the prospect of developing immunity to a condition through infection rather than through vaccination could be harmful as people may risk developing complications from the disease�."";""Tania Thomas"";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1100;2020-09-11 12:00:00;189;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""However Vaccine Knowledge project manager Tonia Thomas warned that the prospect of developing immunity to a condition through infection rather than through vaccination could be harmful as people may risk developing complications from the disease�."";""Tania Thomas"";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1101;2020-09-11 12:00:00;189;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it� the statement read.That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Political"""
"1102;2020-09-11 12:00:00;189;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Ryan said: As a global population we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting.This is not a solution and not a solution we should be looking to.�"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"261;2020-09-11 12:00:00;189;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Bruce Aylward a senior adviser to WHOs director-general added that any mass immunisation campaign with a Covid-19 vaccine would aim to cover far more than 50 per cent of the worlds population.He said: We dont want to be wrong."";""Bruce Aylward"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1103;2020-09-11 12:00:00;189;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""You want to plan to get high coverage and not get lulled into a dangerously seductive suggestion that (the herd immunity threshold) could be low.�"";""Bruce Aylward"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1108;2020-09-11 12:00:00;190;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Unlike vaccination herd immunity does not give a high level of individual protection and so it is not a good alternative to getting vaccinated� the Vaccine Knowledge Project says."";"""";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1106;2020-09-11 12:00:00;190;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Vaccine Knowledge project manager Tonia Thomas warned that the prospect of developing immunity to a condition through infection rather than through vaccination could be harmful as people may risk developing complications from the disease�.Vaccines are a safer way to develop immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself� she said."";""Tania Thomas"";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1107;2020-09-11 12:00:00;190;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Vaccine Knowledge project manager Tonia Thomas warned that the prospect of developing immunity to a condition through infection rather than through vaccination could be harmful as people may risk developing complications from the disease�.Vaccines are a safer way to develop immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself� she said."";""Tania Thomas"";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1104;2020-09-11 12:00:00;190;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""r Ryan said: As a global population we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting.This is not a solution and not a solution we should be looking to.�"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1105;2020-09-11 12:00:00;190;""TENDING THE HERD What is herd immunity?"";""Samantha Lock"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: We dont want to be wrong.You want to plan to get high coverage and not get lulled into a dangerously seductive suggestion that (the herd immunity threshold) could be low.�"";""Bruce Aylward"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"718;2020-09-18 12:00:00;188;""Phones 4u billionaire John Caudwell is blasted for saying government ''should have let public build up herd immunity'' to Covid (while he resides in ‚£250m ''Bond villain'' mansion)"";""Amie Gordon"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The Phones4u co-founder said: 'I've been making the point from day one that we should've invested the money in protecting the aged and the vulnerable and let everybody else build up herd immunity.'"";""John Caudwell"";""Phone4u"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Business"""
"719;2020-09-18 12:00:00;188;""Phones 4u billionaire John Caudwell is blasted for saying government ''should have let public build up herd immunity'' to Covid (while he resides in ‚£250m ''Bond villain'' mansion)"";""Amie Gordon"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The Phones4u co-founder said: 'I've been making the point from day one that we should've invested the money in protecting the aged and the vulnerable and let everybody else build up herd immunity.'"";""John Caudwell"";""Phone4u"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Business"""
"1070;2020-09-20 12:00:00;176;""A vaccination is no silver bullet for Covid-19"";""Raj Bhopal"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";"" I believe in inoculation but the only way out of the pandemic is through population immunityPandemics can mysteriously fizzle out but sadly Covid-19 continues to fizz instead. That leaves two solutions “ either inventing a safe and effective vaccine or developing population immunity through infection. Lockdowns social distancing face coverings and testing are important in buying time but cannot be sustained endlessly. We desperately need a greater level of public debate including on the vexed issue of population immunity “ a better phrase than herd immunity.Although we dont yet know how many people are immune “ whether the proportion is five per cent 10 per cent or 20 per cent “ it all helps reduce spread. When a proportion of the population has immunity the infection can be transmitted less easily across populations or even stopped. The proportion needed to stop transmission altogether is known as the population immunity threshold. For Covid-19 it has been estimated that this threshold could be as low as 20 per cent or as high as 70 per cent. My estimate is that its likely to be somewhere in the middle between 40 and 50 per cent.No one is advocating letting the infection rip� a phrase used by people who do not want this discussed. Stifling dialogue around the issue as happened even to Sir Patrick Vallance and Prof Chris Whitty when they aired useful ideas on herd immunity in the early stages of the pandemic is unacceptable.I believe most children and young people will get the infection as they return to normal life “ through schooling starting new jobs and going to university. They generally have strong defences against Covid-19. Yes serious illness and death can in rare cases occur but the risks have to be offset against the important health educational social and other problems of restrictive measures. Young people need education and all of us need to be able to see our families. I have continued to see my own four children and their partners “ though they dont come within three feet of me! I know there is still some risk but it is worth taking to be with them.Immunity is strong following infection. Several hundreds of millions of cases of Covid-19 have occurred. In calculating this number of infections I assume 0.5 per cent of infected people die and the number of deaths as 2 million giving 400 million cases. Even if 1 million cases (0.25 per cent of 400 million) had been recurrent infections not the handful reported so far this would be a small number indicating good immunity although it would be extraordinary perhaps unique if immunity was 100 per cent and lifelong.I believe in vaccination. However vaccines are not necessarily a silver bullet. Two adenovirus-based vaccines currently being trialled (known as the Oxford and Wuhan vaccines) for example have side-effects that are similar to Covid-19 itself “ fever pain fatigue and headache “ in 70-80 per cent of fit adults. These vaccines will not be proven to be safe and effective for children and young people for some years. It is also important that any vaccine is proven to be effective in people over 70.Even when proven vaccines will face resistance and will be contested including in the courts. Even if the vaccine is safe someone may die or become ill by coincidence sparking controversy. This is the history of vaccination programmes. It can take years to acquire evidence to persuade people that adverse events were not caused by a vaccine.In the meantime I advocate a strategy of the careful acquisition of population immunity through natural infection in everyday life in young low-risk people. This requires special efforts directed at those of high risk in any age group including the young and their parents and grandparents. It is a strategy that in the wake of Covid-19 has been too readily dismissed even rendered taboo . Yet I have found that the public and many professionals are generally favourable to the concept.I wish we had better options. The situation we face is called zugzwang� in chess “ there are no good moves but you dont want to resign. But while children and young people have much to lose from measures that restrict their education social development and freedom they have relatively little to lose from the infection. On the other hand older people like myself have relatively little to lose from restrictions but much to lose from the infection.I am not prepared to sacrifice the well-being of children and young people to reduce my risk to near-zero. I believe society should focus our scarce resources to protect those who are frail or cannot protect themselves while everyone else should apply well-known solutions: hygiene social distancing and face masks. Life is not without risks or death. More than 12000 deaths from all causes occur in the UK every week.We have to get Covid-19 deaths in perspective. Our vision and strategies should be long-term not week-by-week “ and not based on fear.Prof Raj Bhopal CBE is Emeritus Professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh. This article reflects his recent publications in the BMJ Will a vaccine alone fail to provide us with a way out of the pandemic? Share your view in the comments section below"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1071;2020-09-20 12:00:00;176;""A vaccination is no silver bullet for Covid-19"";""Raj Bhopal"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";"" I believe in inoculation but the only way out of the pandemic is through population immunityPandemics can mysteriously fizzle out but sadly Covid-19 continues to fizz instead. That leaves two solutions “ either inventing a safe and effective vaccine or developing population immunity through infection. Lockdowns social distancing face coverings and testing are important in buying time but cannot be sustained endlessly. We desperately need a greater level of public debate including on the vexed issue of population immunity “ a better phrase than herd immunity.Although we dont yet know how many people are immune “ whether the proportion is five per cent 10 per cent or 20 per cent “ it all helps reduce spread. When a proportion of the population has immunity the infection can be transmitted less easily across populations or even stopped. The proportion needed to stop transmission altogether is known as the population immunity threshold. For Covid-19 it has been estimated that this threshold could be as low as 20 per cent or as high as 70 per cent. My estimate is that its likely to be somewhere in the middle between 40 and 50 per cent.No one is advocating letting the infection rip� a phrase used by people who do not want this discussed. Stifling dialogue around the issue as happened even to Sir Patrick Vallance and Prof Chris Whitty when they aired useful ideas on herd immunity in the early stages of the pandemic is unacceptable.I believe most children and young people will get the infection as they return to normal life “ through schooling starting new jobs and going to university. They generally have strong defences against Covid-19. Yes serious illness and death can in rare cases occur but the risks have to be offset against the important health educational social and other problems of restrictive measures. Young people need education and all of us need to be able to see our families. I have continued to see my own four children and their partners “ though they dont come within three feet of me! I know there is still some risk but it is worth taking to be with them.Immunity is strong following infection. Several hundreds of millions of cases of Covid-19 have occurred. In calculating this number of infections I assume 0.5 per cent of infected people die and the number of deaths as 2 million giving 400 million cases. Even if 1 million cases (0.25 per cent of 400 million) had been recurrent infections not the handful reported so far this would be a small number indicating good immunity although it would be extraordinary perhaps unique if immunity was 100 per cent and lifelong.I believe in vaccination. However vaccines are not necessarily a silver bullet. Two adenovirus-based vaccines currently being trialled (known as the Oxford and Wuhan vaccines) for example have side-effects that are similar to Covid-19 itself “ fever pain fatigue and headache “ in 70-80 per cent of fit adults. These vaccines will not be proven to be safe and effective for children and young people for some years. It is also important that any vaccine is proven to be effective in people over 70.Even when proven vaccines will face resistance and will be contested including in the courts. Even if the vaccine is safe someone may die or become ill by coincidence sparking controversy. This is the history of vaccination programmes. It can take years to acquire evidence to persuade people that adverse events were not caused by a vaccine.In the meantime I advocate a strategy of the careful acquisition of population immunity through natural infection in everyday life in young low-risk people. This requires special efforts directed at those of high risk in any age group including the young and their parents and grandparents. It is a strategy that in the wake of Covid-19 has been too readily dismissed even rendered taboo . Yet I have found that the public and many professionals are generally favourable to the concept.I wish we had better options. The situation we face is called zugzwang� in chess “ there are no good moves but you dont want to resign. But while children and young people have much to lose from measures that restrict their education social development and freedom they have relatively little to lose from the infection. On the other hand older people like myself have relatively little to lose from restrictions but much to lose from the infection.I am not prepared to sacrifice the well-being of children and young people to reduce my risk to near-zero. I believe society should focus our scarce resources to protect those who are frail or cannot protect themselves while everyone else should apply well-known solutions: hygiene social distancing and face masks. Life is not without risks or death. More than 12000 deaths from all causes occur in the UK every week.We have to get Covid-19 deaths in perspective. Our vision and strategies should be long-term not week-by-week “ and not based on fear.Prof Raj Bhopal CBE is Emeritus Professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh. This article reflects his recent publications in the BMJ Will a vaccine alone fail to provide us with a way out of the pandemic? Share your view in the comments section below"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1072;2020-09-20 12:00:00;176;""A vaccination is no silver bullet for Covid-19"";""Raj Bhopal"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";"" I believe in inoculation but the only way out of the pandemic is through population immunityPandemics can mysteriously fizzle out but sadly Covid-19 continues to fizz instead. That leaves two solutions “ either inventing a safe and effective vaccine or developing population immunity through infection. Lockdowns social distancing face coverings and testing are important in buying time but cannot be sustained endlessly. We desperately need a greater level of public debate including on the vexed issue of population immunity “ a better phrase than herd immunity.Although we dont yet know how many people are immune “ whether the proportion is five per cent 10 per cent or 20 per cent “ it all helps reduce spread. When a proportion of the population has immunity the infection can be transmitted less easily across populations or even stopped. The proportion needed to stop transmission altogether is known as the population immunity threshold. For Covid-19 it has been estimated that this threshold could be as low as 20 per cent or as high as 70 per cent. My estimate is that its likely to be somewhere in the middle between 40 and 50 per cent.No one is advocating letting the infection rip� a phrase used by people who do not want this discussed. Stifling dialogue around the issue as happened even to Sir Patrick Vallance and Prof Chris Whitty when they aired useful ideas on herd immunity in the early stages of the pandemic is unacceptable.I believe most children and young people will get the infection as they return to normal life “ through schooling starting new jobs and going to university. They generally have strong defences against Covid-19. Yes serious illness and death can in rare cases occur but the risks have to be offset against the important health educational social and other problems of restrictive measures. Young people need education and all of us need to be able to see our families. I have continued to see my own four children and their partners “ though they dont come within three feet of me! I know there is still some risk but it is worth taking to be with them.Immunity is strong following infection. Several hundreds of millions of cases of Covid-19 have occurred. In calculating this number of infections I assume 0.5 per cent of infected people die and the number of deaths as 2 million giving 400 million cases. Even if 1 million cases (0.25 per cent of 400 million) had been recurrent infections not the handful reported so far this would be a small number indicating good immunity although it would be extraordinary perhaps unique if immunity was 100 per cent and lifelong.I believe in vaccination. However vaccines are not necessarily a silver bullet. Two adenovirus-based vaccines currently being trialled (known as the Oxford and Wuhan vaccines) for example have side-effects that are similar to Covid-19 itself “ fever pain fatigue and headache “ in 70-80 per cent of fit adults. These vaccines will not be proven to be safe and effective for children and young people for some years. It is also important that any vaccine is proven to be effective in people over 70.Even when proven vaccines will face resistance and will be contested including in the courts. Even if the vaccine is safe someone may die or become ill by coincidence sparking controversy. This is the history of vaccination programmes. It can take years to acquire evidence to persuade people that adverse events were not caused by a vaccine.In the meantime I advocate a strategy of the careful acquisition of population immunity through natural infection in everyday life in young low-risk people. This requires special efforts directed at those of high risk in any age group including the young and their parents and grandparents. It is a strategy that in the wake of Covid-19 has been too readily dismissed even rendered taboo . Yet I have found that the public and many professionals are generally favourable to the concept.I wish we had better options. The situation we face is called zugzwang� in chess “ there are no good moves but you dont want to resign. But while children and young people have much to lose from measures that restrict their education social development and freedom they have relatively little to lose from the infection. On the other hand older people like myself have relatively little to lose from restrictions but much to lose from the infection.I am not prepared to sacrifice the well-being of children and young people to reduce my risk to near-zero. I believe society should focus our scarce resources to protect those who are frail or cannot protect themselves while everyone else should apply well-known solutions: hygiene social distancing and face masks. Life is not without risks or death. More than 12000 deaths from all causes occur in the UK every week.We have to get Covid-19 deaths in perspective. Our vision and strategies should be long-term not week-by-week “ and not based on fear.Prof Raj Bhopal CBE is Emeritus Professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh. This article reflects his recent publications in the BMJ Will a vaccine alone fail to provide us with a way out of the pandemic? Share your view in the comments section below"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1091;2020-09-21 12:00:00;187;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and is it a possibility for the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""herd immunity is a natural by-product of an epidemic�."";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1092;2020-09-21 12:00:00;187;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and is it a possibility for the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Unlike vaccination herd immunity does not give a high level of individual protection and so it is not a good alternative to getting vaccinated� the Vaccine Knowledge Project says."";"""";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1093;2020-09-21 12:00:00;187;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and is it a possibility for the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Tonia Thomas Vaccine Knowledge project manager explained that the prospect of developing immunity to a condition through infection rather than through vaccination could be harmful as people may risk developing complications from the disease�.Vaccines are a safer way to develop immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself� Thomas stated. Is herd immunity a possibility amid the coronavirus outbreak?"";""Tania Thomas"";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1094;2020-09-21 12:00:00;187;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and is it a possibility for the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Tonia Thomas Vaccine Knowledge project manager explained that the prospect of developing immunity to a condition through infection rather than through vaccination could be harmful as people may risk developing complications from the disease�.Vaccines are a safer way to develop immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself� Thomas stated. Is herd immunity a possibility amid the coronavirus outbreak?"";""Tania Thomas"";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1095;2020-09-21 12:00:00;187;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and is it a possibility for the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it� the statement read.That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1096;2020-09-21 12:00:00;187;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and is it a possibility for the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""On 28 August WHOs chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan explained the implications of allowing Covid-19 to spread around the population stating that it isbelieved that at least 60 to 70 per cent of the population would need to be immune to really break the chain of transmission�.If you allow this to happen naturally it will take a long time of course but more importantly its going to do a lot of collateral damage. So even if 1 per cent of people who get infected are ultimately going to die then this can add up to a huge number of people if we look at the global population� Dr Swaminathan said."";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1097;2020-09-21 12:00:00;187;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and is it a possibility for the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""On 28 August WHOs chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan explained the implications of allowing Covid-19 to spread around the population stating that it isbelieved that at least 60 to 70 per cent of the population would need to be immune to really break the chain of transmission�.If you allow this to happen naturally it will take a long time of course but more importantly its going to do a lot of collateral damage. So even if 1 per cent of people who get infected are ultimately going to die then this can add up to a huge number of people if we look at the global population� Dr Swaminathan said."";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1098;2020-09-21 12:00:00;187;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and is it a possibility for the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""no chance of herd immunity with coronavirus�.As a brand new virus no one has immunity to it so every human being is susceptible to the virus� he explains. Herd immunity will only come into effect once a huge majority of people have had it and survived so their bodies create antibodies to the virus.�"";""Shaun Lintern"";""The Independent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"1089;2020-09-22 12:00:00;184;""Has Sweden beaten coronavirus? Expert claims by refusing to shut the country down the Swedes now have ''herd immunity'' and have avoided a second wave"";""Raven Saunt"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""There is some evidence that the Swedes have built up a degree of immunity to the virus which along with what else they are doing to stop the spread is enough to control the disease.'Perhaps the epidemic is over there.'He said that the virus may now have run out of steam.He added: 'That is what they have said.'On the positive side they may now be finished with the epidemic.'"";""Kim Sneppen"";""Niels Bohr Institute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1090;2020-09-22 12:00:00;184;""Has Sweden beaten coronavirus? Expert claims by refusing to shut the country down the Swedes now have ''herd immunity'' and have avoided a second wave"";""Raven Saunt"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'The rapidly declining cases we see in Sweden right now is another indication that you can get the number of cases down quite a lot in a country without having a complete lockdown' he previously told Unherd .Tegnell added that 'deaths are not so closely connected to the amount of cases you have in a country' saying the death rate was more closely linked to whether older people are being infected and how well the health system can cope.'Those things will influence mortality a lot more I think than the actual spread of the disease' he said."";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1195;2020-09-22 12:00:00;185;""UK coronavirus response sees health experts clash over local lockdowns and ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Harriet Brewis"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""While backing extra protections for care homes and the vulnerable they warned cutting off vulnerable people would be practically impossible� particularly for disadvantaged groups such as those living in cramped housing and multi-generational households� or grandparents carrying out childcare.The letter which was published by the British Medical Journal states: Despite claims to the contrary from some quarters there are no examples of a segmentation- and-shielding policy having worked in any country.We believe that rather than absolute measures (lockdown or release) we should take a more relativistic approach of more relaxation/more stringency depending on control of the virus."";""Trisha Greenhalgh"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1196;2020-09-22 12:00:00;185;""UK coronavirus response sees health experts clash over local lockdowns and ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Harriet Brewis"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""While backing extra protections for care homes and the vulnerable they warned cutting off vulnerable people would be practically impossible� particularly for disadvantaged groups such as those living in cramped housing and multi-generational households� or grandparents carrying out childcare.The letter which was published by the British Medical Journal states: Despite claims to the contrary from some quarters there are no examples of a segmentation- and-shielding policy having worked in any country.We believe that rather than absolute measures (lockdown or release) we should take a more relativistic approach of more relaxation/more stringency depending on control of the virus."";""Trisha Greenhalgh"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"1180;2020-09-23 12:00:00;179;""Herd immunity wouldn''''''''t work without overwhelming the NHS study finds as scientists say it would take YEARS to safely achieve the controversial tactic"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Our study finds that achieving herd immunity without overwhelming hospital capacity leaves little room for error."";""Tobias Brett"";""University of Georgia"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"1181;2020-09-23 12:00:00;179;""Herd immunity wouldn''''''''t work without overwhelming the NHS study finds as scientists say it would take YEARS to safely achieve the controversial tactic"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Our study finds that achieving herd immunity without overwhelming hospital capacity leaves little room for error."";""Pejman Rohani"";""University of Georgia"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"1178;2020-09-23 12:00:00;179;""Herd immunity wouldn''''''''t work without overwhelming the NHS study finds as scientists say it would take YEARS to safely achieve the controversial tactic"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Intervention levels must be carefully manipulated in an adaptive manner for an extended period... Such fine-tuning of social distancing renders this strategy impractical.'Various governments have entertained the idea of achieving herd immunity through natural infection as a means of ending the long-term threat of Covid-19. This has provoked alarm in sections of the public health community. Our work confirms that this alarm is well founded.'"";""Tobias Brett"";""University of Georgia"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1179;2020-09-23 12:00:00;179;""Herd immunity wouldn''''''''t work without overwhelming the NHS study finds as scientists say it would take YEARS to safely achieve the controversial tactic"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Intervention levels must be carefully manipulated in an adaptive manner for an extended period... Such fine-tuning of social distancing renders this strategy impractical.'Various governments have entertained the idea of achieving herd immunity through natural infection as a means of ending the long-term threat of Covid-19. This has provoked alarm in sections of the public health community. Our work confirms that this alarm is well founded.'"";""Pejman Rohani"";""University of Georgia"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1184;2020-09-23 12:00:00;179;""Herd immunity wouldn''''''''t work without overwhelming the NHS study finds as scientists say it would take YEARS to safely achieve the controversial tactic"";""Connor Boyd"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""There is some evidence that the Swedes have built up a degree of immunity to the virus which along with what else they are doing to stop the spread is enough to control the disease.                                                                         'Perhaps the epidemic is over there.' He said that the virus may now have run out of steam.He added: 'That is what they have said.'On the positive side they may now be finished with the epidemic.'"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1077;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'build up some degree of herd immunity'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1080;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""There's going to be a point assuming the epidemic flows and grows as it will do where you want to cocoon to protect those at-risk groups so they don't catch the disease.                                                                                                                                                                 'By the time they come out of their cocooning herd immunity has been achieved in the rest of the population.'"";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Business"""
"1081;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""There's going to be a point assuming the epidemic flows and grows as it will do where you want to cocoon to protect those at-risk groups so they don't catch the disease.                                                                                                                                                                 'By the time they come out of their cocooning herd immunity has been achieved in the rest of the population.'"";""David Halpern"";""Behavioural Insights Team"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Business"""
"1082;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Our aim is not to stop everyone getting it you can't do that. And it's not desirable because you want to get some immunity in the population. We need to have immunity to protect ourselves from this in the future.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1185;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""On March 13 Sir Patrick Vallance said: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak - not suppress it completely also because most people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity whilst protecting the most vulnerable.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"1187;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""On March 13 Sir Patrick Vallance said: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak - not suppress it completely also because most people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity whilst protecting the most vulnerable.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1186;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""o help avoid 'a second peak' and also to 'allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1188;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""o help avoid 'a second peak' and also to 'allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"1191;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";"" This figure is less than half of the UK's own infection rate of 69 per 100000 people. He told Denmark's Politiken newspaper: 'There is some evidence that the Swedes have built up a degree of immunity to the virus which along with what else they are doing to stop the spread is enough to control the disease.'Perhaps the epidemic is over there.'He said that the virus may now have run out of steam.He added: 'That is what they have said."";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"1192;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'No it is NOT the plan'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1193;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'was actually a sensible aim of policy'"";""Chris Whitty"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1194;2020-09-23 12:00:00;180;""Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty faced backlash over ''''herd immunity'''' strategy in March and asked for help to ''''calm down'''' angry academics emails show"";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'we're nowhere close'."";"""";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"704;2020-09-23 12:00:00;181;""Battle to calm coronavirus herd immunity revolt"";""Chris Smyth "";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""reduce the peak not suppress it completely also because most people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity while protecting the most vulnerable�."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"705;2020-09-23 12:00:00;181;""Battle to calm coronavirus herd immunity revolt"";""Chris Smyth "";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""reduce the peak not suppress it completely also because most people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity while protecting the most vulnerable�."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"706;2020-09-23 12:00:00;181;""Battle to calm coronavirus herd immunity revolt"";""Chris Smyth "";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""On Sky News on the same day he talked about allowing enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this�."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"707;2020-09-23 12:00:00;181;""Battle to calm coronavirus herd immunity revolt"";""Chris Smyth "";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""This prompted 500 academics to publish a joint letter calling for more social-distancing measures and saying that going for herd immunity� would risk many more lives than necessary."";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"708;2020-09-23 12:00:00;181;""Battle to calm coronavirus herd immunity revolt"";""Chris Smyth "";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""herd immunity is not the strategy. The strategy is to flatten the curve to protect the NHS and to shield the elderly and vulnerable. As we do this we will see immunity in the community grow and that will be part of bringing this to an end�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"709;2020-09-23 12:00:00;181;""Battle to calm coronavirus herd immunity revolt"";""Chris Smyth "";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""herd immunity is not the strategy. The strategy is to flatten the curve to protect the NHS and to shield the elderly and vulnerable. As we do this we will see immunity in the community grow and that will be part of bringing this to an end�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Government"""
"710;2020-09-23 12:00:00;181;""Battle to calm coronavirus herd immunity revolt"";""Chris Smyth "";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""herd immunity is not the strategy. The strategy is to flatten the curve to protect the NHS and to shield the elderly and vulnerable. As we do this we will see immunity in the community grow and that will be part of bringing this to an end�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"711;2020-09-23 12:00:00;181;""Battle to calm coronavirus herd immunity revolt"";""Chris Smyth "";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Chris Whitty chief medical officer for England complained in emails of being misrepresented saying he never thought herd immunity was a sensible aim of policy� but had talked of it when answering ministers questions."";""Chris Whitty"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"712;2020-09-23 12:00:00;182;""Coronavirus: Internal emails reveal ‚herd immunity‚„ messaging chaos in government"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""herd immunity is not the strategy�."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"713;2020-09-23 12:00:00;182;""Coronavirus: Internal emails reveal ‚herd immunity‚„ messaging chaos in government"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Our aim is to try and reduce the peak ... also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"714;2020-09-23 12:00:00;182;""Coronavirus: Internal emails reveal ‚herd immunity‚„ messaging chaos in government"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this�."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"715;2020-09-23 12:00:00;182;""Coronavirus: Internal emails reveal ‚herd immunity‚„ messaging chaos in government"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The chief medical officer complained he did not think immunity was a sensible aim of policy� and he had only talked about the concept because he had been answering questions put to me by ministers�."";""Chris Whitty"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"716;2020-09-23 12:00:00;182;""Coronavirus: Internal emails reveal ‚herd immunity‚„ messaging chaos in government"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The government had never pursued a ˜herd immunity strategy.�"";""Chris Whitty"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"717;2020-09-23 12:00:00;182;""Coronavirus: Internal emails reveal ‚herd immunity‚„ messaging chaos in government"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""I would say the majority of scientists are aligned that maximum suppression of this virus is the optimal strategy� said the chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh.Theres a small group of very vocal scientists who are advocating what you could call herd immunity� Prof Sridhar added.But I would just push back and say that we dont have herd immunity against many infectious diseases that have been a problem for mankind for centuries like plague cholera malaria measles TB and I could go on.�"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1083;2020-09-23 12:00:00;183;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sophie Gallagher Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it...that is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.�"";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1084;2020-09-23 12:00:00;183;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sophie Gallagher Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Unlike vaccination herd immunity does not give a high level of individual protection and so it is not a good alternative to getting vaccinated� the Vaccine Knowledge Project says."";"""";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1085;2020-09-23 12:00:00;183;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sophie Gallagher Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Tonia Thomas Vaccine Knowledge project manager explained that the prospect of developing immunity to a condition through infection rather than through vaccination could be harmful as people may risk developing complications from the disease�.Vaccines are a safer way to develop immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself� Thomas stated."";""Tania Thomas"";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1086;2020-09-23 12:00:00;183;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sophie Gallagher Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""If you allow this to happen naturally it will take a long time of course but more importantly its going to do a lot of collateral damage. So even if 1 per cent of people who get infected are ultimately going to die then this can add up to a huge number of people if we look at the global population� Dr Swaminathan said.And that is why we believe its not a good idea to try to achieve herd immunity by just letting the infection run wild in the population and infect a lot of people and that we should talk about herd immunity in the context of a vaccine.�"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1087;2020-09-23 12:00:00;183;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sophie Gallagher Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""If you allow this to happen naturally it will take a long time of course but more importantly its going to do a lot of collateral damage. So even if 1 per cent of people who get infected are ultimately going to die then this can add up to a huge number of people if we look at the global population� Dr Swaminathan said.And that is why we believe its not a good idea to try to achieve herd immunity by just letting the infection run wild in the population and infect a lot of people and that we should talk about herd immunity in the context of a vaccine.�"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1088;2020-09-23 12:00:00;183;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sophie Gallagher Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""no chance of herd immunity with coronavirus�.As a brand new virus no one has immunity to it so every human being is susceptible to the virus� he explains. Herd immunity will only come into effect once a huge majority of people have had it and survived so their bodies create antibodies to the virus.�"";""Shaun Lintern"";""The Independent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"697;2020-09-24 12:00:00;178;""Battle to calm herd immunity outcry"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""'reduce the peak not suppress it completely also because most people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity while protecting the most vulnerable'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"698;2020-09-24 12:00:00;178;""Battle to calm herd immunity outcry"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""On Sky News on the same day he talked about allowing 'enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"699;2020-09-24 12:00:00;178;""Battle to calm herd immunity outcry"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""This prompted 500 academics to publish a joint letter calling for more social-distancing measures and saying that 'going for herd immunity' would risk 'many more lives than necessary.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"700;2020-09-24 12:00:00;178;""Battle to calm herd immunity outcry"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""This prompted 500 academics to publish a joint letter calling for more social-distancing measures and saying that 'going for herd immunity' would risk 'many more lives than necessary.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"701;2020-09-24 12:00:00;178;""Battle to calm herd immunity outcry"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""'herd immunity is not the strategy. The strategy is to flatten the curve to protect the NHS and to shield the elderly and vulnerable. As we do this we will see immunity in the community grow and that will be part of bringing this to an end'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"702;2020-09-24 12:00:00;178;""Battle to calm herd immunity outcry"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""'herd immunity is not the strategy. The strategy is to flatten the curve to protect the NHS and to shield the elderly and vulnerable. As we do this we will see immunity in the community grow and that will be part of bringing this to an end'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"703;2020-09-24 12:00:00;178;""Battle to calm herd immunity outcry"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Professor Chris Whitty chief medical officer for England complained in emails of being misrepresented saying he never thought herd immunity 'was a sensible aim of policy' but had talked of it when answering ministers' questions."";""Chris Whitty"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1073;2020-09-25 12:00:00;177;""Coronavirus UK alert: Scientists issue warning to Boris over two HUGE mistakes"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The first Independent Sage report said: 'A deliberate strategy of attempting to raise the level of population immunity by allowing or encouraging people at lower risk of hospitalisation or death to become infected is not only unlikely to achieve the desired objective of population immunity but risks a significant amount of avoidable death and illness without protecting the economy.'Current evidence suggests the duration of immunity conferred by a bout of COVID-19 is likely to last less than a year the paper warned.It explained: 'In addition guaranteed shielding of vulnerable groups is infeasible and there would be substantial mortality and morbidity even among the ˜non- vulnerable.JUST IN: North Korea shooting - Kim Jong-un makes humiliating apology'It would also increase health and social inequalities with the most disadvantaged groups particularly the elderly deprived and the ethnic minority groups beingdisproportionately impacted.'With treatment for COVID-19 improving all the time delaying the infection of as many people as possible for as long as possible would save lives and ill-health the report stressed.It added: 'Other countries have shown that the infection rates can be suppressed without highly damaging ˜lockdowns by using established infection control procedures including excellent contact tracing followed by supported isolation.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"1074;2020-09-25 12:00:00;177;""Coronavirus UK alert: Scientists issue warning to Boris over two HUGE mistakes"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The first Independent Sage report said: 'A deliberate strategy of attempting to raise the level of population immunity by allowing or encouraging people at lower risk of hospitalisation or death to become infected is not only unlikely to achieve the desired objective of population immunity but risks a significant amount of avoidable death and illness without protecting the economy.'Current evidence suggests the duration of immunity conferred by a bout of COVID-19 is likely to last less than a year the paper warned.It explained: 'In addition guaranteed shielding of vulnerable groups is infeasible and there would be substantial mortality and morbidity even among the ˜non- vulnerable.JUST IN: North Korea shooting - Kim Jong-un makes humiliating apology'It would also increase health and social inequalities with the most disadvantaged groups particularly the elderly deprived and the ethnic minority groups beingdisproportionately impacted.'With treatment for COVID-19 improving all the time delaying the infection of as many people as possible for as long as possible would save lives and ill-health the report stressed.It added: 'Other countries have shown that the infection rates can be suppressed without highly damaging ˜lockdowns by using established infection control procedures including excellent contact tracing followed by supported isolation.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Government"""
"1075;2020-09-25 12:00:00;177;""Coronavirus UK alert: Scientists issue warning to Boris over two HUGE mistakes"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The first Independent Sage report said: 'A deliberate strategy of attempting to raise the level of population immunity by allowing or encouraging people at lower risk of hospitalisation or death to become infected is not only unlikely to achieve the desired objective of population immunity but risks a significant amount of avoidable death and illness without protecting the economy.'Current evidence suggests the duration of immunity conferred by a bout of COVID-19 is likely to last less than a year the paper warned.It explained: 'In addition guaranteed shielding of vulnerable groups is infeasible and there would be substantial mortality and morbidity even among the ˜non- vulnerable.JUST IN: North Korea shooting - Kim Jong-un makes humiliating apology'It would also increase health and social inequalities with the most disadvantaged groups particularly the elderly deprived and the ethnic minority groups beingdisproportionately impacted.'With treatment for COVID-19 improving all the time delaying the infection of as many people as possible for as long as possible would save lives and ill-health the report stressed.It added: 'Other countries have shown that the infection rates can be suppressed without highly damaging ˜lockdowns by using established infection control procedures including excellent contact tracing followed by supported isolation.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1076;2020-09-25 12:00:00;177;""Coronavirus UK alert: Scientists issue warning to Boris over two HUGE mistakes"";""Ciaran McGrath"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Its chief public health expert Anders Tegnell himself has said 'Each country has to reach ˜herd immunity in one way or another and we are going to reach it in a different way'."";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"696;2020-09-29 12:00:00;175;""CHANGE OF PLANS Coronavirus Scotland: Students subjected to ‚herd immunity experiment‚„ after Scot Gov university U-turn"";""Justin Bowie"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He added: The really terrible thing here is the students are being subjected to an experiment in herd immunity which they have not signed up for.�"";""Carlo Morelli"";""Scotland University and College Union"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Union"""
"694;2020-09-30 12:00:00;174;""Online censorship"";""Unspecified"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Her offence was to welcome the incidence of Covid-19 among university students because it would ensure they could get on with their lives free from further infection. She was making the point that since the disease is very mild and often asymptomatic among this group herd immunity was a good thing. This brought the usual cascade of abuse down on her head from the ignorant and perpetually outraged people who haunt this particular platform. Pearson was allegedly in favour of inflicting harm on millions and had violated rules against abuse and harassment. When you consider the vile stuff that is regularly on Twitter this is an outrageous attack on free expression."";""Allison Pearson"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"695;2020-09-30 12:00:00;174;""Online censorship"";""Unspecified"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Her offence was to welcome the incidence of Covid-19 among university students because it would ensure they could get on with their lives free from further infection. She was making the point that since the disease is very mild and often asymptomatic among this group herd immunity was a good thing. This brought the usual cascade of abuse down on her head from the ignorant and perpetually outraged people who haunt this particular platform. Pearson was allegedly in favour of inflicting harm on millions and had violated rules against abuse and harassment. When you consider the vile stuff that is regularly on Twitter this is an outrageous attack on free expression."";""Allison Pearson"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""News/Media"""
"692;2020-10-01 12:00:00;173;""Build immunity and shield the vulnerable"";""Jane Ball"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""I feel like a voice in the wilderness but surely the only sensible way forward is to build up herd immunity among our younger and healthier citizens while shielding the vulnerable.The sort of local lockdowns being imposed in Wales (Drakeford's panic-stricken attempt at whack-amole) may suppress the spread of Covid-19 virus for a little while but as soon as restrictions are lifted the virus will bounce back.Indeed recent figures from some of the northern towns in England suggest local lockdowns have failed to keep a lid on rising infection rates.The only thing we can be sure of is that all this political interference is taking away our much-cherished freedoms and destroying the economy. Bizarrely opinion polls suggest a majority of people welcome these lockdowns or want even stricter measures.Maybe the scales will fall from their eyes when the inevitable tsunami of unemployment crashes over us later this year."";""Jane Ball"";""University of Southampton"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"693;2020-10-01 12:00:00;173;""Build immunity and shield the vulnerable"";""Jane Ball"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""I feel like a voice in the wilderness but surely the only sensible way forward is to build up herd immunity among our younger and healthier citizens while shielding the vulnerable.The sort of local lockdowns being imposed in Wales (Drakeford's panic-stricken attempt at whack-amole) may suppress the spread of Covid-19 virus for a little while but as soon as restrictions are lifted the virus will bounce back.Indeed recent figures from some of the northern towns in England suggest local lockdowns have failed to keep a lid on rising infection rates.The only thing we can be sure of is that all this political interference is taking away our much-cherished freedoms and destroying the economy. Bizarrely opinion polls suggest a majority of people welcome these lockdowns or want even stricter measures.Maybe the scales will fall from their eyes when the inevitable tsunami of unemployment crashes over us later this year."";""Jane Ball"";""University of Southampton"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"688;2020-10-03 12:00:00;171;""''Don‚„t place hopes on herd immunity or vaccine soon‚„ Herts health chief says"";""Deborah Price"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""Mr McManus said: 'I dont see any prospect of widespread populationimmunity before next year.'A. because numbers infected arent enough b. because we dont yet have a vaccine and c. because actuallythis ideawe shouldlet it rip through the community is not a viable strategy.'"";""Jim McManus"";""Hertfordshire Public Health"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"689;2020-10-03 12:00:00;171;""''Don‚„t place hopes on herd immunity or vaccine soon‚„ Herts health chief says"";""Deborah Price"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""In addition Mr McManus stressed that death is not the only bad outcome from Covid� “ pointing to people with 'very long-term symptoms and problems' from Covid including heart muscle weakening.And he said: 'The strategystill has to be “ suppressthe virus as muchas possible untilsuch timeas its impossible to do that and we mitigate “ and dontplace hopes on herd immunityor a vaccine soon.'Its thegood old-fashioned measures that we have been plugging all along and have beenvery clear about communicating locally “ which is hand hygiene self isolate if you have got symptoms wear a face covering when you have to and social distancingand cleaning.'"";""Jim McManus"";""Hertfordshire Public Health"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"690;2020-10-03 12:00:00;172;""Coronavirus: Would herd immunity ever work in Britain? Experts speak out"";""Chanel Georgina"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it.'That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus.'Our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"691;2020-10-03 12:00:00;172;""Coronavirus: Would herd immunity ever work in Britain? Experts speak out"";""Chanel Georgina"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it.'That is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus.'Our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1066;2020-10-05 12:00:00;170;""Coronavirus in Scotland: Let young people get back to normal says public health expert"";""Sarah Ward"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""aj Bhopal of the University of Edinburghs medical school said he endorsed population immunity� rather than herd immunity� adding that nobody had eversuggested the virus be allowed to rip through the population�.Writing in theBritish Medical Journal Professor Bhopal proposed tackling the virus with a needs-based public health approach that characterises everything else we do in society. This means concentrating resources on those at highest risk.We are told that we cannot let this pandemic rip through the population and I agree. I have not heard this strategy from any epidemiologist public health professional or politician.My views on population immunity whether through vaccination (hopefully) in due course or natural infection are part of a comprehensive strategy for the control of Covid-19 developed with the help of about 20 lay and professional people. I have emphasised that neither waiting for the disease to fizzle out spontaneously nor letting the pandemic unfold without controls are public health strategies.�Pinning the strategy onthe development of a vaccine Professor Bhopal added that young people had little to fear� from the disease but that their lives can be destroyed by lockdown measures which undermine their education social development and career prospects�."";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1067;2020-10-05 12:00:00;170;""Coronavirus in Scotland: Let young people get back to normal says public health expert"";""Sarah Ward"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""aj Bhopal of the University of Edinburghs medical school said he endorsed population immunity� rather than herd immunity� adding that nobody had eversuggested the virus be allowed to rip through the population�.Writing in theBritish Medical Journal Professor Bhopal proposed tackling the virus with a needs-based public health approach that characterises everything else we do in society. This means concentrating resources on those at highest risk.We are told that we cannot let this pandemic rip through the population and I agree. I have not heard this strategy from any epidemiologist public health professional or politician.My views on population immunity whether through vaccination (hopefully) in due course or natural infection are part of a comprehensive strategy for the control of Covid-19 developed with the help of about 20 lay and professional people. I have emphasised that neither waiting for the disease to fizzle out spontaneously nor letting the pandemic unfold without controls are public health strategies.�Pinning the strategy onthe development of a vaccine Professor Bhopal added that young people had little to fear� from the disease but that their lives can be destroyed by lockdown measures which undermine their education social development and career prospects�."";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1068;2020-10-05 12:00:00;170;""Coronavirus in Scotland: Let young people get back to normal says public health expert"";""Sarah Ward"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""aj Bhopal of the University of Edinburghs medical school said he endorsed population immunity� rather than herd immunity� adding that nobody had eversuggested the virus be allowed to rip through the population�.Writing in theBritish Medical Journal Professor Bhopal proposed tackling the virus with a needs-based public health approach that characterises everything else we do in society. This means concentrating resources on those at highest risk.We are told that we cannot let this pandemic rip through the population and I agree. I have not heard this strategy from any epidemiologist public health professional or politician.My views on population immunity whether through vaccination (hopefully) in due course or natural infection are part of a comprehensive strategy for the control of Covid-19 developed with the help of about 20 lay and professional people. I have emphasised that neither waiting for the disease to fizzle out spontaneously nor letting the pandemic unfold without controls are public health strategies.�Pinning the strategy onthe development of a vaccine Professor Bhopal added that young people had little to fear� from the disease but that their lives can be destroyed by lockdown measures which undermine their education social development and career prospects�."";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1069;2020-10-05 12:00:00;170;""Coronavirus in Scotland: Let young people get back to normal says public health expert"";""Sarah Ward"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";"" similar approach has been championed by Mark Woolhouse an adviser to both the Scottish and UK governments who said in August that it was time to reconsider enhanced shielding� of the elderly and vulnerable to allow the rest of population to work and socialise normally. However the plan was dismissed out of hand by Scotlands deputy chief medical officer.Professor Woolhouse an expert infectious disease epidemiology at the Usher Institute in Edinburgh Universitys College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine previously toldThe Timesof hisremorse at failing to warn ministers loudly enough�early on in the pandemic that Covid-19 was predominantly a disease of old age�."";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"655;2020-10-06 12:00:00;164;""Lift coronavirus curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steve Swinford"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Titled the Great Barrington Declaration after the US town where it was written it says that those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal� and that maintaining any lockdown policies would cause irreparable harm.The authors including the Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta wrote: The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"656;2020-10-06 12:00:00;164;""Lift coronavirus curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steve Swinford"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Titled the Great Barrington Declaration after the US town where it was written it says that those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal� and that maintaining any lockdown policies would cause irreparable harm.The authors including the Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta wrote: The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"657;2020-10-06 12:00:00;164;""Lift coronavirus curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steve Swinford"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Titled the Great Barrington Declaration after the US town where it was written it says that those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal� and that maintaining any lockdown policies would cause irreparable harm.The authors including the Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta wrote: The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"658;2020-10-06 12:00:00;164;""Lift coronavirus curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steve Swinford"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""owever Rupert Beale an infectious disease expert at the Francis Crick Institute said: This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy ”protecting the vulnerable ” and suggests we can safely build up ˜herd immunity in the rest of the population. This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.�"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"659;2020-10-06 12:00:00;164;""Lift coronavirus curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steve Swinford"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""owever Rupert Beale an infectious disease expert at the Francis Crick Institute said: This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy ”protecting the vulnerable ” and suggests we can safely build up ˜herd immunity in the rest of the population. This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.�"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"660;2020-10-06 12:00:00;165;""Scientists argue against lockdown and urge ''return to normal'' now to avoid future health crises"";""Laura Donnelly"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""The declaration argues against lockdown policies which it says are 'producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health'.It follows warnings that 75000 people could die from non-Covid-19 causes as a result of lockdown “ almost twice the official death toll caused by coronavirus.On Tuesday scientists said too little attention was being paid to the effect of lockdown on short and long-term public health.They warned that 'irreparable damage' would be caused by policies aiming to suppress the virus until a vaccine becomes available  with excess deaths in years to come as a result of worsening mental health and reduced access to healthcare.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls' the scientists wrote saying the goal should be to 'minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity'.They continued: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'Scientists said the continuation of current policies until a vaccination is found would hit the young and most deprived hardest.Lower childhood vaccination rates worsening heart disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health would mean greater excess deaths in years to come they warned."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"661;2020-10-06 12:00:00;165;""Scientists argue against lockdown and urge ''return to normal'' now to avoid future health crises"";""Laura Donnelly"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""The declaration argues against lockdown policies which it says are 'producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health'.It follows warnings that 75000 people could die from non-Covid-19 causes as a result of lockdown “ almost twice the official death toll caused by coronavirus.On Tuesday scientists said too little attention was being paid to the effect of lockdown on short and long-term public health.They warned that 'irreparable damage' would be caused by policies aiming to suppress the virus until a vaccine becomes available  with excess deaths in years to come as a result of worsening mental health and reduced access to healthcare.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls' the scientists wrote saying the goal should be to 'minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity'.They continued: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'Scientists said the continuation of current policies until a vaccination is found would hit the young and most deprived hardest.Lower childhood vaccination rates worsening heart disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health would mean greater excess deaths in years to come they warned."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"662;2020-10-06 12:00:00;165;""Scientists argue against lockdown and urge ''return to normal'' now to avoid future health crises"";""Laura Donnelly"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""The declaration argues against lockdown policies which it says are 'producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health'.It follows warnings that 75000 people could die from non-Covid-19 causes as a result of lockdown “ almost twice the official death toll caused by coronavirus.On Tuesday scientists said too little attention was being paid to the effect of lockdown on short and long-term public health.They warned that 'irreparable damage' would be caused by policies aiming to suppress the virus until a vaccine becomes available  with excess deaths in years to come as a result of worsening mental health and reduced access to healthcare.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls' the scientists wrote saying the goal should be to 'minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity'.They continued: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'Scientists said the continuation of current policies until a vaccination is found would hit the young and most deprived hardest.Lower childhood vaccination rates worsening heart disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health would mean greater excess deaths in years to come they warned."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"663;2020-10-06 12:00:00;166;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The declaration is named after Barrington in the US where it was drafted. British experts are among the signatories.It says: Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.Fortunately our understanding of the virus is growing.We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.We call this Focused Protection.�RESUME LIFE AS NORMALThe declaration says pensioners should shop online and meet relatives outside. Care home staff should be regularly tested.It continues: Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home.Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume.People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"664;2020-10-06 12:00:00;166;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The declaration is named after Barrington in the US where it was drafted. British experts are among the signatories.It says: Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.Fortunately our understanding of the virus is growing.We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.We call this Focused Protection.�RESUME LIFE AS NORMALThe declaration says pensioners should shop online and meet relatives outside. Care home staff should be regularly tested.It continues: Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home.Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume.People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"665;2020-10-06 12:00:00;166;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The declaration is named after Barrington in the US where it was drafted. British experts are among the signatories.It says: Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.Fortunately our understanding of the virus is growing.We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.We call this Focused Protection.�RESUME LIFE AS NORMALThe declaration says pensioners should shop online and meet relatives outside. Care home staff should be regularly tested.It continues: Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home.Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume.People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"666;2020-10-06 12:00:00;166;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof Jeremy Rossman from University of Kent acknowledged current restrictions are having a significant impact but disagrees with the Declaration. He warned it may not be possible to protect the vulnerable or to develop herd immunity and highlighted the plight of young people with long-Covid.He added: While there is clearly a need to support and ease the physical and mental health burdens many are suffering under the proposed declaration is both unlikely to succeed and puts the long-term health of many at risk.�"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"667;2020-10-06 12:00:00;166;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof Jeremy Rossman from University of Kent acknowledged current restrictions are having a significant impact but disagrees with the Declaration. He warned it may not be possible to protect the vulnerable or to develop herd immunity and highlighted the plight of young people with long-Covid.He added: While there is clearly a need to support and ease the physical and mental health burdens many are suffering under the proposed declaration is both unlikely to succeed and puts the long-term health of many at risk.�"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"668;2020-10-06 12:00:00;167;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It says: Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.Fortunately our understanding of the virus is growing.We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.We call this Focused Protection.�RESUME LIFE AS NORMALThe declaration says pensioners should shop online and meet relatives outside. Care home staff should be regularly tested.It continues: Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home.Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume.People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"669;2020-10-06 12:00:00;167;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It says: Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.Fortunately our understanding of the virus is growing.We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.We call this Focused Protection.�RESUME LIFE AS NORMALThe declaration says pensioners should shop online and meet relatives outside. Care home staff should be regularly tested.It continues: Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home.Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume.People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"670;2020-10-06 12:00:00;167;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It says: Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.Fortunately our understanding of the virus is growing.We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.We call this Focused Protection.�RESUME LIFE AS NORMALThe declaration says pensioners should shop online and meet relatives outside. Care home staff should be regularly tested.It continues: Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home.Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume.People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"671;2020-10-06 12:00:00;167;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof Jeremy Rossman from University of Kent acknowledged current restrictions are having a significant impact but disagrees with the Declaration. He warned it may not be possible to protect the vulnerable or to develop herd immunity and highlighted the plight of young people with long-Covid.He added: While there is clearly a need to support and ease the physical and mental health burdens many are suffering under the proposed declaration is both unlikely to succeed and puts the long-term health of many at risk.�"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"672;2020-10-06 12:00:00;167;""BACK TO NORMAL Coronavirus lockdowns are ‚devastating‚„ to physical and mental health & must END say world‚„s top experts"";""Shaun Wooller"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof Jeremy Rossman from University of Kent acknowledged current restrictions are having a significant impact but disagrees with the Declaration. He warned it may not be possible to protect the vulnerable or to develop herd immunity and highlighted the plight of young people with long-Covid.He added: While there is clearly a need to support and ease the physical and mental health burdens many are suffering under the proposed declaration is both unlikely to succeed and puts the long-term health of many at risk.�"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"673;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"674;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"675;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"681;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The so-called Great Barrington declaration states: 'As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all - including the vulnerable - falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity - i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable - and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"682;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The so-called Great Barrington declaration states: 'As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all - including the vulnerable - falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity - i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable - and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"683;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The so-called Great Barrington declaration states: 'As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all - including the vulnerable - falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity - i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable - and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"676;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Commenting on the declaration Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability. 'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"677;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Commenting on the declaration Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability. 'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"678;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Commenting on the declaration Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability. 'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"679;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Prof James Naismith director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and of the University of Oxford said: 'The main signatories include many accomplished scientistsand I read it with interest. I will not be signing it however.'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme - one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver.' He added that the declaration omits some 'critical scientific information'."";""James Naismith"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"680;2020-10-06 12:00:00;168;""HERD IMMUNITY CALL BACKED BY BRITISH ACADEMICS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Prof James Naismith director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and of the University of Oxford said: 'The main signatories include many accomplished scientistsand I read it with interest. I will not be signing it however.'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme - one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver.' He added that the declaration omits some 'critical scientific information'."";""James Naismith"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"684;2020-10-06 12:00:00;169;""Let young people get back to normal says public health expert"";""Sarah Ward"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Raj Bhopal of the University of Edinburgh's medical school said he endorsed 'population immunity' rather than 'herd immunity' adding that nobody had eversuggested the virus be 'allowed to rip through the population'.Writing in the British Medical Journal Professor Bhopal proposed tackling the virus with a 'needs-based public health approach that characterises everything else we do in society. This means concentrating resources on those at highest risk.'We are told that we cannot let this pandemic rip through the population and I agree. I have not heard this strategy from any epidemiologist public health professional or politician.'My views on population immunity whether through vaccination (hopefully) in due course or natural infection are part of a comprehensive strategy for the control of Covid-19 developed with the help of about 20 lay and professional people. I have emphasised that neither waiting for the disease to fizzle out spontaneously nor letting the pandemic unfold without controls are public health strategies.'"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"685;2020-10-06 12:00:00;169;""Let young people get back to normal says public health expert"";""Sarah Ward"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Raj Bhopal of the University of Edinburgh's medical school said he endorsed 'population immunity' rather than 'herd immunity' adding that nobody had eversuggested the virus be 'allowed to rip through the population'.Writing in the British Medical Journal Professor Bhopal proposed tackling the virus with a 'needs-based public health approach that characterises everything else we do in society. This means concentrating resources on those at highest risk.'We are told that we cannot let this pandemic rip through the population and I agree. I have not heard this strategy from any epidemiologist public health professional or politician.'My views on population immunity whether through vaccination (hopefully) in due course or natural infection are part of a comprehensive strategy for the control of Covid-19 developed with the help of about 20 lay and professional people. I have emphasised that neither waiting for the disease to fizzle out spontaneously nor letting the pandemic unfold without controls are public health strategies.'"";""Raj Bhopal"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"686;2020-10-06 12:00:00;169;""Let young people get back to normal says public health expert"";""Sarah Ward"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""A similar approach has been championed by Mark Woolhouse an adviser to both the Scottish and UK governments who said in August that it was time to reconsider 'enhanced shielding' of the elderly and vulnerable to allow the rest of population to work and socialise normally. However the plan was dismissed out of hand by Scotland's deputy chief medical officer."";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"687;2020-10-06 12:00:00;169;""Let young people get back to normal says public health expert"";""Sarah Ward"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""A similar approach has been championed by Mark Woolhouse an adviser to both the Scottish and UK governments who said in August that it was time to reconsider 'enhanced shielding' of the elderly and vulnerable to allow the rest of population to work and socialise normally. However the plan was dismissed out of hand by Scotland's deputy chief medical officer."";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"547;2020-10-07 12:00:00;135;""GMB''s Dr Hilary Jones warns herd immunity will ''gamble with lives'' as he urges ''caution''"";""Charlotte Tutton"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""On calls for herd immunity he warned it could be 'dangerous' and a 'gamble' on the lives of the public.He said: 'This is really interesting and far more experts and scientists are saying don't rely on herd immunity than those saying let's rely on it.'If you torture data and statistics ruthlessly enough you can make it confess to anything. I suspect what they looked at is 'oh we've just assumed if that had happened this would happen'.'They are assuming also herd immunity we don't know if people become immune and if they do for how long after Covid-19.'They make no reference to long Covid there are government ministers saying right now we will put millions of pounds aside to try to treat the symptoms of long Covid in the tens of thousands of people who down the line might be suffering from the long term effects of Covid.'He went on: 'It's so difficult you can interpret data in different ways and I just think we have to be really cautious.'If we rely on herd immunity it is a massive gamble a massive gamble with people's lives and I think until we can be sure of whether we can control this virus we can't just say open everything up.'Let everybody get the virus and hope for the best because that could be very dangerous.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"548;2020-10-07 12:00:00;135;""GMB''s Dr Hilary Jones warns herd immunity will ''gamble with lives'' as he urges ''caution''"";""Charlotte Tutton"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""On calls for herd immunity he warned it could be 'dangerous' and a 'gamble' on the lives of the public.He said: 'This is really interesting and far more experts and scientists are saying don't rely on herd immunity than those saying let's rely on it.'If you torture data and statistics ruthlessly enough you can make it confess to anything. I suspect what they looked at is 'oh we've just assumed if that had happened this would happen'.'They are assuming also herd immunity we don't know if people become immune and if they do for how long after Covid-19.'They make no reference to long Covid there are government ministers saying right now we will put millions of pounds aside to try to treat the symptoms of long Covid in the tens of thousands of people who down the line might be suffering from the long term effects of Covid.'He went on: 'It's so difficult you can interpret data in different ways and I just think we have to be really cautious.'If we rely on herd immunity it is a massive gamble a massive gamble with people's lives and I think until we can be sure of whether we can control this virus we can't just say open everything up.'Let everybody get the virus and hope for the best because that could be very dangerous.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"527;2020-10-07 12:00:00;140;""COVID BOMBSHELL Closing schools could INCREASE Covid death toll and herd immunity could save more lives than distancing study says"";""Christy Cooney"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""In fact this result applies to a specific and probably unrealistic scenario and should not be interpreted as a prediction.The key feature of the modelling exercise is that having flattened the first wave... interventions are lifted and a large second wave results.In reality measures are being reimposed in response to the second wave so the scenario is unrealistic.Nonetheless this counterintuitive result does shed some light on the current debate about whether to allow herd immunity to build up in age groups that rarely experience severe consequences of infection.�"";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"528;2020-10-07 12:00:00;141;""COVID BOMBSHELL Closing schools could INCREASE Covid death toll and herd immunity could save more lives than distancing study says"";""Christy Cooney"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The key feature of the modelling exercise is that having flattened the first wave... interventions are lifted and a large second wave results.In reality measures are being reimposed in response to the second wave so the scenario is unrealistic.Nonetheless this counterintuitive result does shed some light on the current debate about whether to allow herd immunity to build up in age groups that rarely experience severe consequences of infection.�"";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1041;2020-10-07 12:00:00;142;""6500 scientists and medics sign anti-lockdown petition calling for ''focused protection'' of vulnerable people from COVID so the youngg ca...herd immunity"";""Sam Blanchard Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The letter named the Great Barrington Declaration after the town in Massachusetts where it was written is a rallying cry for top experts and politicians to stop running from the coronavirus and to learn to live with it. More than 2800 scientists have signed the petition as well as almost 3800 medical practitioners.'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal' the scientists say adding: 'Keeping these [lockdown] measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1042;2020-10-07 12:00:00;142;""6500 scientists and medics sign anti-lockdown petition calling for ''focused protection'' of vulnerable people from COVID so the youngg ca...herd immunity"";""Sam Blanchard Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The letter named the Great Barrington Declaration after the town in Massachusetts where it was written is a rallying cry for top experts and politicians to stop running from the coronavirus and to learn to live with it. More than 2800 scientists have signed the petition as well as almost 3800 medical practitioners.'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal' the scientists say adding: 'Keeping these [lockdown] measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1043;2020-10-07 12:00:00;142;""6500 scientists and medics sign anti-lockdown petition calling for ''focused protection'' of vulnerable people from COVID so the youngg ca...herd immunity"";""Sam Blanchard Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The letter named the Great Barrington Declaration after the town in Massachusetts where it was written is a rallying cry for top experts and politicians to stop running from the coronavirus and to learn to live with it. More than 2800 scientists have signed the petition as well as almost 3800 medical practitioners.'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal' the scientists say adding: 'Keeping these [lockdown] measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1044;2020-10-07 12:00:00;142;""6500 scientists and medics sign anti-lockdown petition calling for ''focused protection'' of vulnerable people from COVID so the youngg ca...herd immunity"";""Sam Blanchard Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""University of Kent virologist Professor Jeremy Rossman said: 'This declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection. 'However we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long-Covid that many healthy young adults with 'mild' Covid-19 infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"1045;2020-10-07 12:00:00;142;""6500 scientists and medics sign anti-lockdown petition calling for ''focused protection'' of vulnerable people from COVID so the youngg ca...herd immunity"";""Sam Blanchard Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""University of Kent virologist Professor Jeremy Rossman said: 'This declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection. 'However we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long-Covid that many healthy young adults with 'mild' Covid-19 infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"1046;2020-10-07 12:00:00;142;""6500 scientists and medics sign anti-lockdown petition calling for ''focused protection'' of vulnerable people from COVID so the youngg ca...herd immunity"";""Sam Blanchard Ben Spencer"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""University of Kent virologist Professor Jeremy Rossman said: 'This declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection. 'However we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long-Covid that many healthy young adults with 'mild' Covid-19 infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"562;2020-10-07 12:00:00;143;""Herd immunity could have saved more lives than lockdown study suggests"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Lead author Graeme Ackland Professor of computer simulation at the University of Edinburgh said: In March the Government had to make a decision: did they want to save lives or beds?Lockdown does mean that the number of deaths goes down so there is a short-term gain but it leads to long-term pain. If you had done nothing it would all be over by now. It would have been absolutely horrendous but it would be over. It wouldnt even have been completely lunatic to do nothing.�"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"563;2020-10-07 12:00:00;143;""Herd immunity could have saved more lives than lockdown study suggests"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Lead author Graeme Ackland Professor of computer simulation at the University of Edinburgh said: In March the Government had to make a decision: did they want to save lives or beds?Lockdown does mean that the number of deaths goes down so there is a short-term gain but it leads to long-term pain. If you had done nothing it would all be over by now. It would have been absolutely horrendous but it would be over. It wouldnt even have been completely lunatic to do nothing.�"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"564;2020-10-07 12:00:00;144;""Could children have been our secret weapon against coronavirus?"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""We need to have immunity to protect ourselves in the future� he said."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"565;2020-10-07 12:00:00;144;""Could children have been our secret weapon against coronavirus?"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""If you could engineer it so the people who contributed to herd immunity were all younger people then you wouldnt have anywhere near as many deaths� he said.And this is not a new thing. I am old enough to remember that when I was six my mum took me to a measles party to get the measle. I didnt die whereas if I got it now it would be very serious so this is not a genius new idea our parents knew about this.Its basically the same idea you get it out the way with younger people. That analogy slightly breaks down because its not clear whether its going to be long-term immunity such as when you have the measles.But what theyve done in locking down everybody has been kind of disastrous because you fail to concentrate on what really matters.�"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"566;2020-10-07 12:00:00;144;""Could children have been our secret weapon against coronavirus?"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""If you could engineer it so the people who contributed to herd immunity were all younger people then you wouldnt have anywhere near as many deaths� he said.And this is not a new thing. I am old enough to remember that when I was six my mum took me to a measles party to get the measle. I didnt die whereas if I got it now it would be very serious so this is not a genius new idea our parents knew about this.Its basically the same idea you get it out the way with younger people. That analogy slightly breaks down because its not clear whether its going to be long-term immunity such as when you have the measles.But what theyve done in locking down everybody has been kind of disastrous because you fail to concentrate on what really matters.�"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"567;2020-10-07 12:00:00;144;""Could children have been our secret weapon against coronavirus?"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""If you could engineer it so the people who contributed to herd immunity were all younger people then you wouldnt have anywhere near as many deaths� he said.And this is not a new thing. I am old enough to remember that when I was six my mum took me to a measles party to get the measle. I didnt die whereas if I got it now it would be very serious so this is not a genius new idea our parents knew about this.Its basically the same idea you get it out the way with younger people. That analogy slightly breaks down because its not clear whether its going to be long-term immunity such as when you have the measles.But what theyve done in locking down everybody has been kind of disastrous because you fail to concentrate on what really matters.�"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"568;2020-10-07 12:00:00;144;""Could children have been our secret weapon against coronavirus?"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""If you could engineer it so the people who contributed to herd immunity were all younger people then you wouldnt have anywhere near as many deaths� he said.And this is not a new thing. I am old enough to remember that when I was six my mum took me to a measles party to get the measle. I didnt die whereas if I got it now it would be very serious so this is not a genius new idea our parents knew about this.Its basically the same idea you get it out the way with younger people. That analogy slightly breaks down because its not clear whether its going to be long-term immunity such as when you have the measles.But what theyve done in locking down everybody has been kind of disastrous because you fail to concentrate on what really matters.�"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"569;2020-10-07 12:00:00;145;""Two top scientists argue for and against UK trying to achieve herd immunity"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Mike Hulme Signatory and Academic at the University of CambridgeThere is no doubt that Covid-19 kills people “mostly the elderly those with underlying health conditions and disproportionately men such as myself. There is also no doubt that for others Covid-19 can lead to lasting adverse health conditions of varying duration and severity.But for the vast majority especially those under 60 Covid-19 is not something to fear.Young adults and children are far more likely to die from traffic accidents suicide or cancers.But there is also no doubt the authoritarian Covid-19 policy measures pursued by many governments like in the UK are imposing huge damaging short and long- term impacts on the physical and mental health of the population.These include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health. Socially- disadvantaged and younger people carry the heaviest burden of the current policy regime.The Barrington Declaration calls for a different approach called focused protection.Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses. It recognises that elimination of Covid-19 is not a practical objective. It recognises that vaccines will never be fully effective and many will choose not to receive a vaccine.In any case vaccines will deliver their benefits too late to prevent the enormous harms now being caused to society that the present UK Government policy is perpetuating.In contrast focused protection balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity. It does not seek to eliminate Covid-19 from society. Instead it delivers a targeted way of maximising the overall physical mental and emotional health of the population at large.It allows those at minimal risk of death or serious illness from Covid to live normally and build immunity through natural infection. Simple hygiene measures should be practised by all to reduce the herd immunity threshold.At the same time focused protection is targeted at better protecting those at highest risk like those in care homes and in hospitals.A total national lockdown may have been justified back in March. Continuing such authoritarian measures seven months later when we know so much more about the nature of Covid risk will seriously damage the social fabric and public health of the nation."";""Mike Hulme"";""University of Cambridge"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"570;2020-10-07 12:00:00;145;""Two top scientists argue for and against UK trying to achieve herd immunity"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Mike Hulme Signatory and Academic at the University of CambridgeThere is no doubt that Covid-19 kills people “mostly the elderly those with underlying health conditions and disproportionately men such as myself. There is also no doubt that for others Covid-19 can lead to lasting adverse health conditions of varying duration and severity.But for the vast majority especially those under 60 Covid-19 is not something to fear.Young adults and children are far more likely to die from traffic accidents suicide or cancers.But there is also no doubt the authoritarian Covid-19 policy measures pursued by many governments like in the UK are imposing huge damaging short and long- term impacts on the physical and mental health of the population.These include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health. Socially- disadvantaged and younger people carry the heaviest burden of the current policy regime.The Barrington Declaration calls for a different approach called focused protection.Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses. It recognises that elimination of Covid-19 is not a practical objective. It recognises that vaccines will never be fully effective and many will choose not to receive a vaccine.In any case vaccines will deliver their benefits too late to prevent the enormous harms now being caused to society that the present UK Government policy is perpetuating.In contrast focused protection balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity. It does not seek to eliminate Covid-19 from society. Instead it delivers a targeted way of maximising the overall physical mental and emotional health of the population at large.It allows those at minimal risk of death or serious illness from Covid to live normally and build immunity through natural infection. Simple hygiene measures should be practised by all to reduce the herd immunity threshold.At the same time focused protection is targeted at better protecting those at highest risk like those in care homes and in hospitals.A total national lockdown may have been justified back in March. Continuing such authoritarian measures seven months later when we know so much more about the nature of Covid risk will seriously damage the social fabric and public health of the nation."";""Mike Hulme"";""University of Cambridge"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"571;2020-10-07 12:00:00;145;""Two top scientists argue for and against UK trying to achieve herd immunity"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Mike Hulme Signatory and Academic at the University of CambridgeThere is no doubt that Covid-19 kills people “mostly the elderly those with underlying health conditions and disproportionately men such as myself. There is also no doubt that for others Covid-19 can lead to lasting adverse health conditions of varying duration and severity.But for the vast majority especially those under 60 Covid-19 is not something to fear.Young adults and children are far more likely to die from traffic accidents suicide or cancers.But there is also no doubt the authoritarian Covid-19 policy measures pursued by many governments like in the UK are imposing huge damaging short and long- term impacts on the physical and mental health of the population.These include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health. Socially- disadvantaged and younger people carry the heaviest burden of the current policy regime.The Barrington Declaration calls for a different approach called focused protection.Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses. It recognises that elimination of Covid-19 is not a practical objective. It recognises that vaccines will never be fully effective and many will choose not to receive a vaccine.In any case vaccines will deliver their benefits too late to prevent the enormous harms now being caused to society that the present UK Government policy is perpetuating.In contrast focused protection balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity. It does not seek to eliminate Covid-19 from society. Instead it delivers a targeted way of maximising the overall physical mental and emotional health of the population at large.It allows those at minimal risk of death or serious illness from Covid to live normally and build immunity through natural infection. Simple hygiene measures should be practised by all to reduce the herd immunity threshold.At the same time focused protection is targeted at better protecting those at highest risk like those in care homes and in hospitals.A total national lockdown may have been justified back in March. Continuing such authoritarian measures seven months later when we know so much more about the nature of Covid risk will seriously damage the social fabric and public health of the nation."";""Mike Hulme"";""University of Cambridge"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"572;2020-10-07 12:00:00;145;""Two top scientists argue for and against UK trying to achieve herd immunity"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Michael Head Leading Global Health Expert at the University of Southampton The Barrington Declaration is based on a false premise “ that governments and the scientific community wish extensive lockdowns to continue until a vaccine is available.Lockdowns are only ever used when transmission is high.Now we have some knowledge about how best to handle new outbreaks most national and subnational interventions are much lighter� than the full suppressions we have seen “ for example in the UK across the spring of 2020.Those behind the Barrington Declaration are advocates of herd immunity within a population.They state that those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal� “ the idea being that somehow the vulnerable of society will be protected from ensuing transmission of a dangerous virus.It is a very bad idea.We saw that even with intensive lockdowns in place there was a huge excess death toll “ with the elderly bearing the brunt of that.Some 20%-30% of the UK population would be classed as vulnerable to a severe Covid-19 infection.Around 8% of the UK population has some level of immunity to this novel coronavirus  and that immunity will likely wane over time and be insufficient to prevent a second infection.A strategy for herd immunity would also promote further inequalities across society for example across the black Asian and minority ethnic communities. The declaration also ignores the emerging burdens of long Covid�.We know that many people even younger populations who suffered from an initially mild illness are suffering from longer-term consequences of a Covid-19 infection.The independent SAGE group are among the many scientists who have eloquently pointed out the many reasons why these initiatives are ultimately harmful and are misleading as to the scientific evidence base.There are countries managing the pandemic relatively well including South Korea and New Zealand “ their strategies do not include simply letting the virus run wild while hoping that the asthmatic community and the elderly can hide somewhere for 12 months.They have a proactive approach to test and trace� to reduce the impact of new outbreaks and good public health messaging from the government to their populations."";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"573;2020-10-07 12:00:00;145;""Two top scientists argue for and against UK trying to achieve herd immunity"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Michael Head Leading Global Health Expert at the University of Southampton The Barrington Declaration is based on a false premise “ that governments and the scientific community wish extensive lockdowns to continue until a vaccine is available.Lockdowns are only ever used when transmission is high.Now we have some knowledge about how best to handle new outbreaks most national and subnational interventions are much lighter� than the full suppressions we have seen “ for example in the UK across the spring of 2020.Those behind the Barrington Declaration are advocates of herd immunity within a population.They state that those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal� “ the idea being that somehow the vulnerable of society will be protected from ensuing transmission of a dangerous virus.It is a very bad idea.We saw that even with intensive lockdowns in place there was a huge excess death toll “ with the elderly bearing the brunt of that.Some 20%-30% of the UK population would be classed as vulnerable to a severe Covid-19 infection.Around 8% of the UK population has some level of immunity to this novel coronavirus  and that immunity will likely wane over time and be insufficient to prevent a second infection.A strategy for herd immunity would also promote further inequalities across society for example across the black Asian and minority ethnic communities. The declaration also ignores the emerging burdens of long Covid�.We know that many people even younger populations who suffered from an initially mild illness are suffering from longer-term consequences of a Covid-19 infection.The independent SAGE group are among the many scientists who have eloquently pointed out the many reasons why these initiatives are ultimately harmful and are misleading as to the scientific evidence base.There are countries managing the pandemic relatively well including South Korea and New Zealand “ their strategies do not include simply letting the virus run wild while hoping that the asthmatic community and the elderly can hide somewhere for 12 months.They have a proactive approach to test and trace� to reduce the impact of new outbreaks and good public health messaging from the government to their populations."";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"574;2020-10-07 12:00:00;145;""Two top scientists argue for and against UK trying to achieve herd immunity"";""Martin Bagot"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Michael Head Leading Global Health Expert at the University of Southampton The Barrington Declaration is based on a false premise “ that governments and the scientific community wish extensive lockdowns to continue until a vaccine is available.Lockdowns are only ever used when transmission is high.Now we have some knowledge about how best to handle new outbreaks most national and subnational interventions are much lighter� than the full suppressions we have seen “ for example in the UK across the spring of 2020.Those behind the Barrington Declaration are advocates of herd immunity within a population.They state that those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal� “ the idea being that somehow the vulnerable of society will be protected from ensuing transmission of a dangerous virus.It is a very bad idea.We saw that even with intensive lockdowns in place there was a huge excess death toll “ with the elderly bearing the brunt of that.Some 20%-30% of the UK population would be classed as vulnerable to a severe Covid-19 infection.Around 8% of the UK population has some level of immunity to this novel coronavirus  and that immunity will likely wane over time and be insufficient to prevent a second infection.A strategy for herd immunity would also promote further inequalities across society for example across the black Asian and minority ethnic communities. The declaration also ignores the emerging burdens of long Covid�.We know that many people even younger populations who suffered from an initially mild illness are suffering from longer-term consequences of a Covid-19 infection.The independent SAGE group are among the many scientists who have eloquently pointed out the many reasons why these initiatives are ultimately harmful and are misleading as to the scientific evidence base.There are countries managing the pandemic relatively well including South Korea and New Zealand “ their strategies do not include simply letting the virus run wild while hoping that the asthmatic community and the elderly can hide somewhere for 12 months.They have a proactive approach to test and trace� to reduce the impact of new outbreaks and good public health messaging from the government to their populations."";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"575;2020-10-07 12:00:00;146;""Anti-lockdown petition started by three top scientists reaches 50000 signatures"";""Rachel Russell"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The scientists behind the petition including Oxford University professor Dr Sunetra Gupta say people in the UK and US should build herd immunity instead of going through the 'damaging physical and mental health impacts' of strict social distancing rules.The scientists said: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular [heart] disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health “ leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'The three scientists which also include Harvard University's Dr Martin Kulldorff and Stanford's Dr Jay Bhattacharya added that most of the population should beable to get on with their lives while the most vulnerable are protected.They said: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'The also suggested regular hand-washing and self-isolating when ill should continue as precautions against COVID.They said: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.READ MORE: Laura Kuenssberg exposes HUGE coronavirus changes in storeRelated articles'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed.'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"576;2020-10-07 12:00:00;146;""Anti-lockdown petition started by three top scientists reaches 50000 signatures"";""Rachel Russell"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The scientists behind the petition including Oxford University professor Dr Sunetra Gupta say people in the UK and US should build herd immunity instead of going through the 'damaging physical and mental health impacts' of strict social distancing rules.The scientists said: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular [heart] disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health “ leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'The three scientists which also include Harvard University's Dr Martin Kulldorff and Stanford's Dr Jay Bhattacharya added that most of the population should beable to get on with their lives while the most vulnerable are protected.They said: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'The also suggested regular hand-washing and self-isolating when ill should continue as precautions against COVID.They said: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.READ MORE: Laura Kuenssberg exposes HUGE coronavirus changes in storeRelated articles'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed.'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"577;2020-10-07 12:00:00;146;""Anti-lockdown petition started by three top scientists reaches 50000 signatures"";""Rachel Russell"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The scientists behind the petition including Oxford University professor Dr Sunetra Gupta say people in the UK and US should build herd immunity instead of going through the 'damaging physical and mental health impacts' of strict social distancing rules.The scientists said: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular [heart] disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health “ leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'The three scientists which also include Harvard University's Dr Martin Kulldorff and Stanford's Dr Jay Bhattacharya added that most of the population should beable to get on with their lives while the most vulnerable are protected.They said: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'The also suggested regular hand-washing and self-isolating when ill should continue as precautions against COVID.They said: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.READ MORE: Laura Kuenssberg exposes HUGE coronavirus changes in storeRelated articles'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed.'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"578;2020-10-07 12:00:00;146;""Anti-lockdown petition started by three top scientists reaches 50000 signatures"";""Rachel Russell"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection.'However we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long-Covid that many healthy young adults with 'mild' Covid-19 infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"579;2020-10-07 12:00:00;146;""Anti-lockdown petition started by three top scientists reaches 50000 signatures"";""Rachel Russell"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection.'However we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long-Covid that many healthy young adults with 'mild' Covid-19 infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"580;2020-10-07 12:00:00;147;""Life can go back to normal if we make it our common goal to achieve herd immunity"";""Sunetra Gupta"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""We have a relatively clear picture of who is at risk. Let's isolate them from harm while the majority of people conduct normal livesWhen asked how it all began for me the image that returns is of the 90 year-old street vendor walking back home to her village because lockdown has now forbidden her to sell the few toys on the pavements of Delhi that might occasionally have provided her with a bit of food to eat.The costs of the Covid-19 pandemic were divided right from the start between the deaths caused by the disease itself and the deaths that have occurred-in many regions from their inception-by the restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus.It has always been our duty as international citizens no matter what our political affiliation to weigh these up against each other to arrive at the most humanitarian solution to this problem.Naturally an understanding of the dynamics of the spread of SARS-CoV2 (the virus responsible for Covid-19) is of importance in making these difficult decisions. Mathematical models can be very useful in this regard and these are all built on the premise that recovery from infection leads to immunity (not necessarily lifelong).The build-up of herd immunity� simply describes the ecological process by which immunity accumulates in a community to the detriment of the pathogen it does not contain any implication or acceptance of culling those who are vulnerable to disease. To steer a population towards high levels of herd immunity is a sustainable public health goal upon which we have relied to manage a very large catalogue of infectious diseases.While we remain uncertain about levels of herd immunity that have been attained to SARS-CoV2 we do now have a relatively clear picture of who is vulnerable to severe disease and death upon infection.The Great Barrington Declaration proposes that we exploit this feature of Covid-19 to formulate a strategy of Focused Protection whereby those who are at high risk may be shielded to varying degrees over the period (a maximum of six months) it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives “ thereby protecting the whole community from the devastating effects of lockdown.Is this practicable?To answer this the problem needs at first to be broken down into several parts. A relatively straightforward aspect is the protection of care homes and infection control in hospitals fortunately it is also the largest component of this problem.We then come to at-risk individuals who either live in separate residences or for whom the family home can be structured to isolate them as best possible over the period of danger. This it would seem to me is not much different to the conditions imposed by lockdown “ except unlike the prospect of repeated lockdowns there is always an end in sight.Separating vulnerable members within a family from those who are not vulnerable (such as within multi-generational households) is naturally a more complex problem but it is important to remember that it is only for a finite period.Resources need to be channelled into providing acceptable solutions such as the temporary housing of those at risk in settings where they can safely interact within closed bubbles.Or it may be that the family chooses to home school their children over that period a strong investment in catch-up schooling and personal tutoring opportunities following the period of isolation may go some way towards addressing the education and aspiration gaps that would have yawned wider as a result.Such inequalities will only be further exacerbated by endless cycles of lockdowns and other restrictions aimed at keeping case� numbers low. Once sufficient levels of immunity have built up in the population such that the overall risk remains low (and this may already have happened in many areas) life can go back to normal for everybody.It should be our common goal to achieve such a state “ which will be augmented by the availability of vaccines but cannot rely solely on that route “ without causing irreparable damage to those who are vulnerable to other diseases to the disruption of education and training to job losses and food insecurity.Indeed we should use this opportunity to restructure our social systems to address many of their inadequacies “ gaps in healthcare and education “ that this pandemic has dragged into an even harsher light than before."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"581;2020-10-07 12:00:00;147;""Life can go back to normal if we make it our common goal to achieve herd immunity"";""Sunetra Gupta"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""We have a relatively clear picture of who is at risk. Let's isolate them from harm while the majority of people conduct normal livesWhen asked how it all began for me the image that returns is of the 90 year-old street vendor walking back home to her village because lockdown has now forbidden her to sell the few toys on the pavements of Delhi that might occasionally have provided her with a bit of food to eat.The costs of the Covid-19 pandemic were divided right from the start between the deaths caused by the disease itself and the deaths that have occurred-in many regions from their inception-by the restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus.It has always been our duty as international citizens no matter what our political affiliation to weigh these up against each other to arrive at the most humanitarian solution to this problem.Naturally an understanding of the dynamics of the spread of SARS-CoV2 (the virus responsible for Covid-19) is of importance in making these difficult decisions. Mathematical models can be very useful in this regard and these are all built on the premise that recovery from infection leads to immunity (not necessarily lifelong).The build-up of herd immunity� simply describes the ecological process by which immunity accumulates in a community to the detriment of the pathogen it does not contain any implication or acceptance of culling those who are vulnerable to disease. To steer a population towards high levels of herd immunity is a sustainable public health goal upon which we have relied to manage a very large catalogue of infectious diseases.While we remain uncertain about levels of herd immunity that have been attained to SARS-CoV2 we do now have a relatively clear picture of who is vulnerable to severe disease and death upon infection.The Great Barrington Declaration proposes that we exploit this feature of Covid-19 to formulate a strategy of Focused Protection whereby those who are at high risk may be shielded to varying degrees over the period (a maximum of six months) it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives “ thereby protecting the whole community from the devastating effects of lockdown.Is this practicable?To answer this the problem needs at first to be broken down into several parts. A relatively straightforward aspect is the protection of care homes and infection control in hospitals fortunately it is also the largest component of this problem.We then come to at-risk individuals who either live in separate residences or for whom the family home can be structured to isolate them as best possible over the period of danger. This it would seem to me is not much different to the conditions imposed by lockdown “ except unlike the prospect of repeated lockdowns there is always an end in sight.Separating vulnerable members within a family from those who are not vulnerable (such as within multi-generational households) is naturally a more complex problem but it is important to remember that it is only for a finite period.Resources need to be channelled into providing acceptable solutions such as the temporary housing of those at risk in settings where they can safely interact within closed bubbles.Or it may be that the family chooses to home school their children over that period a strong investment in catch-up schooling and personal tutoring opportunities following the period of isolation may go some way towards addressing the education and aspiration gaps that would have yawned wider as a result.Such inequalities will only be further exacerbated by endless cycles of lockdowns and other restrictions aimed at keeping case� numbers low. Once sufficient levels of immunity have built up in the population such that the overall risk remains low (and this may already have happened in many areas) life can go back to normal for everybody.It should be our common goal to achieve such a state “ which will be augmented by the availability of vaccines but cannot rely solely on that route “ without causing irreparable damage to those who are vulnerable to other diseases to the disruption of education and training to job losses and food insecurity.Indeed we should use this opportunity to restructure our social systems to address many of their inadequacies “ gaps in healthcare and education “ that this pandemic has dragged into an even harsher light than before."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"582;2020-10-07 12:00:00;147;""Life can go back to normal if we make it our common goal to achieve herd immunity"";""Sunetra Gupta"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""We have a relatively clear picture of who is at risk. Let's isolate them from harm while the majority of people conduct normal livesWhen asked how it all began for me the image that returns is of the 90 year-old street vendor walking back home to her village because lockdown has now forbidden her to sell the few toys on the pavements of Delhi that might occasionally have provided her with a bit of food to eat.The costs of the Covid-19 pandemic were divided right from the start between the deaths caused by the disease itself and the deaths that have occurred-in many regions from their inception-by the restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus.It has always been our duty as international citizens no matter what our political affiliation to weigh these up against each other to arrive at the most humanitarian solution to this problem.Naturally an understanding of the dynamics of the spread of SARS-CoV2 (the virus responsible for Covid-19) is of importance in making these difficult decisions. Mathematical models can be very useful in this regard and these are all built on the premise that recovery from infection leads to immunity (not necessarily lifelong).The build-up of herd immunity� simply describes the ecological process by which immunity accumulates in a community to the detriment of the pathogen it does not contain any implication or acceptance of culling those who are vulnerable to disease. To steer a population towards high levels of herd immunity is a sustainable public health goal upon which we have relied to manage a very large catalogue of infectious diseases.While we remain uncertain about levels of herd immunity that have been attained to SARS-CoV2 we do now have a relatively clear picture of who is vulnerable to severe disease and death upon infection.The Great Barrington Declaration proposes that we exploit this feature of Covid-19 to formulate a strategy of Focused Protection whereby those who are at high risk may be shielded to varying degrees over the period (a maximum of six months) it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives “ thereby protecting the whole community from the devastating effects of lockdown.Is this practicable?To answer this the problem needs at first to be broken down into several parts. A relatively straightforward aspect is the protection of care homes and infection control in hospitals fortunately it is also the largest component of this problem.We then come to at-risk individuals who either live in separate residences or for whom the family home can be structured to isolate them as best possible over the period of danger. This it would seem to me is not much different to the conditions imposed by lockdown “ except unlike the prospect of repeated lockdowns there is always an end in sight.Separating vulnerable members within a family from those who are not vulnerable (such as within multi-generational households) is naturally a more complex problem but it is important to remember that it is only for a finite period.Resources need to be channelled into providing acceptable solutions such as the temporary housing of those at risk in settings where they can safely interact within closed bubbles.Or it may be that the family chooses to home school their children over that period a strong investment in catch-up schooling and personal tutoring opportunities following the period of isolation may go some way towards addressing the education and aspiration gaps that would have yawned wider as a result.Such inequalities will only be further exacerbated by endless cycles of lockdowns and other restrictions aimed at keeping case� numbers low. Once sufficient levels of immunity have built up in the population such that the overall risk remains low (and this may already have happened in many areas) life can go back to normal for everybody.It should be our common goal to achieve such a state “ which will be augmented by the availability of vaccines but cannot rely solely on that route “ without causing irreparable damage to those who are vulnerable to other diseases to the disruption of education and training to job losses and food insecurity.Indeed we should use this opportunity to restructure our social systems to address many of their inadequacies “ gaps in healthcare and education “ that this pandemic has dragged into an even harsher light than before."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"583;2020-10-07 12:00:00;148;""Public health expert gives her three reasons why herd immunity cannot work"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Now signed by more than 4000 people it states that epidemiologists and public health scientists have 'grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies'.It reads: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"584;2020-10-07 12:00:00;148;""Public health expert gives her three reasons why herd immunity cannot work"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Now signed by more than 4000 people it states that epidemiologists and public health scientists have 'grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies'.It reads: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"585;2020-10-07 12:00:00;148;""Public health expert gives her three reasons why herd immunity cannot work"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Now signed by more than 4000 people it states that epidemiologists and public health scientists have 'grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies'.It reads: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"586;2020-10-07 12:00:00;148;""Public health expert gives her three reasons why herd immunity cannot work"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'First we're not even sure that we can build herd immunity with this virus because of reinfection and how long immunity may last. It might be that we have repeated waves of this rather than having one shot through the population' she said adding that herd immunity to the measles wasn't achieved until a vaccine offering lifelong protection was developed.She said the second reason is because it's impossible to fully shield the vulnerable from others: 'They live with us. They live among us. No country has been able even throwing all the resources at it to fully shield care homes or other vulnerable members of society because of how they're integrated.'If you fully wanted to shield you'd have to actually shield 25 to 30% of people in society analysis has shown and all their family members and interactions which puts you back basically into a lockdown.'"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"587;2020-10-07 12:00:00;148;""Public health expert gives her three reasons why herd immunity cannot work"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'First we're not even sure that we can build herd immunity with this virus because of reinfection and how long immunity may last. It might be that we have repeated waves of this rather than having one shot through the population' she said adding that herd immunity to the measles wasn't achieved until a vaccine offering lifelong protection was developed.She said the second reason is because it's impossible to fully shield the vulnerable from others: 'They live with us. They live among us. No country has been able even throwing all the resources at it to fully shield care homes or other vulnerable members of society because of how they're integrated.'If you fully wanted to shield you'd have to actually shield 25 to 30% of people in society analysis has shown and all their family members and interactions which puts you back basically into a lockdown.'"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"588;2020-10-07 12:00:00;148;""Public health expert gives her three reasons why herd immunity cannot work"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'First we're not even sure that we can build herd immunity with this virus because of reinfection and how long immunity may last. It might be that we have repeated waves of this rather than having one shot through the population' she said adding that herd immunity to the measles wasn't achieved until a vaccine offering lifelong protection was developed.She said the second reason is because it's impossible to fully shield the vulnerable from others: 'They live with us. They live among us. No country has been able even throwing all the resources at it to fully shield care homes or other vulnerable members of society because of how they're integrated.'If you fully wanted to shield you'd have to actually shield 25 to 30% of people in society analysis has shown and all their family members and interactions which puts you back basically into a lockdown.'"";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"589;2020-10-07 12:00:00;148;""Public health expert gives her three reasons why herd immunity cannot work"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Meanwhile Dr Martin Kulldorff who belongs to a group of top scientists arguing for allowing herd immunity amongst young people defended the strategy.He told GMB: 'Nobody is advocating a herd immunity strategy or to purposely reach herd immunity. Herd immunity is a fact just like gravity. But we will get there sooner or later either through a vaccine or through natural infection or through both.'So the key thing is how do we minimise the number of deaths until we reach herd immunity. If we do nothing all people will be affected and we'll have many mortalities.'If we protect everybody then eventually a lot of old people are going to be affected and will have a lot of mortality.'"";""Martin Kulldorff"";"""";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"590;2020-10-07 12:00:00;148;""Public health expert gives her three reasons why herd immunity cannot work"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Meanwhile Dr Martin Kulldorff who belongs to a group of top scientists arguing for allowing herd immunity amongst young people defended the strategy.He told GMB: 'Nobody is advocating a herd immunity strategy or to purposely reach herd immunity. Herd immunity is a fact just like gravity. But we will get there sooner or later either through a vaccine or through natural infection or through both.'So the key thing is how do we minimise the number of deaths until we reach herd immunity. If we do nothing all people will be affected and we'll have many mortalities.'If we protect everybody then eventually a lot of old people are going to be affected and will have a lot of mortality.'"";""Martin Kulldorff"";"""";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"591;2020-10-07 12:00:00;148;""Public health expert gives her three reasons why herd immunity cannot work"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Meanwhile Dr Martin Kulldorff who belongs to a group of top scientists arguing for allowing herd immunity amongst young people defended the strategy.He told GMB: 'Nobody is advocating a herd immunity strategy or to purposely reach herd immunity. Herd immunity is a fact just like gravity. But we will get there sooner or later either through a vaccine or through natural infection or through both.'So the key thing is how do we minimise the number of deaths until we reach herd immunity. If we do nothing all people will be affected and we'll have many mortalities.'If we protect everybody then eventually a lot of old people are going to be affected and will have a lot of mortality.'"";""Martin Kulldorff"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"592;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""ccording to the declaration a focused protection� approach is the most compassionate way to minimise deaths and social harm until we reach herd immunity “ a situation where enough people are resistant to the virus that the pandemic shrinks."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"593;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""ccording to the declaration a focused protection� approach is the most compassionate way to minimise deaths and social harm until we reach herd immunity “ a situation where enough people are resistant to the virus that the pandemic shrinks."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"594;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Their proposed strategy is outside the scientific mainstream� said James Naismith a professor of structural biology at the University of Oxford."";""James Naismith"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"595;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Michael Head a researcher at Southampton University believes the declaration is based on the false premise that governments and the scientific community want extensive lockdowns until a vaccine arrives.Now that we have some knowledge about how best to handle new outbreaks most national and subnational interventions are much lighter� than the full lockdown the UK imposed in the spring he said. Head is among many scientists who are sceptical that the most vulnerable in society can be adequately identified and protected.It is a very bad idea� he said. We saw that even with intensive lockdowns in place there was a huge excess death toll with the elderly bearing the brunt of that.� In the UK about a quarter of the population would be classed as vulnerable to Covid-19."";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"596;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Michael Head a researcher at Southampton University believes the declaration is based on the false premise that governments and the scientific community want extensive lockdowns until a vaccine arrives.Now that we have some knowledge about how best to handle new outbreaks most national and subnational interventions are much lighter� than the full lockdown the UK imposed in the spring he said. Head is among many scientists who are sceptical that the most vulnerable in society can be adequately identified and protected.It is a very bad idea� he said. We saw that even with intensive lockdowns in place there was a huge excess death toll with the elderly bearing the brunt of that.� In the UK about a quarter of the population would be classed as vulnerable to Covid-19."";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"597;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Michael Head a researcher at Southampton University believes the declaration is based on the false premise that governments and the scientific community want extensive lockdowns until a vaccine arrives.Now that we have some knowledge about how best to handle new outbreaks most national and subnational interventions are much lighter� than the full lockdown the UK imposed in the spring he said. Head is among many scientists who are sceptical that the most vulnerable in society can be adequately identified and protected.It is a very bad idea� he said. We saw that even with intensive lockdowns in place there was a huge excess death toll with the elderly bearing the brunt of that.� In the UK about a quarter of the population would be classed as vulnerable to Covid-19."";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"598;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Jonathan Read a biostatistician at the University of Lancaster and a member of the Sage modelling subgroup shares the concern. Shielding of the vulnerable waspart of the UK policy since the start of lockdown. The deaths of the elderly and others at high risk in care homes and from community infection even after the imposition of lockdown in March suggest that a policy that entirely relies on a segregation of society isnt going to go well� he said."";""Jonathan Read"";""University of Lancaster"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"599;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Jonathan Read a biostatistician at the University of Lancaster and a member of the Sage modelling subgroup shares the concern. Shielding of the vulnerable waspart of the UK policy since the start of lockdown. The deaths of the elderly and others at high risk in care homes and from community infection even after the imposition of lockdown in March suggest that a policy that entirely relies on a segregation of society isnt going to go well� he said."";""Jonathan Read"";""University of Lancaster"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"600;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""We know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time and reinfection is possible so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing herd immunity is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine� said Rupert Beale a group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London. He called the declarationwishful thinking� not least because it is impossible to fully identify who is vulnerable and it is not possible to fully protect them."";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"601;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""We know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time and reinfection is possible so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing herd immunity is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine� said Rupert Beale a group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London. He called the declarationwishful thinking� not least because it is impossible to fully identify who is vulnerable and it is not possible to fully protect them."";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"602;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""William Hanage a professor of epidemiology at Harvard likens the strategy to protecting antiques in a house fire by putting them all in one room standing guard with a fire extinguisher but simultaneously fanning the flames.If the blaze outside the room were adequately controlled then maybe just maybe they would be able to stamp out all the embers� he said. But this approach is to actively encourage the fire. The risk is that too many sparks make it through and all youre left with is ashes.�Another concern many scientists raise is the impact on the young and healthy. While the risk of death is low in people under 40 infection can still expose them to long-term complications that healthcare could be left dealing with for decades Hanage said. Quite large numbers of younger people are already becoming infected at present whether or not they are being encouraged and there are consequences to those infections.�"";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"603;2020-10-07 12:00:00;149;""Why herd immunity strategy is regarded as fringe viewpoint"";""Ian Sample"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""William Hanage a professor of epidemiology at Harvard likens the strategy to protecting antiques in a house fire by putting them all in one room standing guard with a fire extinguisher but simultaneously fanning the flames.If the blaze outside the room were adequately controlled then maybe just maybe they would be able to stamp out all the embers� he said. But this approach is to actively encourage the fire. The risk is that too many sparks make it through and all youre left with is ashes.�Another concern many scientists raise is the impact on the young and healthy. While the risk of death is low in people under 40 infection can still expose them to long-term complications that healthcare could be left dealing with for decades Hanage said. Quite large numbers of younger people are already becoming infected at present whether or not they are being encouraged and there are consequences to those infections.�"";""William Hanage"";""Harvard University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"604;2020-10-07 12:00:00;150;""Pandemic: Leading UK scientists urge govt to adopt herd immunity approach"";""Poppy Wood"";""City AM"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to coronavirus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.�˜Irreparable damageThe scientists caution that current lockdown measures are causing irreparable damage� to the global economy and deepening wealth divides across nations.The global economy is set to shrink by at least 5.2 per cent this year according to forecasts from the World Bank ” an estimate that would mark the deepest recession since the Second World War.The UK the US Germany and Spain were all pushed to their worst recessions on record in the immediate wake of the coronavirus with hopes for a V-shaped recovery on the line as the prospect of more lockdowns looms ahead.The declaration also warned that current restrictions to curb a second wave of infections are having devastating effects on short and long-term public health�.It listed lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health as side effects of current lockdown restrictions warning that these could in turn lead to higher mortality rates in the future."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"605;2020-10-07 12:00:00;150;""Pandemic: Leading UK scientists urge govt to adopt herd immunity approach"";""Poppy Wood"";""City AM"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to coronavirus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.�˜Irreparable damageThe scientists caution that current lockdown measures are causing irreparable damage� to the global economy and deepening wealth divides across nations.The global economy is set to shrink by at least 5.2 per cent this year according to forecasts from the World Bank ” an estimate that would mark the deepest recession since the Second World War.The UK the US Germany and Spain were all pushed to their worst recessions on record in the immediate wake of the coronavirus with hopes for a V-shaped recovery on the line as the prospect of more lockdowns looms ahead.The declaration also warned that current restrictions to curb a second wave of infections are having devastating effects on short and long-term public health�.It listed lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health as side effects of current lockdown restrictions warning that these could in turn lead to higher mortality rates in the future."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"606;2020-10-07 12:00:00;150;""Pandemic: Leading UK scientists urge govt to adopt herd immunity approach"";""Poppy Wood"";""City AM"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to coronavirus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.�˜Irreparable damageThe scientists caution that current lockdown measures are causing irreparable damage� to the global economy and deepening wealth divides across nations.The global economy is set to shrink by at least 5.2 per cent this year according to forecasts from the World Bank ” an estimate that would mark the deepest recession since the Second World War.The UK the US Germany and Spain were all pushed to their worst recessions on record in the immediate wake of the coronavirus with hopes for a V-shaped recovery on the line as the prospect of more lockdowns looms ahead.The declaration also warned that current restrictions to curb a second wave of infections are having devastating effects on short and long-term public health�.It listed lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health as side effects of current lockdown restrictions warning that these could in turn lead to higher mortality rates in the future."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"607;2020-10-07 12:00:00;150;""Pandemic: Leading UK scientists urge govt to adopt herd immunity approach"";""Poppy Wood"";""City AM"";"""";"""";""Gregg Gonsalves an epidemiologist at Yale University argued that herd immunity strategies amount to culling the herd of the sick and disabled� and described the defence of such an approach as grotesque�."";""Gregg Gonsalves"";""Yale University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"608;2020-10-07 12:00:00;150;""Pandemic: Leading UK scientists urge govt to adopt herd immunity approach"";""Poppy Wood"";""City AM"";"""";"""";""Gregg Gonsalves an epidemiologist at Yale University argued that herd immunity strategies amount to culling the herd of the sick and disabled� and described the defence of such an approach as grotesque�."";""Gregg Gonsalves"";""Yale University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"609;2020-10-07 12:00:00;150;""Pandemic: Leading UK scientists urge govt to adopt herd immunity approach"";""Poppy Wood"";""City AM"";"""";"""";""Gregg Gonsalves an epidemiologist at Yale University argued that herd immunity strategies amount to culling the herd of the sick and disabled� and described the defence of such an approach as grotesque�."";""Gregg Gonsalves"";""Yale University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"610;2020-10-07 12:00:00;150;""Pandemic: Leading UK scientists urge govt to adopt herd immunity approach"";""Poppy Wood"";""City AM"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.�Rossman added that we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve� while many recent cases of re-infection occurring suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly�."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"611;2020-10-07 12:00:00;150;""Pandemic: Leading UK scientists urge govt to adopt herd immunity approach"";""Poppy Wood"";""City AM"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.�Rossman added that we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve� while many recent cases of re-infection occurring suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly�."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"612;2020-10-07 12:00:00;150;""Pandemic: Leading UK scientists urge govt to adopt herd immunity approach"";""Poppy Wood"";""City AM"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.�Rossman added that we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve� while many recent cases of re-infection occurring suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly�."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"613;2020-10-07 12:00:00;151;""Doctor Hilary Jones gives warning on calls for ''dangerous'' herd immunity"";""Simon Duke"";""chroniclelive.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary told Lorraine Kelly: 'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'Detailing what is proposed in the Great Barrington declaration put foreard by leading experts from the universities of Oxford Nottingham Edinburgh Exeter Cambridge Sussex and York amongst others he continued: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Dr Hilary explains why the UK could face an 'unhappy Christmas'Moving onto the dire conesquences of such a move the Lorraine and GMB's resident health expert added: 'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.' Dr Hilary's concerns about herd immunity were raised a day after"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""News/Media"""
"614;2020-10-07 12:00:00;151;""Doctor Hilary Jones gives warning on calls for ''dangerous'' herd immunity"";""Simon Duke"";""chroniclelive.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary told Lorraine Kelly: 'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'Detailing what is proposed in the Great Barrington declaration put foreard by leading experts from the universities of Oxford Nottingham Edinburgh Exeter Cambridge Sussex and York amongst others he continued: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Dr Hilary explains why the UK could face an 'unhappy Christmas'Moving onto the dire conesquences of such a move the Lorraine and GMB's resident health expert added: 'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.' Dr Hilary's concerns about herd immunity were raised a day after"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"615;2020-10-07 12:00:00;151;""Doctor Hilary Jones gives warning on calls for ''dangerous'' herd immunity"";""Simon Duke"";""chroniclelive.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary told Lorraine Kelly: 'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'Detailing what is proposed in the Great Barrington declaration put foreard by leading experts from the universities of Oxford Nottingham Edinburgh Exeter Cambridge Sussex and York amongst others he continued: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Dr Hilary explains why the UK could face an 'unhappy Christmas'Moving onto the dire conesquences of such a move the Lorraine and GMB's resident health expert added: 'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.' Dr Hilary's concerns about herd immunity were raised a day after"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"1049;2020-10-07 12:00:00;152;""Coronavirus: Senior Tory urges MPs to join anti-lockdown campaign demanding ‚life as normal‚„"";""Rob Merrick"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Launched in the United States The Great Barrington Declaration calls instead for focus ed protection� for high-risk people while the majority are granted full freedoms until we reach herd immunity �.Music sport and other cultural activities should resume� pubs and restaurants should be open and younger adults should work normally rather than from home�."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1050;2020-10-07 12:00:00;152;""Coronavirus: Senior Tory urges MPs to join anti-lockdown campaign demanding ‚life as normal‚„"";""Rob Merrick"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Launched in the United States The Great Barrington Declaration calls instead for focus ed protection� for high-risk people while the majority are granted full freedoms until we reach herd immunity �.Music sport and other cultural activities should resume� pubs and restaurants should be open and younger adults should work normally rather than from home�."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1051;2020-10-07 12:00:00;152;""Coronavirus: Senior Tory urges MPs to join anti-lockdown campaign demanding ‚life as normal‚„"";""Rob Merrick"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Speaking to The Independent Mr Baker called it a credible plan B� saying: It may be that there wont be a vaccine or if it comes it may not do what is hoped. In either case we need a plan B and this is the only credible plan B supported by a wide range of specialists in their subjects.�Mr Baker who quit Theresas Mays government over Brexit policy said he knew of other MPs and peers who were joining the campaign and predicted their number would grow.I am determined that politicians in both Houses and parties should demonstrate their support for another way� he vowed."";""Steve Baker"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Individual"""
"1052;2020-10-07 12:00:00;152;""Coronavirus: Senior Tory urges MPs to join anti-lockdown campaign demanding ‚life as normal‚„"";""Rob Merrick"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The Declaration claims support from both the left and right� against the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies�.Outlining the alternative of focused protection� it states: Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity thresholdSchools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home.Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resumePeople who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"616;2020-10-07 12:00:00;153;""Dr Hilary''''''''s alarming herd immunity warning as backlash to second national lockdown grows"";""James Rodger"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'He added: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.' He added: 'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.'So bearing in mind that younger women are getting Covid statistically more often now and we have long Covid symptomatology where people are unwell for many many weeks or months afterwards even if they've only had mild to moderate symptoms you have to be very careful about saying 'just let's get on with it let's not bother with social distancing let the millions of young people get on with it'.'He continued: 'What if hospitals are swamped by that policy do we say it was just an experiment We didn't mean it we can't do that now'I think we have to live with the virus certainly but in measured ways so we don't overwhelm the NHS and have too many people who are sick.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""News/Media"""
"617;2020-10-07 12:00:00;153;""Dr Hilary''''''''s alarming herd immunity warning as backlash to second national lockdown grows"";""James Rodger"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'He added: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.' He added: 'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.'So bearing in mind that younger women are getting Covid statistically more often now and we have long Covid symptomatology where people are unwell for many many weeks or months afterwards even if they've only had mild to moderate symptoms you have to be very careful about saying 'just let's get on with it let's not bother with social distancing let the millions of young people get on with it'.'He continued: 'What if hospitals are swamped by that policy do we say it was just an experiment We didn't mean it we can't do that now'I think we have to live with the virus certainly but in measured ways so we don't overwhelm the NHS and have too many people who are sick.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"618;2020-10-07 12:00:00;153;""Dr Hilary''''''''s alarming herd immunity warning as backlash to second national lockdown grows"";""James Rodger"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'He added: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.' He added: 'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.'So bearing in mind that younger women are getting Covid statistically more often now and we have long Covid symptomatology where people are unwell for many many weeks or months afterwards even if they've only had mild to moderate symptoms you have to be very careful about saying 'just let's get on with it let's not bother with social distancing let the millions of young people get on with it'.'He continued: 'What if hospitals are swamped by that policy do we say it was just an experiment We didn't mean it we can't do that now'I think we have to live with the virus certainly but in measured ways so we don't overwhelm the NHS and have too many people who are sick.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""News/Media"""
"619;2020-10-07 12:00:00;153;""Dr Hilary''''''''s alarming herd immunity warning as backlash to second national lockdown grows"";""James Rodger"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'He added: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.' He added: 'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.'So bearing in mind that younger women are getting Covid statistically more often now and we have long Covid symptomatology where people are unwell for many many weeks or months afterwards even if they've only had mild to moderate symptoms you have to be very careful about saying 'just let's get on with it let's not bother with social distancing let the millions of young people get on with it'.'He continued: 'What if hospitals are swamped by that policy do we say it was just an experiment We didn't mean it we can't do that now'I think we have to live with the virus certainly but in measured ways so we don't overwhelm the NHS and have too many people who are sick.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"620;2020-10-07 12:00:00;154;""GMB''s Dr Hilary Jones issues stark warning over calls for new herd immunity strategy"";""Charlotte Tutton"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We're still trying to cope with the virus and we're seeing a rise in hospitalisations and an increase in mortality as a result of that.'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'Explaining what the policy called for he went on: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.' He added: 'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.'So bearing in mind that younger women are getting Covid statistically more often now and we have long Covid symptomatology where people are unwell for many many weeks or months afterwards even if they've only had mild to moderate symptoms you have to be very careful about saying 'just let's get on with it let's not bother with social distancing let the millions of young people get on with it'.'On the 'dangers' Hilary concluded: 'What if hospitals are swamped by that policy do we say it was just an experiment We didn't mean it we can't do that now 'I think we have to live with the virus certainly but in measured ways so we don't overwhelm the NHS and have too many people who are sick.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""News/Media"""
"621;2020-10-07 12:00:00;154;""GMB''s Dr Hilary Jones issues stark warning over calls for new herd immunity strategy"";""Charlotte Tutton"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We're still trying to cope with the virus and we're seeing a rise in hospitalisations and an increase in mortality as a result of that.'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'Explaining what the policy called for he went on: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.' He added: 'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.'So bearing in mind that younger women are getting Covid statistically more often now and we have long Covid symptomatology where people are unwell for many many weeks or months afterwards even if they've only had mild to moderate symptoms you have to be very careful about saying 'just let's get on with it let's not bother with social distancing let the millions of young people get on with it'.'On the 'dangers' Hilary concluded: 'What if hospitals are swamped by that policy do we say it was just an experiment We didn't mean it we can't do that now 'I think we have to live with the virus certainly but in measured ways so we don't overwhelm the NHS and have too many people who are sick.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"622;2020-10-07 12:00:00;154;""GMB''s Dr Hilary Jones issues stark warning over calls for new herd immunity strategy"";""Charlotte Tutton"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We're still trying to cope with the virus and we're seeing a rise in hospitalisations and an increase in mortality as a result of that.'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'Explaining what the policy called for he went on: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.' He added: 'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.'So bearing in mind that younger women are getting Covid statistically more often now and we have long Covid symptomatology where people are unwell for many many weeks or months afterwards even if they've only had mild to moderate symptoms you have to be very careful about saying 'just let's get on with it let's not bother with social distancing let the millions of young people get on with it'.'On the 'dangers' Hilary concluded: 'What if hospitals are swamped by that policy do we say it was just an experiment We didn't mean it we can't do that now 'I think we have to live with the virus certainly but in measured ways so we don't overwhelm the NHS and have too many people who are sick.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"623;2020-10-07 12:00:00;154;""GMB''s Dr Hilary Jones issues stark warning over calls for new herd immunity strategy"";""Charlotte Tutton"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We're still trying to cope with the virus and we're seeing a rise in hospitalisations and an increase in mortality as a result of that.'Some experts are saying we cant treat this effectively yet we havent got a vaccine and it might be some time before we get one.'So what about this policy of herd immunity and protecting the more vulnerable in society the over 60s and those with pre-existing conditions.'Explaining what the policy called for he went on: 'Let's let the young go out there and keep the economy going. Let them socialise go to the pub restaurants the cinema the theatre what have you.'Let them work normally and let's have focused protection for everyone else.'Some people are saying this is age relate apartheid you're condemning a huge section of society over a certain age or with certain conditions to an abnormal existence effectively locking them up so the young and fit can carry on.'Now I think there are a lot of dangers not everyone has signed this of course many people are saying be very careful.' He added: 'I suspect this declaration was drawn up a couple of weeks ago as to get all those signatures takes time.'Two weeks ago we didn't have the kind of figures we're seeing now the rising cases more people in hospital more people are dying and maybe some are thinking 'hmm maybe not such a good idea'.'We don't even know if herd immunity will exist we never got herd immunity to measles before vaccination.'So bearing in mind that younger women are getting Covid statistically more often now and we have long Covid symptomatology where people are unwell for many many weeks or months afterwards even if they've only had mild to moderate symptoms you have to be very careful about saying 'just let's get on with it let's not bother with social distancing let the millions of young people get on with it'.'On the 'dangers' Hilary concluded: 'What if hospitals are swamped by that policy do we say it was just an experiment We didn't mean it we can't do that now 'I think we have to live with the virus certainly but in measured ways so we don't overwhelm the NHS and have too many people who are sick.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""News/Media"""
"1053;2020-10-07 12:00:00;155;""Top scientists beg for herd immunity for all but ''vulnerable and elderly''"";""Jilian MacMath"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health “ leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity “ i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable “ and that this can be assisted by but is not dependent upon a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. 'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. 'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1054;2020-10-07 12:00:00;155;""Top scientists beg for herd immunity for all but ''vulnerable and elderly''"";""Jilian MacMath"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health “ leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity “ i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable “ and that this can be assisted by but is not dependent upon a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. 'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. 'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1055;2020-10-07 12:00:00;155;""Top scientists beg for herd immunity for all but ''vulnerable and elderly''"";""Jilian MacMath"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health “ leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity “ i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable “ and that this can be assisted by but is not dependent upon a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. 'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. 'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1056;2020-10-07 12:00:00;155;""Top scientists beg for herd immunity for all but ''vulnerable and elderly''"";""Jilian MacMath"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof James Naismith director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and of the University of Oxford said: 'The main signatories include many accomplished scientistsand I read it with interest. I will not be signing it however.'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme “ one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver.' He added that the declaration omits some 'critical scientific information'."";""James Naismith"";""Rosalind Franklin Institute"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"1057;2020-10-07 12:00:00;155;""Top scientists beg for herd immunity for all but ''vulnerable and elderly''"";""Jilian MacMath"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof James Naismith director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and of the University of Oxford said: 'The main signatories include many accomplished scientistsand I read it with interest. I will not be signing it however.'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme “ one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver.' He added that the declaration omits some 'critical scientific information'."";""James Naismith"";""Rosalind Franklin Institute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1058;2020-10-07 12:00:00;156;""People less vulnerable to coronavirus should be allowed to live a normal life says group of doctors and academics"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health -leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all -including the vulnerable -falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity -i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable -and that this can be assisted by but is not dependent upon a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'Commenting on the declaration Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability. 'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1059;2020-10-07 12:00:00;156;""People less vulnerable to coronavirus should be allowed to live a normal life says group of doctors and academics"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health -leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all -including the vulnerable -falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity -i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable -and that this can be assisted by but is not dependent upon a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'Commenting on the declaration Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability. 'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1060;2020-10-07 12:00:00;156;""People less vulnerable to coronavirus should be allowed to live a normal life says group of doctors and academics"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health -leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all -including the vulnerable -falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity -i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable -and that this can be assisted by but is not dependent upon a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'Commenting on the declaration Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability. 'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1061;2020-10-07 12:00:00;156;""People less vulnerable to coronavirus should be allowed to live a normal life says group of doctors and academics"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme -one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver.'He added that the declaration omits some 'critical scientific information'."";""James Naismith"";""Rosalind Franklin Institute"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"1062;2020-10-07 12:00:00;156;""People less vulnerable to coronavirus should be allowed to live a normal life says group of doctors and academics"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme -one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver.'He added that the declaration omits some 'critical scientific information'."";""James Naismith"";""Rosalind Franklin Institute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1063;2020-10-07 12:00:00;156;""People less vulnerable to coronavirus should be allowed to live a normal life says group of doctors and academics"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""If youre 75 you can choose to go out as little as possible� he said. Efforts to keep infections low merely dragged matters out� he added."";""David Livermore"";""University of East Anglia"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1064;2020-10-07 12:00:00;156;""People less vulnerable to coronavirus should be allowed to live a normal life says group of doctors and academics"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""If youre 75 you can choose to go out as little as possible� he said. Efforts to keep infections low merely dragged matters out� he added."";""David Livermore"";""University of East Anglia"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1065;2020-10-07 12:00:00;156;""People less vulnerable to coronavirus should be allowed to live a normal life says group of doctors and academics"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""If youre 75 you can choose to go out as little as possible� he said. Efforts to keep infections low merely dragged matters out� he added."";""David Livermore"";""University of East Anglia"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"624;2020-10-07 12:00:00;157;""Good Morning Britain expert explains why herd immunity might never happen"";""Ian Croll"";""macclesfield-express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The professor said: First were not even sure we can build herd immunity with this virus because of re-infection and how long immunity may last.It might be that we have repeated waves of this rather than having one shot through the population. We never developed herd immunity to measles until we had a vaccine even though it offers life long protection.The second is it is impossible to shield the vulnerable fully they live with us they live among us. No country has been able even throwing all the resources at it to fully shield care homes or other parts of vulnerable members of society.The countries that have saved their economies have avoided lockdowns through testing and tracing weve talked about this since March still not happening in the UK.Theyve done some clear messaging to people avoid the virus at any age this is how wash your hands wear a mask inside get outside for your activity avoid indoor crowded spaces distancing basic kind of principles.I feel like were missing a trick if were not looking at countries avoiding lockdowns and avoid a herd immunity approach� Good Morning Britain is on ITV1 every weekday from 6am."";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"625;2020-10-07 12:00:00;157;""Good Morning Britain expert explains why herd immunity might never happen"";""Ian Croll"";""macclesfield-express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The professor said: First were not even sure we can build herd immunity with this virus because of re-infection and how long immunity may last.It might be that we have repeated waves of this rather than having one shot through the population. We never developed herd immunity to measles until we had a vaccine even though it offers life long protection.The second is it is impossible to shield the vulnerable fully they live with us they live among us. No country has been able even throwing all the resources at it to fully shield care homes or other parts of vulnerable members of society.The countries that have saved their economies have avoided lockdowns through testing and tracing weve talked about this since March still not happening in the UK.Theyve done some clear messaging to people avoid the virus at any age this is how wash your hands wear a mask inside get outside for your activity avoid indoor crowded spaces distancing basic kind of principles.I feel like were missing a trick if were not looking at countries avoiding lockdowns and avoid a herd immunity approach� Good Morning Britain is on ITV1 every weekday from 6am."";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"626;2020-10-07 12:00:00;158;""Good Morning Britain expert explains why herd immunity might never happen"";""Ian Croll"";""chesterchronicle.co.uk"";"""";"""";""he professor said: First were not even sure we can build herd immunity with this virus because of re-infection and how long immunity may last.It might be that we have repeated waves of this rather than having one shot through the population. We never developed herd immunity to measles until we had a vaccine even though it offers life long protection.The second is it is impossible to shield the vulnerable fully they live with us they live among us. No country has been able even throwing all the resources at it to fully shield care homes or other parts of vulnerable members of society.The countries that have saved their economies have avoided lockdowns through testing and tracing weve talked about this since March still not happening in the UK.Theyve done some clear messaging to people avoid the virus at any age this is how wash your hands wear a mask inside get outside for your activity avoid indoor crowded spaces distancing basic kind of principles.I feel like were missing a trick if were not looking at countries avoiding lockdowns and avoid a herd immunity approach� Good Morning Britain is on ITV1 every weekday from 6am."";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"627;2020-10-07 12:00:00;158;""Good Morning Britain expert explains why herd immunity might never happen"";""Ian Croll"";""chesterchronicle.co.uk"";"""";"""";""he professor said: First were not even sure we can build herd immunity with this virus because of re-infection and how long immunity may last.It might be that we have repeated waves of this rather than having one shot through the population. We never developed herd immunity to measles until we had a vaccine even though it offers life long protection.The second is it is impossible to shield the vulnerable fully they live with us they live among us. No country has been able even throwing all the resources at it to fully shield care homes or other parts of vulnerable members of society.The countries that have saved their economies have avoided lockdowns through testing and tracing weve talked about this since March still not happening in the UK.Theyve done some clear messaging to people avoid the virus at any age this is how wash your hands wear a mask inside get outside for your activity avoid indoor crowded spaces distancing basic kind of principles.I feel like were missing a trick if were not looking at countries avoiding lockdowns and avoid a herd immunity approach� Good Morning Britain is on ITV1 every weekday from 6am."";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"628;2020-10-07 12:00:00;159;""DOC''S ORDERS Dr Hilary Jones insists Covid herd immunity ‚won‚„t work‚„ after anti-lockdown petition is signed by 5200 experts"";""Mary Gallagher"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary explained why it wouldnt work and said we cant guarantee herd immunity�.He said: For every one of those experts there is another scientist who thinks differently.We know that lockdown works to reduce the virus but at the expense of mental health and the economy. On the other hand we cant guarantee herd immunity with this apartheid of separating people by protecting the vulnerable.What really worries a number of people is we cant really say there are no long term effects of Covid “ we know there are long term effects. Damaged lungs heart kidney problems and doctors are worried about Parkinsons disease as the result of viral infections.What they dont take into account is if you dont control the virus enough all those services that help other people people with cancer you are stopping them getting treatment.�"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"629;2020-10-07 12:00:00;159;""DOC''S ORDERS Dr Hilary Jones insists Covid herd immunity ‚won‚„t work‚„ after anti-lockdown petition is signed by 5200 experts"";""Mary Gallagher"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary explained why it wouldnt work and said we cant guarantee herd immunity�.He said: For every one of those experts there is another scientist who thinks differently.We know that lockdown works to reduce the virus but at the expense of mental health and the economy. On the other hand we cant guarantee herd immunity with this apartheid of separating people by protecting the vulnerable.What really worries a number of people is we cant really say there are no long term effects of Covid “ we know there are long term effects. Damaged lungs heart kidney problems and doctors are worried about Parkinsons disease as the result of viral infections.What they dont take into account is if you dont control the virus enough all those services that help other people people with cancer you are stopping them getting treatment.�"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"630;2020-10-07 12:00:00;159;""DOC''S ORDERS Dr Hilary Jones insists Covid herd immunity ‚won‚„t work‚„ after anti-lockdown petition is signed by 5200 experts"";""Mary Gallagher"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary explained why it wouldnt work and said we cant guarantee herd immunity�.He said: For every one of those experts there is another scientist who thinks differently.We know that lockdown works to reduce the virus but at the expense of mental health and the economy. On the other hand we cant guarantee herd immunity with this apartheid of separating people by protecting the vulnerable.What really worries a number of people is we cant really say there are no long term effects of Covid “ we know there are long term effects. Damaged lungs heart kidney problems and doctors are worried about Parkinsons disease as the result of viral infections.What they dont take into account is if you dont control the virus enough all those services that help other people people with cancer you are stopping them getting treatment.�"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""News/Media"""
"631;2020-10-07 12:00:00;160;""DOC''S ORDERS Dr Hilary Jones insists herd immunity ‚won‚„t work‚„ after anti-lockdown petition"";""Mary Gallagher"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary explained why it wouldnt work and said we cant guarantee herd immunity.�.He said: For every one of those experts there is another scientist who thinks differently.We know that lockdown works to reduce the virus but at the expense of mental health and the economy. On the other hand we cant guarantee herd immunity with this apartheid of separating people by protecting the vulnerable.Dr Hilary warns refusing to wear a mask is ˜selfish “ amid fears of second coronavirus waveWhat really worries a number of people is we cant really say there are no long term effects of Covid “ we know there are long term effects. Damaged lungs heart kidney problems and doctors are worried about Parkinsons disease as the result of viral infections.What they dont take into account is if you dont control the virus enough all those services that help other people people with cancer you are stopping them getting treatment.�"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""News/Media"""
"632;2020-10-07 12:00:00;160;""DOC''S ORDERS Dr Hilary Jones insists herd immunity ‚won‚„t work‚„ after anti-lockdown petition"";""Mary Gallagher"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary explained why it wouldnt work and said we cant guarantee herd immunity.�.He said: For every one of those experts there is another scientist who thinks differently.We know that lockdown works to reduce the virus but at the expense of mental health and the economy. On the other hand we cant guarantee herd immunity with this apartheid of separating people by protecting the vulnerable.Dr Hilary warns refusing to wear a mask is ˜selfish “ amid fears of second coronavirus waveWhat really worries a number of people is we cant really say there are no long term effects of Covid “ we know there are long term effects. Damaged lungs heart kidney problems and doctors are worried about Parkinsons disease as the result of viral infections.What they dont take into account is if you dont control the virus enough all those services that help other people people with cancer you are stopping them getting treatment.�"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"633;2020-10-07 12:00:00;160;""DOC''S ORDERS Dr Hilary Jones insists herd immunity ‚won‚„t work‚„ after anti-lockdown petition"";""Mary Gallagher"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary explained why it wouldnt work and said we cant guarantee herd immunity.�.He said: For every one of those experts there is another scientist who thinks differently.We know that lockdown works to reduce the virus but at the expense of mental health and the economy. On the other hand we cant guarantee herd immunity with this apartheid of separating people by protecting the vulnerable.Dr Hilary warns refusing to wear a mask is ˜selfish “ amid fears of second coronavirus waveWhat really worries a number of people is we cant really say there are no long term effects of Covid “ we know there are long term effects. Damaged lungs heart kidney problems and doctors are worried about Parkinsons disease as the result of viral infections.What they dont take into account is if you dont control the virus enough all those services that help other people people with cancer you are stopping them getting treatment.�"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"634;2020-10-07 12:00:00;161;""Thousands of academics call for herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"635;2020-10-07 12:00:00;161;""Thousands of academics call for herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"636;2020-10-07 12:00:00;161;""Thousands of academics call for herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"637;2020-10-07 12:00:00;161;""Thousands of academics call for herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman pointed out that research suggests that protective antibody responses may 'decay rapidly' and that there have been cases of re- infection of the virus.Meanwhile Sweden which adopted a herd immunity approach was 'not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population' he added."";""Jeremy Rossman"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"638;2020-10-07 12:00:00;161;""Thousands of academics call for herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman pointed out that research suggests that protective antibody responses may 'decay rapidly' and that there have been cases of re- infection of the virus.Meanwhile Sweden which adopted a herd immunity approach was 'not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population' he added."";""Jeremy Rossman"";"""";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"639;2020-10-07 12:00:00;161;""Thousands of academics call for herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.                                                          'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"640;2020-10-07 12:00:00;161;""Thousands of academics call for herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.                                                          'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"641;2020-10-07 12:00:00;161;""Thousands of academics call for herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.                                                          'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"642;2020-10-07 12:00:00;162;""Lift curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steven Swinford"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Titled the Great Barrington Declaration after the US town where it was written it says that those who are not vulnerable 'should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal' and that maintaining any lockdown policies would cause irreparable harm.The authors including the Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta wrote: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"643;2020-10-07 12:00:00;162;""Lift curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steven Swinford"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Titled the Great Barrington Declaration after the US town where it was written it says that those who are not vulnerable 'should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal' and that maintaining any lockdown policies would cause irreparable harm.The authors including the Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta wrote: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"644;2020-10-07 12:00:00;162;""Lift curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steven Swinford"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Titled the Great Barrington Declaration after the US town where it was written it says that those who are not vulnerable 'should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal' and that maintaining any lockdown policies would cause irreparable harm.The authors including the Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta wrote: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"645;2020-10-07 12:00:00;162;""Lift curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steven Swinford"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""However Rupert Beale an infectious disease expert at the Francis Crick Institute said: 'This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy protecting the vulnerable and suggests we can safely build up 'herd immunity' in the rest of the population. This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.'"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"646;2020-10-07 12:00:00;162;""Lift curbs and go for herd immunity urges coalition of scientists"";""Steven Swinford"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""However Rupert Beale an infectious disease expert at the Francis Crick Institute said: 'This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy protecting the vulnerable and suggests we can safely build up 'herd immunity' in the rest of the population. This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.'"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"647;2020-10-07 12:00:00;163;""Experts call for herd immunity approach"";""Ella Pickover"";""I "";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens (inset) who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"648;2020-10-07 12:00:00;163;""Experts call for herd immunity approach"";""Ella Pickover"";""I "";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens (inset) who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"649;2020-10-07 12:00:00;163;""Experts call for herd immunity approach"";""Ella Pickover"";""I "";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens (inset) who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"650;2020-10-07 12:00:00;163;""Experts call for herd immunity approach"";""Ella Pickover"";""I "";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman pointed out that research suggests protective antibody responses may 'decay rapidly' and that there have been cases of re-infection of the virus.Meanwhile Sweden which adopted a herd immunity approach was 'not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population' he said."";""Jeremy Rossman"";"""";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"651;2020-10-07 12:00:00;163;""Experts call for herd immunity approach"";""Ella Pickover"";""I "";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman pointed out that research suggests protective antibody responses may 'decay rapidly' and that there have been cases of re-infection of the virus.Meanwhile Sweden which adopted a herd immunity approach was 'not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population' he said."";""Jeremy Rossman"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"652;2020-10-07 12:00:00;163;""Experts call for herd immunity approach"";""Ella Pickover"";""I "";"""";"""";""The experts state in their Great Barrington declaration: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.                                                          'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"653;2020-10-07 12:00:00;163;""Experts call for herd immunity approach"";""Ella Pickover"";""I "";"""";"""";""The experts state in their Great Barrington declaration: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.                                                          'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"654;2020-10-07 12:00:00;163;""Experts call for herd immunity approach"";""Ella Pickover"";""I "";"""";"""";""The experts state in their Great Barrington declaration: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.                                                          'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1024;2020-10-08 12:00:00;127;""One day this pandemic will be over. The damage done to the public finances in the meantime will not"";""Jeremy Warner"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""A 'let-rip' approach to the pandemic might actually cost less not just for the economy but in terms of lives tooThere are two types of let rip� in the context of Covid. Most commonly the term describes “ generally in a derogatory fashion “ the idea thatthe virus should be allowed to run its course  largely free of state interference in the hope of developing herd immunity.Yet it can equally well be applied to the converse by repeatedly locking down we merely transfer the destructive powers of the virus from the biological to theeconomic. Denied the opportunity to let rip in the population Covid instead lets rip in the public finances.Those of us who favour the first of these approaches are often accused of a heartless disregard for life. On Twitter Ive been repeatedly called the guy who wants to kill my granddad�.Such wilful misrepresentation is par for the course in the culture wars of todays social media nobody I know of advocates no mitigating strategies at all. To do so would be absurd. The old and vulnerable should obviously be protected the infectious should be quarantined and the seriously ill treated. But thats a far cry from closing down the economy.A new study led by Graeme Ackland  professor of computer simulation at the University of Edinburgh finds that suppression strategies might in the long run actually cost more deaths than the let rip� approach this for the statistically unarguable reason that a smaller number of recurring deaths over a long period of time can quickly add up to a rather larger grand total than a one-off concentration of them time-limited by developing herd immunity.By contrast the stop-go of repeated lockdowns merely prolongs the agony while cutting a deep swathe through the economy and the public finances. The cost of this strategy to general well being public health and the Governments long run ability to fund public services threatens to be much greater.Politically difficult though it might be there is something to be said for ripping the sticking plaster off in one go.By the way it is in this regard almost beyond belief that the same old justification for lockdown as last time is now being regularly trotted out by ministers and officials “ that without it the disease threatens to overwhelm the National Health Service . Can it really be true that the NHS is not ready for an anticipated second wave which in all probability will be less severe than the first? Seemingly yes.The fashion in economics these days is to argue that spiralling debt no longer matters that underwritten by the central bank printing press governments can borrow as much as they like without consequence at least until the pandemic is over.Kristalina Georgieva managing director of the International Monetary Fund urges us not to repeat the mistakes of the financial crisis when governments withdrew emergency support too soon causing the recovery to stall. Maybe shes right but is there not a more straightforward way of saving the economy? That would be to remove the restrictions and learn to live with Covid as best we can the approach humanity has adopted with all previous pathogens.Debt is debt and eventually it has to be paid for. The alternative of default either directly or through inflation carries its own even more vicious forms of punishment.The Chancellor Rishi Sunak is already sufficiently worried to sound the alarm. We have so much debt� he told the Conservative Party virtual conference this week it doesnt take a lot for suddenly ˜yikes “ we have to come up with x billion a year to pay for higher interest�. It was his sacred responsibility� he said to balance the books�.Sunaks remarks shouldnt perhaps be taken as evidence of imminent and violent fiscal retrenchment. With the economy so weak that would indeed be a mistake. Rather they were the sort of thing chancellors feel obliged to say so as to reassure markets of eventual fiscal responsibility in the spirit of the St Augustine prayer please make me chaste but not yet.For the moment there is admittedly very little sign of fiscal crisis in the making. The Government can borrow at a negative rate of interest right out to six year maturities. In the vernacular markets seem to be begging� governments to borrow from them.Don't believe it. But for the fact that the Bank of England in practice just an arm of the government is buying up the debt almost as fast as it can be issued I imagine they wouldnt be quite so keen.Other forms of financial repression� are also at work. Almost criminally pension funds and insurers are under regulatory obligation to match future liabilities with a high degree of supposedly risk free� government debt exposing savers to serious loss in any future inflation. Financial markets are being manipulated into bankrolling government spending on a hitherto unimaginable scale. For this there will eventually be a reckoning.One day the pandemic will be over. The damage we have done to our economy and the public finances in the meantime will not"";""Jeremy Warner"";""The Telegraph"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""News/Media"""
"1025;2020-10-08 12:00:00;127;""One day this pandemic will be over. The damage done to the public finances in the meantime will not"";""Jeremy Warner"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""A 'let-rip' approach to the pandemic might actually cost less not just for the economy but in terms of lives tooThere are two types of let rip� in the context of Covid. Most commonly the term describes “ generally in a derogatory fashion “ the idea thatthe virus should be allowed to run its course  largely free of state interference in the hope of developing herd immunity.Yet it can equally well be applied to the converse by repeatedly locking down we merely transfer the destructive powers of the virus from the biological to theeconomic. Denied the opportunity to let rip in the population Covid instead lets rip in the public finances.Those of us who favour the first of these approaches are often accused of a heartless disregard for life. On Twitter Ive been repeatedly called the guy who wants to kill my granddad�.Such wilful misrepresentation is par for the course in the culture wars of todays social media nobody I know of advocates no mitigating strategies at all. To do so would be absurd. The old and vulnerable should obviously be protected the infectious should be quarantined and the seriously ill treated. But thats a far cry from closing down the economy.A new study led by Graeme Ackland  professor of computer simulation at the University of Edinburgh finds that suppression strategies might in the long run actually cost more deaths than the let rip� approach this for the statistically unarguable reason that a smaller number of recurring deaths over a long period of time can quickly add up to a rather larger grand total than a one-off concentration of them time-limited by developing herd immunity.By contrast the stop-go of repeated lockdowns merely prolongs the agony while cutting a deep swathe through the economy and the public finances. The cost of this strategy to general well being public health and the Governments long run ability to fund public services threatens to be much greater.Politically difficult though it might be there is something to be said for ripping the sticking plaster off in one go.By the way it is in this regard almost beyond belief that the same old justification for lockdown as last time is now being regularly trotted out by ministers and officials “ that without it the disease threatens to overwhelm the National Health Service . Can it really be true that the NHS is not ready for an anticipated second wave which in all probability will be less severe than the first? Seemingly yes.The fashion in economics these days is to argue that spiralling debt no longer matters that underwritten by the central bank printing press governments can borrow as much as they like without consequence at least until the pandemic is over.Kristalina Georgieva managing director of the International Monetary Fund urges us not to repeat the mistakes of the financial crisis when governments withdrew emergency support too soon causing the recovery to stall. Maybe shes right but is there not a more straightforward way of saving the economy? That would be to remove the restrictions and learn to live with Covid as best we can the approach humanity has adopted with all previous pathogens.Debt is debt and eventually it has to be paid for. The alternative of default either directly or through inflation carries its own even more vicious forms of punishment.The Chancellor Rishi Sunak is already sufficiently worried to sound the alarm. We have so much debt� he told the Conservative Party virtual conference this week it doesnt take a lot for suddenly ˜yikes “ we have to come up with x billion a year to pay for higher interest�. It was his sacred responsibility� he said to balance the books�.Sunaks remarks shouldnt perhaps be taken as evidence of imminent and violent fiscal retrenchment. With the economy so weak that would indeed be a mistake. Rather they were the sort of thing chancellors feel obliged to say so as to reassure markets of eventual fiscal responsibility in the spirit of the St Augustine prayer please make me chaste but not yet.For the moment there is admittedly very little sign of fiscal crisis in the making. The Government can borrow at a negative rate of interest right out to six year maturities. In the vernacular markets seem to be begging� governments to borrow from them.Don't believe it. But for the fact that the Bank of England in practice just an arm of the government is buying up the debt almost as fast as it can be issued I imagine they wouldnt be quite so keen.Other forms of financial repression� are also at work. Almost criminally pension funds and insurers are under regulatory obligation to match future liabilities with a high degree of supposedly risk free� government debt exposing savers to serious loss in any future inflation. Financial markets are being manipulated into bankrolling government spending on a hitherto unimaginable scale. For this there will eventually be a reckoning.One day the pandemic will be over. The damage we have done to our economy and the public finances in the meantime will not"";""Jeremy Warner"";""The Telegraph"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""News/Media"""
"1026;2020-10-08 12:00:00;127;""One day this pandemic will be over. The damage done to the public finances in the meantime will not"";""Jeremy Warner"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""A 'let-rip' approach to the pandemic might actually cost less not just for the economy but in terms of lives tooThere are two types of let rip� in the context of Covid. Most commonly the term describes “ generally in a derogatory fashion “ the idea thatthe virus should be allowed to run its course  largely free of state interference in the hope of developing herd immunity.Yet it can equally well be applied to the converse by repeatedly locking down we merely transfer the destructive powers of the virus from the biological to theeconomic. Denied the opportunity to let rip in the population Covid instead lets rip in the public finances.Those of us who favour the first of these approaches are often accused of a heartless disregard for life. On Twitter Ive been repeatedly called the guy who wants to kill my granddad�.Such wilful misrepresentation is par for the course in the culture wars of todays social media nobody I know of advocates no mitigating strategies at all. To do so would be absurd. The old and vulnerable should obviously be protected the infectious should be quarantined and the seriously ill treated. But thats a far cry from closing down the economy.A new study led by Graeme Ackland  professor of computer simulation at the University of Edinburgh finds that suppression strategies might in the long run actually cost more deaths than the let rip� approach this for the statistically unarguable reason that a smaller number of recurring deaths over a long period of time can quickly add up to a rather larger grand total than a one-off concentration of them time-limited by developing herd immunity.By contrast the stop-go of repeated lockdowns merely prolongs the agony while cutting a deep swathe through the economy and the public finances. The cost of this strategy to general well being public health and the Governments long run ability to fund public services threatens to be much greater.Politically difficult though it might be there is something to be said for ripping the sticking plaster off in one go.By the way it is in this regard almost beyond belief that the same old justification for lockdown as last time is now being regularly trotted out by ministers and officials “ that without it the disease threatens to overwhelm the National Health Service . Can it really be true that the NHS is not ready for an anticipated second wave which in all probability will be less severe than the first? Seemingly yes.The fashion in economics these days is to argue that spiralling debt no longer matters that underwritten by the central bank printing press governments can borrow as much as they like without consequence at least until the pandemic is over.Kristalina Georgieva managing director of the International Monetary Fund urges us not to repeat the mistakes of the financial crisis when governments withdrew emergency support too soon causing the recovery to stall. Maybe shes right but is there not a more straightforward way of saving the economy? That would be to remove the restrictions and learn to live with Covid as best we can the approach humanity has adopted with all previous pathogens.Debt is debt and eventually it has to be paid for. The alternative of default either directly or through inflation carries its own even more vicious forms of punishment.The Chancellor Rishi Sunak is already sufficiently worried to sound the alarm. We have so much debt� he told the Conservative Party virtual conference this week it doesnt take a lot for suddenly ˜yikes “ we have to come up with x billion a year to pay for higher interest�. It was his sacred responsibility� he said to balance the books�.Sunaks remarks shouldnt perhaps be taken as evidence of imminent and violent fiscal retrenchment. With the economy so weak that would indeed be a mistake. Rather they were the sort of thing chancellors feel obliged to say so as to reassure markets of eventual fiscal responsibility in the spirit of the St Augustine prayer please make me chaste but not yet.For the moment there is admittedly very little sign of fiscal crisis in the making. The Government can borrow at a negative rate of interest right out to six year maturities. In the vernacular markets seem to be begging� governments to borrow from them.Don't believe it. But for the fact that the Bank of England in practice just an arm of the government is buying up the debt almost as fast as it can be issued I imagine they wouldnt be quite so keen.Other forms of financial repression� are also at work. Almost criminally pension funds and insurers are under regulatory obligation to match future liabilities with a high degree of supposedly risk free� government debt exposing savers to serious loss in any future inflation. Financial markets are being manipulated into bankrolling government spending on a hitherto unimaginable scale. For this there will eventually be a reckoning.One day the pandemic will be over. The damage we have done to our economy and the public finances in the meantime will not"";""Jeremy Warner"";""The Telegraph"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"1030;2020-10-08 12:00:00;129;""Coronavirus lockdowns ''may kill MORE than herd immunity strategy does'': Strict restrictions and school closures could increase deaths as Covid bounces back major study finds"";""Eleanor Hayward Daniel Martin Jason Groves"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""˜Unless a vaccine magically appears and is rolled out across the entire population in the next six months then shutting down society is unlikely to reduce overall deaths.The computer simulation expert added: ˜Lockdowns essentially just postpone these deaths and prevent immunity building up... in some cases resulting in more deaths long term.˜The way out of any epidemic is herd immunity which is when enough people in the population are infected that the virus cant spread.˜We need to focus on protecting older people who are going to be affected by coronavirus not people who arent.The study also found that shutting schools ˜leads to more overall deaths from Covid-19 than allowing them to remain open."";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1031;2020-10-08 12:00:00;129;""Coronavirus lockdowns ''may kill MORE than herd immunity strategy does'': Strict restrictions and school closures could increase deaths as Covid bounces back major study finds"";""Eleanor Hayward Daniel Martin Jason Groves"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""˜Unless a vaccine magically appears and is rolled out across the entire population in the next six months then shutting down society is unlikely to reduce overall deaths.The computer simulation expert added: ˜Lockdowns essentially just postpone these deaths and prevent immunity building up... in some cases resulting in more deaths long term.˜The way out of any epidemic is herd immunity which is when enough people in the population are infected that the virus cant spread.˜We need to focus on protecting older people who are going to be affected by coronavirus not people who arent.The study also found that shutting schools ˜leads to more overall deaths from Covid-19 than allowing them to remain open."";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1032;2020-10-08 12:00:00;129;""Coronavirus lockdowns ''may kill MORE than herd immunity strategy does'': Strict restrictions and school closures could increase deaths as Covid bounces back major study finds"";""Eleanor Hayward Daniel Martin Jason Groves"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""˜Unless a vaccine magically appears and is rolled out across the entire population in the next six months then shutting down society is unlikely to reduce overall deaths.The computer simulation expert added: ˜Lockdowns essentially just postpone these deaths and prevent immunity building up... in some cases resulting in more deaths long term.˜The way out of any epidemic is herd immunity which is when enough people in the population are infected that the virus cant spread.˜We need to focus on protecting older people who are going to be affected by coronavirus not people who arent.The study also found that shutting schools ˜leads to more overall deaths from Covid-19 than allowing them to remain open."";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1036;2020-10-08 12:00:00;129;""Coronavirus lockdowns ''may kill MORE than herd immunity strategy does'': Strict restrictions and school closures could increase deaths as Covid bounces back major study finds"";""Eleanor Hayward Daniel Martin Jason Groves"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Paul McKeigue professor of genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics at Edinburgh said the conclusion of the paper was consistent with the general theme of ˜focused protection advocated in the Great Barrington Declaration reported in the Daily Mail yesterday.He added: ˜Unless a vaccine became available the only deaths that would be prevented by lockdowns would be the extra deaths resulting from the predicted overload of the health service."";""Paul McKeigue"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1037;2020-10-08 12:00:00;129;""Coronavirus lockdowns ''may kill MORE than herd immunity strategy does'': Strict restrictions and school closures could increase deaths as Covid bounces back major study finds"";""Eleanor Hayward Daniel Martin Jason Groves"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Paul McKeigue professor of genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics at Edinburgh said the conclusion of the paper was consistent with the general theme of ˜focused protection advocated in the Great Barrington Declaration reported in the Daily Mail yesterday.He added: ˜Unless a vaccine became available the only deaths that would be prevented by lockdowns would be the extra deaths resulting from the predicted overload of the health service."";""Paul McKeigue"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1033;2020-10-08 12:00:00;129;""Coronavirus lockdowns ''may kill MORE than herd immunity strategy does'': Strict restrictions and school closures could increase deaths as Covid bounces back major study finds"";""Eleanor Hayward Daniel Martin Jason Groves"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""˜We have considered the full range of scientific opinion throughout the course of this pandemic and we will continue to do so. ˜But it is not possible to rely on an unproven assumption that it is possible for people who are at lower risk should they contract the virus to avoid subsequently transmitting it to those who are at a higher risk and who would therefore face a greater chance of ending up in hospital or worse in an intensive care unit.The spokesman acknowledged that lockdown measures were having health impacts but added: ˜Its also worth stressing that another crucial consideration has been the need to protect the NHS so it can continue to provide critical care and treatment for illnesses such as cancer."";"""";""Downing 10"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"1034;2020-10-08 12:00:00;129;""Coronavirus lockdowns ''may kill MORE than herd immunity strategy does'': Strict restrictions and school closures could increase deaths as Covid bounces back major study finds"";""Eleanor Hayward Daniel Martin Jason Groves"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""˜We have considered the full range of scientific opinion throughout the course of this pandemic and we will continue to do so. ˜But it is not possible to rely on an unproven assumption that it is possible for people who are at lower risk should they contract the virus to avoid subsequently transmitting it to those who are at a higher risk and who would therefore face a greater chance of ending up in hospital or worse in an intensive care unit.The spokesman acknowledged that lockdown measures were having health impacts but added: ˜Its also worth stressing that another crucial consideration has been the need to protect the NHS so it can continue to provide critical care and treatment for illnesses such as cancer."";"""";""Downing 10"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"1035;2020-10-08 12:00:00;129;""Coronavirus lockdowns ''may kill MORE than herd immunity strategy does'': Strict restrictions and school closures could increase deaths as Covid bounces back major study finds"";""Eleanor Hayward Daniel Martin Jason Groves"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""˜We have considered the full range of scientific opinion throughout the course of this pandemic and we will continue to do so. ˜But it is not possible to rely on an unproven assumption that it is possible for people who are at lower risk should they contract the virus to avoid subsequently transmitting it to those who are at a higher risk and who would therefore face a greater chance of ending up in hospital or worse in an intensive care unit.The spokesman acknowledged that lockdown measures were having health impacts but added: ˜Its also worth stressing that another crucial consideration has been the need to protect the NHS so it can continue to provide critical care and treatment for illnesses such as cancer."";"""";""Downing 10"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"1038;2020-10-08 12:00:00;130;""Herd immunity and shielding: should we let Covid spread through the young?"";""Rhys Blakely"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We do not know yet how long immunity will last so achieving herd immunity may not be simple� James Naismith director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute said."";""James Naismith"";""Rosalind Franklin Institute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"524;2020-10-08 12:00:00;131;""HERD IMMUNITY More than 13000 scientists and medics sign petition demanding ‚devastating‚„ lockdown measures are axed"";""Sascha O''Sullivan"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The idea of herd immunity� was floated at the beginning of the pandemic but quickly shot down after the approach was heavily criticised.The declaration written by Dr Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University Dr Sunertra Gupta of Oxford University and Dr Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University saidherd immunity is the most compassionate approach�.They said: As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity “ i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable “ and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"525;2020-10-08 12:00:00;131;""HERD IMMUNITY More than 13000 scientists and medics sign petition demanding ‚devastating‚„ lockdown measures are axed"";""Sascha O''Sullivan"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The idea of herd immunity� was floated at the beginning of the pandemic but quickly shot down after the approach was heavily criticised.The declaration written by Dr Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University Dr Sunertra Gupta of Oxford University and Dr Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University saidherd immunity is the most compassionate approach�.They said: As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity “ i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable “ and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"526;2020-10-08 12:00:00;131;""HERD IMMUNITY More than 13000 scientists and medics sign petition demanding ‚devastating‚„ lockdown measures are axed"";""Sascha O''Sullivan"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The idea of herd immunity� was floated at the beginning of the pandemic but quickly shot down after the approach was heavily criticised.The declaration written by Dr Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University Dr Sunertra Gupta of Oxford University and Dr Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University saidherd immunity is the most compassionate approach�.They said: As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity “ i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable “ and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.�"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"529;2020-10-08 12:00:00;131;""HERD IMMUNITY More than 13000 scientists and medics sign petition demanding ‚devastating‚„ lockdown measures are axed"";""Sascha O''Sullivan"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Oxford University medical professor Dr Trisha Greenhalgh told Sky News today: I dont think its desirable I dont think its achievable and I dont think its evidence- based.I think the Barrington Declaration seems to be a manifesto for selfishness and I quote directly from it those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.I think this is a libertarian agenda packaged as science because it completely ignores the role of the so-called not vulnerable in passing the virus onto the rest of us.�But some experts have also questioned whether herd immunity could exist as people could be re-infected with the virus."";""Trisha Greenhalgh"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"530;2020-10-08 12:00:00;131;""HERD IMMUNITY More than 13000 scientists and medics sign petition demanding ‚devastating‚„ lockdown measures are axed"";""Sascha O''Sullivan"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Oxford University medical professor Dr Trisha Greenhalgh told Sky News today: I dont think its desirable I dont think its achievable and I dont think its evidence- based.I think the Barrington Declaration seems to be a manifesto for selfishness and I quote directly from it those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.I think this is a libertarian agenda packaged as science because it completely ignores the role of the so-called not vulnerable in passing the virus onto the rest of us.�But some experts have also questioned whether herd immunity could exist as people could be re-infected with the virus."";""Trisha Greenhalgh"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"531;2020-10-08 12:00:00;132;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""On today's GMB Dr Hilary said herd immunity could be 'very dangerous' and a 'gamble with people's lives.'He said: 'This is really interesting and far more experts and scientists are saying don't rely on herd immunity than those saying let's rely on it.'If you torture data and statistics ruthlessly enough you can make it confess to anything.'I suspect what they looked at is 'oh we've just assumed if that had happened this would happen'.'They are assuming also herd immunity we don't know if people become immune and if they do for how long after Covid-19.'They make no reference to long Covid there are government ministers saying right now we will put millions of pounds aside to try to treat the symptoms of long Covid in the tens of thousands of people who down the line might be suffering from the long term effects of Covid.'SEE ALSO:ITV doctor explains why fewer people are dying from COVID Coronavirus symptoms to look out for in childrenHe added: 'It's so difficult you can interpret data in different ways and I just think we have to be really cautious.'If we rely on herd immunity it is a massive gamble a massive gamble with people's lives.'I think until we can be sure of whether we can control this virus we can't just say 'open everything up let everybody get the virus and hope for the best' because that could be very dangerous.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"532;2020-10-08 12:00:00;132;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""On today's GMB Dr Hilary said herd immunity could be 'very dangerous' and a 'gamble with people's lives.'He said: 'This is really interesting and far more experts and scientists are saying don't rely on herd immunity than those saying let's rely on it.'If you torture data and statistics ruthlessly enough you can make it confess to anything.'I suspect what they looked at is 'oh we've just assumed if that had happened this would happen'.'They are assuming also herd immunity we don't know if people become immune and if they do for how long after Covid-19.'They make no reference to long Covid there are government ministers saying right now we will put millions of pounds aside to try to treat the symptoms of long Covid in the tens of thousands of people who down the line might be suffering from the long term effects of Covid.'SEE ALSO:ITV doctor explains why fewer people are dying from COVID Coronavirus symptoms to look out for in childrenHe added: 'It's so difficult you can interpret data in different ways and I just think we have to be really cautious.'If we rely on herd immunity it is a massive gamble a massive gamble with people's lives.'I think until we can be sure of whether we can control this virus we can't just say 'open everything up let everybody get the virus and hope for the best' because that could be very dangerous.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"533;2020-10-08 12:00:00;132;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity tocoronavirusthrough natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this focused protection.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"534;2020-10-08 12:00:00;132;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity tocoronavirusthrough natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this focused protection.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"535;2020-10-08 12:00:00;132;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity tocoronavirusthrough natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this focused protection.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"536;2020-10-08 12:00:00;132;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""He said: 'This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy - protecting the vulnerable - and suggests we can safely build up 'herd immunity' in the rest of the population. 'This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.'Furthermore we know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time and re-infection is possible - so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing 'herd immunity' is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine.'"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"537;2020-10-08 12:00:00;132;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""He said: 'This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy - protecting the vulnerable - and suggests we can safely build up 'herd immunity' in the rest of the population. 'This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.'Furthermore we know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time and re-infection is possible - so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing 'herd immunity' is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine.'"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"538;2020-10-08 12:00:00;133;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Richmond and Twickenham Times"";"""";"""";""He said: 'This is really interesting and far more experts and scientists are saying don't rely on herd immunity than those saying let's rely on it.'If you torture data and statistics ruthlessly enough you can make it confess to anything.'I suspect what they looked at is 'oh we've just assumed if that had happened this would happen'.'They are assuming also herd immunity we don't know if people become immune and if they do for how long after Covid-19.'They make no reference to long Covid there are government ministers saying right now we will put millions of pounds aside to try to treat the symptoms of long Covid in the tens of thousands of people who down the line might be suffering from the long term effects of Covid.'SEE ALSO:ITV doctor explains why fewer people are dying from COVID Coronavirus symptoms to look out for in childrenHe added: 'It's so difficult you can interpret data in different ways and I just think we have to be really cautious.'If we rely on herd immunity it is a massive gamble a massive gamble with people's lives.'I think until we can be sure of whether we can control this virus we can't just say 'open everything up let everybody get the virus and hope for the best' because that could be very dangerous.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"539;2020-10-08 12:00:00;133;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Richmond and Twickenham Times"";"""";"""";""He said: 'This is really interesting and far more experts and scientists are saying don't rely on herd immunity than those saying let's rely on it.'If you torture data and statistics ruthlessly enough you can make it confess to anything.'I suspect what they looked at is 'oh we've just assumed if that had happened this would happen'.'They are assuming also herd immunity we don't know if people become immune and if they do for how long after Covid-19.'They make no reference to long Covid there are government ministers saying right now we will put millions of pounds aside to try to treat the symptoms of long Covid in the tens of thousands of people who down the line might be suffering from the long term effects of Covid.'SEE ALSO:ITV doctor explains why fewer people are dying from COVID Coronavirus symptoms to look out for in childrenHe added: 'It's so difficult you can interpret data in different ways and I just think we have to be really cautious.'If we rely on herd immunity it is a massive gamble a massive gamble with people's lives.'I think until we can be sure of whether we can control this virus we can't just say 'open everything up let everybody get the virus and hope for the best' because that could be very dangerous.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"540;2020-10-08 12:00:00;133;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Richmond and Twickenham Times"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity tocoronavirusthrough natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this focused protection.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"541;2020-10-08 12:00:00;133;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Richmond and Twickenham Times"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity tocoronavirusthrough natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this focused protection.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"542;2020-10-08 12:00:00;133;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Richmond and Twickenham Times"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity tocoronavirusthrough natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this focused protection.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"543;2020-10-08 12:00:00;133;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Richmond and Twickenham Times"";"""";"""";""Dr Rupert Beale group leader of the cell biology of infection laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute says herd immunity is 'very unlikely' before aCOVID-19vaccineis found.He said: 'This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy - protecting the vulnerable - and suggests we can safely build up 'herd immunity' in the rest of the population. 'This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.'Furthermore we know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time and re-infection is possible - so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing 'herd immunity' is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine.'"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"544;2020-10-08 12:00:00;133;""Top doctor warns herd immunity will ''gamble with people''s lives''"";""Charlotte Ikonen"";""Richmond and Twickenham Times"";"""";"""";""Dr Rupert Beale group leader of the cell biology of infection laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute says herd immunity is 'very unlikely' before aCOVID-19vaccineis found.He said: 'This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy - protecting the vulnerable - and suggests we can safely build up 'herd immunity' in the rest of the population. 'This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.'Furthermore we know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time and re-infection is possible - so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing 'herd immunity' is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine.'"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"545;2020-10-08 12:00:00;134;""Dr Hilary warns herd immunity will ''''gamble with people''''s lives'''' in stark message"";""Megan Nisbet"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""On today's GMB Dr Hilary said herd immunity could be 'very dangerous' and a 'gamble with people's lives.'He said: 'This is really interesting and far more experts and scientists are saying don't rely on herd immunity than those saying let's rely on it.'If you torture data and statistics ruthlessly enough you can make it confess to anything.'I suspect what they looked at is 'oh we've just assumed if that had happened this would happen'.'They are assuming also herd immunity we don't know if people become immune and if they do for how long after Covid-19.'They make no reference to long Covid there are government ministers saying right now we will put millions of pounds aside to try to treat the symptoms of long Covid in the tens of thousands of people who down the line might be suffering from the long term effects of Covid.'Do you think herd immunity is a policy the governments in the UK should pursue Have your say in the comments.He added: 'It's so difficult you can interpret data in different ways and I just think we have to be really cautious.'If we rely on herd immunity it is a massive gamble a massive gamble with people's lives.'I think until we can be sure of whether we can control this virus we can't just say 'open everything up let everybody get the virus and hope for the best' because that could be very dangerous.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"546;2020-10-08 12:00:00;134;""Dr Hilary warns herd immunity will ''''gamble with people''''s lives'''' in stark message"";""Megan Nisbet"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""On today's GMB Dr Hilary said herd immunity could be 'very dangerous' and a 'gamble with people's lives.'He said: 'This is really interesting and far more experts and scientists are saying don't rely on herd immunity than those saying let's rely on it.'If you torture data and statistics ruthlessly enough you can make it confess to anything.'I suspect what they looked at is 'oh we've just assumed if that had happened this would happen'.'They are assuming also herd immunity we don't know if people become immune and if they do for how long after Covid-19.'They make no reference to long Covid there are government ministers saying right now we will put millions of pounds aside to try to treat the symptoms of long Covid in the tens of thousands of people who down the line might be suffering from the long term effects of Covid.'Do you think herd immunity is a policy the governments in the UK should pursue Have your say in the comments.He added: 'It's so difficult you can interpret data in different ways and I just think we have to be really cautious.'If we rely on herd immunity it is a massive gamble a massive gamble with people's lives.'I think until we can be sure of whether we can control this virus we can't just say 'open everything up let everybody get the virus and hope for the best' because that could be very dangerous.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"549;2020-10-08 12:00:00;136;""Call for herd immunity ''would not work'' claims health expert"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""But speaking to Good Morning Britain yesterday Prof Sridhar said there are three significant reasons why the herd immunity approach would not be successful.'First we're not even sure that we can build herd immunity with this virus because of reinfection and how long immunity may last. It might be that we have repeated waves of this rather than having one shot through the population' she said adding that herd immunity to the measles wasn't achieved until a vaccine offering life- long protection was developed.She said the second reason is because it's impossible to fully shield the vulnerable.'They live with us. They live among us. No country has been able even throwing all the resources at it to fully shield care homes or other vulnerable members of society because of how they're integrated.'She added: 'If you fully wanted to shield 80% of deaths you'd have to actually shield 25 to 30% of people in society analysis has shown and all their family members and interactions which puts you back basically into a lockdown.'She also claimed herd immunity is not the right approach because of long-term health issues which can come with the virus.While coronavirus is less likely to cause death in younger people it can cause 'serious complications' and long-term problems she said."";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"550;2020-10-08 12:00:00;136;""Call for herd immunity ''would not work'' claims health expert"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""But speaking to Good Morning Britain yesterday Prof Sridhar said there are three significant reasons why the herd immunity approach would not be successful.'First we're not even sure that we can build herd immunity with this virus because of reinfection and how long immunity may last. It might be that we have repeated waves of this rather than having one shot through the population' she said adding that herd immunity to the measles wasn't achieved until a vaccine offering life- long protection was developed.She said the second reason is because it's impossible to fully shield the vulnerable.'They live with us. They live among us. No country has been able even throwing all the resources at it to fully shield care homes or other vulnerable members of society because of how they're integrated.'She added: 'If you fully wanted to shield 80% of deaths you'd have to actually shield 25 to 30% of people in society analysis has shown and all their family members and interactions which puts you back basically into a lockdown.'She also claimed herd immunity is not the right approach because of long-term health issues which can come with the virus.While coronavirus is less likely to cause death in younger people it can cause 'serious complications' and long-term problems she said."";""Devi Sridhar"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"551;2020-10-08 12:00:00;137;""Herd immunity ''''''''could have saved more lives than social distancing''''''''"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'In March the Government had to make a decision: did they want to save lives or beds?'Lockdown does mean that the number of deaths you save goes down so there is a short-term gain but it leads to long-term pain ... If you had done nothing it would all be over by now. It would have been absolutely horrendous but it would be over. It wouldn't even have been completely lunatic to do nothing.'"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"552;2020-10-08 12:00:00;137;""Herd immunity ''''''''could have saved more lives than social distancing''''''''"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'In March the Government had to make a decision: did they want to save lives or beds?'Lockdown does mean that the number of deaths you save goes down so there is a short-term gain but it leads to long-term pain ... If you had done nothing it would all be over by now. It would have been absolutely horrendous but it would be over. It wouldn't even have been completely lunatic to do nothing.'"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"553;2020-10-08 12:00:00;138;""Herd immunity is a sustainable goal but we must protect the vulnerable"";""Sunetra  Gupta"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""When asked how it all began for me it was the 90-year-old street vendor returning to her village because lockdown forbade her to sell the few toys on the pavements of Delhi that might have provided her with some food to eat. The costs of the pandemic were divided from the start between deaths caused by the disease and deaths from restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus. It has always been our duty as international citizens to weigh these up and arrive at the most humanitarian solution.Naturally an understanding of the dynamics of the spread is important in making these difficult decisions.Mathematical models can be useful and these are built on the premise that recovery leads to immunity (though not necessarily lifelong). The build-up of 'herd immunity' simply describes the ecological process it does not contain any implication or acceptance of culling those vulnerable to disease.To steer a population toward herd immunity is a sustainable public health goal upon which we have relied for a catalogue of infectious diseases. While we remain uncertain about levels of herd immunity that have been attained to SARS-CoV2 we do have a relatively clear picture of who is vulnerable upon infection. The Great Barrington Declaration proposes we exploit this feature of Covid-19 to formulate a strategy of 'focused protection' whereby those who are at high risk may be shielded over the period (maximum six months) it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives - thereby protecting the whole community from the devastating effects of lockdown.Is this practicable? A relatively straightforward aspect is to protect care homes and control infection in hospitals - fortunately the largest component of this problem. We then come to at-risk individuals who either live alone or for whom the family home can be structured to isolate them over the period of danger. This it seems to me is not much different to conditions imposed by lockdown - except unlike the prospect of repeated lockdowns there is always an end in sight.Separating vulnerable members within a family from those who are not vulnerable is naturally a more complex problem but it is important to remember it is only for a finite period.Resources need to be channelled into providing acceptable solutions such as the temporary housing of those at risk in settings where they can safely interact within closed bubbles. Or it may be that the family chooses to home school their children over that period a strong investment in catch-up schooling and personal tutoring opportunities following the period of isolation may go some way towards addressing the education and aspiration gaps that would have yawned wider as a result. Such inequalities will only be further exacerbated by endless cycles of lockdowns and other restrictions aimed at keeping 'case' numbers low.Once sufficient levels of immunity have built up in the population such that the overall risk remains low (and this may already have happened in many areas) life can go back to normal for everybody. It should be our common goal to achieve such a state - which will be augmented by the availability of vaccines but cannot rely solely on that route - without causing irreparable damage to those who are vulnerable to other diseases to the disruption of education and training to job losses and food insecurity.We should use this opportunity to restructure our social systems to address many of their inadequacies that this pandemic has dragged into an even harsher light than before."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"554;2020-10-08 12:00:00;138;""Herd immunity is a sustainable goal but we must protect the vulnerable"";""Sunetra  Gupta"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""When asked how it all began for me it was the 90-year-old street vendor returning to her village because lockdown forbade her to sell the few toys on the pavements of Delhi that might have provided her with some food to eat. The costs of the pandemic were divided from the start between deaths caused by the disease and deaths from restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus. It has always been our duty as international citizens to weigh these up and arrive at the most humanitarian solution.Naturally an understanding of the dynamics of the spread is important in making these difficult decisions.Mathematical models can be useful and these are built on the premise that recovery leads to immunity (though not necessarily lifelong). The build-up of 'herd immunity' simply describes the ecological process it does not contain any implication or acceptance of culling those vulnerable to disease.To steer a population toward herd immunity is a sustainable public health goal upon which we have relied for a catalogue of infectious diseases. While we remain uncertain about levels of herd immunity that have been attained to SARS-CoV2 we do have a relatively clear picture of who is vulnerable upon infection. The Great Barrington Declaration proposes we exploit this feature of Covid-19 to formulate a strategy of 'focused protection' whereby those who are at high risk may be shielded over the period (maximum six months) it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives - thereby protecting the whole community from the devastating effects of lockdown.Is this practicable? A relatively straightforward aspect is to protect care homes and control infection in hospitals - fortunately the largest component of this problem. We then come to at-risk individuals who either live alone or for whom the family home can be structured to isolate them over the period of danger. This it seems to me is not much different to conditions imposed by lockdown - except unlike the prospect of repeated lockdowns there is always an end in sight.Separating vulnerable members within a family from those who are not vulnerable is naturally a more complex problem but it is important to remember it is only for a finite period.Resources need to be channelled into providing acceptable solutions such as the temporary housing of those at risk in settings where they can safely interact within closed bubbles. Or it may be that the family chooses to home school their children over that period a strong investment in catch-up schooling and personal tutoring opportunities following the period of isolation may go some way towards addressing the education and aspiration gaps that would have yawned wider as a result. Such inequalities will only be further exacerbated by endless cycles of lockdowns and other restrictions aimed at keeping 'case' numbers low.Once sufficient levels of immunity have built up in the population such that the overall risk remains low (and this may already have happened in many areas) life can go back to normal for everybody. It should be our common goal to achieve such a state - which will be augmented by the availability of vaccines but cannot rely solely on that route - without causing irreparable damage to those who are vulnerable to other diseases to the disruption of education and training to job losses and food insecurity.We should use this opportunity to restructure our social systems to address many of their inadequacies that this pandemic has dragged into an even harsher light than before."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"555;2020-10-08 12:00:00;138;""Herd immunity is a sustainable goal but we must protect the vulnerable"";""Sunetra  Gupta"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""When asked how it all began for me it was the 90-year-old street vendor returning to her village because lockdown forbade her to sell the few toys on the pavements of Delhi that might have provided her with some food to eat. The costs of the pandemic were divided from the start between deaths caused by the disease and deaths from restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus. It has always been our duty as international citizens to weigh these up and arrive at the most humanitarian solution.Naturally an understanding of the dynamics of the spread is important in making these difficult decisions.Mathematical models can be useful and these are built on the premise that recovery leads to immunity (though not necessarily lifelong). The build-up of 'herd immunity' simply describes the ecological process it does not contain any implication or acceptance of culling those vulnerable to disease.To steer a population toward herd immunity is a sustainable public health goal upon which we have relied for a catalogue of infectious diseases. While we remain uncertain about levels of herd immunity that have been attained to SARS-CoV2 we do have a relatively clear picture of who is vulnerable upon infection. The Great Barrington Declaration proposes we exploit this feature of Covid-19 to formulate a strategy of 'focused protection' whereby those who are at high risk may be shielded over the period (maximum six months) it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives - thereby protecting the whole community from the devastating effects of lockdown.Is this practicable? A relatively straightforward aspect is to protect care homes and control infection in hospitals - fortunately the largest component of this problem. We then come to at-risk individuals who either live alone or for whom the family home can be structured to isolate them over the period of danger. This it seems to me is not much different to conditions imposed by lockdown - except unlike the prospect of repeated lockdowns there is always an end in sight.Separating vulnerable members within a family from those who are not vulnerable is naturally a more complex problem but it is important to remember it is only for a finite period.Resources need to be channelled into providing acceptable solutions such as the temporary housing of those at risk in settings where they can safely interact within closed bubbles. Or it may be that the family chooses to home school their children over that period a strong investment in catch-up schooling and personal tutoring opportunities following the period of isolation may go some way towards addressing the education and aspiration gaps that would have yawned wider as a result. Such inequalities will only be further exacerbated by endless cycles of lockdowns and other restrictions aimed at keeping 'case' numbers low.Once sufficient levels of immunity have built up in the population such that the overall risk remains low (and this may already have happened in many areas) life can go back to normal for everybody. It should be our common goal to achieve such a state - which will be augmented by the availability of vaccines but cannot rely solely on that route - without causing irreparable damage to those who are vulnerable to other diseases to the disruption of education and training to job losses and food insecurity.We should use this opportunity to restructure our social systems to address many of their inadequacies that this pandemic has dragged into an even harsher light than before."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"556;2020-10-08 12:00:00;139;""Building herd immunity is the vital next stage"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""'We need to have immunity to protect ourselves in the future' he said."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"557;2020-10-08 12:00:00;139;""Building herd immunity is the vital next stage"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Prof Graeme Ackland of the University of Edinburgh who reanalysed the Imperial model found that preventing immunity building in young healthy people could beimmensely damaging in the longer term. 'If you could engineer it so the people who contributed to herd immunity were all younger people then you wouldn't have anywhere near as many deaths' he said.'And this is not a new thing. I am old enough to remember that when I was six my mum took me to a measles party to get the measles. I didn't die whereas if I got it now it would be very serious. So this is not a genius new idea our parents knew about this.'It's basically the same idea you get it out the way with younger people. That analogy slightly breaks down because it's not clear whether it's going to be long-term immunity like when you have the measles.'But what they've done in locking down everybody has been kind of disastrous because you fail to concentrate on what really matters.'"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"558;2020-10-08 12:00:00;139;""Building herd immunity is the vital next stage"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Prof Graeme Ackland of the University of Edinburgh who reanalysed the Imperial model found that preventing immunity building in young healthy people could beimmensely damaging in the longer term. 'If you could engineer it so the people who contributed to herd immunity were all younger people then you wouldn't have anywhere near as many deaths' he said.'And this is not a new thing. I am old enough to remember that when I was six my mum took me to a measles party to get the measles. I didn't die whereas if I got it now it would be very serious. So this is not a genius new idea our parents knew about this.'It's basically the same idea you get it out the way with younger people. That analogy slightly breaks down because it's not clear whether it's going to be long-term immunity like when you have the measles.'But what they've done in locking down everybody has been kind of disastrous because you fail to concentrate on what really matters.'"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"559;2020-10-08 12:00:00;139;""Building herd immunity is the vital next stage"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Prof Graeme Ackland of the University of Edinburgh who reanalysed the Imperial model found that preventing immunity building in young healthy people could beimmensely damaging in the longer term. 'If you could engineer it so the people who contributed to herd immunity were all younger people then you wouldn't have anywhere near as many deaths' he said.'And this is not a new thing. I am old enough to remember that when I was six my mum took me to a measles party to get the measles. I didn't die whereas if I got it now it would be very serious. So this is not a genius new idea our parents knew about this.'It's basically the same idea you get it out the way with younger people. That analogy slightly breaks down because it's not clear whether it's going to be long-term immunity like when you have the measles.'But what they've done in locking down everybody has been kind of disastrous because you fail to concentrate on what really matters.'"";""Graeme Ackland"";""Edinburgh University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"560;2020-10-08 12:00:00;139;""Building herd immunity is the vital next stage"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""reat Barrington Declaration suggesting 'focused protection' should be given to vulnerable groups while younger groups are freed from restrictions."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"561;2020-10-08 12:00:00;139;""Building herd immunity is the vital next stage"";""Sarah Knapton"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""reat Barrington Declaration suggesting 'focused protection' should be given to vulnerable groups while younger groups are freed from restrictions."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"480;2020-10-09 12:00:00;121;""What is the secret behind herd immunity? JOHN NAISH investigates claims that people spreading Covid is the most effective way to cut death toll"";""John Naish"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""This week thousands of scientists from around the world signed a letter known as the Great Barrington Declaration urging governments to follow this strategy “ while 'shielding' the vulnerable “ to protect the majority from the devastating impact of lockdown."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"481;2020-10-09 12:00:00;121;""What is the secret behind herd immunity? JOHN NAISH investigates claims that people spreading Covid is the most effective way to cut death toll"";""John Naish"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""This week thousands of scientists from around the world signed a letter known as the Great Barrington Declaration urging governments to follow this strategy “ while 'shielding' the vulnerable “ to protect the majority from the devastating impact of lockdown."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"488;2020-10-09 12:00:00;123;""Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts - including ‚Dr Johnny Bananas''''''''"";""Ann Yip"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""Dr Michael Head senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton said the Great Barrington declaration is a very bad idea� and doubted thevulnerable in society would be able to avoid the virus when allowed to become so widespread.Ultimately the Barrington Declaration is based on principles that are dangerous to national and global public health� said Dr Head."";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"489;2020-10-09 12:00:00;123;""Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts - including ‚Dr Johnny Bananas''''''''"";""Ann Yip"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""The leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens has said asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be age-based apartheid�."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"490;2020-10-09 12:00:00;123;""Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts - including ‚Dr Johnny Bananas''''''''"";""Ann Yip"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""The leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens has said asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be age-based apartheid�."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"491;2020-10-09 12:00:00;123;""Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts - including ‚Dr Johnny Bananas''''''''"";""Ann Yip"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""The leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens has said asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be age-based apartheid�."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"492;2020-10-09 12:00:00;123;""Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts - including ‚Dr Johnny Bananas''''''''"";""Ann Yip"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""The declaration calls for an approach it describes as focused protection� arguing lockdowns being kept in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed�."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"493;2020-10-09 12:00:00;123;""Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts - including ‚Dr Johnny Bananas''''''''"";""Ann Yip"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""The declaration calls for an approach it describes as focused protection� arguing lockdowns being kept in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed�."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"494;2020-10-09 12:00:00;123;""Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts - including ‚Dr Johnny Bananas''''''''"";""Ann Yip"";""Watford Observer"";"""";"""";""The declaration calls for an approach it describes as focused protection� arguing lockdowns being kept in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed�."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"495;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It comes after recent remarks from the leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"496;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It comes after recent remarks from the leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"497;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It comes after recent remarks from the leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"498;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman pointed out that research suggests that protective antibody responses may 'decay rapidly' and that there have been cases of re- infection of the virus.And Sweden which adopted a herd immunity approach and is often touted as a 'successful alternative' by lockdown skeptics was 'not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population' he added."";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"499;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman pointed out that research suggests that protective antibody responses may 'decay rapidly' and that there have been cases of re- infection of the virus.And Sweden which adopted a herd immunity approach and is often touted as a 'successful alternative' by lockdown skeptics was 'not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population' he added."";""Jeremy Rossman"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"500;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The so-called Great Barrington declaration states: 'As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health -leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all -including the vulnerable -falls.'We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity -i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable -and that this can be assisted by but is not dependent upon a vaccine.'Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. 'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. 'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"501;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The so-called Great Barrington declaration states: 'As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health -leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all -including the vulnerable -falls.'We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity -i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable -and that this can be assisted by but is not dependent upon a vaccine.'Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. 'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. 'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"502;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The so-called Great Barrington declaration states: 'As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results to name a few include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health -leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know that vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all -including the vulnerable -falls.'We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity -i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable -and that this can be assisted by but is not dependent upon a vaccine.'Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this Focused Protection.'It adds: 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. 'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed. 'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.'Arts music sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"503;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Commenting on the declaration Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"504;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Commenting on the declaration Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"505;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Commenting on the declaration Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve. Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"506;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof James Naismith director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and of the University of Oxford said: 'The main signatories include many accomplished scientistsand I read it with interest. I will not be signing it however.'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme -one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver.'He added that the declaration omits some 'critical scientific information'."";""James Naismith"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"507;2020-10-09 12:00:00;124;""Life should return to normal for all but elderly and vulnerable urge experts"";""Ryan Merrifield"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof James Naismith director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and of the University of Oxford said: 'The main signatories include many accomplished scientistsand I read it with interest. I will not be signing it however.'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme -one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver.'He added that the declaration omits some 'critical scientific information'."";""James Naismith"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"508;2020-10-09 12:00:00;125;""HERD IMMUNITY LETTER SIGNED BY FAKE EXPERTS INCLUDING ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''DR JOHNNY BANANAS''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"";""Edd Dracott"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Dr Michael Head senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton said the Great Barrington declaration is 'a very bad idea' and doubted thevulnerable in society would be able to avoid the virus when allowed to become so widespread.'Ultimately the Barrington Declaration is based on principles that are dangerous to national and global public health' said Dr Head."";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"509;2020-10-09 12:00:00;125;""HERD IMMUNITY LETTER SIGNED BY FAKE EXPERTS INCLUDING ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''DR JOHNNY BANANAS''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"";""Edd Dracott"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens has said asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"510;2020-10-09 12:00:00;125;""HERD IMMUNITY LETTER SIGNED BY FAKE EXPERTS INCLUDING ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''DR JOHNNY BANANAS''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"";""Edd Dracott"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens has said asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"511;2020-10-09 12:00:00;125;""HERD IMMUNITY LETTER SIGNED BY FAKE EXPERTS INCLUDING ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''DR JOHNNY BANANAS''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"";""Edd Dracott"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens has said asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be 'age-based apartheid'."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"512;2020-10-09 12:00:00;125;""HERD IMMUNITY LETTER SIGNED BY FAKE EXPERTS INCLUDING ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''DR JOHNNY BANANAS''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"";""Edd Dracott"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The declaration calls for an approach it describes as 'focused protection' arguing lockdowns being kept in place until a vaccine is available 'will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"513;2020-10-09 12:00:00;125;""HERD IMMUNITY LETTER SIGNED BY FAKE EXPERTS INCLUDING ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''DR JOHNNY BANANAS''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"";""Edd Dracott"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The declaration calls for an approach it describes as 'focused protection' arguing lockdowns being kept in place until a vaccine is available 'will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"514;2020-10-09 12:00:00;125;""HERD IMMUNITY LETTER SIGNED BY FAKE EXPERTS INCLUDING ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''DR JOHNNY BANANAS''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"";""Edd Dracott"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The declaration calls for an approach it describes as 'focused protection' arguing lockdowns being kept in place until a vaccine is available 'will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"515;2020-10-09 12:00:00;126;""Scientists call for end to lockdown and a ''return to life as normal'' using herd immunity approach"";""Amy Farnworth"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health “ leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice and keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'The declaration goes on to state that understanding of the virus is growing with vulnerability to death more than a thousand-fold in the old and infirm than the young and for children it is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.It continues: 'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.'We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity “ i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable “ and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.'Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this 'focused protection'.'Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to Covid-19.'The declaration suggests vulnerable people should have food and essentials delivered to their homes and where possible meet family members outdoors rather than indoors.Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal with simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick being practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold.Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home and restaurants and other businesses should open.Arts music sport and other cultural activities should also resume and people who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"516;2020-10-09 12:00:00;126;""Scientists call for end to lockdown and a ''return to life as normal'' using herd immunity approach"";""Amy Farnworth"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health “ leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice and keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'The declaration goes on to state that understanding of the virus is growing with vulnerability to death more than a thousand-fold in the old and infirm than the young and for children it is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.It continues: 'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.'We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity “ i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable “ and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.'Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this 'focused protection'.'Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to Covid-19.'The declaration suggests vulnerable people should have food and essentials delivered to their homes and where possible meet family members outdoors rather than indoors.Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal with simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick being practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold.Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home and restaurants and other businesses should open.Arts music sport and other cultural activities should also resume and people who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"517;2020-10-09 12:00:00;126;""Scientists call for end to lockdown and a ''return to life as normal'' using herd immunity approach"";""Amy Farnworth"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""The declaration states: 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health “ leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice and keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'The declaration goes on to state that understanding of the virus is growing with vulnerability to death more than a thousand-fold in the old and infirm than the young and for children it is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.It continues: 'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all “ including the vulnerable “ falls.'We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity “ i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable “ and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.'Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this 'focused protection'.'Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to Covid-19.'The declaration suggests vulnerable people should have food and essentials delivered to their homes and where possible meet family members outdoors rather than indoors.Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal with simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick being practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold.Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home and restaurants and other businesses should open.Arts music sport and other cultural activities should also resume and people who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"518;2020-10-09 12:00:00;126;""Scientists call for end to lockdown and a ''return to life as normal'' using herd immunity approach"";""Amy Farnworth"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""It comes after recent remarks from the leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be age-based apartheid�."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"519;2020-10-09 12:00:00;126;""Scientists call for end to lockdown and a ''return to life as normal'' using herd immunity approach"";""Amy Farnworth"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""It comes after recent remarks from the leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be age-based apartheid�."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"520;2020-10-09 12:00:00;126;""Scientists call for end to lockdown and a ''return to life as normal'' using herd immunity approach"";""Amy Farnworth"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""It comes after recent remarks from the leader of the NHS in England Sir Simon Stevens who said that asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be age-based apartheid�."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"521;2020-10-09 12:00:00;126;""Scientists call for end to lockdown and a ''return to life as normal'' using herd immunity approach"";""Amy Farnworth"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""rofessor Jeremy Rossman pointed out that research suggests that protective antibody responses may decay rapidly� and that there have been cases of re- infection of the virus. Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve.'Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.�"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"522;2020-10-09 12:00:00;126;""Scientists call for end to lockdown and a ''return to life as normal'' using herd immunity approach"";""Amy Farnworth"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""rofessor Jeremy Rossman pointed out that research suggests that protective antibody responses may decay rapidly� and that there have been cases of re- infection of the virus. Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve.'Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.�"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"523;2020-10-09 12:00:00;126;""Scientists call for end to lockdown and a ''return to life as normal'' using herd immunity approach"";""Amy Farnworth"";""Lancashire Telegraph"";"""";"""";""rofessor Jeremy Rossman pointed out that research suggests that protective antibody responses may decay rapidly� and that there have been cases of re- infection of the virus. Prof Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve.'Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection however we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability.Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.�"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"1027;2020-10-09 12:00:00;128;""It''s hard to follow the herd"";""Rhys Blakely"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""'We do not know yet how long immunity will last so achieving herd immunity may not be simple' James Naismith director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute said."";""James Naismith"";""Rosalind Franklin Institute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1028;2020-10-09 12:00:00;128;""It''s hard to follow the herd"";""Rhys Blakely"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Nadine Dorries the health minister is convinced that the challenges are too great. 'Isolating older at risk (over-60s) looks good on paper in reality it is not achievable' she said. 'Infections are brought into care homes by care workers into private homes by those who do their shopping or others with whom they live. Into hospitals by staff. No one can live in isolation.'"";""Nadine Dorries"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"1029;2020-10-09 12:00:00;128;""It''s hard to follow the herd"";""Rhys Blakely"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Nadine Dorries the health minister is convinced that the challenges are too great. 'Isolating older at risk (over-60s) looks good on paper in reality it is not achievable' she said. 'Infections are brought into care homes by care workers into private homes by those who do their shopping or others with whom they live. Into hospitals by staff. No one can live in isolation.'"";""Nadine Dorries"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1023;2020-10-10 12:00:00;120;""What next with Covid? The crucial questions answered"";""Matt Roper"";""The Daily Mirror"";"""";"""";""He adds: 'In theory if about 60% of the population were infected we might expect a degree of herd immunity.'This is happening almost nowhere in the world and even where it is like in the Amazon there is evidence that the immunity from infections as opposed to vaccination may be quite short-lived.' Q"";""Martin McKee"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"482;2020-10-10 12:00:00;122;""Top doctor says herd immunity plan is ‚gambling with people‚„s lives‚„"";""Martin Lea"";""Dorset Echo"";"""";"""";""He said: 'This is really interesting and far more experts and scientists are saying don't rely on herd immunity than those saying let's rely on it.'If you torture data and statistics ruthlessly enough you can make it confess to anything.'I suspect what they looked at is 'oh we've just assumed if that had happened this would happen'.'They are assuming also herd immunity we don't know if people become immune and if they do for how long after Covid-19.'They make no reference to long Covid there are government ministers saying right now we will put millions of pounds aside to try to treat the symptoms of long Covid in the tens of thousands of people who down the line might be suffering from the long term effects of Covid.'He added: 'It's so difficult you can interpret data in different ways and I just think we have to be really cautious. 'If we rely on herd immunity it is a massive gamble a massive gamble with people's lives.'I think until we can be sure of whether we can control this virus we can't just say 'open everything up let everybody get the virus and hope for the best' because that could be very dangerous.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"483;2020-10-10 12:00:00;122;""Top doctor says herd immunity plan is ‚gambling with people‚„s lives‚„"";""Martin Lea"";""Dorset Echo"";"""";"""";""The so-called Great Barrington declaration signed by leading experts from the universities of Oxford Nottingham Edinburgh Exeter Cambridge Sussex and York suggests herd immunity as a way forward.The declaration states: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to coronavirus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this focused protection.'It says current lockdown policies are having 'devastating effects on short and long-term public health'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"484;2020-10-10 12:00:00;122;""Top doctor says herd immunity plan is ‚gambling with people‚„s lives‚„"";""Martin Lea"";""Dorset Echo"";"""";"""";""The so-called Great Barrington declaration signed by leading experts from the universities of Oxford Nottingham Edinburgh Exeter Cambridge Sussex and York suggests herd immunity as a way forward.The declaration states: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to coronavirus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this focused protection.'It says current lockdown policies are having 'devastating effects on short and long-term public health'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"485;2020-10-10 12:00:00;122;""Top doctor says herd immunity plan is ‚gambling with people‚„s lives‚„"";""Martin Lea"";""Dorset Echo"";"""";"""";""The so-called Great Barrington declaration signed by leading experts from the universities of Oxford Nottingham Edinburgh Exeter Cambridge Sussex and York suggests herd immunity as a way forward.The declaration states: 'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to coronavirus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk.'We call this focused protection.'It says current lockdown policies are having 'devastating effects on short and long-term public health'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"486;2020-10-10 12:00:00;122;""Top doctor says herd immunity plan is ‚gambling with people‚„s lives‚„"";""Martin Lea"";""Dorset Echo"";"""";"""";""Dr Rupert Beale group leader of the cell biology of infection laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute says herd immunity is 'very unlikely' before a COVID-19vaccine is found.He said: 'This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy - protecting the vulnerable - and suggests we can safely build up 'herd immunity' in the rest of the population.'This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.'Furthermore we know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time and re-infection is possible - so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing 'herd immunity' is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"487;2020-10-10 12:00:00;122;""Top doctor says herd immunity plan is ‚gambling with people‚„s lives‚„"";""Martin Lea"";""Dorset Echo"";"""";"""";""Dr Rupert Beale group leader of the cell biology of infection laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute says herd immunity is 'very unlikely' before a COVID-19vaccine is found.He said: 'This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy - protecting the vulnerable - and suggests we can safely build up 'herd immunity' in the rest of the population.'This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals and it is not possible to fully isolate them.'Furthermore we know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time and re-infection is possible - so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing 'herd immunity' is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1022;2020-10-11 12:00:00;118;""The anti-lockdown scientists‚„ cause would be more persuasive if it weren‚„t so half-baked"";""Sonia Sodha"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The ˜Great Barrington declaration makes claims about herd immunity that its signatories have failed to back upCoronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA ski resort once crowned  the best small town in America � may seem an unlikely venue for three scientists to issue an edict about the global response to a pandemic. But Great Barrington Massachusetts is the home of the libertarian thinktank the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) which this month hosted a meeting to discuss the global emergency created by the unprecedented use of state compulsion�.The result was the Great Barrington declaration� which prompted headlines about the disintegrating scientific consensus that managing Covid-19 requires society- wide changes to behaviour. It is a sorry parable about what happens when bad science gets co-opted by shady ideological interests.The declaration  which calls for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone except the vulnerable� is written by three science professors from Harvard Oxford and Stanford giving it the sheen of academic respectability. But there is much to set alarm bells ringing. It makes claims about herd immunity “ the idea that letting the virus rip among less vulnerable groups will allow a degree of population-level immunity to build up which will eventually protect the more vulnerable “ that are unsupported by existing scientific evidence . The professors do not define who is vulnerable� nor do they set out a workable plan for shielding them. The declaration sets itself up against a straw proposal that nobody is arguing for “ a full-scale national lockdown until a vaccine is made available. There is no acknowledgement of the massive scientific uncertainty that exists with a new disease.The statement claims to have been signed by more than 6000 medical scientists but anyone can sign up claiming to be one (there are a number offake medical signatories on the list including a Dr Harold Shipman). When Sky News pressed one of the co-authors on this he said: We do not have the resources to audit each signature.� Consider what this approach would mean for scientific endeavour were it applied more broadly. And what are scientists doing fronting a campaign whose back office is run by a thinktank that flirts with climate change denial ?Nothing from the self-aggrandising name to the video of the three professors toasting with champagne their statement about a pandemic that has killed more than 1 million suggests the epistemological humility we might expect from scientists during this pandemic.They may be well-meaning but naive if so they are falling into well-documented traps. In his 2007 book The Honest Broker Roger Pielke sets outa typology of science engagement  including the science arbiter� and the issue advocate�. Its fine for scientists to become advocates of a particular policy so long as they are transparent about where expertise stops and advocacy begins. There is no such thing as public policy informed purely by science as we have seen with Covid-19 policy juggles limited scientific knowledge alongside economic considerations and normative value judgments informed by competing political ideologies.Pielke argues that stealth advocacy� is damaging to science. In recent months politicians have claimed they are following the science� which rarely points in a single direction as a way of escaping accountability for bad political judgments. But there are also scientists who use science as a screen for pushing their own values.The natural authority that imbues a professorship “ and the perception that scientists are somehow neutral experts “ makes this very dangerous. Scientists are human with all the cognitive biases flaws and personal grudges that entails. This is why academic science has so many institutional checks and balances such as peer review to try to filter it all out “ checks and balances that the Great Barrington declaration sidesteps altogether. This is a problem because as always there is potential for significant human bias. The Oxford professor Sunetra Guptas widely reported mathematical modelling in late March suggested that up to half the UK population may have had Covid-19 she claimed at the time she was confident that humanity would build up herd immunity. The serological evidence suggests her modelling was wrong but Gupta has not addressed this in her declaration. How do we know she is not being influenced by the natural desire to be proved right?History tells us what happens when bad science gets deployed by corporate interests. The tobacco oil and sugar industries have all used maverick scientists to undermine the scientific consensus about the ill-effects of smoking climate change and sugar consumption outwitting media that too often abandon their critical faculties in a search for balance�. The BBC report of the Great Barrington declaration is woeful: no mention of the fact that the 6000 experts are unverified only a small section at the end on dissenting views with little sense that this is where the balance of scientific opinion lies.Of course there should be no expectation that scientists fall into line with a consensus a lack of certainty means there is room for competing opinions. Scientists disagree on the extent of social restrictions needed to adequately suppress the spread of the virus the answer to this question is any way heavily shaped by practical constraints such as the efficiency of contact tracing. I along with many others believe too little has been done to alleviate the harmful impacts of lockdown. But it is misleading to suggest that giving up on suppression is anything but an outlier position. To be fair I have heard people in the scientific community express concern that Independent Sage a group of scientists chaired by Sir David King is engaging in values-based policy advocacy without being totally clear about it. But the Great Barrington model is by far the worst example.I doubt Gupta et al are signed up to the AIERs political ideology. But her claim that the declaration should sit outside politics while launching it at an event hosted by a libertarian thinktank funded by the Koch Foundation sits very oddly. The kindest interpretation is these are three politically naive but self-important scientists with little idea about how to engage with the real world. But they have done science a profound disservice."";""Sonia Sodha"";""The Guardian"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"1020;2020-10-11 12:00:00;118;""The anti-lockdown scientists‚„ cause would be more persuasive if it weren‚„t so half-baked"";""Sonia Sodha"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The declaration  which calls for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone except the vulnerable� is written by three science professors from Harvard Oxford and Stanford giving it the sheen of academic respectability."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1021;2020-10-11 12:00:00;118;""The anti-lockdown scientists‚„ cause would be more persuasive if it weren‚„t so half-baked"";""Sonia Sodha"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The declaration  which calls for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone except the vulnerable� is written by three science professors from Harvard Oxford and Stanford giving it the sheen of academic respectability."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"477;2020-10-11 12:00:00;119;""Get back in the bedroom Granny the new Covid world has no use for you  JUDY FINNIGAN"";""Judy Finnigan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""In post-holiday quarantine you have time to brood. And I've been brooding about what the current vogue in scientific coronavirus thinking 'herd immunity' really means.This week more than 4000 scientists signed the grandiosely titled Great Barrington Declaration . It suggests younger people should be free to go about their lives with no restrictions since they are least at risk of serious illness from Covid-19.It also suggests focused protection� be given to more vulnerable groups who should be shielded over the period it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives� according to one of its signatories Professor Sunetra Gupta below.Of course included in these vulnerable groups� would be perfectly healthy people over 70.So many of us myself included would be required to live under rules harsher than lockdown. Prof Gupta talks about at-risk individuals who either live alone or for whom the family home can be structured to isolate them over the period of danger.�In other words get back in the bedroom Granny.Its supposed to save the economy by hiding the elderly and unproductive away so the rest can work and play.Related articlesTheres a similar argument about student lockdowns. Many feel students should be allowed to infect each other without restriction acquiring herd immunity but students dont exist in a bubble.They go to the shops someone has to cook their food someone has to clean their halls of residence. And eventually they go home and what does Granny do then? Self-isolate so they dont kill her?I want to save the economy as much as anyone else but Im in quarantine now.Whatever Prof Gupta says its much worse than lockdown which at least offered tiny respites for essential shopping and walks in the park.The thought of going through extreme isolation for the next six months makes me suicidal.Im afraid its a sacrifice too far.Related articles Coronavirus crisis: Under-65s turned away in rush for flu jabs The most common and surprising coronavirus symptom in frail over 65s Care costs could be funded by taxpayer Boris Johnson says"";""Judy Finnigan"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"478;2020-10-11 12:00:00;119;""Get back in the bedroom Granny the new Covid world has no use for you  JUDY FINNIGAN"";""Judy Finnigan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""In post-holiday quarantine you have time to brood. And I've been brooding about what the current vogue in scientific coronavirus thinking 'herd immunity' really means.This week more than 4000 scientists signed the grandiosely titled Great Barrington Declaration . It suggests younger people should be free to go about their lives with no restrictions since they are least at risk of serious illness from Covid-19.It also suggests focused protection� be given to more vulnerable groups who should be shielded over the period it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives� according to one of its signatories Professor Sunetra Gupta below.Of course included in these vulnerable groups� would be perfectly healthy people over 70.So many of us myself included would be required to live under rules harsher than lockdown. Prof Gupta talks about at-risk individuals who either live alone or for whom the family home can be structured to isolate them over the period of danger.�In other words get back in the bedroom Granny.Its supposed to save the economy by hiding the elderly and unproductive away so the rest can work and play.Related articlesTheres a similar argument about student lockdowns. Many feel students should be allowed to infect each other without restriction acquiring herd immunity but students dont exist in a bubble.They go to the shops someone has to cook their food someone has to clean their halls of residence. And eventually they go home and what does Granny do then? Self-isolate so they dont kill her?I want to save the economy as much as anyone else but Im in quarantine now.Whatever Prof Gupta says its much worse than lockdown which at least offered tiny respites for essential shopping and walks in the park.The thought of going through extreme isolation for the next six months makes me suicidal.Im afraid its a sacrifice too far.Related articles Coronavirus crisis: Under-65s turned away in rush for flu jabs The most common and surprising coronavirus symptom in frail over 65s Care costs could be funded by taxpayer Boris Johnson says"";""Judy Finnigan"";""ITV"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""News/Media"""
"479;2020-10-11 12:00:00;119;""Get back in the bedroom Granny the new Covid world has no use for you  JUDY FINNIGAN"";""Judy Finnigan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""In post-holiday quarantine you have time to brood. And I've been brooding about what the current vogue in scientific coronavirus thinking 'herd immunity' really means.This week more than 4000 scientists signed the grandiosely titled Great Barrington Declaration . It suggests younger people should be free to go about their lives with no restrictions since they are least at risk of serious illness from Covid-19.It also suggests focused protection� be given to more vulnerable groups who should be shielded over the period it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives� according to one of its signatories Professor Sunetra Gupta below.Of course included in these vulnerable groups� would be perfectly healthy people over 70.So many of us myself included would be required to live under rules harsher than lockdown. Prof Gupta talks about at-risk individuals who either live alone or for whom the family home can be structured to isolate them over the period of danger.�In other words get back in the bedroom Granny.Its supposed to save the economy by hiding the elderly and unproductive away so the rest can work and play.Related articlesTheres a similar argument about student lockdowns. Many feel students should be allowed to infect each other without restriction acquiring herd immunity but students dont exist in a bubble.They go to the shops someone has to cook their food someone has to clean their halls of residence. And eventually they go home and what does Granny do then? Self-isolate so they dont kill her?I want to save the economy as much as anyone else but Im in quarantine now.Whatever Prof Gupta says its much worse than lockdown which at least offered tiny respites for essential shopping and walks in the park.The thought of going through extreme isolation for the next six months makes me suicidal.Im afraid its a sacrifice too far.Related articles Coronavirus crisis: Under-65s turned away in rush for flu jabs The most common and surprising coronavirus symptom in frail over 65s Care costs could be funded by taxpayer Boris Johnson says"";""Judy Finnigan"";""ITV"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"473;2020-10-11 12:00:00;119;""Get back in the bedroom Granny the new Covid world has no use for you  JUDY FINNIGAN"";""Judy Finnigan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It also suggests focused protection� be given to more vulnerable groups"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"474;2020-10-11 12:00:00;119;""Get back in the bedroom Granny the new Covid world has no use for you  JUDY FINNIGAN"";""Judy Finnigan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""It also suggests focused protection� be given to more vulnerable groups"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"475;2020-10-11 12:00:00;119;""Get back in the bedroom Granny the new Covid world has no use for you  JUDY FINNIGAN"";""Judy Finnigan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""shielded over the period it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives� according to one of its signatories Professor Sunetra Gupta below."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"476;2020-10-11 12:00:00;119;""Get back in the bedroom Granny the new Covid world has no use for you  JUDY FINNIGAN"";""Judy Finnigan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""shielded over the period it takes to acquire sufficient herd immunity while the majority of the population conduct normal lives� according to one of its signatories Professor Sunetra Gupta below."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"459;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""t comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that herd immunity for Covid-19 is 'unethical' and 'not an option'."";"""";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"460;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""In his speech to the Commons Mr Johnson said: 'There are those who think that the patience of the public is now exhausted that we should abandon the fight against Covid stand aside let nature take her course and call halt these repressions of liberty.'And of course I understand those emotions I understand the frustration of those who have been chafing under the restrictions the sacrifices they've made.'But if we were to follow that course and let the virus rip then the bleak mathematics dictate that we would suffer not only an intolerable death toll from Covid we will put such a huge strain on our NHS with an uncontrolled second spike that our doctors and nurses would be simply unable to devote themselves to other treatments for cancer heart disease hundreds more that have already been delayed.'And that would be delayed again with serious long term damage to the health of the nation.'And I'm afraid it is no answer to say that we could let the virus take hold among the young and fit while shielding the elderly and vulnerable because the virus would then spread with such velocity in the general population that there would be no way of stopping it from spreading among the elderly.'And even if the virus is less lethal for the under 60s there will still be many younger people for whom alas it remains lethal. 'We don't want to go back to another national lockdown.'We can't let the virus rip.'And so we've followed since June a balanced approach.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"463;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""In his speech to the Commons Mr Johnson said: 'There are those who think that the patience of the public is now exhausted that we should abandon the fight against Covid stand aside let nature take her course and call halt these repressions of liberty.'And of course I understand those emotions I understand the frustration of those who have been chafing under the restrictions the sacrifices they've made.'But if we were to follow that course and let the virus rip then the bleak mathematics dictate that we would suffer not only an intolerable death toll from Covid we will put such a huge strain on our NHS with an uncontrolled second spike that our doctors and nurses would be simply unable to devote themselves to other treatments for cancer heart disease hundreds more that have already been delayed.'And that would be delayed again with serious long term damage to the health of the nation.'And I'm afraid it is no answer to say that we could let the virus take hold among the young and fit while shielding the elderly and vulnerable because the virus would then spread with such velocity in the general population that there would be no way of stopping it from spreading among the elderly.'And even if the virus is less lethal for the under 60s there will still be many younger people for whom alas it remains lethal. 'We don't want to go back to another national lockdown.'We can't let the virus rip.'And so we've followed since June a balanced approach.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"464;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""In his speech to the Commons Mr Johnson said: 'There are those who think that the patience of the public is now exhausted that we should abandon the fight against Covid stand aside let nature take her course and call halt these repressions of liberty.'And of course I understand those emotions I understand the frustration of those who have been chafing under the restrictions the sacrifices they've made.'But if we were to follow that course and let the virus rip then the bleak mathematics dictate that we would suffer not only an intolerable death toll from Covid we will put such a huge strain on our NHS with an uncontrolled second spike that our doctors and nurses would be simply unable to devote themselves to other treatments for cancer heart disease hundreds more that have already been delayed.'And that would be delayed again with serious long term damage to the health of the nation.'And I'm afraid it is no answer to say that we could let the virus take hold among the young and fit while shielding the elderly and vulnerable because the virus would then spread with such velocity in the general population that there would be no way of stopping it from spreading among the elderly.'And even if the virus is less lethal for the under 60s there will still be many younger people for whom alas it remains lethal. 'We don't want to go back to another national lockdown.'We can't let the virus rip.'And so we've followed since June a balanced approach.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"465;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""In his speech to the Commons Mr Johnson said: 'There are those who think that the patience of the public is now exhausted that we should abandon the fight against Covid stand aside let nature take her course and call halt these repressions of liberty.'And of course I understand those emotions I understand the frustration of those who have been chafing under the restrictions the sacrifices they've made.'But if we were to follow that course and let the virus rip then the bleak mathematics dictate that we would suffer not only an intolerable death toll from Covid we will put such a huge strain on our NHS with an uncontrolled second spike that our doctors and nurses would be simply unable to devote themselves to other treatments for cancer heart disease hundreds more that have already been delayed.'And that would be delayed again with serious long term damage to the health of the nation.'And I'm afraid it is no answer to say that we could let the virus take hold among the young and fit while shielding the elderly and vulnerable because the virus would then spread with such velocity in the general population that there would be no way of stopping it from spreading among the elderly.'And even if the virus is less lethal for the under 60s there will still be many younger people for whom alas it remains lethal. 'We don't want to go back to another national lockdown.'We can't let the virus rip.'And so we've followed since June a balanced approach.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"466;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The Prime Minister later said at the Downing Street press briefing: 'There are some people that say 'well let's just learn to live with this let's stop trying to fight this virus let's stop trying any kind of measures at all to contain it'.'I cannot support that approach I'm afraid because all of the maths is brutal it would lead to too many fatalities so we have to take a balanced approach.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"467;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""The Prime Minister later said at the Downing Street press briefing: 'There are some people that say 'well let's just learn to live with this let's stop trying to fight this virus let's stop trying any kind of measures at all to contain it'.'I cannot support that approach I'm afraid because all of the maths is brutal it would lead to too many fatalities so we have to take a balanced approach.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"468;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. 'For example herd immunity against measles requires about 95% of a population to be vaccinated.'The remaining 5% will be protected by the fact that measles will not spread among those who are vaccinated.'For polio the threshold is about 80%. 'In other words herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it.'Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak let alone a pandemic.'It is scientifically and ethically problematic.'Firstly we don't know enough about immunity to Covid-19 most people who are infected with the virus develop an immune response within the first few weeks but we don't know how strong or lasting that immune response is or how it differs for different people.'There have also been some examples of people infected with Covid-19 being infected for a second time.'Secondly the vast majority of people in most countries remain susceptible to this virus.'Seroprevalence surveys suggest that in most countries less than 10% of the population have been infected with the Covid-19 virus.'Letting Covid-19 circulate unchecked therefore means allowing unnecessary infections suffering and death.'Although older people and those with underlying conditions are most at risk of severe disease and death they aren't the only ones at risk.'People of all ages have died.'Thirdly we're only beginning to understand the long-term health impacts among people with Covid-19.'I have met with patient groups suffering with what is now being described as long Covid to understand their suffering and needs so we can advance research and rehabilitation.'Allowing a dangerous virus that we don't fully understand to run free is simply unethical.'It's not an option.'Dr Tedros added that there are 'no shortcuts and no silver bullets' saying that countries need to use 'every tool in the toolbox' to tackle the virus."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"469;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. 'For example herd immunity against measles requires about 95% of a population to be vaccinated.'The remaining 5% will be protected by the fact that measles will not spread among those who are vaccinated.'For polio the threshold is about 80%. 'In other words herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it.'Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak let alone a pandemic.'It is scientifically and ethically problematic.'Firstly we don't know enough about immunity to Covid-19 most people who are infected with the virus develop an immune response within the first few weeks but we don't know how strong or lasting that immune response is or how it differs for different people.'There have also been some examples of people infected with Covid-19 being infected for a second time.'Secondly the vast majority of people in most countries remain susceptible to this virus.'Seroprevalence surveys suggest that in most countries less than 10% of the population have been infected with the Covid-19 virus.'Letting Covid-19 circulate unchecked therefore means allowing unnecessary infections suffering and death.'Although older people and those with underlying conditions are most at risk of severe disease and death they aren't the only ones at risk.'People of all ages have died.'Thirdly we're only beginning to understand the long-term health impacts among people with Covid-19.'I have met with patient groups suffering with what is now being described as long Covid to understand their suffering and needs so we can advance research and rehabilitation.'Allowing a dangerous virus that we don't fully understand to run free is simply unethical.'It's not an option.'Dr Tedros added that there are 'no shortcuts and no silver bullets' saying that countries need to use 'every tool in the toolbox' to tackle the virus."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"470;2020-10-12 12:00:00;115;""WE CANNOT LET COVID-19 ''RIP'' BORIS JOHNSON SAYS"";""Ella Pickover"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. 'For example herd immunity against measles requires about 95% of a population to be vaccinated.'The remaining 5% will be protected by the fact that measles will not spread among those who are vaccinated.'For polio the threshold is about 80%. 'In other words herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it.'Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak let alone a pandemic.'It is scientifically and ethically problematic.'Firstly we don't know enough about immunity to Covid-19 most people who are infected with the virus develop an immune response within the first few weeks but we don't know how strong or lasting that immune response is or how it differs for different people.'There have also been some examples of people infected with Covid-19 being infected for a second time.'Secondly the vast majority of people in most countries remain susceptible to this virus.'Seroprevalence surveys suggest that in most countries less than 10% of the population have been infected with the Covid-19 virus.'Letting Covid-19 circulate unchecked therefore means allowing unnecessary infections suffering and death.'Although older people and those with underlying conditions are most at risk of severe disease and death they aren't the only ones at risk.'People of all ages have died.'Thirdly we're only beginning to understand the long-term health impacts among people with Covid-19.'I have met with patient groups suffering with what is now being described as long Covid to understand their suffering and needs so we can advance research and rehabilitation.'Allowing a dangerous virus that we don't fully understand to run free is simply unethical.'It's not an option.'Dr Tedros added that there are 'no shortcuts and no silver bullets' saying that countries need to use 'every tool in the toolbox' to tackle the virus."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"471;2020-10-12 12:00:00;116;""UN warns against pursuing herd immunity to stop coronavirus"";""Unspecified"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health officials typically aim to achieve herd immunity by vaccination. Tedros noted that to obtain herd immunity from a highly infectious disease such as measles for example about 95% of the population must be immunized.Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it� he said. Some researchers have argued that allowing COVID-19 to spread in populations that are not obviously vulnerable will help build up herd immunity and is a more realistic way to stop the pandemic instead of the restrictive lockdowns that have proved economically devastating.Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak� Tedros said.Tedros said that too little was known about immunity to COVID-19 to know if herd immunity is even achievable.We have some clues but we dont have the complete picture� he said noting that WHO had documented instances of people becoming reinfected with coronavirus after recovering from an initial bout of the virus. Tedros said that while most people appear to develop some kind of immune response it's unclear how long that lasts or how robust that protection is ” and that different people have varying responses.Allowing a dangerous virus that we dont fully understand to run free is simply unethical' he said."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"472;2020-10-12 12:00:00;117;""Dr Hilary slams ''''''''''''''''insulting'''''''''''''''' claims of a new coronavirus symptom"";""Megan Nisbet"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Hilary warns herd immunity will 'gamble with people's lives' in stark message Jones has blasted a new coronavirus symptom suggested by MP MargaretFerrier."";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"962;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock told the Commons that it is 'not true' that herd immunity can be achieved by enough people catching coronavirus and said it is 'simply not possible' to 'segregate the old and the vulnerable' to protect them."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"963;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock told the Commons that it is 'not true' that herd immunity can be achieved by enough people catching coronavirus and said it is 'simply not possible' to 'segregate the old and the vulnerable' to protect them."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"964;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""telling MPs that the loss of life would be 'too great to contemplate'.Mr Hancock said the declaration - which has been signed by more than 33000 scientists and medics - was underpinned by two central claims and both are emphatically false'."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"965;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'In the Commons yesterday Matt Hancock madeinaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.'After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is chocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.'With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.'The pair go on to respond to several points made by Mr Hancock the first of which was his claim that it is 'not true' to say that 'if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity'."";""Martin Kulldorff"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"966;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'In the Commons yesterday Matt Hancock madeinaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.'After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is chocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.'With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.'The pair go on to respond to several points made by Mr Hancock the first of which was his claim that it is 'not true' to say that 'if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity'."";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"967;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The Health Secretary said: 'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"968;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""r Kulldorff and Dr Bhattacharya replied: 'Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.'Before vaccines measles and other childhood disease outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.'As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.'The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous then influenza. 'The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year. 'There is no herd immunity for malaria because unlike Covid-19 it is a vector-borne disease that exists as diverse collection of different strains. 'There is no herd immunity for AIDS because unlike Covid-19 infection does not generate individual immunity. 'While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.'Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.'"";""Martin Kulldorff"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"969;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""r Kulldorff and Dr Bhattacharya replied: 'Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.'Before vaccines measles and other childhood disease outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.'As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.'The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous then influenza. 'The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year. 'There is no herd immunity for malaria because unlike Covid-19 it is a vector-borne disease that exists as diverse collection of different strains. 'There is no herd immunity for AIDS because unlike Covid-19 infection does not generate individual immunity. 'While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.'Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.'"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"970;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock also said it is 'simply not possible' to 'segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity'."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"971;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The authors replied: 'If one can segregate people of every age as the UK government policy currently requires it is also possible to segregate the old.'With the current age-naive lockdowns we are extending the length of the pandemic making it much harder for high-risk individuals to protect themselves. This will lead to more death over time.'The Great Barrington Declaration does not argue for a more relaxed approach.'On the contrary. It argues for improved and focused protection for the old and other high-risk groups while letting children and young adults live more normal lives.'"";""Martin Kulldorff"";"""";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"972;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The authors replied: 'If one can segregate people of every age as the UK government policy currently requires it is also possible to segregate the old.'With the current age-naive lockdowns we are extending the length of the pandemic making it much harder for high-risk individuals to protect themselves. This will lead to more death over time.'The Great Barrington Declaration does not argue for a more relaxed approach.'On the contrary. It argues for improved and focused protection for the old and other high-risk groups while letting children and young adults live more normal lives.'"";""Martin Kulldorff"";"""";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"973;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The authors replied: 'If one can segregate people of every age as the UK government policy currently requires it is also possible to segregate the old.'With the current age-naive lockdowns we are extending the length of the pandemic making it much harder for high-risk individuals to protect themselves. This will lead to more death over time.'The Great Barrington Declaration does not argue for a more relaxed approach.'On the contrary. It argues for improved and focused protection for the old and other high-risk groups while letting children and young adults live more normal lives.'"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"974;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The authors replied: 'If one can segregate people of every age as the UK government policy currently requires it is also possible to segregate the old.'With the current age-naive lockdowns we are extending the length of the pandemic making it much harder for high-risk individuals to protect themselves. This will lead to more death over time.'The Great Barrington Declaration does not argue for a more relaxed approach.'On the contrary. It argues for improved and focused protection for the old and other high-risk groups while letting children and young adults live more normal lives.'"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"975;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal' the scientists say adding: 'Keeping these [lockdown] measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"976;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal' the scientists say adding: 'Keeping these [lockdown] measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"977;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal' the scientists say adding: 'Keeping these [lockdown] measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"978;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Prof Woolhouse said: 'Going forward we would expect more people to be exposed at some stage or another and that immunity would be important whether natural or through a vaccine.'Herd immunity is the way this thing ends one way or another it is critical to what happens to Covid-19 in the long term.'Whether he (Mr Hancock) calls it a goal or not it will end with herd immunity.'Prof Woolhouse described the Health Secretary's comments about it being impossible to segregate the old and the vulnerable as a 'tremendous fallacy'.'I don't know or how Matt Hancock knows it's not possible we have to do it to some degree because those are the people who are at risk of getting seriously ill and dying' he said.'We should be paying much more attention to protecting the vulnerable and elderly.'I worry that that statement is impetus to give up on the idea of protecting people who need protecting.'I worry that fallacy is being promoted in this brief statement.'"";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"979;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Prof Woolhouse said: 'Going forward we would expect more people to be exposed at some stage or another and that immunity would be important whether natural or through a vaccine.'Herd immunity is the way this thing ends one way or another it is critical to what happens to Covid-19 in the long term.'Whether he (Mr Hancock) calls it a goal or not it will end with herd immunity.'Prof Woolhouse described the Health Secretary's comments about it being impossible to segregate the old and the vulnerable as a 'tremendous fallacy'.'I don't know or how Matt Hancock knows it's not possible we have to do it to some degree because those are the people who are at risk of getting seriously ill and dying' he said.'We should be paying much more attention to protecting the vulnerable and elderly.'I worry that that statement is impetus to give up on the idea of protecting people who need protecting.'I worry that fallacy is being promoted in this brief statement.'"";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"980;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Rupert Beale group leader of the cell biology of infection laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute agreed with Mr Hancock.He said: 'Other coronaviruses can reinfect people and there is accumulating evidence this is happening with SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19).'It's therefore unlikely that even with a high proportion of people having been infected that there would be good protection via herd immunity.'Most experts expect that protection via herd immunity will only be possible if we have an effective vaccine.'"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"981;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""r Griffin said: 'Whilst we are still beginning to understand SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) and how our bodies respond to it it is clear that our immune systems are unlikely to achieve long-lasting protective immunity without the aid of a vaccine.'Moreover it is fundamentally wrong to segregate society in the way suggested by this document as to do so invokes serious ethical concerns regarding both restricting the lives of those most vulnerable to Covid as well as assuming that the rest of society are prepared to accept the costs of letting the virus rip through.' He added: 'The human costs of this ideology are simply too high and the unlikely aims lack supportive scientific evidence.'"";""Stephen Griffin"";""University of Leeds"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"982;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""r Griffin said: 'Whilst we are still beginning to understand SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) and how our bodies respond to it it is clear that our immune systems are unlikely to achieve long-lasting protective immunity without the aid of a vaccine.'Moreover it is fundamentally wrong to segregate society in the way suggested by this document as to do so invokes serious ethical concerns regarding both restricting the lives of those most vulnerable to Covid as well as assuming that the rest of society are prepared to accept the costs of letting the virus rip through.' He added: 'The human costs of this ideology are simply too high and the unlikely aims lack supportive scientific evidence.'"";""Stephen Griffin"";""University of Leeds"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"983;2020-10-13 12:00:00;91;""Virus experts savage Matt Hancock for claiming herd immunity is ''''''''''''''''a flawed goal'''''''''''''''' and thousands will die without tough restrictions - as they say ''''''''''''''''after eight months it is shocking he does not have a basic unders..."";""Jemma Carr"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""r Griffin said: 'Whilst we are still beginning to understand SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) and how our bodies respond to it it is clear that our immune systems are unlikely to achieve long-lasting protective immunity without the aid of a vaccine.'Moreover it is fundamentally wrong to segregate society in the way suggested by this document as to do so invokes serious ethical concerns regarding both restricting the lives of those most vulnerable to Covid as well as assuming that the rest of society are prepared to accept the costs of letting the virus rip through.' He added: 'The human costs of this ideology are simply too high and the unlikely aims lack supportive scientific evidence.'"";""Stephen Griffin"";""University of Leeds"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"420;2020-10-13 12:00:00;104;""WHO warns that pursuing herd immunity against Covid-19 is ''unethical'' and may not even be possible"";""Unspecified"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The head of the WHO has warned against pursuing herd immunity as a strategy to stop the pandemic describing the idea as 'simply unethical.'The idea that letting the virus circulate will eventually reap benefits has been touted by those opposed to lockdowns but Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 'herdimmunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it'.'Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak' Tedros said."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"421;2020-10-13 12:00:00;104;""WHO warns that pursuing herd immunity against Covid-19 is ''unethical'' and may not even be possible"";""Unspecified"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Tedros said that while most people appear to develop some kind of immune response is unclear how long that lasts or how robust that protection is.'Allowing a dangerous virus that we don �t fully understand to run free is simply unethical' he said. WHO estimates less than 10 per cent of the population has any immunity to the coronavirus meaning the vast majority of the world remains susceptible."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"422;2020-10-13 12:00:00;105;""Herd immunity ''critical'' in long term as Edinburgh University expert slaps down Matt Hancock"";""Lynn Love"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Matt Hancock had earlier dismissed the strategy as 'flawed' without avaccine and that it was 'simply not possible' to segregate the old and the vulnerable on the way to herd immunity."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"423;2020-10-13 12:00:00;105;""Herd immunity ''critical'' in long term as Edinburgh University expert slaps down Matt Hancock"";""Lynn Love"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Matt Hancock had earlier dismissed the strategy as 'flawed' without avaccine and that it was 'simply not possible' to segregate the old and the vulnerable on the way to herd immunity."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"424;2020-10-13 12:00:00;105;""Herd immunity ''critical'' in long term as Edinburgh University expert slaps down Matt Hancock"";""Lynn Love"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof Woolhouse said: 'Going forward we would expect more people to be exposed at some stage or another and that immunity would be important whether natural or through a vaccine.'Herd immunity is the way this thing ends one way or another it is critical to what happens to Covid-19 in the long term.'Whether he (Mr Hancock) calls it a goal or not it will end with herd immunity.'He said the 'end point' for thevirusmay be years or decades away but that there is 'no way' for global eradication of the disease.Oxford Covid-19 vaccine could be ready before Christmas says health chiefProf Woolhouse also described the Health Secretary's comments about it being impossible to segregate the old and the vulnerable as a 'tremendous fallacy'.'I don't know or how Matt Hancock knows it's not possible we have to do it to some degree because those are the people who are at risk of getting seriously ill and dying' he said.'We should be paying much more attention to protecting the vulnerable and elderly.'I worry that that statement is impetus to give up on the idea of protecting people who need protecting.'I worry that fallacy is being promoted in this brief statement.'"";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"425;2020-10-13 12:00:00;105;""Herd immunity ''critical'' in long term as Edinburgh University expert slaps down Matt Hancock"";""Lynn Love"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Prof Woolhouse said: 'Going forward we would expect more people to be exposed at some stage or another and that immunity would be important whether natural or through a vaccine.'Herd immunity is the way this thing ends one way or another it is critical to what happens to Covid-19 in the long term.'Whether he (Mr Hancock) calls it a goal or not it will end with herd immunity.'He said the 'end point' for thevirusmay be years or decades away but that there is 'no way' for global eradication of the disease.Oxford Covid-19 vaccine could be ready before Christmas says health chiefProf Woolhouse also described the Health Secretary's comments about it being impossible to segregate the old and the vulnerable as a 'tremendous fallacy'.'I don't know or how Matt Hancock knows it's not possible we have to do it to some degree because those are the people who are at risk of getting seriously ill and dying' he said.'We should be paying much more attention to protecting the vulnerable and elderly.'I worry that that statement is impetus to give up on the idea of protecting people who need protecting.'I worry that fallacy is being promoted in this brief statement.'"";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"426;2020-10-13 12:00:00;105;""Herd immunity ''critical'' in long term as Edinburgh University expert slaps down Matt Hancock"";""Lynn Love"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Hancock said: 'It says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"427;2020-10-13 12:00:00;105;""Herd immunity ''critical'' in long term as Edinburgh University expert slaps down Matt Hancock"";""Lynn Love"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Other coronaviruses can reinfect people and there is accumulating evidence this is happening with SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19).'It's therefore unlikely that even with a high proportion of people having been infected that there would be good protection via herd immunity. 'Most experts expect that protection via herd immunity will only be possible if we have an effective vaccine.'"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"428;2020-10-13 12:00:00;105;""Herd immunity ''critical'' in long term as Edinburgh University expert slaps down Matt Hancock"";""Lynn Love"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Griffin said: 'Whilst we are still beginning to understand SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) and how our bodies respond to it it is clear that our immune systems are unlikely to achieve long-lasting protective immunity without the aid of a vaccine.'Moreover it is fundamentally wrong to segregate society in the way suggested by this document as to do so invokes serious ethical concerns regarding both restricting the lives of those most vulnerable to Covid as well as assuming that the rest of society are prepared to accept the costs of letting the virus rip through.'He added: 'The human costs of this ideology are simply too high and the unlikely aims lack supportive scientific evidence.'"";""Stephen Griffin"";""University of Leeds"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"429;2020-10-13 12:00:00;105;""Herd immunity ''critical'' in long term as Edinburgh University expert slaps down Matt Hancock"";""Lynn Love"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Griffin said: 'Whilst we are still beginning to understand SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) and how our bodies respond to it it is clear that our immune systems are unlikely to achieve long-lasting protective immunity without the aid of a vaccine.'Moreover it is fundamentally wrong to segregate society in the way suggested by this document as to do so invokes serious ethical concerns regarding both restricting the lives of those most vulnerable to Covid as well as assuming that the rest of society are prepared to accept the costs of letting the virus rip through.'He added: 'The human costs of this ideology are simply too high and the unlikely aims lack supportive scientific evidence.'"";""Stephen Griffin"";""University of Leeds"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"430;2020-10-13 12:00:00;105;""Herd immunity ''critical'' in long term as Edinburgh University expert slaps down Matt Hancock"";""Lynn Love"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Griffin said: 'Whilst we are still beginning to understand SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) and how our bodies respond to it it is clear that our immune systems are unlikely to achieve long-lasting protective immunity without the aid of a vaccine.'Moreover it is fundamentally wrong to segregate society in the way suggested by this document as to do so invokes serious ethical concerns regarding both restricting the lives of those most vulnerable to Covid as well as assuming that the rest of society are prepared to accept the costs of letting the virus rip through.'He added: 'The human costs of this ideology are simply too high and the unlikely aims lack supportive scientific evidence.'"";""Stephen Griffin"";""University of Leeds"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"432;2020-10-13 12:00:00;106;""WHO says Covid herd immunity ''unethical'' but also rejects lockdown...so what DOES it want?"";""Luke Hawker"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The head of the WHO has warned countries against perusing herd immunity to stop the spread of the virus branding the method unethical�."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"431;2020-10-13 12:00:00;106;""WHO says Covid herd immunity ''unethical'' but also rejects lockdown...so what DOES it want?"";""Luke Hawker"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Tedros Ghebreyesus Director-General of the WHO has ruled out the strategy insisting it would have the opposite effect.He said: Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it.Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak.�"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"433;2020-10-13 12:00:00;106;""WHO says Covid herd immunity ''unethical'' but also rejects lockdown...so what DOES it want?"";""Luke Hawker"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The Health Secretary said: 'Some have set out this more relaxed approach including in the so-called Great Barrington Declaration and I want to take this argument head on because on the substance the Great Barrington Declaration is underpinned by two central claims and both are emphatically false.DON'T MISSBrexit LIVE: EU makes fishing POWER-GRAB as army of 50 UK officials [LIVE]London covid: The full number of coronavirus cases in every London [INSIGHT]UK weather forecast: Arctic air to grip Britain as icy snow blast hits [FORECAST]Related articles'First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity. This is simply not possible.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"434;2020-10-13 12:00:00;106;""WHO says Covid herd immunity ''unethical'' but also rejects lockdown...so what DOES it want?"";""Luke Hawker"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The Health Secretary said: 'Some have set out this more relaxed approach including in the so-called Great Barrington Declaration and I want to take this argument head on because on the substance the Great Barrington Declaration is underpinned by two central claims and both are emphatically false.DON'T MISSBrexit LIVE: EU makes fishing POWER-GRAB as army of 50 UK officials [LIVE]London covid: The full number of coronavirus cases in every London [INSIGHT]UK weather forecast: Arctic air to grip Britain as icy snow blast hits [FORECAST]Related articles'First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity. This is simply not possible.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"435;2020-10-13 12:00:00;107;""HERD IMMUNITY ''CRITICAL'' IN LONG TERM TO END PANDEMIC HEALTH EXPERT SAYS"";""Richard Wheeler Lewis McKenzie Taz Ali"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Prof Woolhouse told the PA news agency: 'Going forward we would expect more people to be exposed at some stage or another and that immunity would be important whether natural or through a vaccine.'Herd immunity is the way this thing ends one way or another it is critical to what happens to Covid-19 in the long term.'Whether he (Mr Hancock) calls it a goal or not it will end with herd immunity.'He said the 'end point' for the virus may be years or decades away but that there is 'no way' for global eradication of the disease.Prof Woolhouse described the Health Secretary's comments about it being impossible to segregate the old and the vulnerable as a 'tremendous fallacy'.'I don't know or how Matt Hancock knows it's not possible we have to do it to some degree because those are the people who are at risk of getting seriously ill and dying' he said.'We should be paying much more attention to protecting the vulnerable and elderly.'I worry that that statement is impetus to give up on the idea of protecting people who need protecting.'I worry that fallacy is being promoted in this brief statement.'"";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"436;2020-10-13 12:00:00;107;""HERD IMMUNITY ''CRITICAL'' IN LONG TERM TO END PANDEMIC HEALTH EXPERT SAYS"";""Richard Wheeler Lewis McKenzie Taz Ali"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Prof Woolhouse told the PA news agency: 'Going forward we would expect more people to be exposed at some stage or another and that immunity would be important whether natural or through a vaccine.'Herd immunity is the way this thing ends one way or another it is critical to what happens to Covid-19 in the long term.'Whether he (Mr Hancock) calls it a goal or not it will end with herd immunity.'He said the 'end point' for the virus may be years or decades away but that there is 'no way' for global eradication of the disease.Prof Woolhouse described the Health Secretary's comments about it being impossible to segregate the old and the vulnerable as a 'tremendous fallacy'.'I don't know or how Matt Hancock knows it's not possible we have to do it to some degree because those are the people who are at risk of getting seriously ill and dying' he said.'We should be paying much more attention to protecting the vulnerable and elderly.'I worry that that statement is impetus to give up on the idea of protecting people who need protecting.'I worry that fallacy is being promoted in this brief statement.'"";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"437;2020-10-13 12:00:00;107;""HERD IMMUNITY ''CRITICAL'' IN LONG TERM TO END PANDEMIC HEALTH EXPERT SAYS"";""Richard Wheeler Lewis McKenzie Taz Ali"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock said: 'It says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"438;2020-10-13 12:00:00;107;""HERD IMMUNITY ''CRITICAL'' IN LONG TERM TO END PANDEMIC HEALTH EXPERT SAYS"";""Richard Wheeler Lewis McKenzie Taz Ali"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Other coronaviruses can reinfect people and there is accumulating evidence this is happening with SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19).'It's therefore unlikely that even with a high proportion of people having been infected that there would be good protection via herd immunity.'Most experts expect that protection via herd immunity will only be possible if we have an effective vaccine.'"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"439;2020-10-13 12:00:00;107;""HERD IMMUNITY ''CRITICAL'' IN LONG TERM TO END PANDEMIC HEALTH EXPERT SAYS"";""Richard Wheeler Lewis McKenzie Taz Ali"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Dr Stephen Griffin associate professor at the School of Medicine University of Leeds said the Health Secretary was right to address the flawed concepts underpinning the Great Barrington Declaration.The declaration which was said to have been signed by more than 15000 scientists and medical practitioners was found by Sky News to contain numerous false names including 'Dr Johnny Bananas' and 'Professor Cominic Dummings'.Dr Griffin said: 'Whilst we are still beginning to understand SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) and how our bodies respond to it it is clear that our immune systems are unlikely to achieve long-lasting protective immunity without the aid of a vaccine. 'Moreover it is fundamentally wrong to segregate society in the way suggested by this document as to do so invokes serious ethical concerns regarding both restricting the lives of those most vulnerable to Covid as well as assuming that the rest of society are prepared to accept the costs of letting the virus rip through.'He added: 'The human costs of this ideology are simply too high and the unlikely aims lack supportive scientific evidence.'"";""Stephen Griffin"";""University of Leeds"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"440;2020-10-13 12:00:00;107;""HERD IMMUNITY ''CRITICAL'' IN LONG TERM TO END PANDEMIC HEALTH EXPERT SAYS"";""Richard Wheeler Lewis McKenzie Taz Ali"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Dr Stephen Griffin associate professor at the School of Medicine University of Leeds said the Health Secretary was right to address the flawed concepts underpinning the Great Barrington Declaration.The declaration which was said to have been signed by more than 15000 scientists and medical practitioners was found by Sky News to contain numerous false names including 'Dr Johnny Bananas' and 'Professor Cominic Dummings'.Dr Griffin said: 'Whilst we are still beginning to understand SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) and how our bodies respond to it it is clear that our immune systems are unlikely to achieve long-lasting protective immunity without the aid of a vaccine. 'Moreover it is fundamentally wrong to segregate society in the way suggested by this document as to do so invokes serious ethical concerns regarding both restricting the lives of those most vulnerable to Covid as well as assuming that the rest of society are prepared to accept the costs of letting the virus rip through.'He added: 'The human costs of this ideology are simply too high and the unlikely aims lack supportive scientific evidence.'"";""Stephen Griffin"";""University of Leeds"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"441;2020-10-13 12:00:00;108;""Herd immunity slammed as flawed virus strategy that won''t work by Matt Hancock"";""Kathleen Speirs"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The Tory MP said: 'Some have set out this more relaxed approach including in the so-called Great Barrington Declaration and I want to take this argument head on because on the substance the Great Barrington Declaration is underpinned by two central claims and both are emphatically false.'First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity.'This is not true.How to get the latest Scottish news stories sent straight to your inbox with our newslettersKeir Starmer calls for Sturgeon-style lockdown as he accuses Johnson of 'losing control' of pandemic'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity.'This is simply not possible.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"442;2020-10-13 12:00:00;108;""Herd immunity slammed as flawed virus strategy that won''t work by Matt Hancock"";""Kathleen Speirs"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The Tory MP said: 'Some have set out this more relaxed approach including in the so-called Great Barrington Declaration and I want to take this argument head on because on the substance the Great Barrington Declaration is underpinned by two central claims and both are emphatically false.'First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity.'This is not true.How to get the latest Scottish news stories sent straight to your inbox with our newslettersKeir Starmer calls for Sturgeon-style lockdown as he accuses Johnson of 'losing control' of pandemic'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity.'This is simply not possible.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"443;2020-10-13 12:00:00;108;""Herd immunity slammed as flawed virus strategy that won''t work by Matt Hancock"";""Kathleen Speirs"";""dailyrecord.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Mark Woolhouse professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh said herd immunity should not be discounted but said there was currently not enough exposure for it to work in the short term. 'Going forward we would expect more people to be exposed at some stage or another and that immunity would be important whether natural or through a vaccine' Prof Woolhouse said.'Herd immunity is the way this thing ends one way or another.'Whether Health Secretary Matt Hancock calls it a goal or not it will end with herd immunity.'"";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"444;2020-10-13 12:00:00;109;""HEALTH SECRETARY DISMISSES POSSIBILITY OF COVID-19 HERD IMMUNITY"";""Richard Wheeler Lewis McKenzie Taz Ali"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Speaking in the Commons Mr Hancock said: 'Some have set out this more relaxed approach including in the so-called Great Barrington Declaration and I want to take this argument head on because on the substance the Great Barrington Declaration is underpinned by two central claims and both are emphatically false.'First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity. This is simply not possible.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"445;2020-10-13 12:00:00;109;""HEALTH SECRETARY DISMISSES POSSIBILITY OF COVID-19 HERD IMMUNITY"";""Richard Wheeler Lewis McKenzie Taz Ali"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Speaking in the Commons Mr Hancock said: 'Some have set out this more relaxed approach including in the so-called Great Barrington Declaration and I want to take this argument head on because on the substance the Great Barrington Declaration is underpinned by two central claims and both are emphatically false.'First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity. This is simply not possible.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"446;2020-10-13 12:00:00;110;""''10pm pubs curfew is to protect work and schools'' suggests Health Secretary"";""Tasmin Lockwood"";""The Northern Echo"";"""";"""";""On herd immunity Mr Hancock earlier told MPs: Some have set out this more relaxed approach including in the so-called Great Barrington declaration and I want to take this argument head-on because on the substance the Great Barrington declaration is underpinned by two central claims and both are emphatically false.First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'We should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we cant. The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity. This is simply not possible.�He also dismissed suggestions that elderly and vulnerable people should be segregated while other parts of society are opened up.The Health Secretary said: We are not the kind of country that abandons our vulnerable or just locks them up.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"447;2020-10-13 12:00:00;110;""''10pm pubs curfew is to protect work and schools'' suggests Health Secretary"";""Tasmin Lockwood"";""The Northern Echo"";"""";"""";""On herd immunity Mr Hancock earlier told MPs: Some have set out this more relaxed approach including in the so-called Great Barrington declaration and I want to take this argument head-on because on the substance the Great Barrington declaration is underpinned by two central claims and both are emphatically false.First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'We should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we cant. The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity. This is simply not possible.�He also dismissed suggestions that elderly and vulnerable people should be segregated while other parts of society are opened up.The Health Secretary said: We are not the kind of country that abandons our vulnerable or just locks them up.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"448;2020-10-13 12:00:00;111;""SWITCH TO HERD IMMUNITY STRATEGY TO TACKLE COVID-19 DISMISSED AS ''IMPRACTICAL''"";""Trevor Mason"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""But he said the idea behind the declaration was 'bad science and bad economics'.Lord Bethell said it was 'impractical and would be an indefensible moral decision for any government'."";""James Bethell"";""House of Lords"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"449;2020-10-13 12:00:00;111;""SWITCH TO HERD IMMUNITY STRATEGY TO TACKLE COVID-19 DISMISSED AS ''IMPRACTICAL''"";""Trevor Mason"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Labour's Lord Faulkner of Worcester said a large number of the signatories were bogus.'We should have nothing to do with fake science which provides cover for a cull of the elderly and the disabled under the guise of herd immunity and promotes an American far-right agenda' Lord Faulkner said."";""Richard Faulkner"";""House of Lords"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"450;2020-10-13 12:00:00;111;""SWITCH TO HERD IMMUNITY STRATEGY TO TACKLE COVID-19 DISMISSED AS ''IMPRACTICAL''"";""Trevor Mason"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Labour's Lord Faulkner of Worcester said a large number of the signatories were bogus.'We should have nothing to do with fake science which provides cover for a cull of the elderly and the disabled under the guise of herd immunity and promotes an American far-right agenda' Lord Faulkner said."";""Richard Faulkner"";""House of Lords"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"451;2020-10-13 12:00:00;111;""SWITCH TO HERD IMMUNITY STRATEGY TO TACKLE COVID-19 DISMISSED AS ''IMPRACTICAL''"";""Trevor Mason"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Lord Bethell told him: 'You're entirely right. This is 'Johnny Bananas' science and we will not support it.'"";""James Bethell"";""House of Lords"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"452;2020-10-13 12:00:00;111;""SWITCH TO HERD IMMUNITY STRATEGY TO TACKLE COVID-19 DISMISSED AS ''IMPRACTICAL''"";""Trevor Mason"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""'Until we have a vaccine this proposal is both dangerous and uncertain' she said."";""Glenys Thornton"";""House of Lords"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1019;2020-10-13 12:00:00;112;""Sunetra Gupta interview: the scientist who says herd immunity is the answer"";""Andrew Billen"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""I feel absolutely devastated� she says recalling that since she first spoke out in spring it has been out of terror of what lockdown will bring. I was concerned not just for the inner-city child sitting there out of school or people going to die at home give birth on their own worse still have miscarriages on their own. There was also for me India which is where I come from. Visions of horror came to me of the people in slums. How can you tell someone who doesnt have a home to stay at home?�"";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"1017;2020-10-13 12:00:00;112;""Sunetra Gupta interview: the scientist who says herd immunity is the answer"";""Andrew Billen"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""I think its absolutely shameful� she says. I think students dont need to wear a facemask. Theres no risk to them. Furthermore as weve said and stressed the whole foundation of our argument is that if these students acquire immunity then well be much further along in protecting those who are vulnerable.�"";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1018;2020-10-13 12:00:00;112;""Sunetra Gupta interview: the scientist who says herd immunity is the answer"";""Andrew Billen"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The good news is that actually there is a way out that would also save us from corona deaths we think and thats why we wrote that declaration. The people who were involved arrived at this conclusion completely independently. We didnt sit down and discuss it. We found each other through what we published or through our voices on the internet or the public domain and decided to come together because we felt there is a way out. That way out is afforded by natural immunity.� Natural immunity is not a strategy in opposition to a vaccine which is merely a way of achieving immunity without the costs�. Gupta is working on a flu vaccine and although at 55 she does not consider herself vulnerable she would take a coronavirus vaccine if one was offered. On the other hand she has not downloaded the NHS Covid-19 app because she does not think that testing and tracking everyone is feasible�. She observes the rule of six because it is the law and she is no anarchist. In the same spirit she wears a mask where it is mandatory although she thinks the evidence of their efficacy is equivocal�.With this"";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"453;2020-10-13 12:00:00;113;""Coronavirus: Pursuit of herd immunity is ‚unethical‚„ says WHO head"";""Samuel Lovett"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the policy was 'scientifically and ethically problematic'.Allowing a dangerous virus that we dont fully understand to run free is simply unethical. Its not an option� Dr Ghebreyesus said during a virtual press briefing on Monday.Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached.� Dr Ghebreyesus insisted that never in the history of public� has herd immunity been adopted as a strategy for responding to a serious outbreak."";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"454;2020-10-13 12:00:00;113;""Coronavirus: Pursuit of herd immunity is ‚unethical‚„ says WHO head"";""Samuel Lovett"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The vast majority of people in most countries remain susceptible to this virus� he Dr Ghebreyesus said. Letting the virus circulate unchecked therefore means allowing unnecessary infections suffering and death.�"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"455;2020-10-13 12:00:00;114;""WHO chief slams herd immunity response to coronavirus pandemic as ''''''''unethical''''''''"";""David Child"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Tedros said: 'Although older people and those with underlying conditions are most at risk of severe disease and death they aren't the only ones at risk.'Allowing a dangerous virus that we don't fully understand to run free is simply unethical. It's not an option.'Dr Tedros said herd immunity 'is a concept used for vaccination in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached'.He pointed out that for measles for instance it is estimated that if 95 per cent of the population is vaccinated the remaining five per cent will also be protected from the spread of the virus. For polio the threshold is estimated at 80 per cent he added.In other words herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it' Dr Tedros said.Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak let alone a pandemic.It is scientifically and ethically problematic.'"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"456;2020-10-13 12:00:00;114;""WHO chief slams herd immunity response to coronavirus pandemic as ''''''''unethical''''''''"";""David Child"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Tedros said: 'Although older people and those with underlying conditions are most at risk of severe disease and death they aren't the only ones at risk.'Allowing a dangerous virus that we don't fully understand to run free is simply unethical. It's not an option.'Dr Tedros said herd immunity 'is a concept used for vaccination in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached'.He pointed out that for measles for instance it is estimated that if 95 per cent of the population is vaccinated the remaining five per cent will also be protected from the spread of the virus. For polio the threshold is estimated at 80 per cent he added.In other words herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it' Dr Tedros said.Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak let alone a pandemic.It is scientifically and ethically problematic.'"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"457;2020-10-13 12:00:00;114;""WHO chief slams herd immunity response to coronavirus pandemic as ''''''''unethical''''''''"";""David Child"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""In his speech to the Commons Mr Johnson said: 'There are those who think that the patience of the public is now exhausted that we should abandon the fight against Covid stand aside let nature take her course and call halt these repressions of liberty.'And of course I understand those emotions I understand the frustration of those who have been chafing under the restrictions the sacrifices they've made. 'But if we were to follow that course and let the virus rip then the bleak mathematics dictate that we would suffer not only an intolerable death toll from Covid we will put such a huge strain on our NHS with an uncontrolled second spike that our doctors and nurses would be simply unable to devote themselves to other treatments for cancer heart disease hundreds more that have already been delayed.'And that would be delayed again with serious long term damage to the health of the nation.'He added: 'And I'm afraid it is no answer to say that we could let the virus take hold among the young and fit while shielding the elderly and vulnerable because the virus would then spread with such velocity in the general population that there would be no way of stopping it from spreading among the elderly.'And even if the virus is less lethal for the under 60s there will still be many younger people for whom alas it remains lethal.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"458;2020-10-13 12:00:00;114;""WHO chief slams herd immunity response to coronavirus pandemic as ''''''''unethical''''''''"";""David Child"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""In his speech to the Commons Mr Johnson said: 'There are those who think that the patience of the public is now exhausted that we should abandon the fight against Covid stand aside let nature take her course and call halt these repressions of liberty.'And of course I understand those emotions I understand the frustration of those who have been chafing under the restrictions the sacrifices they've made. 'But if we were to follow that course and let the virus rip then the bleak mathematics dictate that we would suffer not only an intolerable death toll from Covid we will put such a huge strain on our NHS with an uncontrolled second spike that our doctors and nurses would be simply unable to devote themselves to other treatments for cancer heart disease hundreds more that have already been delayed.'And that would be delayed again with serious long term damage to the health of the nation.'He added: 'And I'm afraid it is no answer to say that we could let the virus take hold among the young and fit while shielding the elderly and vulnerable because the virus would then spread with such velocity in the general population that there would be no way of stopping it from spreading among the elderly.'And even if the virus is less lethal for the under 60s there will still be many younger people for whom alas it remains lethal.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"461;2020-10-13 12:00:00;114;""WHO chief slams herd immunity response to coronavirus pandemic as ''''''''unethical''''''''"";""David Child"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""In his speech to the Commons Mr Johnson said: 'There are those who think that the patience of the public is now exhausted that we should abandon the fight against Covid stand aside let nature take her course and call halt these repressions of liberty.'And of course I understand those emotions I understand the frustration of those who have been chafing under the restrictions the sacrifices they've made. 'But if we were to follow that course and let the virus rip then the bleak mathematics dictate that we would suffer not only an intolerable death toll from Covid we will put such a huge strain on our NHS with an uncontrolled second spike that our doctors and nurses would be simply unable to devote themselves to other treatments for cancer heart disease hundreds more that have already been delayed.'And that would be delayed again with serious long term damage to the health of the nation.'He added: 'And I'm afraid it is no answer to say that we could let the virus take hold among the young and fit while shielding the elderly and vulnerable because the virus would then spread with such velocity in the general population that there would be no way of stopping it from spreading among the elderly.'And even if the virus is less lethal for the under 60s there will still be many younger people for whom alas it remains lethal.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"462;2020-10-13 12:00:00;114;""WHO chief slams herd immunity response to coronavirus pandemic as ''''''''unethical''''''''"";""David Child"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""In his speech to the Commons Mr Johnson said: 'There are those who think that the patience of the public is now exhausted that we should abandon the fight against Covid stand aside let nature take her course and call halt these repressions of liberty.'And of course I understand those emotions I understand the frustration of those who have been chafing under the restrictions the sacrifices they've made. 'But if we were to follow that course and let the virus rip then the bleak mathematics dictate that we would suffer not only an intolerable death toll from Covid we will put such a huge strain on our NHS with an uncontrolled second spike that our doctors and nurses would be simply unable to devote themselves to other treatments for cancer heart disease hundreds more that have already been delayed.'And that would be delayed again with serious long term damage to the health of the nation.'He added: 'And I'm afraid it is no answer to say that we could let the virus take hold among the young and fit while shielding the elderly and vulnerable because the virus would then spread with such velocity in the general population that there would be no way of stopping it from spreading among the elderly.'And even if the virus is less lethal for the under 60s there will still be many younger people for whom alas it remains lethal.'"";""Boris Johnson"";""Downing 10"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"961;2020-10-14 12:00:00;85;""To win the argument lockdown-sceptics must unite with a new manifesto"";""Sherelle Jacobs"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""the WHO landed the killer blow declaring herd immunity immoral�."";"""";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"864;2020-10-14 12:00:00;92;""Herd immunity approach to tackling coronavirus ‚dangerous fallacy‚„ experts warn"";""Sean Morrison"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity approaches to managing Covid-19 are a 'dangerous fallacy unsupported by the scientific evidence' researchers has warned.Adopting such strategies would not end the pandemic but rather result in recurring epidemics according to an open letter signed by 80 international researchers published by The Lancet.The authors argue that any strategy relying on immunity from natural infections of coronavirus is 'flawed' adding that uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks ill-health and death across a whole population.Instead the letter referred to by its authors as the John Snow Memorandum calls for suppression of the virus until there is an effective vaccine.The researchers argue that defining who is vulnerable would be 'complex' while prolonged isolation of large swathes of a population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical'.Additionally the authors say it is still not understood who might suffer from long Covid -when people experience symptoms months after infection.'The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of Covid-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months' the letter concludes.'We cannot afford distractions that undermine an effective response it is essential that we act urgently based on the evidence.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"865;2020-10-14 12:00:00;92;""Herd immunity approach to tackling coronavirus ‚dangerous fallacy‚„ experts warn"";""Sean Morrison"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity approaches to managing Covid-19 are a 'dangerous fallacy unsupported by the scientific evidence' researchers has warned.Adopting such strategies would not end the pandemic but rather result in recurring epidemics according to an open letter signed by 80 international researchers published by The Lancet.The authors argue that any strategy relying on immunity from natural infections of coronavirus is 'flawed' adding that uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks ill-health and death across a whole population.Instead the letter referred to by its authors as the John Snow Memorandum calls for suppression of the virus until there is an effective vaccine.The researchers argue that defining who is vulnerable would be 'complex' while prolonged isolation of large swathes of a population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical'.Additionally the authors say it is still not understood who might suffer from long Covid -when people experience symptoms months after infection.'The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of Covid-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months' the letter concludes.'We cannot afford distractions that undermine an effective response it is essential that we act urgently based on the evidence.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"866;2020-10-14 12:00:00;92;""Herd immunity approach to tackling coronavirus ‚dangerous fallacy‚„ experts warn"";""Sean Morrison"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Herd immunity approaches to managing Covid-19 are a 'dangerous fallacy unsupported by the scientific evidence' researchers has warned.Adopting such strategies would not end the pandemic but rather result in recurring epidemics according to an open letter signed by 80 international researchers published by The Lancet.The authors argue that any strategy relying on immunity from natural infections of coronavirus is 'flawed' adding that uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks ill-health and death across a whole population.Instead the letter referred to by its authors as the John Snow Memorandum calls for suppression of the virus until there is an effective vaccine.The researchers argue that defining who is vulnerable would be 'complex' while prolonged isolation of large swathes of a population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical'.Additionally the authors say it is still not understood who might suffer from long Covid -when people experience symptoms months after infection.'The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of Covid-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months' the letter concludes.'We cannot afford distractions that undermine an effective response it is essential that we act urgently based on the evidence.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"867;2020-10-14 12:00:00;92;""Herd immunity approach to tackling coronavirus ‚dangerous fallacy‚„ experts warn"";""Sean Morrison"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock said: 'It says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"868;2020-10-14 12:00:00;93;""HERD IMMUNITY APPROACH TO PANDEMIC ''''DANGEROUS FALLACY'''' RESEARCHERS WARN"";""Emma Bowden"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""erd immunity approaches to managing the coronavirus crisis are a 'dangerous fallacy unsupported by the scientific evidence' a group of researchers has warned.Adopting a herd immunity strategy would not end the pandemic but rather result in recurring epidemics according to an open letter signed by 80 international researchers published by The Lancet.The authors argue that any strategy relying on immunity from natural infections of Covid-19 is 'flawed' adding that uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks ill-health and death across a whole population.Instead the letter referred to by its authors as the John Snow Memorandum calls for suppression of the virus until there is an effective vaccine.It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock dismissed herd immunity as 'flawed' without a vaccine telling the Commons it was 'simply not possible' to segregate the old and the vulnerable.The letter's authors acknowledge that lockdowns have had a substantial effect on mental and physical health and harmed the economy leading to 'widespread demoralisation and diminishing trust' among communities.The letter says: 'The arrival of a second wave and the realisation of the challenges ahead has led to renewed interest in a so-called herd immunity approach which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak in the low-risk population while protecting the vulnerable.'Proponents suggest this would lead to the development of infection-acquired population immunity in the low-risk population which will eventually protect the vulnerable.'This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence.'The authors warn there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity after natural infection and so the strategy could result in repeated waves of transmission over several years.This would put vulnerable populations at risk for the 'indefinite future' as it would not end the Covid-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics they add.The researchers argue that defining who is vulnerable would be 'complex' while prolonged isolation of large swathes of a population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical'.Additionally the authors say it is still not understood who might suffer from long Covid - when people experience symptoms months after infection.'The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of Covid-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months' the letter concludes.'We cannot afford distractions that undermine an effective response it is essential that we act urgently based on the evidence.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"869;2020-10-14 12:00:00;93;""HERD IMMUNITY APPROACH TO PANDEMIC ''''DANGEROUS FALLACY'''' RESEARCHERS WARN"";""Emma Bowden"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""erd immunity approaches to managing the coronavirus crisis are a 'dangerous fallacy unsupported by the scientific evidence' a group of researchers has warned.Adopting a herd immunity strategy would not end the pandemic but rather result in recurring epidemics according to an open letter signed by 80 international researchers published by The Lancet.The authors argue that any strategy relying on immunity from natural infections of Covid-19 is 'flawed' adding that uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks ill-health and death across a whole population.Instead the letter referred to by its authors as the John Snow Memorandum calls for suppression of the virus until there is an effective vaccine.It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock dismissed herd immunity as 'flawed' without a vaccine telling the Commons it was 'simply not possible' to segregate the old and the vulnerable.The letter's authors acknowledge that lockdowns have had a substantial effect on mental and physical health and harmed the economy leading to 'widespread demoralisation and diminishing trust' among communities.The letter says: 'The arrival of a second wave and the realisation of the challenges ahead has led to renewed interest in a so-called herd immunity approach which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak in the low-risk population while protecting the vulnerable.'Proponents suggest this would lead to the development of infection-acquired population immunity in the low-risk population which will eventually protect the vulnerable.'This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence.'The authors warn there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity after natural infection and so the strategy could result in repeated waves of transmission over several years.This would put vulnerable populations at risk for the 'indefinite future' as it would not end the Covid-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics they add.The researchers argue that defining who is vulnerable would be 'complex' while prolonged isolation of large swathes of a population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical'.Additionally the authors say it is still not understood who might suffer from long Covid - when people experience symptoms months after infection.'The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of Covid-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months' the letter concludes.'We cannot afford distractions that undermine an effective response it is essential that we act urgently based on the evidence.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"870;2020-10-14 12:00:00;93;""HERD IMMUNITY APPROACH TO PANDEMIC ''''DANGEROUS FALLACY'''' RESEARCHERS WARN"";""Emma Bowden"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""erd immunity approaches to managing the coronavirus crisis are a 'dangerous fallacy unsupported by the scientific evidence' a group of researchers has warned.Adopting a herd immunity strategy would not end the pandemic but rather result in recurring epidemics according to an open letter signed by 80 international researchers published by The Lancet.The authors argue that any strategy relying on immunity from natural infections of Covid-19 is 'flawed' adding that uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks ill-health and death across a whole population.Instead the letter referred to by its authors as the John Snow Memorandum calls for suppression of the virus until there is an effective vaccine.It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock dismissed herd immunity as 'flawed' without a vaccine telling the Commons it was 'simply not possible' to segregate the old and the vulnerable.The letter's authors acknowledge that lockdowns have had a substantial effect on mental and physical health and harmed the economy leading to 'widespread demoralisation and diminishing trust' among communities.The letter says: 'The arrival of a second wave and the realisation of the challenges ahead has led to renewed interest in a so-called herd immunity approach which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak in the low-risk population while protecting the vulnerable.'Proponents suggest this would lead to the development of infection-acquired population immunity in the low-risk population which will eventually protect the vulnerable.'This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence.'The authors warn there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity after natural infection and so the strategy could result in repeated waves of transmission over several years.This would put vulnerable populations at risk for the 'indefinite future' as it would not end the Covid-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics they add.The researchers argue that defining who is vulnerable would be 'complex' while prolonged isolation of large swathes of a population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical'.Additionally the authors say it is still not understood who might suffer from long Covid - when people experience symptoms months after infection.'The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of Covid-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months' the letter concludes.'We cannot afford distractions that undermine an effective response it is essential that we act urgently based on the evidence.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"871;2020-10-14 12:00:00;93;""HERD IMMUNITY APPROACH TO PANDEMIC ''''DANGEROUS FALLACY'''' RESEARCHERS WARN"";""Emma Bowden"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday Mr Hancock criticised the so-called Great Barrington Declaration which calls for an easing of lockdown measures in a switch of strategy to a herd immunity approach.Mr Hancock said: 'It says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.';Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"986;2020-10-14 12:00:00;94;""A herd immunity approach to tackle Covid-19 is 'morally ethically and..."";""Unspecified"";""Press Association National Newswire"";"""";"""";""But independent crossbencher Lord Patel a former professor of obstetrics and university chancellor told the House of Lords: 'Any policy as suggested by some of abandoning the suppression of the virus and adopting a policy of herd immunity is morally ethically and scientifically flawed.'"";""Kamlesh Patel"";""House of Lords"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"989;2020-10-14 12:00:00;95;""It‚„s a pandemic: go after the virus not the vulnerable"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""As the global struggle to contain Covid-19 continues and pandemic fatigue sets in some are advocating for a so-called natural herd immunity� strategy which they argue can be safely achieved through focused protection�.This concept entails fully reopening societies while shielding� the elderly and people with co-morbidities in order to achieve herd immunity in the absence of a vaccine within six months."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"990;2020-10-14 12:00:00;95;""It‚„s a pandemic: go after the virus not the vulnerable"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""As the global struggle to contain Covid-19 continues and pandemic fatigue sets in some are advocating for a so-called natural herd immunity� strategy which they argue can be safely achieved through focused protection�.This concept entails fully reopening societies while shielding� the elderly and people with co-morbidities in order to achieve herd immunity in the absence of a vaccine within six months."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"991;2020-10-14 12:00:00;95;""It‚„s a pandemic: go after the virus not the vulnerable"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""First herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus with the use of a vaccine not by exposing them to it.For example herd immunity against measles requires about 95 per cent of people to be vaccinated. Once immunised against measles they act as a protective buffer preventing the virus from circulating and infecting the remaining 5 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated.Second we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting. We know from sero-epidemiology studies that less than 10 per cent of the global population has shown evidence of infection. That means the vast majority of people are still susceptible to the SARS-CoV2 virus.To achieve herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2 it is estimated that at least 60 to 70 per cent of the global population “ over 5 billion people “ would need to be infected which in the absence of a vaccine may take years.Furthermore as with other coronaviruses reinfection cannot be ruled out exposing people to disease again and again.Cases of reinfection have already been reported.Third letting the virus spread through populations unchecked would have devastating consequences for communities and health systems. Far too many people would develop severe disease and die hospitals would be overwhelmed with the influx of patients particularly as flu season takes off in the northern hemisphere and communities would be ravaged by the sheer number of people in need of care.We also have no idea how many people will suffer the debilitating impacts of post-Covid syndrome or Long Covid� or for how long. Many people describe suffering from months of persistent fatigue headaches brain fog� and trouble breathing. Other serious conditions from being sick with Covid-19 “ such as physical and cognitive limitations psychiatric problems and issues with the lungs heart and brain “ are being reported.Fourth it is a mistake to believe that the virus only severely impacts older people and those with underlying conditions. Research has shown that mortality increases significantly with age but younger people with no underlying health conditions have developed severe disease and died. At the peak of Italys outbreak up to 15 per cent of all people in intensive care were under 50.Finally how would this theoretical focused protection� play out in the real world? Governments are already encouraged to protect high-risk groups as part of a raft of public health measures that are only effective when applied together. Choosing a single intervention with disregard for the realities of local transmission would be unwise ineffective and deadly.As the WHO Director-General has said it is not a choice between letting the virus run free and shutting down our societies . This virus transmits mainly between close contacts and causes outbreaks that can be controlled by implementing targeted measures.Rather than wasting precious resources discriminating against high-risk groups we should focus on going after the virus.Through robust testing and contact tracing we can know precisely where the virus is circulating and clamp down on it with the tried and tested public health measures we are all now familiar with including isolation of cases and quarantine of contacts.By tailoring interventions to local contexts and targeting disease clusters we can avoid punishing national lockdowns that are blind to variations in community transmission.By informing individuals about how they might protect themselves and their loved ones we can reduce the disease burden. Weve seen this approach succeed in many countries.It is hard work but we have new and better tools than we did nine months ago. For example we have better trained and equipped health workers in many countries better diagnostics and treatment options and digital applications which help with contact tracing and patient information.Governments everywhere must take decisive action to suppress transmission reduce mortality and empower communities to take the action they need to protect themselves.Public health authorities must speak with the communities they serve to understand the barriers and constraints they face and try to resolve them.Governments need to shore up their health systems to enable them to service all health needs and they must invest in developing the diagnostics therapeutics and vaccines that can help us bring this pandemic to a close.There are currently more than 200 vaccine candidates with several in the final stage of clinical trials.We could have limited supplies of an efficacious SARS-CoV2 vaccine available as early as next year. When that happens we can realistically and safely strive for herd immunity.Until then we have to outsmart this virus by understanding where and how it spreads and not giving it a chance to do so."";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"992;2020-10-14 12:00:00;95;""It‚„s a pandemic: go after the virus not the vulnerable"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""First herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus with the use of a vaccine not by exposing them to it.For example herd immunity against measles requires about 95 per cent of people to be vaccinated. Once immunised against measles they act as a protective buffer preventing the virus from circulating and infecting the remaining 5 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated.Second we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting. We know from sero-epidemiology studies that less than 10 per cent of the global population has shown evidence of infection. That means the vast majority of people are still susceptible to the SARS-CoV2 virus.To achieve herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2 it is estimated that at least 60 to 70 per cent of the global population “ over 5 billion people “ would need to be infected which in the absence of a vaccine may take years.Furthermore as with other coronaviruses reinfection cannot be ruled out exposing people to disease again and again.Cases of reinfection have already been reported.Third letting the virus spread through populations unchecked would have devastating consequences for communities and health systems. Far too many people would develop severe disease and die hospitals would be overwhelmed with the influx of patients particularly as flu season takes off in the northern hemisphere and communities would be ravaged by the sheer number of people in need of care.We also have no idea how many people will suffer the debilitating impacts of post-Covid syndrome or Long Covid� or for how long. Many people describe suffering from months of persistent fatigue headaches brain fog� and trouble breathing. Other serious conditions from being sick with Covid-19 “ such as physical and cognitive limitations psychiatric problems and issues with the lungs heart and brain “ are being reported.Fourth it is a mistake to believe that the virus only severely impacts older people and those with underlying conditions. Research has shown that mortality increases significantly with age but younger people with no underlying health conditions have developed severe disease and died. At the peak of Italys outbreak up to 15 per cent of all people in intensive care were under 50.Finally how would this theoretical focused protection� play out in the real world? Governments are already encouraged to protect high-risk groups as part of a raft of public health measures that are only effective when applied together. Choosing a single intervention with disregard for the realities of local transmission would be unwise ineffective and deadly.As the WHO Director-General has said it is not a choice between letting the virus run free and shutting down our societies . This virus transmits mainly between close contacts and causes outbreaks that can be controlled by implementing targeted measures.Rather than wasting precious resources discriminating against high-risk groups we should focus on going after the virus.Through robust testing and contact tracing we can know precisely where the virus is circulating and clamp down on it with the tried and tested public health measures we are all now familiar with including isolation of cases and quarantine of contacts.By tailoring interventions to local contexts and targeting disease clusters we can avoid punishing national lockdowns that are blind to variations in community transmission.By informing individuals about how they might protect themselves and their loved ones we can reduce the disease burden. Weve seen this approach succeed in many countries.It is hard work but we have new and better tools than we did nine months ago. For example we have better trained and equipped health workers in many countries better diagnostics and treatment options and digital applications which help with contact tracing and patient information.Governments everywhere must take decisive action to suppress transmission reduce mortality and empower communities to take the action they need to protect themselves.Public health authorities must speak with the communities they serve to understand the barriers and constraints they face and try to resolve them.Governments need to shore up their health systems to enable them to service all health needs and they must invest in developing the diagnostics therapeutics and vaccines that can help us bring this pandemic to a close.There are currently more than 200 vaccine candidates with several in the final stage of clinical trials.We could have limited supplies of an efficacious SARS-CoV2 vaccine available as early as next year. When that happens we can realistically and safely strive for herd immunity.Until then we have to outsmart this virus by understanding where and how it spreads and not giving it a chance to do so."";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"993;2020-10-14 12:00:00;95;""It‚„s a pandemic: go after the virus not the vulnerable"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""First herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus with the use of a vaccine not by exposing them to it.For example herd immunity against measles requires about 95 per cent of people to be vaccinated. Once immunised against measles they act as a protective buffer preventing the virus from circulating and infecting the remaining 5 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated.Second we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting. We know from sero-epidemiology studies that less than 10 per cent of the global population has shown evidence of infection. That means the vast majority of people are still susceptible to the SARS-CoV2 virus.To achieve herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2 it is estimated that at least 60 to 70 per cent of the global population “ over 5 billion people “ would need to be infected which in the absence of a vaccine may take years.Furthermore as with other coronaviruses reinfection cannot be ruled out exposing people to disease again and again.Cases of reinfection have already been reported.Third letting the virus spread through populations unchecked would have devastating consequences for communities and health systems. Far too many people would develop severe disease and die hospitals would be overwhelmed with the influx of patients particularly as flu season takes off in the northern hemisphere and communities would be ravaged by the sheer number of people in need of care.We also have no idea how many people will suffer the debilitating impacts of post-Covid syndrome or Long Covid� or for how long. Many people describe suffering from months of persistent fatigue headaches brain fog� and trouble breathing. Other serious conditions from being sick with Covid-19 “ such as physical and cognitive limitations psychiatric problems and issues with the lungs heart and brain “ are being reported.Fourth it is a mistake to believe that the virus only severely impacts older people and those with underlying conditions. Research has shown that mortality increases significantly with age but younger people with no underlying health conditions have developed severe disease and died. At the peak of Italys outbreak up to 15 per cent of all people in intensive care were under 50.Finally how would this theoretical focused protection� play out in the real world? Governments are already encouraged to protect high-risk groups as part of a raft of public health measures that are only effective when applied together. Choosing a single intervention with disregard for the realities of local transmission would be unwise ineffective and deadly.As the WHO Director-General has said it is not a choice between letting the virus run free and shutting down our societies . This virus transmits mainly between close contacts and causes outbreaks that can be controlled by implementing targeted measures.Rather than wasting precious resources discriminating against high-risk groups we should focus on going after the virus.Through robust testing and contact tracing we can know precisely where the virus is circulating and clamp down on it with the tried and tested public health measures we are all now familiar with including isolation of cases and quarantine of contacts.By tailoring interventions to local contexts and targeting disease clusters we can avoid punishing national lockdowns that are blind to variations in community transmission.By informing individuals about how they might protect themselves and their loved ones we can reduce the disease burden. Weve seen this approach succeed in many countries.It is hard work but we have new and better tools than we did nine months ago. For example we have better trained and equipped health workers in many countries better diagnostics and treatment options and digital applications which help with contact tracing and patient information.Governments everywhere must take decisive action to suppress transmission reduce mortality and empower communities to take the action they need to protect themselves.Public health authorities must speak with the communities they serve to understand the barriers and constraints they face and try to resolve them.Governments need to shore up their health systems to enable them to service all health needs and they must invest in developing the diagnostics therapeutics and vaccines that can help us bring this pandemic to a close.There are currently more than 200 vaccine candidates with several in the final stage of clinical trials.We could have limited supplies of an efficacious SARS-CoV2 vaccine available as early as next year. When that happens we can realistically and safely strive for herd immunity.Until then we have to outsmart this virus by understanding where and how it spreads and not giving it a chance to do so."";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"994;2020-10-14 12:00:00;95;""It‚„s a pandemic: go after the virus not the vulnerable"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""First herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus with the use of a vaccine not by exposing them to it.For example herd immunity against measles requires about 95 per cent of people to be vaccinated. Once immunised against measles they act as a protective buffer preventing the virus from circulating and infecting the remaining 5 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated.Second we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting. We know from sero-epidemiology studies that less than 10 per cent of the global population has shown evidence of infection. That means the vast majority of people are still susceptible to the SARS-CoV2 virus.To achieve herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2 it is estimated that at least 60 to 70 per cent of the global population “ over 5 billion people “ would need to be infected which in the absence of a vaccine may take years.Furthermore as with other coronaviruses reinfection cannot be ruled out exposing people to disease again and again.Cases of reinfection have already been reported.Third letting the virus spread through populations unchecked would have devastating consequences for communities and health systems. Far too many people would develop severe disease and die hospitals would be overwhelmed with the influx of patients particularly as flu season takes off in the northern hemisphere and communities would be ravaged by the sheer number of people in need of care.We also have no idea how many people will suffer the debilitating impacts of post-Covid syndrome or Long Covid� or for how long. Many people describe suffering from months of persistent fatigue headaches brain fog� and trouble breathing. Other serious conditions from being sick with Covid-19 “ such as physical and cognitive limitations psychiatric problems and issues with the lungs heart and brain “ are being reported.Fourth it is a mistake to believe that the virus only severely impacts older people and those with underlying conditions. Research has shown that mortality increases significantly with age but younger people with no underlying health conditions have developed severe disease and died. At the peak of Italys outbreak up to 15 per cent of all people in intensive care were under 50.Finally how would this theoretical focused protection� play out in the real world? Governments are already encouraged to protect high-risk groups as part of a raft of public health measures that are only effective when applied together. Choosing a single intervention with disregard for the realities of local transmission would be unwise ineffective and deadly.As the WHO Director-General has said it is not a choice between letting the virus run free and shutting down our societies . This virus transmits mainly between close contacts and causes outbreaks that can be controlled by implementing targeted measures.Rather than wasting precious resources discriminating against high-risk groups we should focus on going after the virus.Through robust testing and contact tracing we can know precisely where the virus is circulating and clamp down on it with the tried and tested public health measures we are all now familiar with including isolation of cases and quarantine of contacts.By tailoring interventions to local contexts and targeting disease clusters we can avoid punishing national lockdowns that are blind to variations in community transmission.By informing individuals about how they might protect themselves and their loved ones we can reduce the disease burden. Weve seen this approach succeed in many countries.It is hard work but we have new and better tools than we did nine months ago. For example we have better trained and equipped health workers in many countries better diagnostics and treatment options and digital applications which help with contact tracing and patient information.Governments everywhere must take decisive action to suppress transmission reduce mortality and empower communities to take the action they need to protect themselves.Public health authorities must speak with the communities they serve to understand the barriers and constraints they face and try to resolve them.Governments need to shore up their health systems to enable them to service all health needs and they must invest in developing the diagnostics therapeutics and vaccines that can help us bring this pandemic to a close.There are currently more than 200 vaccine candidates with several in the final stage of clinical trials.We could have limited supplies of an efficacious SARS-CoV2 vaccine available as early as next year. When that happens we can realistically and safely strive for herd immunity.Until then we have to outsmart this virus by understanding where and how it spreads and not giving it a chance to do so."";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"995;2020-10-14 12:00:00;96;""Health Secretary Matt Hancock ''''lacks basic understanding of coronavirus'''' say scientists"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Matt Hancock accused of breaking 10pm curfew after 'tasteless' Covid joke claimed herd immunity is a 'flawed goal' which has caused backlash by world-leadingvirus experts according to The Sun."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"996;2020-10-14 12:00:00;96;""Health Secretary Matt Hancock ''''lacks basic understanding of coronavirus'''' say scientists"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""However after the petition surfaced Mr Hancock slammed their work and told the House of Commons that it was 'not true' herd immunity can be reached by enough Brits catching the deadly bug.The minister also said it was 'not possible' to 'segregate the old and vulnerable' in a bid to to shield them from coronavirus."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"997;2020-10-14 12:00:00;96;""Health Secretary Matt Hancock ''''lacks basic understanding of coronavirus'''' say scientists"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""However after the petition surfaced Mr Hancock slammed their work and told the House of Commons that it was 'not true' herd immunity can be reached by enough Brits catching the deadly bug.The minister also said it was 'not possible' to 'segregate the old and vulnerable' in a bid to to shield them from coronavirus."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"998;2020-10-14 12:00:00;96;""Health Secretary Matt Hancock ''''lacks basic understanding of coronavirus'''' say scientists"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""But Mr Hancock says the petition is based upon two claims that are 'emphatically false.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"999;2020-10-14 12:00:00;96;""Health Secretary Matt Hancock ''''lacks basic understanding of coronavirus'''' say scientists"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""peaking to Mail Online they said: 'Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The duo also responded to Mr Hancock's claims about herd immunity.They said: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza. The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year. While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Martin Kulldorff"";""Harvard University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1000;2020-10-14 12:00:00;96;""Health Secretary Matt Hancock ''''lacks basic understanding of coronavirus'''' say scientists"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""peaking to Mail Online they said: 'Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The duo also responded to Mr Hancock's claims about herd immunity.They said: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza. The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year. While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Martin Kulldorff"";""Harvard University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1001;2020-10-14 12:00:00;96;""Health Secretary Matt Hancock ''''lacks basic understanding of coronavirus'''' say scientists"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""peaking to Mail Online they said: 'Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The duo also responded to Mr Hancock's claims about herd immunity.They said: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza. The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year. While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1002;2020-10-14 12:00:00;96;""Health Secretary Matt Hancock ''''lacks basic understanding of coronavirus'''' say scientists"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""peaking to Mail Online they said: 'Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The duo also responded to Mr Hancock's claims about herd immunity.They said: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza. The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year. While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1003;2020-10-14 12:00:00;97;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""after claiming herd immunity is a flawed goal�;Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1004;2020-10-14 12:00:00;97;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""But Mr Hancock criticised their work and told the Commons it was not true� that herd immunity can be reached by enough Brits catching Covid-19.He also said it is simply not possible� to segregate the old the vulnerable� to protect them from the killer bug."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1005;2020-10-14 12:00:00;97;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""But Mr Hancock criticised their work and told the Commons it was not true� that herd immunity can be reached by enough Brits catching Covid-19.He also said it is simply not possible� to segregate the old the vulnerable� to protect them from the killer bug."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"1006;2020-10-14 12:00:00;97;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""They said it is shocking� that Mr Hancock does not have a basic understanding� of the virus.The doctors told MailOnline : Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The pair also addressed Mr Hancocks claims that herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine� and that we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it�.They replied: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza.The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year.While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Martin Kulldorff"";""Harvard University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1007;2020-10-14 12:00:00;97;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""They said it is shocking� that Mr Hancock does not have a basic understanding� of the virus.The doctors told MailOnline : Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The pair also addressed Mr Hancocks claims that herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine� and that we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it�.They replied: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza.The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year.While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Martin Kulldorff"";""Harvard University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1008;2020-10-14 12:00:00;97;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""They said it is shocking� that Mr Hancock does not have a basic understanding� of the virus.The doctors told MailOnline : Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The pair also addressed Mr Hancocks claims that herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine� and that we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it�.They replied: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza.The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year.While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1009;2020-10-14 12:00:00;97;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""They said it is shocking� that Mr Hancock does not have a basic understanding� of the virus.The doctors told MailOnline : Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The pair also addressed Mr Hancocks claims that herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine� and that we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it�.They replied: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza.The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year.While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1010;2020-10-14 12:00:00;98;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""after claiming herd immunity is a flawed goal�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1011;2020-10-14 12:00:00;98;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""But Mr Hancock criticised their work and told the Commons it was not true� that herd immunity can be reached by enough Brits catching Covid-19.He also said it is simply not possible� to segregate the old the vulnerable� to protect them from the killer bug."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1012;2020-10-14 12:00:00;98;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""But Mr Hancock criticised their work and told the Commons it was not true� that herd immunity can be reached by enough Brits catching Covid-19.He also said it is simply not possible� to segregate the old the vulnerable� to protect them from the killer bug."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"1013;2020-10-14 12:00:00;98;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Co-authors Dr Kulldorff from Harvard University and Stanfords Dr Bhattacharya said the Health Secretary made inaccurate statements� in the Commons.COVID ROWThey said it is shocking� that Mr Hancock does not have a basic understanding� of the virus.The doctors told MailOnline : Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The pair also addressed Mr Hancocks claims that herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine� and that we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it�.They replied: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza.The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year.While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Martin Kulldorff"";""Harvard University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"1014;2020-10-14 12:00:00;98;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Co-authors Dr Kulldorff from Harvard University and Stanfords Dr Bhattacharya said the Health Secretary made inaccurate statements� in the Commons.COVID ROWThey said it is shocking� that Mr Hancock does not have a basic understanding� of the virus.The doctors told MailOnline : Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The pair also addressed Mr Hancocks claims that herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine� and that we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it�.They replied: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza.The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year.While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Martin Kulldorff"";""Harvard University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1015;2020-10-14 12:00:00;98;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Co-authors Dr Kulldorff from Harvard University and Stanfords Dr Bhattacharya said the Health Secretary made inaccurate statements� in the Commons.COVID ROWThey said it is shocking� that Mr Hancock does not have a basic understanding� of the virus.The doctors told MailOnline : Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The pair also addressed Mr Hancocks claims that herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine� and that we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it�.They replied: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza.The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year.While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1016;2020-10-14 12:00:00;98;""BUG FEARS Matt Hancock ‚lacks basic understanding‚„ of coronavirus after claiming herd immunity is a ‚flawed goal‚„ say scientists"";""Abe Hawken"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Co-authors Dr Kulldorff from Harvard University and Stanfords Dr Bhattacharya said the Health Secretary made inaccurate statements� in the Commons.COVID ROWThey said it is shocking� that Mr Hancock does not have a basic understanding� of the virus.The doctors told MailOnline : Matt Hancock made inaccurate statements about herd immunity and the Great Barrington Declaration.After living with this terrible pandemic for eight months it is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.With the following clarifications we hope he can improve his pandemic job performance.�The pair also addressed Mr Hancocks claims that herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine� and that we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it�.They replied: Of course there is herd immunity for influenza and measles.Before vaccines measles and other childhood diseases outbreaks ended with herd immunity before everyone got sick.As new children were born the number of susceptible people rose leading to a new outbreak some years later.The same will happen with Covid-19. In the future most will catch it as children for whom it is a mild disease and less dangerous than influenza.The reason we see repeated annual outbreaks of influenza despite herd immunity is because a new form of influenza arrives every year.While Covid-19 reinfection can occur it is so rare that it does not affect herd immunity.Even if immunity wanes over time which is plausible that will not happen completely nor simultaneously for everyone so there will always be enough immunity around to avoid a repeat of this spring.�"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"407;2020-10-14 12:00:00;99;""HERD immunity against Covid-19 [...]"";""Unspecified"";""Daily Star"";"""";"""";""HERD immunity against Covid-19 is a 'flawed goal without a vaccine as the loss of life would be simply too great' according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"410;2020-10-14 12:00:00;100;""Who said it"";""Unspecified"";""The Press and Journal"";"""";"""";""Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it. Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we cant� - Health Secretary Matt Hancock"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"411;2020-10-14 12:00:00;101;""THEY SAID WHAT?"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it. Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't' - Health Secretary Matt Hancock"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"412;2020-10-14 12:00:00;102;""Group of academics backing a ''herd immunity'' approach"";""Unspecified"";""Loughborough Echo"";"""";"""";""The Great Barrington declaration said: 'As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection. 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.'Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all - including the vulnerable - falls.'We know all populations will eventually reach herd immunity - the point at which the rate of new infections is stable - and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.'Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold.'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed.'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport should resume.'People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"413;2020-10-14 12:00:00;102;""Group of academics backing a ''herd immunity'' approach"";""Unspecified"";""Loughborough Echo"";"""";"""";""The Great Barrington declaration said: 'As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection. 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.'Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all - including the vulnerable - falls.'We know all populations will eventually reach herd immunity - the point at which the rate of new infections is stable - and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.'Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold.'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed.'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport should resume.'People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"414;2020-10-14 12:00:00;102;""Group of academics backing a ''herd immunity'' approach"";""Unspecified"";""Loughborough Echo"";"""";"""";""The Great Barrington declaration said: 'As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection. 'Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.'The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - leading to greater excess mortality in years to come with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden.'Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.'Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.'We know vulnerability to death from Covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.'Indeed for children Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms including influenza.'As immunity builds in the population the risk of infection to all - including the vulnerable - falls.'We know all populations will eventually reach herd immunity - the point at which the rate of new infections is stable - and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine.'Our goal should therefore be to minimise mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.'The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal.'Simple hygiene measures such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practised by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold.'Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.Extracurricular activities such as sports should be resumed.'Young low-risk adults should work normally rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts music sport should resume.'People who are more at risk may participate if they wish while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.'"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"415;2020-10-14 12:00:00;102;""Group of academics backing a ''herd immunity'' approach"";""Unspecified"";""Loughborough Echo"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve.'Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection.'However we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability. 'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"416;2020-10-14 12:00:00;102;""Group of academics backing a ''herd immunity'' approach"";""Unspecified"";""Loughborough Echo"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve.'Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection.'However we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability. 'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"417;2020-10-14 12:00:00;102;""Group of academics backing a ''herd immunity'' approach"";""Unspecified"";""Loughborough Echo"";"""";"""";""Professor Jeremy Rossman honorary senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent said: 'Unfortunately this declaration ignores three critical aspects that could result in significant impacts to health and lives.'First we still do not know if herd immunity is possible to achieve.'Herd immunity relies on lasting immunological protection from coronavirus re-infection.'However we have heard many recent cases of re-infection occurring and some research suggests protective antibody responses may decay rapidly.'Second the declaration focuses only on the risk of death from Covid-19 but ignores the growing awareness of long Covid that many healthy young adults with mild infections are experiencing protracted symptoms and long-term disability. 'Third countries that have forgone lockdown restrictions in favour of personal responsibility and focused protection of the elderly such as Sweden were not able to successfully protect the vulnerable population.'"";""Jeremy Rossman"";""University of Kent"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"418;2020-10-14 12:00:00;102;""Group of academics backing a ''herd immunity'' approach"";""Unspecified"";""Loughborough Echo"";"""";"""";""'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme - one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver."";""James Naismith"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"419;2020-10-14 12:00:00;102;""Group of academics backing a ''herd immunity'' approach"";""Unspecified"";""Loughborough Echo"";"""";"""";""'The declaration risks the same error we have seen with the UK's track trace and isolate scheme - one can promise a scheme that is very easy to describe but is hard to deliver."";""James Naismith"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"408;2020-10-14 12:00:00;103;""Hancock scorns herd immunity"";""Lewis McKenzie"";""Daily Record"";"""";"""";""He added: 'First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity. This is simply not possible.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"409;2020-10-14 12:00:00;103;""Hancock scorns herd immunity"";""Lewis McKenzie"";""Daily Record"";"""";"""";""He added: 'First it says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'The second central claim is that we can segregate the old and the vulnerable on our way to herd immunity. This is simply not possible.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"950;2020-10-15 12:00:00;80;""Sweden hasn''t suffered a ''second wave'' of Covid-19 because it has some immunity and kept its messaging clear and consistent - unlike the..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The letter says: 'The arrival of a second wave and the realisation of the challenges ahead has led to renewed interest in a so-called herd immunity approach which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak in the low-risk population while protecting the vulnerable.'Proponents suggest this would lead to the development of infection-acquired population immunity in the low-risk population which will eventually protect the vulnerable.                                                                                                                                                                                         'This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence.' The authors warn there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity after natural infection and so the strategy could result in repeated waves of transmission over several years.This would put vulnerable populations at risk for the 'indefinite future' as it would not end the Covid-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics they add.The researchers argue that defining who is vulnerable would be 'complex' while prolonged isolation of large swathes of a population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical'.Additionally the authors say it is still not understood who might suffer from long Covid “ when people experience symptoms months after infection.'The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of Covid-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months' the letter concludes."";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"951;2020-10-15 12:00:00;80;""Sweden hasn''t suffered a ''second wave'' of Covid-19 because it has some immunity and kept its messaging clear and consistent - unlike the..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The letter says: 'The arrival of a second wave and the realisation of the challenges ahead has led to renewed interest in a so-called herd immunity approach which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak in the low-risk population while protecting the vulnerable.'Proponents suggest this would lead to the development of infection-acquired population immunity in the low-risk population which will eventually protect the vulnerable.                                                                                                                                                                                         'This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence.' The authors warn there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity after natural infection and so the strategy could result in repeated waves of transmission over several years.This would put vulnerable populations at risk for the 'indefinite future' as it would not end the Covid-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics they add.The researchers argue that defining who is vulnerable would be 'complex' while prolonged isolation of large swathes of a population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical'.Additionally the authors say it is still not understood who might suffer from long Covid “ when people experience symptoms months after infection.'The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of Covid-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months' the letter concludes."";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"952;2020-10-15 12:00:00;80;""Sweden hasn''t suffered a ''second wave'' of Covid-19 because it has some immunity and kept its messaging clear and consistent - unlike the..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The letter says: 'The arrival of a second wave and the realisation of the challenges ahead has led to renewed interest in a so-called herd immunity approach which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak in the low-risk population while protecting the vulnerable.'Proponents suggest this would lead to the development of infection-acquired population immunity in the low-risk population which will eventually protect the vulnerable.                                                                                                                                                                                         'This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence.' The authors warn there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity after natural infection and so the strategy could result in repeated waves of transmission over several years.This would put vulnerable populations at risk for the 'indefinite future' as it would not end the Covid-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics they add.The researchers argue that defining who is vulnerable would be 'complex' while prolonged isolation of large swathes of a population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical'.Additionally the authors say it is still not understood who might suffer from long Covid “ when people experience symptoms months after infection.'The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of Covid-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months' the letter concludes."";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"949;2020-10-15 12:00:00;80;""Sweden hasn''t suffered a ''second wave'' of Covid-19 because it has some immunity and kept its messaging clear and consistent - unlike the..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock dismissed herd immunity as 'flawed' without a vaccine telling the Commons it was 'simply not possible' to segregate the old and the vulnerable."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"953;2020-10-15 12:00:00;80;""Sweden hasn''t suffered a ''second wave'' of Covid-19 because it has some immunity and kept its messaging clear and consistent - unlike the..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock dismissed herd immunity as 'flawed' without a vaccine telling the Commons it was 'simply not possible' to segregate the old and the vulnerable."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"954;2020-10-15 12:00:00;80;""Sweden hasn''t suffered a ''second wave'' of Covid-19 because it has some immunity and kept its messaging clear and consistent - unlike the..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock said: 'It says that if enough people get Covid we will reach herd immunity. This is not true.'Many infectious diseases never reach herd immunity like measles and malaria and Aids and flu and with increasing evidence of reinfection we should have no confidence that we would ever reach herd immunity to Covid even if everyone caught it.'Herd immunity is a flawed goal without a vaccine even if we could get to it which we can't.'"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"955;2020-10-15 12:00:00;80;""Sweden hasn''t suffered a ''second wave'' of Covid-19 because it has some immunity and kept its messaging clear and consistent - unlike the..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'Also of course since we know we've had quite a lot of transmission in Sweden there is immunity in some individuals and that may slow it down this period especially in some areas there was more transmission.'"";""Anders Tegnell"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"956;2020-10-15 12:00:00;80;""Sweden hasn''t suffered a ''second wave'' of Covid-19 because it has some immunity and kept its messaging clear and consistent - unlike the..."";""Vanessa Chalmers"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""He said: 'There's been discussion whether Sweden is aiming for some protection through herd immunity. That's never been part of our policy.'From the start we've been trying to make sure our hospitals can manage the situation and that we protect our elderly and vulnerable. That's been the main goal. 'But during part of our pandemic so far in Sweden we have had a lot of transmission. Now of course that transmission itself of course generates immunity.'But no one really knows how much is needed for herd immunity and how long immunity lasts. So it wouldn't have been a very clever goal.'We have some immunity as a consequence of how we have managed. But it's not been a goal itself.'"";""Anders Wallensten"";""Swedish Government"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"957;2020-10-15 12:00:00;81;""Boris urged to sack Hancock as Health Secretary''s ''I know best attitude'' under fire - poll"";""Laura O''Callaghan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock is facing pressure to step down from his ministerial post from renowned oncologist and vaccine researcher Dr Angus Dalgleish. The professor of oncology at St Georges Hospital in London said the health secretary has had nine long months to educate himself out of his ignorance of the scientific implications of the COVID-19 pandemic� as he blasted his dismissal of the possibility of herd immunity.Dr Dalgleish said he wants to see the Prime Minister sack Mr Hancock over his apparent inability to assess the medical evidence that is mounting against lockdowns�."";""Angus Dalgleish"";""St. George's Hospital"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"958;2020-10-15 12:00:00;81;""Boris urged to sack Hancock as Health Secretary''s ''I know best attitude'' under fire - poll"";""Laura O''Callaghan"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Mr Hancock is facing pressure to step down from his ministerial post from renowned oncologist and vaccine researcher Dr Angus Dalgleish. The professor of oncology at St Georges Hospital in London said the health secretary has had nine long months to educate himself out of his ignorance of the scientific implications of the COVID-19 pandemic� as he blasted his dismissal of the possibility of herd immunity.Dr Dalgleish said he wants to see the Prime Minister sack Mr Hancock over his apparent inability to assess the medical evidence that is mounting against lockdowns�."";""Angus Dalgleish"";""St. George's Hospital"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"397;2020-10-15 12:00:00;82;""Coronavirus latest: Experts trash plea for herd immunity"";""Hanna Geissler"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence. Uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks significant morbidity and mortality.� The global experts include professors Susan Michie of the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies Anthony Costello ex-World Health Organisation director Trisha Greenhalgh of the University of Oxford and Devi Sridhar from Edinburgh.Related articlesThe experts claim isolating large swathes of the population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical' and such ideas had failed before.They said it would be hard to decide who should be exposed to risk with up to 30 percent of people in some parts of the world likely to be seen as vulnerable.When the virus spread it would likely overwhelm healthcare.To find out coronavirus levels in your area please fill in your postcode below.var iframe = document.getElementById var pub = '' if [1]) { pub = window.location.hostname.split[1] } iframe.src += '&theme=' + pub iframe.onload = function { iFrameResize }Their John Snow Memorandum warned: 'Such a strategy would not end the Covid-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics...the case with numerous infectious diseases before the advent of vaccination.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"398;2020-10-15 12:00:00;82;""Coronavirus latest: Experts trash plea for herd immunity"";""Hanna Geissler"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence. Uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks significant morbidity and mortality.� The global experts include professors Susan Michie of the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies Anthony Costello ex-World Health Organisation director Trisha Greenhalgh of the University of Oxford and Devi Sridhar from Edinburgh.Related articlesThe experts claim isolating large swathes of the population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical' and such ideas had failed before.They said it would be hard to decide who should be exposed to risk with up to 30 percent of people in some parts of the world likely to be seen as vulnerable.When the virus spread it would likely overwhelm healthcare.To find out coronavirus levels in your area please fill in your postcode below.var iframe = document.getElementById var pub = '' if [1]) { pub = window.location.hostname.split[1] } iframe.src += '&theme=' + pub iframe.onload = function { iFrameResize }Their John Snow Memorandum warned: 'Such a strategy would not end the Covid-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics...the case with numerous infectious diseases before the advent of vaccination.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"959;2020-10-15 12:00:00;83;""''Act now on lockdown'' -Birmingham scientist calls for urgent restrictions"";""Jane Haynes"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The signatories condemn a 'herd immunity' approach as 'a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence'."";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"960;2020-10-15 12:00:00;83;""''Act now on lockdown'' -Birmingham scientist calls for urgent restrictions"";""Jane Haynes"";""birminghammail.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The scientists said: 'Effective measures that suppress and control transmission need to be implemented widely and they must be supported by financial and social programmes that encourage community responses and address the inequities that have been amplified by the pandemic.'Continuing restrictions will probably be required in the short term to reduce transmission and fix ineffective pandemic response systems in order to prevent future lockdowns.' And they say the purpose of restrictions is to 'effectively suppress SARS-CoV-2 infections to low levels that allow rapid detection of localised outbreaks and rapid response through efficient and comprehensive find test trace isolate and support systems so life can return to near-normal without the need for generalised restrictions.''Protecting our economies is inextricably tied to controlling COVID-19. We must protect our workforce and avoid long-term uncertainty.' They end: 'We cannot afford distractions that undermine an effective response it is essential that we act urgently based on the evidence.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"399;2020-10-15 12:00:00;84;""GMB''s Dr Hilary warns Covid-19 death rate will sharply rise in next two weeks"";""Verity Sulway"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Only a few people have been exposed to Covid-19 so far so herd immunity is not something we can rely on we don't know if it exists at all we don't know how long it lasts if it does exist' he said.'If we did rely on it it would be a massive dangerous experiment... It means we failed to react.' Speaking about the three-tier system Dr Hilary called for a full national lockdown.'What happens in one region tends to be followed by what happens everywhere else this is a national virus it isn't favouring Liverpool or Manchester the more people meet up the more it spreads' he said.'We are seeing rising numbers around the country the south is just behind the north. 'It is the inverse to what happened earlier in the year.'If we are going to go into lockdown I think it should be a national one get the numbers down get the NHS prepared increased capacity in intensive care we can do a lot of planning now that will help in the future."";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"863;2020-10-15 12:00:00;86;""Matt a duffer - experts"";""Unspecified"";""Daily Star"";"""";"""";""The Health Secretary had claimed herd immunity is a 'flawed goal' after virus experts called for Covid to be allowed to spread among the young while old and vulnerable are protected."";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"1282;2020-10-15 12:00:00;86;""Matt a duffer - experts"";""Unspecified"";""Daily Star"";"""";"""";""They said: 'It is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.'"";""Martin Kulldorff"";""Harvard University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"1283;2020-10-15 12:00:00;86;""Matt a duffer - experts"";""Unspecified"";""Daily Star"";"""";"""";""They said: 'It is shocking that the Health Secretary does not have a basic understanding of infectious disease epidemiology.'"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"400;2020-10-15 12:00:00;87;""Experts trash plea for herd immunity"";""Hanna Geissler"";""The Daily Express"";"""";"""";""They said it was understandable that restrictions had fuelled interest in it but added: 'This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence. Uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks significant morbidity and mortality.'The global experts include professors Susan Michie pictured of the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies Anthony Costello ex-World Health Organisation director Trisha Greenhalgh of the University of Oxford andDevi Sridhar from Edinburgh. The experts claim isolating large swathes of the population is 'practically impossible and highly unethical' and such ideas had failed before.They said it would be hard to decide who should be exposed to risk with up to 30 per cent of people in some parts of the world likely to be seen as vulnerable. When the virus spread it would likely overwhelm healthcare.Their John Snow Memorandum warned: 'Such a strategy would not end the Covid-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics...the case with numerous infectious diseases before the advent of vaccination.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"401;2020-10-15 12:00:00;88;""IF HERD IMMUNITY''''S WRONG WHY DID VALLANCE TALK IT UP IN MARCH?"";""Ben Spencer"";""Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""But Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said on March 13: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"402;2020-10-15 12:00:00;88;""IF HERD IMMUNITY''''S WRONG WHY DID VALLANCE TALK IT UP IN MARCH?"";""Ben Spencer"";""Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""But Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said on March 13: 'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.'"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"403;2020-10-15 12:00:00;89;""Herd immunity is ''unproven and dangerous''"";""Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Theywrote: 'The arrival of a second wave and the realisation of the challenges ahead has led to renewed interest in a so-called herd immunity approach which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak in the lowrisk population while protecting the vulnerable. Proponents suggest this would lead to the development of infection- acquired population immunity in the low-risk population which will eventually protect the vulnerable. This is a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence.'"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"404;2020-10-15 12:00:00;89;""Herd immunity is ''unproven and dangerous''"";""Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""That document which has thousands of signatories and whose co-ordinators included Sunetra Gupta of Oxford University raised 'grave concerns' about the impact of lockdown policies on health.It called for 'focused protection' allowing those 'who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those at highest risk'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"405;2020-10-15 12:00:00;89;""Herd immunity is ''unproven and dangerous''"";""Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""That document which has thousands of signatories and whose co-ordinators included Sunetra Gupta of Oxford University raised 'grave concerns' about the impact of lockdown policies on health.It called for 'focused protection' allowing those 'who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those at highest risk'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"406;2020-10-15 12:00:00;90;""Alert on herd immunity"";""Unspecified"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Eighty experts have written to The Lancet arguing that the herd immunity approach to the coronavirus is a 'dangerous fallacy' that is 'unsupported by scientific evidence'.They said it was critical to act decisively and urgently and called for measures that suppress and control transmission supported by financial and social programmes to address 'inequities that have been amplified by the pandemic'.The signatories include Charles Swanton of the Crick Institute Trisha Greenhalgh of Oxford University and Devi Sridhar of the University of Edinburgh. Their letterrefers to 'renewed interest in a so-called herd immunity approach which suggests allowing a large uncontrolled outbreak in the low-risk population while protecting the vulnerable. They say that there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity to Sars-Cov-2 after natural infection. Instead they say waning immunity as a result of natural infection could result in repeated waves of transmission over several years and put vulnerable populations at risk indefinitely."";""The John Snow Declaration"";""The John Snow Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"395;2020-10-16 12:00:00;78;""Hoping for herd immunity to tackle Covid-19 is ''''ethically problematic''''"";""Unspecified"";""Eastern Eye"";"""";"""";""'Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it' Tedros said.'Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak let alone a pandemic' he insisted.Covid-19 has killed well over one million people and infected more than 37.5 million since it first surfaced in China late last year.Relying on naturally obtaining herd immunity in such a situation would be 'scientifically and ethically problematic' Tedros said.'Allowing a dangerous virus that we don't fully understand to run free is simply unethical. It's not an option.'"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"396;2020-10-16 12:00:00;78;""Hoping for herd immunity to tackle Covid-19 is ''''ethically problematic''''"";""Unspecified"";""Eastern Eye"";"""";"""";""Tedros also stressed the many long-term health problems of infection which researchers are only just beginning to understand.And he pointed out that it has been estimated that less than 10 per cent of the population in most countries are believed to have contracted the disease.'The vast majority of people in most countries remain susceptible to this virus' he said.'Letting the virus circulate unchecked therefore means allowing unnecessary infections suffering and death.'"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"835;2020-10-16 12:00:00;79;""The pros and cons explained: Which strategy to combat coronavirus would work best in Norfolk and Waveney?"";""Thomas Chapman"";""Eastern Daily Press"";"""";"""";""He said: We want to ... allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this to help with the whole population response which would help everybody.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"836;2020-10-16 12:00:00;79;""The pros and cons explained: Which strategy to combat coronavirus would work best in Norfolk and Waveney?"";""Thomas Chapman"";""Eastern Daily Press"";"""";"""";""He said: We want to ... allow enough of us who are going to get mild illness to become immune to this to help with the whole population response which would help everybody.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"948;2020-10-16 12:00:00;79;""The pros and cons explained: Which strategy to combat coronavirus would work best in Norfolk and Waveney?"";""Thomas Chapman"";""Eastern Daily Press"";"""";"""";""Tedros Ghebreyesus ruled out such a response due to a lack of scientific evidence and ethical issues.Letting Covid-19 circulate unchecked therefore means allowing unnecessary infections suffering and death� he said.Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it. Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak let alone a pandemic.�"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"1284;2020-10-16 12:00:00;79;""The pros and cons explained: Which strategy to combat coronavirus would work best in Norfolk and Waveney?"";""Thomas Chapman"";""Eastern Daily Press"";"""";"""";""Tedros Ghebreyesus ruled out such a response due to a lack of scientific evidence and ethical issues.Letting Covid-19 circulate unchecked therefore means allowing unnecessary infections suffering and death� he said.Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus not by exposing them to it. Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak let alone a pandemic.�"";""Tedros Adhanom Ghesbreyesus"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"925;2020-10-17 12:00:00;74;""I''ve crunched the numbers and a herd immunity strategy would lead to a lot of deaths"";""Neil O''Brien"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""The Telegraph Online © 2020. Telegraph Media Group Ltd.It sounds tempting to get younger people back to normal but shielding the vulnerable would be a monumental undertakingA couple of MPs have recently advocated the ideas in the Great Barrington Declaration�. Its the plan that we should end restrictions get back to normal and build up herd immunity among working age people while isolating pensioners and other vulnerable people for six months or so as the virus spreads.It sounds tempting to get younger people back to normal. Could it be workable? Ive been trying to crunch the numbers about what it would mean in practice.There are about 12 million people aged 65 or over in the UK. But many pensioners live with younger people and theres 14.8 million people living in households with someone of pension age.Additionally in England alone theres 2.2 million ill patients on the Shielding List. Though some overlap with the group of pensioners above some dont and they too have others living with them.So wed be looking at 16 to 17 million people going through 6 months of full isolation while we let the virus work through the rest of us.Trying to isolate and care for all these people while the virus reached a climax would be a monumental undertaking. Its not clear how wed safely supply them with food as the virus spiked.How many people would likely die on the way to herd immunity? Well although younger people are less likely to die of Covid-19 some do and the isolation of old and ill people could never be complete: some will have to go to hospital or see carers or live in care homes or the young people living with them will not fully isolate and theyll get it.About eight per cent of people have had the virus so far (call it 10 per cent to be generous) and on the common assumption that weve need to get to 60 per cent for herd immunity to work wed need around a further 50 per cent of the younger population to get it.If we look at mortality rates by age and combine them with the age profile of the UK then if half of younger people got it and only five per cent of pensioners that would mean around 90000 deaths.But if isolation was not so good and 15 per cent of pensioners got it then around 175000 people would die of it.Thats a lot of deaths. But thats still assuming that healthcare is not overwhelmed and so all those who needed treatment for Covid could still be able to get it. Itsalso assuming there are no non-coronavirus deaths caused by the NHS being overwhelmed. Sadly both those assumptions are unlikely.If we take data on the proportion of those with coronavirus who end up in hospital by age group and we again assume that 50 per cent of younger people get the virus plus five to 15 per cent of pensioners then we should expect between 860000 and around 1.1 million hospitalisations.Given the way the virus grows like compound interest without interventions those hospitalisations would likely come at roughly the same time in a spike.In England there are 4123 adult critical care beds (up from 3550 in 2010). Not all those hospitalised need critical care but even a small proportion of hundreds of thousands of people into 4000 beds doesnt go. Liverpools main hospital is using 95 per cent of its intensive care capacity already.So even a very very small chunk of the expected hospitalisation spike would totally overwhelm the NHS like a tidal wave over a tiny sandcastle.That means we should add to the directly-caused deaths an additional number: more covid patients would die because they wouldnt be able to get treatments andmore patients with other diseases would die too.To want to go with the plan set out in the Barrington Declaration youd have to be 100 per cent sure than none of the three better solutions under development will arrive: no vaccine no mass rapid testing and no medical improvements that mean people who get the virus dont die of it. But actually it looks increasingly likely that several of these solutions will arrive next year.What is the track record of the people behind the Declaration? One of its lead authors predicted in May: I think that the epidemic has largely come and is on its way out in this country.� She said the decline in cases was due to the build-up of immunity.� She was wrong. Thats important because the same reason they wrongly thought it was all over in the summer is the reason they think it will work now.No countries are currently following the strategy suggested in the Great Barrington Declaration .Some people talk about Sweden. Sweden has favourable demographics to get off lightly: more people live alone than anywhere else and the country is sparsely populated. Nonetheless the death rate there has been ten times higher than their similar neighbours in Norway and Finland. Its not been a success and Sweden now has quite a lot of restrictions in place too.Having crunched the numbers I conclude the Declaration isnt a viable solution. The countries that are doing best have followed completely different approaches. We should learn from them rather than embark on a route which would see the NHS overwhelmed and would be likely to lead to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths."";""Neil O'Brien"";""House of Commons"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"926;2020-10-17 12:00:00;74;""I''ve crunched the numbers and a herd immunity strategy would lead to a lot of deaths"";""Neil O''Brien"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""The Telegraph Online © 2020. Telegraph Media Group Ltd.It sounds tempting to get younger people back to normal but shielding the vulnerable would be a monumental undertakingA couple of MPs have recently advocated the ideas in the Great Barrington Declaration�. Its the plan that we should end restrictions get back to normal and build up herd immunity among working age people while isolating pensioners and other vulnerable people for six months or so as the virus spreads.It sounds tempting to get younger people back to normal. Could it be workable? Ive been trying to crunch the numbers about what it would mean in practice.There are about 12 million people aged 65 or over in the UK. But many pensioners live with younger people and theres 14.8 million people living in households with someone of pension age.Additionally in England alone theres 2.2 million ill patients on the Shielding List. Though some overlap with the group of pensioners above some dont and they too have others living with them.So wed be looking at 16 to 17 million people going through 6 months of full isolation while we let the virus work through the rest of us.Trying to isolate and care for all these people while the virus reached a climax would be a monumental undertaking. Its not clear how wed safely supply them with food as the virus spiked.How many people would likely die on the way to herd immunity? Well although younger people are less likely to die of Covid-19 some do and the isolation of old and ill people could never be complete: some will have to go to hospital or see carers or live in care homes or the young people living with them will not fully isolate and theyll get it.About eight per cent of people have had the virus so far (call it 10 per cent to be generous) and on the common assumption that weve need to get to 60 per cent for herd immunity to work wed need around a further 50 per cent of the younger population to get it.If we look at mortality rates by age and combine them with the age profile of the UK then if half of younger people got it and only five per cent of pensioners that would mean around 90000 deaths.But if isolation was not so good and 15 per cent of pensioners got it then around 175000 people would die of it.Thats a lot of deaths. But thats still assuming that healthcare is not overwhelmed and so all those who needed treatment for Covid could still be able to get it. Itsalso assuming there are no non-coronavirus deaths caused by the NHS being overwhelmed. Sadly both those assumptions are unlikely.If we take data on the proportion of those with coronavirus who end up in hospital by age group and we again assume that 50 per cent of younger people get the virus plus five to 15 per cent of pensioners then we should expect between 860000 and around 1.1 million hospitalisations.Given the way the virus grows like compound interest without interventions those hospitalisations would likely come at roughly the same time in a spike.In England there are 4123 adult critical care beds (up from 3550 in 2010). Not all those hospitalised need critical care but even a small proportion of hundreds of thousands of people into 4000 beds doesnt go. Liverpools main hospital is using 95 per cent of its intensive care capacity already.So even a very very small chunk of the expected hospitalisation spike would totally overwhelm the NHS like a tidal wave over a tiny sandcastle.That means we should add to the directly-caused deaths an additional number: more covid patients would die because they wouldnt be able to get treatments andmore patients with other diseases would die too.To want to go with the plan set out in the Barrington Declaration youd have to be 100 per cent sure than none of the three better solutions under development will arrive: no vaccine no mass rapid testing and no medical improvements that mean people who get the virus dont die of it. But actually it looks increasingly likely that several of these solutions will arrive next year.What is the track record of the people behind the Declaration? One of its lead authors predicted in May: I think that the epidemic has largely come and is on its way out in this country.� She said the decline in cases was due to the build-up of immunity.� She was wrong. Thats important because the same reason they wrongly thought it was all over in the summer is the reason they think it will work now.No countries are currently following the strategy suggested in the Great Barrington Declaration .Some people talk about Sweden. Sweden has favourable demographics to get off lightly: more people live alone than anywhere else and the country is sparsely populated. Nonetheless the death rate there has been ten times higher than their similar neighbours in Norway and Finland. Its not been a success and Sweden now has quite a lot of restrictions in place too.Having crunched the numbers I conclude the Declaration isnt a viable solution. The countries that are doing best have followed completely different approaches. We should learn from them rather than embark on a route which would see the NHS overwhelmed and would be likely to lead to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths."";""Neil O'Brien"";""House of Commons"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"927;2020-10-17 12:00:00;74;""I''ve crunched the numbers and a herd immunity strategy would lead to a lot of deaths"";""Neil O''Brien"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""The Telegraph Online © 2020. Telegraph Media Group Ltd.It sounds tempting to get younger people back to normal but shielding the vulnerable would be a monumental undertakingA couple of MPs have recently advocated the ideas in the Great Barrington Declaration�. Its the plan that we should end restrictions get back to normal and build up herd immunity among working age people while isolating pensioners and other vulnerable people for six months or so as the virus spreads.It sounds tempting to get younger people back to normal. Could it be workable? Ive been trying to crunch the numbers about what it would mean in practice.There are about 12 million people aged 65 or over in the UK. But many pensioners live with younger people and theres 14.8 million people living in households with someone of pension age.Additionally in England alone theres 2.2 million ill patients on the Shielding List. Though some overlap with the group of pensioners above some dont and they too have others living with them.So wed be looking at 16 to 17 million people going through 6 months of full isolation while we let the virus work through the rest of us.Trying to isolate and care for all these people while the virus reached a climax would be a monumental undertaking. Its not clear how wed safely supply them with food as the virus spiked.How many people would likely die on the way to herd immunity? Well although younger people are less likely to die of Covid-19 some do and the isolation of old and ill people could never be complete: some will have to go to hospital or see carers or live in care homes or the young people living with them will not fully isolate and theyll get it.About eight per cent of people have had the virus so far (call it 10 per cent to be generous) and on the common assumption that weve need to get to 60 per cent for herd immunity to work wed need around a further 50 per cent of the younger population to get it.If we look at mortality rates by age and combine them with the age profile of the UK then if half of younger people got it and only five per cent of pensioners that would mean around 90000 deaths.But if isolation was not so good and 15 per cent of pensioners got it then around 175000 people would die of it.Thats a lot of deaths. But thats still assuming that healthcare is not overwhelmed and so all those who needed treatment for Covid could still be able to get it. Itsalso assuming there are no non-coronavirus deaths caused by the NHS being overwhelmed. Sadly both those assumptions are unlikely.If we take data on the proportion of those with coronavirus who end up in hospital by age group and we again assume that 50 per cent of younger people get the virus plus five to 15 per cent of pensioners then we should expect between 860000 and around 1.1 million hospitalisations.Given the way the virus grows like compound interest without interventions those hospitalisations would likely come at roughly the same time in a spike.In England there are 4123 adult critical care beds (up from 3550 in 2010). Not all those hospitalised need critical care but even a small proportion of hundreds of thousands of people into 4000 beds doesnt go. Liverpools main hospital is using 95 per cent of its intensive care capacity already.So even a very very small chunk of the expected hospitalisation spike would totally overwhelm the NHS like a tidal wave over a tiny sandcastle.That means we should add to the directly-caused deaths an additional number: more covid patients would die because they wouldnt be able to get treatments andmore patients with other diseases would die too.To want to go with the plan set out in the Barrington Declaration youd have to be 100 per cent sure than none of the three better solutions under development will arrive: no vaccine no mass rapid testing and no medical improvements that mean people who get the virus dont die of it. But actually it looks increasingly likely that several of these solutions will arrive next year.What is the track record of the people behind the Declaration? One of its lead authors predicted in May: I think that the epidemic has largely come and is on its way out in this country.� She said the decline in cases was due to the build-up of immunity.� She was wrong. Thats important because the same reason they wrongly thought it was all over in the summer is the reason they think it will work now.No countries are currently following the strategy suggested in the Great Barrington Declaration .Some people talk about Sweden. Sweden has favourable demographics to get off lightly: more people live alone than anywhere else and the country is sparsely populated. Nonetheless the death rate there has been ten times higher than their similar neighbours in Norway and Finland. Its not been a success and Sweden now has quite a lot of restrictions in place too.Having crunched the numbers I conclude the Declaration isnt a viable solution. The countries that are doing best have followed completely different approaches. We should learn from them rather than embark on a route which would see the NHS overwhelmed and would be likely to lead to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths."";""Neil O'Brien"";""House of Commons"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"928;2020-10-17 12:00:00;74;""I''ve crunched the numbers and a herd immunity strategy would lead to a lot of deaths"";""Neil O''Brien"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""The Telegraph Online © 2020. Telegraph Media Group Ltd.It sounds tempting to get younger people back to normal but shielding the vulnerable would be a monumental undertakingA couple of MPs have recently advocated the ideas in the Great Barrington Declaration�. Its the plan that we should end restrictions get back to normal and build up herd immunity among working age people while isolating pensioners and other vulnerable people for six months or so as the virus spreads.It sounds tempting to get younger people back to normal. Could it be workable? Ive been trying to crunch the numbers about what it would mean in practice.There are about 12 million people aged 65 or over in the UK. But many pensioners live with younger people and theres 14.8 million people living in households with someone of pension age.Additionally in England alone theres 2.2 million ill patients on the Shielding List. Though some overlap with the group of pensioners above some dont and they too have others living with them.So wed be looking at 16 to 17 million people going through 6 months of full isolation while we let the virus work through the rest of us.Trying to isolate and care for all these people while the virus reached a climax would be a monumental undertaking. Its not clear how wed safely supply them with food as the virus spiked.How many people would likely die on the way to herd immunity? Well although younger people are less likely to die of Covid-19 some do and the isolation of old and ill people could never be complete: some will have to go to hospital or see carers or live in care homes or the young people living with them will not fully isolate and theyll get it.About eight per cent of people have had the virus so far (call it 10 per cent to be generous) and on the common assumption that weve need to get to 60 per cent for herd immunity to work wed need around a further 50 per cent of the younger population to get it.If we look at mortality rates by age and combine them with the age profile of the UK then if half of younger people got it and only five per cent of pensioners that would mean around 90000 deaths.But if isolation was not so good and 15 per cent of pensioners got it then around 175000 people would die of it.Thats a lot of deaths. But thats still assuming that healthcare is not overwhelmed and so all those who needed treatment for Covid could still be able to get it. Itsalso assuming there are no non-coronavirus deaths caused by the NHS being overwhelmed. Sadly both those assumptions are unlikely.If we take data on the proportion of those with coronavirus who end up in hospital by age group and we again assume that 50 per cent of younger people get the virus plus five to 15 per cent of pensioners then we should expect between 860000 and around 1.1 million hospitalisations.Given the way the virus grows like compound interest without interventions those hospitalisations would likely come at roughly the same time in a spike.In England there are 4123 adult critical care beds (up from 3550 in 2010). Not all those hospitalised need critical care but even a small proportion of hundreds of thousands of people into 4000 beds doesnt go. Liverpools main hospital is using 95 per cent of its intensive care capacity already.So even a very very small chunk of the expected hospitalisation spike would totally overwhelm the NHS like a tidal wave over a tiny sandcastle.That means we should add to the directly-caused deaths an additional number: more covid patients would die because they wouldnt be able to get treatments andmore patients with other diseases would die too.To want to go with the plan set out in the Barrington Declaration youd have to be 100 per cent sure than none of the three better solutions under development will arrive: no vaccine no mass rapid testing and no medical improvements that mean people who get the virus dont die of it. But actually it looks increasingly likely that several of these solutions will arrive next year.What is the track record of the people behind the Declaration? One of its lead authors predicted in May: I think that the epidemic has largely come and is on its way out in this country.� She said the decline in cases was due to the build-up of immunity.� She was wrong. Thats important because the same reason they wrongly thought it was all over in the summer is the reason they think it will work now.No countries are currently following the strategy suggested in the Great Barrington Declaration .Some people talk about Sweden. Sweden has favourable demographics to get off lightly: more people live alone than anywhere else and the country is sparsely populated. Nonetheless the death rate there has been ten times higher than their similar neighbours in Norway and Finland. Its not been a success and Sweden now has quite a lot of restrictions in place too.Having crunched the numbers I conclude the Declaration isnt a viable solution. The countries that are doing best have followed completely different approaches. We should learn from them rather than embark on a route which would see the NHS overwhelmed and would be likely to lead to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths."";""Neil O'Brien"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"313;2020-10-17 12:00:00;75;""Herd immunity could now be our least bad option"";""Juliet Samuel"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""There is little doubt that the political debate and public opinion - if polling is accurate - favour the lockdown option. But the public's mood and behaviour suggest a growing feeling of impatience with restrictions on normal life and a vocal minority of scientists and politicians against lockdowns have coalesced around a policy outlined in a document called the 'Great Barrington Declaration' which proposes isolating vulnerable people and allowing 'normal life' to resume for everyone else.The biology of the virus means there is a logic to this approach. A recent Oxford study suggests that the average age of a patient who dies from Covid in the UK is 82 - just over the country's average life expectancy. The risks rise sharply with age and comorbidities like obesity diabetes and so on.In the UK nearly nine million people or 13 per cent of the population are aged over 70 the age at which estimated Covid fatality rates reach at least 1 per cent. Official figures show that 44 per cent of those people live alone. A further 47 per cent live with one other person most likely a partner of a similar age or someone else highly motivated to isolate to protect them. Roughly another 4 per cent live in care homes. About two million people are on the Government's 'shielding' list many of whom will overlap with the over-70s population.So our society is already highly segregated according to vulnerability. Many will rely on health visitors or younger relatives to provide care. But it should be possible and compared with the cost of lockdowns highly affordable to offer all carers an enormous bonus if they are able and willing to isolate and take regular Covid tests to reduce their risk of passing on the virus.None the less Barrington fans have to admit their plan is risky. If Covid were to become widespread in the general population the risk of it leaking into the shielded population inevitably rises. Government policy is driven not by some attachment to lockdowns but by the belief that preventing this is not feasible. So Barrington advocates have to be up front: the policy runs the risk that more people will die and that hospitals will be overwhelmed. Nor does this policy mean a return to full economic or social activity given that roughly a sixth of the UK population would still be isolating.By the same token lockdown advocates ought to be honest about the risks of their approach. The costs to health mental health and our economy from blanket restrictions will emerge more slowly than the direct costs of Covid but they too are devastating. Lockdowns mean that thousands of businesses built up over years will go bust. The unemployment that will follow is still masked by government support schemes and so the cost of it like family breakdown stress and suicides is currently invisible.What's more the whole policy of virus suppression is predicated on the assumption that people still trust government strategy enough to obey the rules until the discovery of a vaccine. This may be the case. Perhaps a vaccine will emerge soon and justify it all. But what if it doesn't? What if it takes a few years? What then is the plan? Either Britain will discover some hitherto hidden ability to implement the systems that are broadly working in Asia or else we will find ourselves in a longdrawn-out slog towards herd immunity which may end up killing more people than a shorter epidemic would have done. Lockdown advocates then need to admit that their favoured option could also end up killing more people.Western societies are discovering the costs of failing to learn from others and adapt to new problems. The awfulness of the choices we face is a direct result of denialism state failure social rigidity - and perhaps to be fair a big dose of bad luck. Having now veered from the original herd immunity strategy towards lockdown then in and out of track and trace we are back in the cul-de-sac of lockdown cycles. It wouldn't kill advocates of this devastating virus suppression strategy to admit that they like the Barrington scientists are advocating for something that carries enormous risks. They are in short betting the farm on a vaccine. Fingers crossed."";""Juliet Samuel"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Individual"""
"939;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown across the Atlantic from Oxford another had travelled from California. The signing ceremony had been carefully orchestrated for media attention with a slick website and video produced to accompany the event and an ostentatious champagne toast to follow.You may not have heard of the  Great Barrington declaration � but youll likely have seen the headlines that followed it. Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated.Scientists were swift in their response . The declarations core assumption that population immunity will be achieved by allowing life to go on as normal and shielding only the most vulnerable from the virus is entirely speculative. The thrust of its argument is based on a false opposition between those who argue for lockdown and those who are against it when in fact lockdowns are one of numerous measures that scientists have called for and are seen as a short-term last resort to regain control.And shutting away the most vulnerable as life continues as normal is not only inhumane but impossible: by this measure the carers household members and frequent close contacts of vulnerable people would also need to isolate. Moreover young people with pre-existing conditions they dont yet know about can be equally susceptible and long Covid� with its debilitating host of symptoms affects people of different ages.The truth is that a strategy of pursuing herd immunity� is nothing more than a fringe view . There is no real scientific divide over this approach because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. We know that when it comes to other coronaviruses immunity is only temporary. The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �.Its time to stop asking the question is this sound science?� We know it is not. Instead we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. Within hours of its launch it had seeded political and ideological impact disproportionate with its scientific significance. The hashtag #signupstartliving began trending on social media. Its three signatories were later received by Alex Azar the US secretary of health and human services and by Scott Atlas recently appointed as Donald Trumps health adviser who tweeted on 8 October that top scientists all over the world are lining up with the @realDonaldTrump #Covid_19 policy�. And on a call convened by the White House two senior officials in Trumps administration cited the declaration.Was this ever really about science? When scientists disagree we expect them to provide evidence for their position. Yet the declarations many contentious statements are unreferenced “ and the manner of its launch seems designed to amplify publicity over substance. If anything the tactics employed in this performance have serious implications for the publics trust in scientists.It is already clear that the declaration is being used to legitimise a libertarian agenda. Indeed some authors have questioned if it was ever anything about health or whether its motivations were always purely economic as the professor of political economy Richard Murphy put it  the declaration was the economics of neoliberalism running riot ... revealing in the process its utter indifference to the interests of anyone but those who can ˜add value within that system�.As we approach one of the most important elections in the history of western democracy (itself described as a referendum on lockdown ) we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre and for what purpose. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where the declaration was signed is a libertarian thinktank that is in its own words committed to pure freedom� and wishes to see the role of government ... sharply confined�.The institute has a history of funding controversial research “ such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them “ while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions whose funders have included tobacco firms  ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers. Our questions to the AIER about its relationship to the three signatories went unanswered but it has posted a number of articles about the declaration and herd immunity on its website.These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the worlds most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements “ Stanford Harvard and Oxford “ giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though notably not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles) but they are falling into a trap set by the right.Rightwing free-market foundations and institutions have long attempted to savage the public reputation of well-intentioned policies such as those aimed at curbing ecological threats and limiting smoking. Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. It seems that lockdown restrictions aimed at bringing the virus under control are merely the latest target in this rightwing stealth campaign.The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. Whats less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those."";""Trisha Greenhalgh"";""Oxford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"940;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown across the Atlantic from Oxford another had travelled from California. The signing ceremony had been carefully orchestrated for media attention with a slick website and video produced to accompany the event and an ostentatious champagne toast to follow.You may not have heard of the  Great Barrington declaration � but youll likely have seen the headlines that followed it. Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated.Scientists were swift in their response . The declarations core assumption that population immunity will be achieved by allowing life to go on as normal and shielding only the most vulnerable from the virus is entirely speculative. The thrust of its argument is based on a false opposition between those who argue for lockdown and those who are against it when in fact lockdowns are one of numerous measures that scientists have called for and are seen as a short-term last resort to regain control.And shutting away the most vulnerable as life continues as normal is not only inhumane but impossible: by this measure the carers household members and frequent close contacts of vulnerable people would also need to isolate. Moreover young people with pre-existing conditions they dont yet know about can be equally susceptible and long Covid� with its debilitating host of symptoms affects people of different ages.The truth is that a strategy of pursuing herd immunity� is nothing more than a fringe view . There is no real scientific divide over this approach because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. We know that when it comes to other coronaviruses immunity is only temporary. The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �.Its time to stop asking the question is this sound science?� We know it is not. Instead we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. Within hours of its launch it had seeded political and ideological impact disproportionate with its scientific significance. The hashtag #signupstartliving began trending on social media. Its three signatories were later received by Alex Azar the US secretary of health and human services and by Scott Atlas recently appointed as Donald Trumps health adviser who tweeted on 8 October that top scientists all over the world are lining up with the @realDonaldTrump #Covid_19 policy�. And on a call convened by the White House two senior officials in Trumps administration cited the declaration.Was this ever really about science? When scientists disagree we expect them to provide evidence for their position. Yet the declarations many contentious statements are unreferenced “ and the manner of its launch seems designed to amplify publicity over substance. If anything the tactics employed in this performance have serious implications for the publics trust in scientists.It is already clear that the declaration is being used to legitimise a libertarian agenda. Indeed some authors have questioned if it was ever anything about health or whether its motivations were always purely economic as the professor of political economy Richard Murphy put it  the declaration was the economics of neoliberalism running riot ... revealing in the process its utter indifference to the interests of anyone but those who can ˜add value within that system�.As we approach one of the most important elections in the history of western democracy (itself described as a referendum on lockdown ) we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre and for what purpose. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where the declaration was signed is a libertarian thinktank that is in its own words committed to pure freedom� and wishes to see the role of government ... sharply confined�.The institute has a history of funding controversial research “ such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them “ while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions whose funders have included tobacco firms  ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers. Our questions to the AIER about its relationship to the three signatories went unanswered but it has posted a number of articles about the declaration and herd immunity on its website.These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the worlds most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements “ Stanford Harvard and Oxford “ giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though notably not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles) but they are falling into a trap set by the right.Rightwing free-market foundations and institutions have long attempted to savage the public reputation of well-intentioned policies such as those aimed at curbing ecological threats and limiting smoking. Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. It seems that lockdown restrictions aimed at bringing the virus under control are merely the latest target in this rightwing stealth campaign.The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. Whats less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those."";""Trisha Greenhalgh"";""Oxford University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"941;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown across the Atlantic from Oxford another had travelled from California. The signing ceremony had been carefully orchestrated for media attention with a slick website and video produced to accompany the event and an ostentatious champagne toast to follow.You may not have heard of the  Great Barrington declaration � but youll likely have seen the headlines that followed it. Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated.Scientists were swift in their response . The declarations core assumption that population immunity will be achieved by allowing life to go on as normal and shielding only the most vulnerable from the virus is entirely speculative. The thrust of its argument is based on a false opposition between those who argue for lockdown and those who are against it when in fact lockdowns are one of numerous measures that scientists have called for and are seen as a short-term last resort to regain control.And shutting away the most vulnerable as life continues as normal is not only inhumane but impossible: by this measure the carers household members and frequent close contacts of vulnerable people would also need to isolate. Moreover young people with pre-existing conditions they dont yet know about can be equally susceptible and long Covid� with its debilitating host of symptoms affects people of different ages.The truth is that a strategy of pursuing herd immunity� is nothing more than a fringe view . There is no real scientific divide over this approach because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. We know that when it comes to other coronaviruses immunity is only temporary. The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �.Its time to stop asking the question is this sound science?� We know it is not. Instead we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. Within hours of its launch it had seeded political and ideological impact disproportionate with its scientific significance. The hashtag #signupstartliving began trending on social media. Its three signatories were later received by Alex Azar the US secretary of health and human services and by Scott Atlas recently appointed as Donald Trumps health adviser who tweeted on 8 October that top scientists all over the world are lining up with the @realDonaldTrump #Covid_19 policy�. And on a call convened by the White House two senior officials in Trumps administration cited the declaration.Was this ever really about science? When scientists disagree we expect them to provide evidence for their position. Yet the declarations many contentious statements are unreferenced “ and the manner of its launch seems designed to amplify publicity over substance. If anything the tactics employed in this performance have serious implications for the publics trust in scientists.It is already clear that the declaration is being used to legitimise a libertarian agenda. Indeed some authors have questioned if it was ever anything about health or whether its motivations were always purely economic as the professor of political economy Richard Murphy put it  the declaration was the economics of neoliberalism running riot ... revealing in the process its utter indifference to the interests of anyone but those who can ˜add value within that system�.As we approach one of the most important elections in the history of western democracy (itself described as a referendum on lockdown ) we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre and for what purpose. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where the declaration was signed is a libertarian thinktank that is in its own words committed to pure freedom� and wishes to see the role of government ... sharply confined�.The institute has a history of funding controversial research “ such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them “ while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions whose funders have included tobacco firms  ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers. Our questions to the AIER about its relationship to the three signatories went unanswered but it has posted a number of articles about the declaration and herd immunity on its website.These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the worlds most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements “ Stanford Harvard and Oxford “ giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though notably not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles) but they are falling into a trap set by the right.Rightwing free-market foundations and institutions have long attempted to savage the public reputation of well-intentioned policies such as those aimed at curbing ecological threats and limiting smoking. Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. It seems that lockdown restrictions aimed at bringing the virus under control are merely the latest target in this rightwing stealth campaign.The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. Whats less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those."";""Trisha Greenhalgh"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"942;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown across the Atlantic from Oxford another had travelled from California. The signing ceremony had been carefully orchestrated for media attention with a slick website and video produced to accompany the event and an ostentatious champagne toast to follow.You may not have heard of the  Great Barrington declaration � but youll likely have seen the headlines that followed it. Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated.Scientists were swift in their response . The declarations core assumption that population immunity will be achieved by allowing life to go on as normal and shielding only the most vulnerable from the virus is entirely speculative. The thrust of its argument is based on a false opposition between those who argue for lockdown and those who are against it when in fact lockdowns are one of numerous measures that scientists have called for and are seen as a short-term last resort to regain control.And shutting away the most vulnerable as life continues as normal is not only inhumane but impossible: by this measure the carers household members and frequent close contacts of vulnerable people would also need to isolate. Moreover young people with pre-existing conditions they dont yet know about can be equally susceptible and long Covid� with its debilitating host of symptoms affects people of different ages.The truth is that a strategy of pursuing herd immunity� is nothing more than a fringe view . There is no real scientific divide over this approach because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. We know that when it comes to other coronaviruses immunity is only temporary. The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �.Its time to stop asking the question is this sound science?� We know it is not. Instead we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. Within hours of its launch it had seeded political and ideological impact disproportionate with its scientific significance. The hashtag #signupstartliving began trending on social media. Its three signatories were later received by Alex Azar the US secretary of health and human services and by Scott Atlas recently appointed as Donald Trumps health adviser who tweeted on 8 October that top scientists all over the world are lining up with the @realDonaldTrump #Covid_19 policy�. And on a call convened by the White House two senior officials in Trumps administration cited the declaration.Was this ever really about science? When scientists disagree we expect them to provide evidence for their position. Yet the declarations many contentious statements are unreferenced “ and the manner of its launch seems designed to amplify publicity over substance. If anything the tactics employed in this performance have serious implications for the publics trust in scientists.It is already clear that the declaration is being used to legitimise a libertarian agenda. Indeed some authors have questioned if it was ever anything about health or whether its motivations were always purely economic as the professor of political economy Richard Murphy put it  the declaration was the economics of neoliberalism running riot ... revealing in the process its utter indifference to the interests of anyone but those who can ˜add value within that system�.As we approach one of the most important elections in the history of western democracy (itself described as a referendum on lockdown ) we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre and for what purpose. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where the declaration was signed is a libertarian thinktank that is in its own words committed to pure freedom� and wishes to see the role of government ... sharply confined�.The institute has a history of funding controversial research “ such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them “ while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions whose funders have included tobacco firms  ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers. Our questions to the AIER about its relationship to the three signatories went unanswered but it has posted a number of articles about the declaration and herd immunity on its website.These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the worlds most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements “ Stanford Harvard and Oxford “ giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though notably not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles) but they are falling into a trap set by the right.Rightwing free-market foundations and institutions have long attempted to savage the public reputation of well-intentioned policies such as those aimed at curbing ecological threats and limiting smoking. Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. It seems that lockdown restrictions aimed at bringing the virus under control are merely the latest target in this rightwing stealth campaign.The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. Whats less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those."";""Martin McKee"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"943;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown across the Atlantic from Oxford another had travelled from California. The signing ceremony had been carefully orchestrated for media attention with a slick website and video produced to accompany the event and an ostentatious champagne toast to follow.You may not have heard of the  Great Barrington declaration � but youll likely have seen the headlines that followed it. Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated.Scientists were swift in their response . The declarations core assumption that population immunity will be achieved by allowing life to go on as normal and shielding only the most vulnerable from the virus is entirely speculative. The thrust of its argument is based on a false opposition between those who argue for lockdown and those who are against it when in fact lockdowns are one of numerous measures that scientists have called for and are seen as a short-term last resort to regain control.And shutting away the most vulnerable as life continues as normal is not only inhumane but impossible: by this measure the carers household members and frequent close contacts of vulnerable people would also need to isolate. Moreover young people with pre-existing conditions they dont yet know about can be equally susceptible and long Covid� with its debilitating host of symptoms affects people of different ages.The truth is that a strategy of pursuing herd immunity� is nothing more than a fringe view . There is no real scientific divide over this approach because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. We know that when it comes to other coronaviruses immunity is only temporary. The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �.Its time to stop asking the question is this sound science?� We know it is not. Instead we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. Within hours of its launch it had seeded political and ideological impact disproportionate with its scientific significance. The hashtag #signupstartliving began trending on social media. Its three signatories were later received by Alex Azar the US secretary of health and human services and by Scott Atlas recently appointed as Donald Trumps health adviser who tweeted on 8 October that top scientists all over the world are lining up with the @realDonaldTrump #Covid_19 policy�. And on a call convened by the White House two senior officials in Trumps administration cited the declaration.Was this ever really about science? When scientists disagree we expect them to provide evidence for their position. Yet the declarations many contentious statements are unreferenced “ and the manner of its launch seems designed to amplify publicity over substance. If anything the tactics employed in this performance have serious implications for the publics trust in scientists.It is already clear that the declaration is being used to legitimise a libertarian agenda. Indeed some authors have questioned if it was ever anything about health or whether its motivations were always purely economic as the professor of political economy Richard Murphy put it  the declaration was the economics of neoliberalism running riot ... revealing in the process its utter indifference to the interests of anyone but those who can ˜add value within that system�.As we approach one of the most important elections in the history of western democracy (itself described as a referendum on lockdown ) we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre and for what purpose. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where the declaration was signed is a libertarian thinktank that is in its own words committed to pure freedom� and wishes to see the role of government ... sharply confined�.The institute has a history of funding controversial research “ such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them “ while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions whose funders have included tobacco firms  ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers. Our questions to the AIER about its relationship to the three signatories went unanswered but it has posted a number of articles about the declaration and herd immunity on its website.These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the worlds most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements “ Stanford Harvard and Oxford “ giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though notably not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles) but they are falling into a trap set by the right.Rightwing free-market foundations and institutions have long attempted to savage the public reputation of well-intentioned policies such as those aimed at curbing ecological threats and limiting smoking. Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. It seems that lockdown restrictions aimed at bringing the virus under control are merely the latest target in this rightwing stealth campaign.The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. Whats less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those."";""Martin McKee"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"944;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown across the Atlantic from Oxford another had travelled from California. The signing ceremony had been carefully orchestrated for media attention with a slick website and video produced to accompany the event and an ostentatious champagne toast to follow.You may not have heard of the  Great Barrington declaration � but youll likely have seen the headlines that followed it. Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated.Scientists were swift in their response . The declarations core assumption that population immunity will be achieved by allowing life to go on as normal and shielding only the most vulnerable from the virus is entirely speculative. The thrust of its argument is based on a false opposition between those who argue for lockdown and those who are against it when in fact lockdowns are one of numerous measures that scientists have called for and are seen as a short-term last resort to regain control.And shutting away the most vulnerable as life continues as normal is not only inhumane but impossible: by this measure the carers household members and frequent close contacts of vulnerable people would also need to isolate. Moreover young people with pre-existing conditions they dont yet know about can be equally susceptible and long Covid� with its debilitating host of symptoms affects people of different ages.The truth is that a strategy of pursuing herd immunity� is nothing more than a fringe view . There is no real scientific divide over this approach because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. We know that when it comes to other coronaviruses immunity is only temporary. The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �.Its time to stop asking the question is this sound science?� We know it is not. Instead we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. Within hours of its launch it had seeded political and ideological impact disproportionate with its scientific significance. The hashtag #signupstartliving began trending on social media. Its three signatories were later received by Alex Azar the US secretary of health and human services and by Scott Atlas recently appointed as Donald Trumps health adviser who tweeted on 8 October that top scientists all over the world are lining up with the @realDonaldTrump #Covid_19 policy�. And on a call convened by the White House two senior officials in Trumps administration cited the declaration.Was this ever really about science? When scientists disagree we expect them to provide evidence for their position. Yet the declarations many contentious statements are unreferenced “ and the manner of its launch seems designed to amplify publicity over substance. If anything the tactics employed in this performance have serious implications for the publics trust in scientists.It is already clear that the declaration is being used to legitimise a libertarian agenda. Indeed some authors have questioned if it was ever anything about health or whether its motivations were always purely economic as the professor of political economy Richard Murphy put it  the declaration was the economics of neoliberalism running riot ... revealing in the process its utter indifference to the interests of anyone but those who can ˜add value within that system�.As we approach one of the most important elections in the history of western democracy (itself described as a referendum on lockdown ) we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre and for what purpose. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where the declaration was signed is a libertarian thinktank that is in its own words committed to pure freedom� and wishes to see the role of government ... sharply confined�.The institute has a history of funding controversial research “ such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them “ while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions whose funders have included tobacco firms  ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers. Our questions to the AIER about its relationship to the three signatories went unanswered but it has posted a number of articles about the declaration and herd immunity on its website.These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the worlds most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements “ Stanford Harvard and Oxford “ giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though notably not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles) but they are falling into a trap set by the right.Rightwing free-market foundations and institutions have long attempted to savage the public reputation of well-intentioned policies such as those aimed at curbing ecological threats and limiting smoking. Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. It seems that lockdown restrictions aimed at bringing the virus under control are merely the latest target in this rightwing stealth campaign.The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. Whats less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those."";""Martin McKee"";""London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"945;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown across the Atlantic from Oxford another had travelled from California. The signing ceremony had been carefully orchestrated for media attention with a slick website and video produced to accompany the event and an ostentatious champagne toast to follow.You may not have heard of the  Great Barrington declaration � but youll likely have seen the headlines that followed it. Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated.Scientists were swift in their response . The declarations core assumption that population immunity will be achieved by allowing life to go on as normal and shielding only the most vulnerable from the virus is entirely speculative. The thrust of its argument is based on a false opposition between those who argue for lockdown and those who are against it when in fact lockdowns are one of numerous measures that scientists have called for and are seen as a short-term last resort to regain control.And shutting away the most vulnerable as life continues as normal is not only inhumane but impossible: by this measure the carers household members and frequent close contacts of vulnerable people would also need to isolate. Moreover young people with pre-existing conditions they dont yet know about can be equally susceptible and long Covid� with its debilitating host of symptoms affects people of different ages.The truth is that a strategy of pursuing herd immunity� is nothing more than a fringe view . There is no real scientific divide over this approach because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. We know that when it comes to other coronaviruses immunity is only temporary. The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �.Its time to stop asking the question is this sound science?� We know it is not. Instead we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. Within hours of its launch it had seeded political and ideological impact disproportionate with its scientific significance. The hashtag #signupstartliving began trending on social media. Its three signatories were later received by Alex Azar the US secretary of health and human services and by Scott Atlas recently appointed as Donald Trumps health adviser who tweeted on 8 October that top scientists all over the world are lining up with the @realDonaldTrump #Covid_19 policy�. And on a call convened by the White House two senior officials in Trumps administration cited the declaration.Was this ever really about science? When scientists disagree we expect them to provide evidence for their position. Yet the declarations many contentious statements are unreferenced “ and the manner of its launch seems designed to amplify publicity over substance. If anything the tactics employed in this performance have serious implications for the publics trust in scientists.It is already clear that the declaration is being used to legitimise a libertarian agenda. Indeed some authors have questioned if it was ever anything about health or whether its motivations were always purely economic as the professor of political economy Richard Murphy put it  the declaration was the economics of neoliberalism running riot ... revealing in the process its utter indifference to the interests of anyone but those who can ˜add value within that system�.As we approach one of the most important elections in the history of western democracy (itself described as a referendum on lockdown ) we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre and for what purpose. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where the declaration was signed is a libertarian thinktank that is in its own words committed to pure freedom� and wishes to see the role of government ... sharply confined�.The institute has a history of funding controversial research “ such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them “ while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions whose funders have included tobacco firms  ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers. Our questions to the AIER about its relationship to the three signatories went unanswered but it has posted a number of articles about the declaration and herd immunity on its website.These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the worlds most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements “ Stanford Harvard and Oxford “ giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though notably not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles) but they are falling into a trap set by the right.Rightwing free-market foundations and institutions have long attempted to savage the public reputation of well-intentioned policies such as those aimed at curbing ecological threats and limiting smoking. Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. It seems that lockdown restrictions aimed at bringing the virus under control are merely the latest target in this rightwing stealth campaign.The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. Whats less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those."";""Michelle Kelly-Irving"";""Universite Toulouse"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"946;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown across the Atlantic from Oxford another had travelled from California. The signing ceremony had been carefully orchestrated for media attention with a slick website and video produced to accompany the event and an ostentatious champagne toast to follow.You may not have heard of the  Great Barrington declaration � but youll likely have seen the headlines that followed it. Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated.Scientists were swift in their response . The declarations core assumption that population immunity will be achieved by allowing life to go on as normal and shielding only the most vulnerable from the virus is entirely speculative. The thrust of its argument is based on a false opposition between those who argue for lockdown and those who are against it when in fact lockdowns are one of numerous measures that scientists have called for and are seen as a short-term last resort to regain control.And shutting away the most vulnerable as life continues as normal is not only inhumane but impossible: by this measure the carers household members and frequent close contacts of vulnerable people would also need to isolate. Moreover young people with pre-existing conditions they dont yet know about can be equally susceptible and long Covid� with its debilitating host of symptoms affects people of different ages.The truth is that a strategy of pursuing herd immunity� is nothing more than a fringe view . There is no real scientific divide over this approach because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. We know that when it comes to other coronaviruses immunity is only temporary. The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �.Its time to stop asking the question is this sound science?� We know it is not. Instead we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. Within hours of its launch it had seeded political and ideological impact disproportionate with its scientific significance. The hashtag #signupstartliving began trending on social media. Its three signatories were later received by Alex Azar the US secretary of health and human services and by Scott Atlas recently appointed as Donald Trumps health adviser who tweeted on 8 October that top scientists all over the world are lining up with the @realDonaldTrump #Covid_19 policy�. And on a call convened by the White House two senior officials in Trumps administration cited the declaration.Was this ever really about science? When scientists disagree we expect them to provide evidence for their position. Yet the declarations many contentious statements are unreferenced “ and the manner of its launch seems designed to amplify publicity over substance. If anything the tactics employed in this performance have serious implications for the publics trust in scientists.It is already clear that the declaration is being used to legitimise a libertarian agenda. Indeed some authors have questioned if it was ever anything about health or whether its motivations were always purely economic as the professor of political economy Richard Murphy put it  the declaration was the economics of neoliberalism running riot ... revealing in the process its utter indifference to the interests of anyone but those who can ˜add value within that system�.As we approach one of the most important elections in the history of western democracy (itself described as a referendum on lockdown ) we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre and for what purpose. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where the declaration was signed is a libertarian thinktank that is in its own words committed to pure freedom� and wishes to see the role of government ... sharply confined�.The institute has a history of funding controversial research “ such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them “ while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions whose funders have included tobacco firms  ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers. Our questions to the AIER about its relationship to the three signatories went unanswered but it has posted a number of articles about the declaration and herd immunity on its website.These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the worlds most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements “ Stanford Harvard and Oxford “ giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though notably not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles) but they are falling into a trap set by the right.Rightwing free-market foundations and institutions have long attempted to savage the public reputation of well-intentioned policies such as those aimed at curbing ecological threats and limiting smoking. Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. It seems that lockdown restrictions aimed at bringing the virus under control are merely the latest target in this rightwing stealth campaign.The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. Whats less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those."";""Michelle Kelly-Irving"";""Universite Toulouse"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"947;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus “ latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown across the Atlantic from Oxford another had travelled from California. The signing ceremony had been carefully orchestrated for media attention with a slick website and video produced to accompany the event and an ostentatious champagne toast to follow.You may not have heard of the  Great Barrington declaration � but youll likely have seen the headlines that followed it. Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated.Scientists were swift in their response . The declarations core assumption that population immunity will be achieved by allowing life to go on as normal and shielding only the most vulnerable from the virus is entirely speculative. The thrust of its argument is based on a false opposition between those who argue for lockdown and those who are against it when in fact lockdowns are one of numerous measures that scientists have called for and are seen as a short-term last resort to regain control.And shutting away the most vulnerable as life continues as normal is not only inhumane but impossible: by this measure the carers household members and frequent close contacts of vulnerable people would also need to isolate. Moreover young people with pre-existing conditions they dont yet know about can be equally susceptible and long Covid� with its debilitating host of symptoms affects people of different ages.The truth is that a strategy of pursuing herd immunity� is nothing more than a fringe view . There is no real scientific divide over this approach because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. We know that when it comes to other coronaviruses immunity is only temporary. The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �.Its time to stop asking the question is this sound science?� We know it is not. Instead we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. Within hours of its launch it had seeded political and ideological impact disproportionate with its scientific significance. The hashtag #signupstartliving began trending on social media. Its three signatories were later received by Alex Azar the US secretary of health and human services and by Scott Atlas recently appointed as Donald Trumps health adviser who tweeted on 8 October that top scientists all over the world are lining up with the @realDonaldTrump #Covid_19 policy�. And on a call convened by the White House two senior officials in Trumps administration cited the declaration.Was this ever really about science? When scientists disagree we expect them to provide evidence for their position. Yet the declarations many contentious statements are unreferenced “ and the manner of its launch seems designed to amplify publicity over substance. If anything the tactics employed in this performance have serious implications for the publics trust in scientists.It is already clear that the declaration is being used to legitimise a libertarian agenda. Indeed some authors have questioned if it was ever anything about health or whether its motivations were always purely economic as the professor of political economy Richard Murphy put it  the declaration was the economics of neoliberalism running riot ... revealing in the process its utter indifference to the interests of anyone but those who can ˜add value within that system�.As we approach one of the most important elections in the history of western democracy (itself described as a referendum on lockdown ) we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre and for what purpose. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where the declaration was signed is a libertarian thinktank that is in its own words committed to pure freedom� and wishes to see the role of government ... sharply confined�.The institute has a history of funding controversial research “ such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them “ while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions whose funders have included tobacco firms  ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers. Our questions to the AIER about its relationship to the three signatories went unanswered but it has posted a number of articles about the declaration and herd immunity on its website.These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the worlds most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements “ Stanford Harvard and Oxford “ giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though notably not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles) but they are falling into a trap set by the right.Rightwing free-market foundations and institutions have long attempted to savage the public reputation of well-intentioned policies such as those aimed at curbing ecological threats and limiting smoking. Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. It seems that lockdown restrictions aimed at bringing the virus under control are merely the latest target in this rightwing stealth campaign.The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. Whats less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those."";""Michelle Kelly-Irving"";""Universite Toulouse"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"935;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"936;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"937;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The declaration which called for an immediate resumption of life as normal� for everyone but the vulnerable� fuelled these notions by casting doubt on the utility of lockdown restrictions. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity� it stated."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"938;2020-10-18 12:00:00;72;""The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly  so who''s funding this bad science?"";""Martin McKee"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""The president of the UKs Academy of Medical Sciences in a detailed rebuttal describes the declarations proposals as  unethical and simply not possible �."";"""";""United Kingdom Academy of Medical Sciences"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"393;2020-10-18 12:00:00;73;""DO I HAVE TO SHIELD INSIDE NOW AND IS THE ANSWER HERD IMMUNITY?"";""Unspecified"";""Mail on Sunday"";"""";"""";""Dr Michael Head Senior Research Fellow in Global Health University of Southampton says that despite the hundreds of thousands of infections only eight per cent of the populationare estimated to have some level of immunity to Covid-19 and this will 'likely wane over time and be insufficient to prevent a second infection'. 'Ultimately the Barrington Declaration is based on principles that are dangerous to national and global public health' he says.Dr Head highlights that the declaration also ignores 'long Covid' whereby debilitating symptoms linger for months after infection. He says: 'We know that many people even younger populations who suffered from an initially mild illness are suffering from longer-term consequences of a Covid-19 infection.'"";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"394;2020-10-18 12:00:00;73;""DO I HAVE TO SHIELD INSIDE NOW AND IS THE ANSWER HERD IMMUNITY?"";""Unspecified"";""Mail on Sunday"";"""";"""";""Dr Michael Head Senior Research Fellow in Global Health University of Southampton says that despite the hundreds of thousands of infections only eight per cent of the populationare estimated to have some level of immunity to Covid-19 and this will 'likely wane over time and be insufficient to prevent a second infection'. 'Ultimately the Barrington Declaration is based on principles that are dangerous to national and global public health' he says.Dr Head highlights that the declaration also ignores 'long Covid' whereby debilitating symptoms linger for months after infection. He says: 'We know that many people even younger populations who suffered from an initially mild illness are suffering from longer-term consequences of a Covid-19 infection.'"";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"389;2020-10-20 12:00:00;68;""It is genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from Covid while the rest of us go back to normal"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Its not a herd immunity strategy but the way we have dealt with health dangers for centuriesThe Great Barrington declaration has been the focus of intense debate by scientists and policymakers worldwide. The plan itself calls for focused protection “ a return to standard public health practice “ in addressing the Covid 19 epidemic. My co-signatories and I call for devoting overwhelming resources to the aim of protecting the vulnerable while lifting lockdowns on the rest of the population who face greater health dangers from lockdowns than they do from the virus itself.We have heard several common counter-arguments. Prominent critics including Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Disease have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable “ colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as let[ting] things rip.�This is a false characterisation. Focused protection is a central tenet “ we must not let vulnerable people be exposed to the virus. We do not encourage intentionally exposing the non-vulnerable. Those who choose to continue to restrict their activities will be free to do so. The focused protection strategy is the standard way that societies have dealt successfully with prior epidemics.While it is true that permitting the non-vulnerable to live their lives normally may lead to a rise in cases they face a very low risk of mortality from Covid. It is in the order of 5 deaths per 10000 infections “ similar to the risk of a deadly traffic accident from driving to work every day. Though some may fear long-term harm from infection evidence has not established that this is common or permanent.Similarly it is inaccurate to characterise the focused protection plan as a herd immunity strategy� . Herd immunity is the natural endpoint with many infectious diseases and will occur with Covid 19 eventually regardless of policies adopted. A policy of lockdown while waiting for a vaccine for instance depends on the establishment of herd immunity.The Health Secretary Matt Hancock  argued in the House of Commons that achieving population immunity to Covid 19 is impossible. This is flatly incorrect. The development of immunity through natural infection is a common feature of many pathogens. It is reasonable to assume that Covid-19 does not have any tricks up its sleeve to prevent this from happening “ it would pose a very serious problem for the development of a vaccine if it did. Even if infection does not provide lifelong personal immunity it is a biological fact that herd immunity is the inevitable outcome of this epidemic regardless of the strategy we adopt.Is it genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from infection without limiting the number of cases among the non-vulnerable? Well lockdown policies have done a poor job in protecting the vulnerable so far. Failures include requiring essential� workers to be put in situations at work where they may be exposed to the virus failing to protect nursing home residents from exposure to the virus and making no provision for elderly people living in multi-generational homes to be shielded should a family member be exposed to the virus.The declaration provides some concrete ideas to fix those problems. They include a stringent testing programme in nursing homes the provision of free N95 masks for the vulnerable who cannot avoid potential exposure the sequestering of care home residents who have Covid-19 the application of workplace disability laws to require employers to protect vulnerable workers providing food delivery for home-bound vulnerable people and the provision of rapid testing and temporary alternative living arrangements for elderly people in multigenerational homes. It is within the capacity of creative public health officials to innovate. That the lockdown status quo has not done so is not evidence that it is impossible.Lockdowns delay the time until herd immunity occurs and will incur unnecessary suffering and death to vulnerable and non-vulnerable alike. A focused protection approach will save lives in both the short and long term. My declaration co-signers and I urge governments worldwide to adopt it."";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"390;2020-10-20 12:00:00;68;""It is genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from Covid while the rest of us go back to normal"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Its not a herd immunity strategy but the way we have dealt with health dangers for centuriesThe Great Barrington declaration has been the focus of intense debate by scientists and policymakers worldwide. The plan itself calls for focused protection “ a return to standard public health practice “ in addressing the Covid 19 epidemic. My co-signatories and I call for devoting overwhelming resources to the aim of protecting the vulnerable while lifting lockdowns on the rest of the population who face greater health dangers from lockdowns than they do from the virus itself.We have heard several common counter-arguments. Prominent critics including Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Disease have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable “ colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as let[ting] things rip.�This is a false characterisation. Focused protection is a central tenet “ we must not let vulnerable people be exposed to the virus. We do not encourage intentionally exposing the non-vulnerable. Those who choose to continue to restrict their activities will be free to do so. The focused protection strategy is the standard way that societies have dealt successfully with prior epidemics.While it is true that permitting the non-vulnerable to live their lives normally may lead to a rise in cases they face a very low risk of mortality from Covid. It is in the order of 5 deaths per 10000 infections “ similar to the risk of a deadly traffic accident from driving to work every day. Though some may fear long-term harm from infection evidence has not established that this is common or permanent.Similarly it is inaccurate to characterise the focused protection plan as a herd immunity strategy� . Herd immunity is the natural endpoint with many infectious diseases and will occur with Covid 19 eventually regardless of policies adopted. A policy of lockdown while waiting for a vaccine for instance depends on the establishment of herd immunity.The Health Secretary Matt Hancock  argued in the House of Commons that achieving population immunity to Covid 19 is impossible. This is flatly incorrect. The development of immunity through natural infection is a common feature of many pathogens. It is reasonable to assume that Covid-19 does not have any tricks up its sleeve to prevent this from happening “ it would pose a very serious problem for the development of a vaccine if it did. Even if infection does not provide lifelong personal immunity it is a biological fact that herd immunity is the inevitable outcome of this epidemic regardless of the strategy we adopt.Is it genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from infection without limiting the number of cases among the non-vulnerable? Well lockdown policies have done a poor job in protecting the vulnerable so far. Failures include requiring essential� workers to be put in situations at work where they may be exposed to the virus failing to protect nursing home residents from exposure to the virus and making no provision for elderly people living in multi-generational homes to be shielded should a family member be exposed to the virus.The declaration provides some concrete ideas to fix those problems. They include a stringent testing programme in nursing homes the provision of free N95 masks for the vulnerable who cannot avoid potential exposure the sequestering of care home residents who have Covid-19 the application of workplace disability laws to require employers to protect vulnerable workers providing food delivery for home-bound vulnerable people and the provision of rapid testing and temporary alternative living arrangements for elderly people in multigenerational homes. It is within the capacity of creative public health officials to innovate. That the lockdown status quo has not done so is not evidence that it is impossible.Lockdowns delay the time until herd immunity occurs and will incur unnecessary suffering and death to vulnerable and non-vulnerable alike. A focused protection approach will save lives in both the short and long term. My declaration co-signers and I urge governments worldwide to adopt it."";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"391;2020-10-20 12:00:00;68;""It is genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from Covid while the rest of us go back to normal"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Its not a herd immunity strategy but the way we have dealt with health dangers for centuriesThe Great Barrington declaration has been the focus of intense debate by scientists and policymakers worldwide. The plan itself calls for focused protection “ a return to standard public health practice “ in addressing the Covid 19 epidemic. My co-signatories and I call for devoting overwhelming resources to the aim of protecting the vulnerable while lifting lockdowns on the rest of the population who face greater health dangers from lockdowns than they do from the virus itself.We have heard several common counter-arguments. Prominent critics including Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Disease have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable “ colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as let[ting] things rip.�This is a false characterisation. Focused protection is a central tenet “ we must not let vulnerable people be exposed to the virus. We do not encourage intentionally exposing the non-vulnerable. Those who choose to continue to restrict their activities will be free to do so. The focused protection strategy is the standard way that societies have dealt successfully with prior epidemics.While it is true that permitting the non-vulnerable to live their lives normally may lead to a rise in cases they face a very low risk of mortality from Covid. It is in the order of 5 deaths per 10000 infections “ similar to the risk of a deadly traffic accident from driving to work every day. Though some may fear long-term harm from infection evidence has not established that this is common or permanent.Similarly it is inaccurate to characterise the focused protection plan as a herd immunity strategy� . Herd immunity is the natural endpoint with many infectious diseases and will occur with Covid 19 eventually regardless of policies adopted. A policy of lockdown while waiting for a vaccine for instance depends on the establishment of herd immunity.The Health Secretary Matt Hancock  argued in the House of Commons that achieving population immunity to Covid 19 is impossible. This is flatly incorrect. The development of immunity through natural infection is a common feature of many pathogens. It is reasonable to assume that Covid-19 does not have any tricks up its sleeve to prevent this from happening “ it would pose a very serious problem for the development of a vaccine if it did. Even if infection does not provide lifelong personal immunity it is a biological fact that herd immunity is the inevitable outcome of this epidemic regardless of the strategy we adopt.Is it genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from infection without limiting the number of cases among the non-vulnerable? Well lockdown policies have done a poor job in protecting the vulnerable so far. Failures include requiring essential� workers to be put in situations at work where they may be exposed to the virus failing to protect nursing home residents from exposure to the virus and making no provision for elderly people living in multi-generational homes to be shielded should a family member be exposed to the virus.The declaration provides some concrete ideas to fix those problems. They include a stringent testing programme in nursing homes the provision of free N95 masks for the vulnerable who cannot avoid potential exposure the sequestering of care home residents who have Covid-19 the application of workplace disability laws to require employers to protect vulnerable workers providing food delivery for home-bound vulnerable people and the provision of rapid testing and temporary alternative living arrangements for elderly people in multigenerational homes. It is within the capacity of creative public health officials to innovate. That the lockdown status quo has not done so is not evidence that it is impossible.Lockdowns delay the time until herd immunity occurs and will incur unnecessary suffering and death to vulnerable and non-vulnerable alike. A focused protection approach will save lives in both the short and long term. My declaration co-signers and I urge governments worldwide to adopt it."";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"392;2020-10-20 12:00:00;68;""It is genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from Covid while the rest of us go back to normal"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Its not a herd immunity strategy but the way we have dealt with health dangers for centuriesThe Great Barrington declaration has been the focus of intense debate by scientists and policymakers worldwide. The plan itself calls for focused protection “ a return to standard public health practice “ in addressing the Covid 19 epidemic. My co-signatories and I call for devoting overwhelming resources to the aim of protecting the vulnerable while lifting lockdowns on the rest of the population who face greater health dangers from lockdowns than they do from the virus itself.We have heard several common counter-arguments. Prominent critics including Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Disease have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable “ colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as let[ting] things rip.�This is a false characterisation. Focused protection is a central tenet “ we must not let vulnerable people be exposed to the virus. We do not encourage intentionally exposing the non-vulnerable. Those who choose to continue to restrict their activities will be free to do so. The focused protection strategy is the standard way that societies have dealt successfully with prior epidemics.While it is true that permitting the non-vulnerable to live their lives normally may lead to a rise in cases they face a very low risk of mortality from Covid. It is in the order of 5 deaths per 10000 infections “ similar to the risk of a deadly traffic accident from driving to work every day. Though some may fear long-term harm from infection evidence has not established that this is common or permanent.Similarly it is inaccurate to characterise the focused protection plan as a herd immunity strategy� . Herd immunity is the natural endpoint with many infectious diseases and will occur with Covid 19 eventually regardless of policies adopted. A policy of lockdown while waiting for a vaccine for instance depends on the establishment of herd immunity.The Health Secretary Matt Hancock  argued in the House of Commons that achieving population immunity to Covid 19 is impossible. This is flatly incorrect. The development of immunity through natural infection is a common feature of many pathogens. It is reasonable to assume that Covid-19 does not have any tricks up its sleeve to prevent this from happening “ it would pose a very serious problem for the development of a vaccine if it did. Even if infection does not provide lifelong personal immunity it is a biological fact that herd immunity is the inevitable outcome of this epidemic regardless of the strategy we adopt.Is it genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from infection without limiting the number of cases among the non-vulnerable? Well lockdown policies have done a poor job in protecting the vulnerable so far. Failures include requiring essential� workers to be put in situations at work where they may be exposed to the virus failing to protect nursing home residents from exposure to the virus and making no provision for elderly people living in multi-generational homes to be shielded should a family member be exposed to the virus.The declaration provides some concrete ideas to fix those problems. They include a stringent testing programme in nursing homes the provision of free N95 masks for the vulnerable who cannot avoid potential exposure the sequestering of care home residents who have Covid-19 the application of workplace disability laws to require employers to protect vulnerable workers providing food delivery for home-bound vulnerable people and the provision of rapid testing and temporary alternative living arrangements for elderly people in multigenerational homes. It is within the capacity of creative public health officials to innovate. That the lockdown status quo has not done so is not evidence that it is impossible.Lockdowns delay the time until herd immunity occurs and will incur unnecessary suffering and death to vulnerable and non-vulnerable alike. A focused protection approach will save lives in both the short and long term. My declaration co-signers and I urge governments worldwide to adopt it."";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"388;2020-10-20 12:00:00;68;""It is genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from Covid while the rest of us go back to normal"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Disease have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable “ colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as let[ting] things rip.�"";""Anthony Fauci"";""National Institute of Health (US)"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"846;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'You do understand that science has forever used herd immunity to deal with these viruses' said Wootton before Bryant interjected with 'You subscribe to herd immunity'Executive editor of The Sun Wootton said he did and that we could 'protect the vulnerable'. Not giving up the politician asked him how that would happen.'There's a whole load of ways to do it' said Wootton"";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""News/Media"""
"847;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'You do understand that science has forever used herd immunity to deal with these viruses' said Wootton before Bryant interjected with 'You subscribe to herd immunity'Executive editor of The Sun Wootton said he did and that we could 'protect the vulnerable'. Not giving up the politician asked him how that would happen.'There's a whole load of ways to do it' said Wootton"";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"848;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""arlier in the call the host said he was angry that people were 'at home too scared to go to hospital' resulting in ONS figures of an ' excess of 260' he claimed."";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""News/Media"""
"849;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'The main thing we're trying to do in my part of the world is to try and make sure that the NHS isn't overwhelmed. As someone who's had cancer in the last 18 months I'm painfully aware of the issue you've raised about what happens to people who don't present to their doctor because they are scared.'But the other side of that problem and we've done really well to make sure that cancer is being dealt with in a Covid-free setting using the private sector hospitals in Cardiff. But the real danger is that if the NHS if my local general hospital or the three that serve my area are overwhelmed and are completely full of Covid which we're getting for now then you try to add a little bit of flu there will be no space in the hospitals to deal with any other medical condition whatsoever.'So your argument is a false one it's not a choice between trying to care for people with other conditions and Covid. You have to deal with the Covid situation you have restrict the transmission of the virus if you're going to stand a chance of treating people with cancer.'"";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"850;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'The main thing we're trying to do in my part of the world is to try and make sure that the NHS isn't overwhelmed. As someone who's had cancer in the last 18 months I'm painfully aware of the issue you've raised about what happens to people who don't present to their doctor because they are scared.'But the other side of that problem and we've done really well to make sure that cancer is being dealt with in a Covid-free setting using the private sector hospitals in Cardiff. But the real danger is that if the NHS if my local general hospital or the three that serve my area are overwhelmed and are completely full of Covid which we're getting for now then you try to add a little bit of flu there will be no space in the hospitals to deal with any other medical condition whatsoever.'So your argument is a false one it's not a choice between trying to care for people with other conditions and Covid. You have to deal with the Covid situation you have restrict the transmission of the virus if you're going to stand a chance of treating people with cancer.'"";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"854;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Abusing someone because I disagree with a policy of national lockdowns. On a day when figures show 26000 poor souls died at home between March and September because they couldnt or wouldnt go to hospital. Right...'"";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""News/Media"""
"855;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Abusing someone because I disagree with a policy of national lockdowns. On a day when figures show 26000 poor souls died at home between March and September because they couldnt or wouldnt go to hospital. Right...'"";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"856;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Everyone has a right to their own opinion but deliberately defying common sense is dangerous. The truth is that locally 13 out of 17 Covid ITU beds are occupied 17 out of 22 General ITU beds are occupied. Both figures are rising and the occupancy is up on last year."";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"857;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Everyone has a right to their own opinion but deliberately defying common sense is dangerous. The truth is that locally 13 out of 17 Covid ITU beds are occupied 17 out of 22 General ITU beds are occupied. Both figures are rising and the occupancy is up on last year."";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"858;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Everyone has a right to their own opinion but deliberately defying common sense is dangerous. The truth is that locally 13 out of 17 Covid ITU beds are occupied 17 out of 22 General ITU beds are occupied. Both figures are rising and the occupancy is up on last year."";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"851;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Those who think that we should just let the virus run riot deliberately ignore the fact that the NHS will not be able to cope and will only be able to treat Covid patients if we continue at this rate. Those who think we should aim for 'herd immunity' ignore the science and want us to rely on the totally immoral concept of 'survival of the fittest'.'Those who dismiss the virus as harmless show utter disdain for the many thousands of people who have lost loved ones. Trump tried this line of denial and fake science -and look where it left America.'"";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Political"""
"852;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Those who think that we should just let the virus run riot deliberately ignore the fact that the NHS will not be able to cope and will only be able to treat Covid patients if we continue at this rate. Those who think we should aim for 'herd immunity' ignore the science and want us to rely on the totally immoral concept of 'survival of the fittest'.'Those who dismiss the virus as harmless show utter disdain for the many thousands of people who have lost loved ones. Trump tried this line of denial and fake science -and look where it left America.'"";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"853;2020-10-20 12:00:00;69;""MP Chris Bryant brands talkRADIO''s Dan Wootton ''a nutcase'' before hanging up on him in herd immunity row"";""Kathryn Williams"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Those who think that we should just let the virus run riot deliberately ignore the fact that the NHS will not be able to cope and will only be able to treat Covid patients if we continue at this rate. Those who think we should aim for 'herd immunity' ignore the science and want us to rely on the totally immoral concept of 'survival of the fittest'.'Those who dismiss the virus as harmless show utter disdain for the many thousands of people who have lost loved ones. Trump tried this line of denial and fake science -and look where it left America.'"";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"859;2020-10-20 12:00:00;70;""Furious MP Chris Bryant accuses radio host Dan Wootton of being a ''nutcase'' over herd immunity views"";""Sophia Sleigh"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""science has forever used herd immunity� to deal with viruses.The journalist also said he had signed up to the controversial Great Barrington Declaration� which calls for herd immunity and has been signed by anti-lockdown scientists and widely shared by conspiracy theorists.Mr Bryant a former priest suggested those behind it were crackpots� before telling Mr Wootton: Youre a nutcase “ youre a complete and utter nutcase. And youre dangerous as well.�"";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"860;2020-10-20 12:00:00;70;""Furious MP Chris Bryant accuses radio host Dan Wootton of being a ''nutcase'' over herd immunity views"";""Sophia Sleigh"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""Following the spat Mr Bryant tweeted: I had no idea this man was such a dangerous conspiracy theorist.�"";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"862;2020-10-20 12:00:00;71;""Labour MP Chris Bryant tells Dan Wootton he is ‚dangerous nutcase‚„ over herd immunity comments"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""A Labour MP was kicked off TalkRadio after he called host Dan Wootton a complete and utter nutcase� for suggesting herd immunity was a potential solutionto the coronavirus crisis."";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"861;2020-10-20 12:00:00;71;""Labour MP Chris Bryant tells Dan Wootton he is ‚dangerous nutcase‚„ over herd immunity comments"";""Adam Forrest"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""science has forever used herdimmunity� to deal with viruses."";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"844;2020-10-21 12:00:00;65;""MP brands radio host a ''nutcase'' for Covid theory"";""Kathryn Williams"";""South Wales Echo"";"""";"""";""'You do understand that science has forever used herd immunity to deal with these viruses' said Wootton before Mr Bryant interjected with 'You subscribe to herd immunity?''There's a whole load of ways to do it' said Wootton before Bryant interjected;Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"845;2020-10-21 12:00:00;65;""MP brands radio host a ''nutcase'' for Covid theory"";""Kathryn Williams"";""South Wales Echo"";"""";"""";""Earlier in the call the host said he was angry that people were 'at home too scared to go to hospital' resulting in what he claimed were thousands of excess deaths."";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""News/Media"""
"842;2020-10-21 12:00:00;65;""MP brands radio host a ''nutcase'' for Covid theory"";""Kathryn Williams"";""South Wales Echo"";"""";"""";""Mr Bryant who was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2018 explained the rationale of lockdowns saying: 'The main thing we're trying to do in my part of the world is to try and make sure that the NHS isn't overwhelmed.'As someone who's had cancer in the last 18 months I'm painfully aware of the issue you've raised about what happens to people who don't present to their doctor because they are scared.'But the other side of that problem and we've done really well to make sure that cancer is being dealt with in a Covid-free setting using the private sector hospitals in Cardiff.'But the real danger is that if the NHS if my local general hospital or the three that serve my area are overwhelmed and are completely full of Covid which we're getting for now then you try to add a little bit of flu there will be no space in the hospitals to deal with any other medical condition whatsoever.'So your argument is a false one it's not a choice between trying to care for people with other conditions and Covid. You have to deal with the Covid situation you have restrict the transmission of the virus if you're going to stand a chance of treating people with cancer.'"";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"843;2020-10-21 12:00:00;65;""MP brands radio host a ''nutcase'' for Covid theory"";""Kathryn Williams"";""South Wales Echo"";"""";"""";""Mr Bryant who was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2018 explained the rationale of lockdowns saying: 'The main thing we're trying to do in my part of the world is to try and make sure that the NHS isn't overwhelmed.'As someone who's had cancer in the last 18 months I'm painfully aware of the issue you've raised about what happens to people who don't present to their doctor because they are scared.'But the other side of that problem and we've done really well to make sure that cancer is being dealt with in a Covid-free setting using the private sector hospitals in Cardiff.'But the real danger is that if the NHS if my local general hospital or the three that serve my area are overwhelmed and are completely full of Covid which we're getting for now then you try to add a little bit of flu there will be no space in the hospitals to deal with any other medical condition whatsoever.'So your argument is a false one it's not a choice between trying to care for people with other conditions and Covid. You have to deal with the Covid situation you have restrict the transmission of the virus if you're going to stand a chance of treating people with cancer.'"";""Chris Bryant"";""House of Commons"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Political"""
"381;2020-10-21 12:00:00;67;""Protecting the vulnerable is not impossible"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""It's not a herd immunity strategy but the way we have dealt with health dangers for centuriesThe Great Barrington Declaration has been the focus of intense debate by scientists and policymakers worldwide. The plan itself calls for focused protection - a return to standard public health practice - in addressing the Covid-19 epidemic. My co-signatories and I call for devoting overwhelming resources to the aim of protecting the vulnerable while lifting lockdowns on the rest of the population who face greater health dangers from lockdowns than they do from the virus itself.We have heard several common counter-arguments. Prominent critics including Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable - colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as 'let[ting] things rip'.This is a false characterisation. Focused protection is a central tenet - we must not let vulnerable people be exposed to the virus. We do not encourage intentionally exposing the non-vulnerable. Those who choose to continue to restrict their activities will be free to do so. The focused protection strategy is the standard way that societies have dealt successfully with previous epidemics.While it is true that permitting the non-vulnerable to live their lives normally may lead to a rise in cases they face a very low risk of mortality from Covid. It is in the order of five deaths per 10000 infections - similar to the risk of a deadly traffic accident from driving to work every day.Though some may fear long-term harm from infection evidence has not established that this is common or permanent.Similarly it is inaccurate to characterise the focused protection plan as a 'herd immunity strategy'. Herd immunity is the natural end point with many infectious diseases and will occur with Covid-19 eventually regardless of the policies adopted. A policy of lockdown while waiting for a vaccine for instance depends on the establishment of herd immunity.Matt Hancock the Health Secretary argued in the House of Commons that achieving population immunity to Covid-19 is impossible. This is flatly incorrect. The development of immunity through natural infection is a common feature of many pathogens. It is reasonable to assume that Covid-19 does not have any tricks up its sleeve to prevent this from happening - it would pose a very serious problem for the development of a vaccine if it did. Even if infection does not provide lifelong personal immunity it is a biological fact that herd immunity is the inevitable outcome of this epidemic regardless of the strategy we adopt.Is it genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from infection without limiting the number of cases among the non-vulnerable? Well lockdown policies have done a poor job of protecting the vulnerable so far. Failures include requiring 'essential' workers to be put in situations where they may be exposed to the virus failing to protect nursing home residents from exposure to the virus and making no provision for elderly people living in multi-generational homes to be shielded should a family member be exposed to the virus.The declaration provides some concrete ideas to fix those problems. They include a stringent testing programme in nursing homes the provision of free N95 masks for the vulnerable who cannot avoid potential exposure the sequestering of care home residents who have Covid-19 the application of workplace disability laws to require employers to protect vulnerable workers providing food delivery for vulnerable people isolating at home and the provision of rapid testing and temporary alternative living arrangements for elderly people in multi-generational homes. It is within the capacity of creative public health officials to innovate. That the lockdown status quo has not done so is not evidence that it is impossible.Lockdowns delay the time until herd immunity occurs and will result in unnecessary suffering and death for vulnerable and non-vulnerable alike. A focused protection approach will save lives in both the short and long term. My declaration co-signers and I urge governments worldwide to adopt it. Dr Jay Bhattacharya is a Stanford University professor of medicine"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"384;2020-10-21 12:00:00;67;""Protecting the vulnerable is not impossible"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""It's not a herd immunity strategy but the way we have dealt with health dangers for centuriesThe Great Barrington Declaration has been the focus of intense debate by scientists and policymakers worldwide. The plan itself calls for focused protection - a return to standard public health practice - in addressing the Covid-19 epidemic. My co-signatories and I call for devoting overwhelming resources to the aim of protecting the vulnerable while lifting lockdowns on the rest of the population who face greater health dangers from lockdowns than they do from the virus itself.We have heard several common counter-arguments. Prominent critics including Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable - colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as 'let[ting] things rip'.This is a false characterisation. Focused protection is a central tenet - we must not let vulnerable people be exposed to the virus. We do not encourage intentionally exposing the non-vulnerable. Those who choose to continue to restrict their activities will be free to do so. The focused protection strategy is the standard way that societies have dealt successfully with previous epidemics.While it is true that permitting the non-vulnerable to live their lives normally may lead to a rise in cases they face a very low risk of mortality from Covid. It is in the order of five deaths per 10000 infections - similar to the risk of a deadly traffic accident from driving to work every day.Though some may fear long-term harm from infection evidence has not established that this is common or permanent.Similarly it is inaccurate to characterise the focused protection plan as a 'herd immunity strategy'. Herd immunity is the natural end point with many infectious diseases and will occur with Covid-19 eventually regardless of the policies adopted. A policy of lockdown while waiting for a vaccine for instance depends on the establishment of herd immunity.Matt Hancock the Health Secretary argued in the House of Commons that achieving population immunity to Covid-19 is impossible. This is flatly incorrect. The development of immunity through natural infection is a common feature of many pathogens. It is reasonable to assume that Covid-19 does not have any tricks up its sleeve to prevent this from happening - it would pose a very serious problem for the development of a vaccine if it did. Even if infection does not provide lifelong personal immunity it is a biological fact that herd immunity is the inevitable outcome of this epidemic regardless of the strategy we adopt.Is it genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from infection without limiting the number of cases among the non-vulnerable? Well lockdown policies have done a poor job of protecting the vulnerable so far. Failures include requiring 'essential' workers to be put in situations where they may be exposed to the virus failing to protect nursing home residents from exposure to the virus and making no provision for elderly people living in multi-generational homes to be shielded should a family member be exposed to the virus.The declaration provides some concrete ideas to fix those problems. They include a stringent testing programme in nursing homes the provision of free N95 masks for the vulnerable who cannot avoid potential exposure the sequestering of care home residents who have Covid-19 the application of workplace disability laws to require employers to protect vulnerable workers providing food delivery for vulnerable people isolating at home and the provision of rapid testing and temporary alternative living arrangements for elderly people in multi-generational homes. It is within the capacity of creative public health officials to innovate. That the lockdown status quo has not done so is not evidence that it is impossible.Lockdowns delay the time until herd immunity occurs and will result in unnecessary suffering and death for vulnerable and non-vulnerable alike. A focused protection approach will save lives in both the short and long term. My declaration co-signers and I urge governments worldwide to adopt it. Dr Jay Bhattacharya is a Stanford University professor of medicine"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"385;2020-10-21 12:00:00;67;""Protecting the vulnerable is not impossible"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""It's not a herd immunity strategy but the way we have dealt with health dangers for centuriesThe Great Barrington Declaration has been the focus of intense debate by scientists and policymakers worldwide. The plan itself calls for focused protection - a return to standard public health practice - in addressing the Covid-19 epidemic. My co-signatories and I call for devoting overwhelming resources to the aim of protecting the vulnerable while lifting lockdowns on the rest of the population who face greater health dangers from lockdowns than they do from the virus itself.We have heard several common counter-arguments. Prominent critics including Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable - colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as 'let[ting] things rip'.This is a false characterisation. Focused protection is a central tenet - we must not let vulnerable people be exposed to the virus. We do not encourage intentionally exposing the non-vulnerable. Those who choose to continue to restrict their activities will be free to do so. The focused protection strategy is the standard way that societies have dealt successfully with previous epidemics.While it is true that permitting the non-vulnerable to live their lives normally may lead to a rise in cases they face a very low risk of mortality from Covid. It is in the order of five deaths per 10000 infections - similar to the risk of a deadly traffic accident from driving to work every day.Though some may fear long-term harm from infection evidence has not established that this is common or permanent.Similarly it is inaccurate to characterise the focused protection plan as a 'herd immunity strategy'. Herd immunity is the natural end point with many infectious diseases and will occur with Covid-19 eventually regardless of the policies adopted. A policy of lockdown while waiting for a vaccine for instance depends on the establishment of herd immunity.Matt Hancock the Health Secretary argued in the House of Commons that achieving population immunity to Covid-19 is impossible. This is flatly incorrect. The development of immunity through natural infection is a common feature of many pathogens. It is reasonable to assume that Covid-19 does not have any tricks up its sleeve to prevent this from happening - it would pose a very serious problem for the development of a vaccine if it did. Even if infection does not provide lifelong personal immunity it is a biological fact that herd immunity is the inevitable outcome of this epidemic regardless of the strategy we adopt.Is it genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from infection without limiting the number of cases among the non-vulnerable? Well lockdown policies have done a poor job of protecting the vulnerable so far. Failures include requiring 'essential' workers to be put in situations where they may be exposed to the virus failing to protect nursing home residents from exposure to the virus and making no provision for elderly people living in multi-generational homes to be shielded should a family member be exposed to the virus.The declaration provides some concrete ideas to fix those problems. They include a stringent testing programme in nursing homes the provision of free N95 masks for the vulnerable who cannot avoid potential exposure the sequestering of care home residents who have Covid-19 the application of workplace disability laws to require employers to protect vulnerable workers providing food delivery for vulnerable people isolating at home and the provision of rapid testing and temporary alternative living arrangements for elderly people in multi-generational homes. It is within the capacity of creative public health officials to innovate. That the lockdown status quo has not done so is not evidence that it is impossible.Lockdowns delay the time until herd immunity occurs and will result in unnecessary suffering and death for vulnerable and non-vulnerable alike. A focused protection approach will save lives in both the short and long term. My declaration co-signers and I urge governments worldwide to adopt it. Dr Jay Bhattacharya is a Stanford University professor of medicine"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"386;2020-10-21 12:00:00;67;""Protecting the vulnerable is not impossible"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""It's not a herd immunity strategy but the way we have dealt with health dangers for centuriesThe Great Barrington Declaration has been the focus of intense debate by scientists and policymakers worldwide. The plan itself calls for focused protection - a return to standard public health practice - in addressing the Covid-19 epidemic. My co-signatories and I call for devoting overwhelming resources to the aim of protecting the vulnerable while lifting lockdowns on the rest of the population who face greater health dangers from lockdowns than they do from the virus itself.We have heard several common counter-arguments. Prominent critics including Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable - colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as 'let[ting] things rip'.This is a false characterisation. Focused protection is a central tenet - we must not let vulnerable people be exposed to the virus. We do not encourage intentionally exposing the non-vulnerable. Those who choose to continue to restrict their activities will be free to do so. The focused protection strategy is the standard way that societies have dealt successfully with previous epidemics.While it is true that permitting the non-vulnerable to live their lives normally may lead to a rise in cases they face a very low risk of mortality from Covid. It is in the order of five deaths per 10000 infections - similar to the risk of a deadly traffic accident from driving to work every day.Though some may fear long-term harm from infection evidence has not established that this is common or permanent.Similarly it is inaccurate to characterise the focused protection plan as a 'herd immunity strategy'. Herd immunity is the natural end point with many infectious diseases and will occur with Covid-19 eventually regardless of the policies adopted. A policy of lockdown while waiting for a vaccine for instance depends on the establishment of herd immunity.Matt Hancock the Health Secretary argued in the House of Commons that achieving population immunity to Covid-19 is impossible. This is flatly incorrect. The development of immunity through natural infection is a common feature of many pathogens. It is reasonable to assume that Covid-19 does not have any tricks up its sleeve to prevent this from happening - it would pose a very serious problem for the development of a vaccine if it did. Even if infection does not provide lifelong personal immunity it is a biological fact that herd immunity is the inevitable outcome of this epidemic regardless of the strategy we adopt.Is it genuinely possible to shield the vulnerable from infection without limiting the number of cases among the non-vulnerable? Well lockdown policies have done a poor job of protecting the vulnerable so far. Failures include requiring 'essential' workers to be put in situations where they may be exposed to the virus failing to protect nursing home residents from exposure to the virus and making no provision for elderly people living in multi-generational homes to be shielded should a family member be exposed to the virus.The declaration provides some concrete ideas to fix those problems. They include a stringent testing programme in nursing homes the provision of free N95 masks for the vulnerable who cannot avoid potential exposure the sequestering of care home residents who have Covid-19 the application of workplace disability laws to require employers to protect vulnerable workers providing food delivery for vulnerable people isolating at home and the provision of rapid testing and temporary alternative living arrangements for elderly people in multi-generational homes. It is within the capacity of creative public health officials to innovate. That the lockdown status quo has not done so is not evidence that it is impossible.Lockdowns delay the time until herd immunity occurs and will result in unnecessary suffering and death for vulnerable and non-vulnerable alike. A focused protection approach will save lives in both the short and long term. My declaration co-signers and I urge governments worldwide to adopt it. Dr Jay Bhattacharya is a Stanford University professor of medicine"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""Stanford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"387;2020-10-21 12:00:00;67;""Protecting the vulnerable is not impossible"";""Jay Bhattacharya"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Dr Anthony Fauci director of the US National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases have mischaracterised the plan as actively promoting Covid infection among the non-vulnerable - colourfully but incorrectly describing the strategy as 'let[ting] things rip'."";""Anthony Fauci"";""National Institute of Health (US)"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"829;2020-10-22 12:00:00;60;""Letting the young go back to normal while shielding the elderly would have ''dire consequences'' on the NHS SAGE warns"";""Luke Andrews"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The declaration says it would be better to 'allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"830;2020-10-22 12:00:00;60;""Letting the young go back to normal while shielding the elderly would have ''dire consequences'' on the NHS SAGE warns"";""Luke Andrews"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""The declaration says it would be better to 'allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"831;2020-10-22 12:00:00;60;""Letting the young go back to normal while shielding the elderly would have ''dire consequences'' on the NHS SAGE warns"";""Luke Andrews"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""SAGE says: 'Such a strategy (of segmenting age groups) would not be viable because it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from younger people to older people.'A very large proportion of the population need to withdraw from daily life for many months which would have profound consequences for the NHS as well as having unknown long-term effects in those infected.' It added: 'We do not know if long-term immunity results from infection with SARS-CoV-2 even if high levels of immunity could be achieved within the younger age group it is almost certain that a further epidemic wave in older people would happen once segmentation ended.'The top scientists also dismissed the possibility of segmenting the population in July according to minutes of meetings published by the Government last week.They said any move to split the populations by age is 'likely to fail' after modelling revealed a high level of contact in younger groups between those over 45.But it also showed that people over 70 tended to mix with their own age group far more than with any other.'Policies to segment the population by age relaxing restrictions for younger groups while restricting them for older groups are likely to fail' they advised the Government.'The large amount of mixing across age groups would make it extremely difficult to prevent transmission between segmented age groups regardless of the ethical and practical questions involved.'Further any age segmentation policy will surely raise considerable social ethical and practical issues not considered here in addition to costs to wider well-being.'Minutes from July published last month also advised against plans for everyone over the age of 45 to shield saying around two-thirds of people in the UK live in a household including at least one person in this age bracket.They note: 'Data shows that people tend to have more contacts with others around their own age but also have a significant number of contacts with those 20-30 years older and younger than themselves (likely to mainly be contacts between parents and children).'There are also significant levels of contact between grandparents and children.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"832;2020-10-22 12:00:00;60;""Letting the young go back to normal while shielding the elderly would have ''dire consequences'' on the NHS SAGE warns"";""Luke Andrews"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""SAGE says: 'Such a strategy (of segmenting age groups) would not be viable because it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from younger people to older people.'A very large proportion of the population need to withdraw from daily life for many months which would have profound consequences for the NHS as well as having unknown long-term effects in those infected.' It added: 'We do not know if long-term immunity results from infection with SARS-CoV-2 even if high levels of immunity could be achieved within the younger age group it is almost certain that a further epidemic wave in older people would happen once segmentation ended.'The top scientists also dismissed the possibility of segmenting the population in July according to minutes of meetings published by the Government last week.They said any move to split the populations by age is 'likely to fail' after modelling revealed a high level of contact in younger groups between those over 45.But it also showed that people over 70 tended to mix with their own age group far more than with any other.'Policies to segment the population by age relaxing restrictions for younger groups while restricting them for older groups are likely to fail' they advised the Government.'The large amount of mixing across age groups would make it extremely difficult to prevent transmission between segmented age groups regardless of the ethical and practical questions involved.'Further any age segmentation policy will surely raise considerable social ethical and practical issues not considered here in addition to costs to wider well-being.'Minutes from July published last month also advised against plans for everyone over the age of 45 to shield saying around two-thirds of people in the UK live in a household including at least one person in this age bracket.They note: 'Data shows that people tend to have more contacts with others around their own age but also have a significant number of contacts with those 20-30 years older and younger than themselves (likely to mainly be contacts between parents and children).'There are also significant levels of contact between grandparents and children.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Government"""
"833;2020-10-22 12:00:00;60;""Letting the young go back to normal while shielding the elderly would have ''dire consequences'' on the NHS SAGE warns"";""Luke Andrews"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""SAGE says: 'Such a strategy (of segmenting age groups) would not be viable because it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from younger people to older people.'A very large proportion of the population need to withdraw from daily life for many months which would have profound consequences for the NHS as well as having unknown long-term effects in those infected.' It added: 'We do not know if long-term immunity results from infection with SARS-CoV-2 even if high levels of immunity could be achieved within the younger age group it is almost certain that a further epidemic wave in older people would happen once segmentation ended.'The top scientists also dismissed the possibility of segmenting the population in July according to minutes of meetings published by the Government last week.They said any move to split the populations by age is 'likely to fail' after modelling revealed a high level of contact in younger groups between those over 45.But it also showed that people over 70 tended to mix with their own age group far more than with any other.'Policies to segment the population by age relaxing restrictions for younger groups while restricting them for older groups are likely to fail' they advised the Government.'The large amount of mixing across age groups would make it extremely difficult to prevent transmission between segmented age groups regardless of the ethical and practical questions involved.'Further any age segmentation policy will surely raise considerable social ethical and practical issues not considered here in addition to costs to wider well-being.'Minutes from July published last month also advised against plans for everyone over the age of 45 to shield saying around two-thirds of people in the UK live in a household including at least one person in this age bracket.They note: 'Data shows that people tend to have more contacts with others around their own age but also have a significant number of contacts with those 20-30 years older and younger than themselves (likely to mainly be contacts between parents and children).'There are also significant levels of contact between grandparents and children.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"834;2020-10-22 12:00:00;60;""Letting the young go back to normal while shielding the elderly would have ''dire consequences'' on the NHS SAGE warns"";""Luke Andrews"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""SAGE says: 'Such a strategy (of segmenting age groups) would not be viable because it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from younger people to older people.'A very large proportion of the population need to withdraw from daily life for many months which would have profound consequences for the NHS as well as having unknown long-term effects in those infected.' It added: 'We do not know if long-term immunity results from infection with SARS-CoV-2 even if high levels of immunity could be achieved within the younger age group it is almost certain that a further epidemic wave in older people would happen once segmentation ended.'The top scientists also dismissed the possibility of segmenting the population in July according to minutes of meetings published by the Government last week.They said any move to split the populations by age is 'likely to fail' after modelling revealed a high level of contact in younger groups between those over 45.But it also showed that people over 70 tended to mix with their own age group far more than with any other.'Policies to segment the population by age relaxing restrictions for younger groups while restricting them for older groups are likely to fail' they advised the Government.'The large amount of mixing across age groups would make it extremely difficult to prevent transmission between segmented age groups regardless of the ethical and practical questions involved.'Further any age segmentation policy will surely raise considerable social ethical and practical issues not considered here in addition to costs to wider well-being.'Minutes from July published last month also advised against plans for everyone over the age of 45 to shield saying around two-thirds of people in the UK live in a household including at least one person in this age bracket.They note: 'Data shows that people tend to have more contacts with others around their own age but also have a significant number of contacts with those 20-30 years older and younger than themselves (likely to mainly be contacts between parents and children).'There are also significant levels of contact between grandparents and children.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"839;2020-10-22 12:00:00;61;""DAN WOOTTON Coronavirus has seen MPs develop herd immunity‚¦ from common sense"";""Dan Wootton"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""WITH sad predictability the corona crisis has seen headline-grabbing politicians seem to achieve immunity from common sense and the ability to face reality.Case in point this week: Welsh Labour MP Chris Bryant who found fleeting internet notoriety for telling me that believing in herd immunity ” a scientific theory since 1923 that has saved the human race from infectious diseases many times over ” makes me a nutcase� (sensitive language as ever from the chair of Parliaments Standards Committee).Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updatesIf you remove political posturing from the discussion the reality is that natural immunity to Covid-19 is the only way out of the current maelstrom.The question is how we are going to get there.I strongly believe Keir Starmers approach of damning the country to a never-ending series of national lockdowns (even if they give them fancy names like circuit- breakers and firebreaks) is misguided.Scientists around the world crunching actual data rather than relying on dodgy modelling are increasingly saying the same thing about the damage that would do.A Lancet study of 50 countries for example found no link between lockdowns and decreased Covid mortality .Even the World Health Organisation has flip-flopped and now agrees that shutting down countries has one major consequence ” making poor people poorer.The true cost of lockdown was revealed in the starkest of terms this week with ONS statistics showing an excess death toll of 26000 in private homes from the start of lockdown in March to September. Just three per cent were linked to Covid.The vast majority of those poor souls were either scared into staying home or told to by medical professionals ” and it killed them.Why have our broadcasters like BBC and Sky News not started a lockdown death toll to run alongside the coronavirus figures they put on large graphics multiple times a day? As regular readers know I am well aware of the brutality of the coronavirus. I picked it up in the initial London outbreak in March and it wasnt a pleasant experience.This deadly virus is not something to take lightly and I absolutely accept our way of life has been changed completely with the prospect of large gatherings or going to a nightclub sadly a long way off.However I am equally scared by the consequences of lockdown .My heart breaks for those diagnosed with cancer at this time  many of whom have seen life-saving treatment delayed for weeks or months.Which brings me back to why we should all want to achieve herd immunity ” responsibly and over a long period of time. That is not a crackpot� theory as that irresponsible showboater Chris Bryant dangerously told me.Remember back in March when Patrick Vallance our Chief Scientific Adviser said our aim� is to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it�?Vallance is now so terrified about the potential ugly results of a public inquiry into coronavirus that he pretends it was never part of our response plan. UGLY RESULTSWhat must be stressed is that herd immunity does not mean letting the virus rip through the community.It is an end goal that will eventually be achieved through a series of measures including ” please God ” a vaccine .Until then I agree with Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese ” a sensible Labour man ” who published figures this week showing an enhanced shielding programme in his region would cost just one fifth of a tier-three lockdown.I appreciate this is a controversial proposition. Huge personal sacrifices would be made by around five per cent of the population. But we must be allowed to have the debate WITHOUT nasty name-calling.The most dangerous thing we can do at the moment is censor scientists ” including the eminent authors of the Great Barrington Declaration ” whose science doesnt fit the narrative of Sage the Government or the opposition."";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""News/Media"""
"840;2020-10-22 12:00:00;61;""DAN WOOTTON Coronavirus has seen MPs develop herd immunity‚¦ from common sense"";""Dan Wootton"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""WITH sad predictability the corona crisis has seen headline-grabbing politicians seem to achieve immunity from common sense and the ability to face reality.Case in point this week: Welsh Labour MP Chris Bryant who found fleeting internet notoriety for telling me that believing in herd immunity ” a scientific theory since 1923 that has saved the human race from infectious diseases many times over ” makes me a nutcase� (sensitive language as ever from the chair of Parliaments Standards Committee).Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updatesIf you remove political posturing from the discussion the reality is that natural immunity to Covid-19 is the only way out of the current maelstrom.The question is how we are going to get there.I strongly believe Keir Starmers approach of damning the country to a never-ending series of national lockdowns (even if they give them fancy names like circuit- breakers and firebreaks) is misguided.Scientists around the world crunching actual data rather than relying on dodgy modelling are increasingly saying the same thing about the damage that would do.A Lancet study of 50 countries for example found no link between lockdowns and decreased Covid mortality .Even the World Health Organisation has flip-flopped and now agrees that shutting down countries has one major consequence ” making poor people poorer.The true cost of lockdown was revealed in the starkest of terms this week with ONS statistics showing an excess death toll of 26000 in private homes from the start of lockdown in March to September. Just three per cent were linked to Covid.The vast majority of those poor souls were either scared into staying home or told to by medical professionals ” and it killed them.Why have our broadcasters like BBC and Sky News not started a lockdown death toll to run alongside the coronavirus figures they put on large graphics multiple times a day? As regular readers know I am well aware of the brutality of the coronavirus. I picked it up in the initial London outbreak in March and it wasnt a pleasant experience.This deadly virus is not something to take lightly and I absolutely accept our way of life has been changed completely with the prospect of large gatherings or going to a nightclub sadly a long way off.However I am equally scared by the consequences of lockdown .My heart breaks for those diagnosed with cancer at this time  many of whom have seen life-saving treatment delayed for weeks or months.Which brings me back to why we should all want to achieve herd immunity ” responsibly and over a long period of time. That is not a crackpot� theory as that irresponsible showboater Chris Bryant dangerously told me.Remember back in March when Patrick Vallance our Chief Scientific Adviser said our aim� is to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it�?Vallance is now so terrified about the potential ugly results of a public inquiry into coronavirus that he pretends it was never part of our response plan. UGLY RESULTSWhat must be stressed is that herd immunity does not mean letting the virus rip through the community.It is an end goal that will eventually be achieved through a series of measures including ” please God ” a vaccine .Until then I agree with Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese ” a sensible Labour man ” who published figures this week showing an enhanced shielding programme in his region would cost just one fifth of a tier-three lockdown.I appreciate this is a controversial proposition. Huge personal sacrifices would be made by around five per cent of the population. But we must be allowed to have the debate WITHOUT nasty name-calling.The most dangerous thing we can do at the moment is censor scientists ” including the eminent authors of the Great Barrington Declaration ” whose science doesnt fit the narrative of Sage the Government or the opposition."";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""News/Media"""
"841;2020-10-22 12:00:00;61;""DAN WOOTTON Coronavirus has seen MPs develop herd immunity‚¦ from common sense"";""Dan Wootton"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""WITH sad predictability the corona crisis has seen headline-grabbing politicians seem to achieve immunity from common sense and the ability to face reality.Case in point this week: Welsh Labour MP Chris Bryant who found fleeting internet notoriety for telling me that believing in herd immunity ” a scientific theory since 1923 that has saved the human race from infectious diseases many times over ” makes me a nutcase� (sensitive language as ever from the chair of Parliaments Standards Committee).Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updatesIf you remove political posturing from the discussion the reality is that natural immunity to Covid-19 is the only way out of the current maelstrom.The question is how we are going to get there.I strongly believe Keir Starmers approach of damning the country to a never-ending series of national lockdowns (even if they give them fancy names like circuit- breakers and firebreaks) is misguided.Scientists around the world crunching actual data rather than relying on dodgy modelling are increasingly saying the same thing about the damage that would do.A Lancet study of 50 countries for example found no link between lockdowns and decreased Covid mortality .Even the World Health Organisation has flip-flopped and now agrees that shutting down countries has one major consequence ” making poor people poorer.The true cost of lockdown was revealed in the starkest of terms this week with ONS statistics showing an excess death toll of 26000 in private homes from the start of lockdown in March to September. Just three per cent were linked to Covid.The vast majority of those poor souls were either scared into staying home or told to by medical professionals ” and it killed them.Why have our broadcasters like BBC and Sky News not started a lockdown death toll to run alongside the coronavirus figures they put on large graphics multiple times a day? As regular readers know I am well aware of the brutality of the coronavirus. I picked it up in the initial London outbreak in March and it wasnt a pleasant experience.This deadly virus is not something to take lightly and I absolutely accept our way of life has been changed completely with the prospect of large gatherings or going to a nightclub sadly a long way off.However I am equally scared by the consequences of lockdown .My heart breaks for those diagnosed with cancer at this time  many of whom have seen life-saving treatment delayed for weeks or months.Which brings me back to why we should all want to achieve herd immunity ” responsibly and over a long period of time. That is not a crackpot� theory as that irresponsible showboater Chris Bryant dangerously told me.Remember back in March when Patrick Vallance our Chief Scientific Adviser said our aim� is to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it�?Vallance is now so terrified about the potential ugly results of a public inquiry into coronavirus that he pretends it was never part of our response plan. UGLY RESULTSWhat must be stressed is that herd immunity does not mean letting the virus rip through the community.It is an end goal that will eventually be achieved through a series of measures including ” please God ” a vaccine .Until then I agree with Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese ” a sensible Labour man ” who published figures this week showing an enhanced shielding programme in his region would cost just one fifth of a tier-three lockdown.I appreciate this is a controversial proposition. Huge personal sacrifices would be made by around five per cent of the population. But we must be allowed to have the debate WITHOUT nasty name-calling.The most dangerous thing we can do at the moment is censor scientists ” including the eminent authors of the Great Barrington Declaration ” whose science doesnt fit the narrative of Sage the Government or the opposition."";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"837;2020-10-22 12:00:00;61;""DAN WOOTTON Coronavirus has seen MPs develop herd immunity‚¦ from common sense"";""Dan Wootton"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Remember back in March when Patrick Vallance our Chief Scientific Adviser said our aim� is to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it�?"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"838;2020-10-22 12:00:00;61;""DAN WOOTTON Coronavirus has seen MPs develop herd immunity‚¦ from common sense"";""Dan Wootton"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Remember back in March when Patrick Vallance our Chief Scientific Adviser said our aim� is to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it�?"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"360;2020-10-22 12:00:00;62;""Nadine Dorries says she no longer has Covid-19 antibodies and is ''no longer immune''"";""April Roach"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""She told MPs: On the issue of herd immunity without a vaccine how do we attain herd immunity? With no knowledge of immunity of coronavirus how do we obtain herd immunity?And I will share with the House I was diagnosed with coronavirus on March 7 I had a very severe dose and my antibodies had disappeared 12 weeks later. I am no longer immune to coronavirus.And that is not just my story thats the story of many many people.�She added: If you do not have long-term antibodies if you have no vaccine there is no such thing as herd immunity.�"";""Nadine Dorries"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"361;2020-10-22 12:00:00;62;""Nadine Dorries says she no longer has Covid-19 antibodies and is ''no longer immune''"";""April Roach"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""To follow a policy of herd immunity in the early stages of an outbreak would mean letting the virus run free resulting in the deaths of many elderly people .But ultimately if you have the infection you become immune hopefully if you have a vaccination you become immune “ the endgame is we end up with herd immunity' Professor Hussell said at a science media centre briefing on Thursday.So I think thats what we will end up with even though we didnt allow it to happen entirely out of control at the beginning. So its not a good idea it is the outcome. We end up immune.'"";""Tracy Hussell"";""University of Manchester"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"362;2020-10-22 12:00:00;63;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care separately said that herd immunity is a natural by-product of an epidemic� but the government denied herd immunity was ever part of government policy."";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"363;2020-10-22 12:00:00;63;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""On 15 March a statement read : We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it...that is a scientific concept not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain delay research and mitigate.�"";"""";""Department of Health and Social Care"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"364;2020-10-22 12:00:00;63;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Prof Woolhouse explained: If youve been exposed to any infection enough people have already been exposed to it have developed antibodies and theyre immune to it you can have natural herd immunity and that particular virus will not be able to cause an epidemic in the population.It doesnt mean it wont be able to spread as therell still be some susceptible people but it wont take off and cause an epidemic� he said. But this approach for coronavirus would have required a large proportion of the population becoming ill first making it a non-starter."";""Mark Woolhouse"";""Edinburgh University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"365;2020-10-22 12:00:00;63;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Tonia Thomas Vaccine Knowledge project manager explained that the prospect of developing immunity to a condition through infection rather than through vaccination could be harmful as people may risk developing complications from the disease�.Vaccines are a safer way to develop immunity without the risks associated with the disease itself� Thomas stated."";""Tania Thomas"";""Vaccine Knowledge Project"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"366;2020-10-22 12:00:00;63;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Covid-19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity� the statement read. That means more people are susceptible to infection and some will suffer severe disease.�In a scientific brief published by WHO in April it further stressed that while antibodies may be detected among people who have previously tested positive for the virus there is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from Covid-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection�."";"""";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"367;2020-10-22 12:00:00;63;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""On 28 August WHOs chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan explained the implications of allowing Covid-19 to spread around the population stating that it isbelieved that at least 60 to 70 per cent of the population would need to be immune to really break the chain of transmission�.If you allow this to happen naturally it will take a long time of course but more importantly its going to do a lot of collateral damage. So even if 1 per cent of people who get infected are ultimately going to die then this can add up to a huge number of people if we look at the global population� Dr Swaminathan said.And that is why we believe its not a good idea to try to achieve herd immunity by just letting the infection run wild in the population and infect a lot of people and that we should talk about herd immunity in the context of a vaccine.�"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"368;2020-10-22 12:00:00;63;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""On 28 August WHOs chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan explained the implications of allowing Covid-19 to spread around the population stating that it isbelieved that at least 60 to 70 per cent of the population would need to be immune to really break the chain of transmission�.If you allow this to happen naturally it will take a long time of course but more importantly its going to do a lot of collateral damage. So even if 1 per cent of people who get infected are ultimately going to die then this can add up to a huge number of people if we look at the global population� Dr Swaminathan said.And that is why we believe its not a good idea to try to achieve herd immunity by just letting the infection run wild in the population and infect a lot of people and that we should talk about herd immunity in the context of a vaccine.�"";""Soumya Swaminathan"";""World Health Organization"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"369;2020-10-22 12:00:00;63;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Shaun Lintern said that there was no chance of herd immunity with coronavirus�.As a brand new virus no one has immunity to it so every human being is susceptible to the virus� he explains. Herd immunity will only come into effect once a huge majority of people have had it and survived so their bodies create antibodies to the virus.�Lintern affirms that in order to achieve a good herd immunity� approximately 90 to 95 per cent of the population would need to have recovered and become immune to the infection such as in the case of measles which could subsequently result in a rise in the number of deaths and people in intensive care.There is also a risk coronavirus becomes seasonal and like the flu will mutate each season and therefore again herd immunity cant come into play.�"";""Shaun Lintern"";""The Independent"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"370;2020-10-22 12:00:00;63;""Coronavirus: What is herd immunity and could it work in the UK?"";""Sabrina Barr"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Shaun Lintern said that there was no chance of herd immunity with coronavirus�.As a brand new virus no one has immunity to it so every human being is susceptible to the virus� he explains. Herd immunity will only come into effect once a huge majority of people have had it and survived so their bodies create antibodies to the virus.�Lintern affirms that in order to achieve a good herd immunity� approximately 90 to 95 per cent of the population would need to have recovered and become immune to the infection such as in the case of measles which could subsequently result in a rise in the number of deaths and people in intensive care.There is also a risk coronavirus becomes seasonal and like the flu will mutate each season and therefore again herd immunity cant come into play.�"";""Shaun Lintern"";""The Independent"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""News/Media"""
"371;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Earlier this month a group of scientists who were sceptical of the suppression policies advocated by most experts launched the 'Great Barrington declaration' arguing that attempting to restrict normal life until a vaccine was developed would cause 'irreparable damage'. They said it would be better to 'allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"372;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Earlier this month a group of scientists who were sceptical of the suppression policies advocated by most experts launched the 'Great Barrington declaration' arguing that attempting to restrict normal life until a vaccine was developed would cause 'irreparable damage'. They said it would be better to 'allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Academic"""
"373;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Earlier this month a group of scientists who were sceptical of the suppression policies advocated by most experts launched the 'Great Barrington declaration' arguing that attempting to restrict normal life until a vaccine was developed would cause 'irreparable damage'. They said it would be better to 'allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest risk'."";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Great Barrington Declaration"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Academic"""
"374;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Sage concluded that the plan would 'not be viable' because it would be impossible to prevent the virus spreading from young to old and 'even a small leak [between generations] would cause many illnesses'."";"""";""SAGE"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"375;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Sage concluded that the plan would 'not be viable' because it would be impossible to prevent the virus spreading from young to old and 'even a small leak [between generations] would cause many illnesses'."";"""";""SAGE"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Government"""
"376;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Sage concluded that the plan would 'not be viable' because it would be impossible to prevent the virus spreading from young to old and 'even a small leak [between generations] would cause many illnesses'."";"""";""SAGE"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"377;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Sage concluded: 'An unconstrained epidemic in this age group would have dire consequences for the NHS and is highly likely to create an enormous burden of Covid-19 hospitalisations with both large numbers of Covid-19 deaths and the knock-on result of non-Covid-19 deaths across all age groups.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"378;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""However it has gained traction among Tory backbenchers with Steve Baker calling it a 'credible plan B'"";""Steve Baker"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Individual"""
"379;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""Chris Green quitting as a junior education minister saying that there were 'better alternatives to the government's approach'."";""Chris Green"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Political"""
"380;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""As a result Sage considered the strategy last week and in conclusions dated October 15 wrote: 'Such a strategy would not be viable because it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from younger people to older people a very large proportion of the population need to withdraw from daily life for many months which would have profound consequences for the NHS as well as having unknown long-term effects in those infected.'It added: 'We do not know if longterm immunity results from infection with SARS-nCov-2 even if high levels of immunity could be achieved within the younger age group it is almost certain that a further epidemic wave in older people would happen once segmentation ended.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"382;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""As a result Sage considered the strategy last week and in conclusions dated October 15 wrote: 'Such a strategy would not be viable because it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from younger people to older people a very large proportion of the population need to withdraw from daily life for many months which would have profound consequences for the NHS as well as having unknown long-term effects in those infected.'It added: 'We do not know if longterm immunity results from infection with SARS-nCov-2 even if high levels of immunity could be achieved within the younger age group it is almost certain that a further epidemic wave in older people would happen once segmentation ended.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"383;2020-10-22 12:00:00;64;""Letting the young go back to normal ''would be disaster''"";""Chris Smyth Kat Lay"";""The Times"";"""";"""";""As a result Sage considered the strategy last week and in conclusions dated October 15 wrote: 'Such a strategy would not be viable because it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from younger people to older people a very large proportion of the population need to withdraw from daily life for many months which would have profound consequences for the NHS as well as having unknown long-term effects in those infected.'It added: 'We do not know if longterm immunity results from infection with SARS-nCov-2 even if high levels of immunity could be achieved within the younger age group it is almost certain that a further epidemic wave in older people would happen once segmentation ended.'"";"""";""SAGE"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"317;2020-10-23 12:00:00;59;""MPs have herd immunity...from common sense"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""WITH sad predictability the corona crisis has seen headline-grabbing politicians seem to achieve immunity from common sense and the ability to face reality.Case in point this week: Welsh Labour MP Chris Bryant who found fleeting internet notoriety for telling me that believing in herd immunity a scientific theory since 1923 that has saved the human race from infectious diseases many times over makes me a 'nutcase' (sensitive language as ever from the chair of Parliament's Standards Committee).If you remove political posturing from the discussion the reality is that natural immunity to Covid-19 is the only way out of the current maelstrom. The question is how we are going to get there.I strongly believe Keir Starmer's approach of damning the country to a never-ending series of national lockdowns (even if they give them fancy names like circuitbreakers and firebreaks) is misguided.Scientists around the world crunching actual data rather than relying on dodgy modelling are increasingly saying the same thing about the damage that would do. A Lancet study of 50 countries for example found no link between lockdowns and decreased Covid mortality.Even the World Health Organisation has flip-flopped and now agrees that shutting down countries has one major consequence making poor people poorer.The true cost of lockdown was revealed in the starkest of terms this week with ONS statistics showing an excess death toll of 26000 in private homes from the start of lockdown in March to September. Just three per cent were linked to Covid.SNIPING The vast majority of those poor souls were either scared into staying home or told to by medical professionals and it killed them.Why have our broadcasters like BBC and Sky News not started a lockdown death toll to run alongside the coronavirus figures they put on large graphics multiple times a day? As regular readers know I am well aware of the brutality of the coronavirus. I picked it up in the initial London outbreak in March and it wasn't a pleasant experience.This deadly virus is not something to take lightly and I absolutely accept our way of life has been changed completely with the prospect of large gatherings or going to a nightclub sadly a long way off.However I am equally scared by the consequences of lockdown.Ugly results My heart breaks for those diagnosed with cancer at this time many of whom have seen life-saving treatment delayed for weeks or months. Which brings me back to ... Bryant why we should all want to achieve herd immunity responsibly and over a long period of time. That is not a 'crackpot' theory as that irresponsible showboater Chris Bryant dangerously told me.Remember back in March when Patrick Vallance our Chief Scientific Adviser said 'our aim' is to 'build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it'? Vallance is now so terrified about the potential ugly results of a public inquiry into coronavirus that he pretends it was never part of our response plan.What must be stressed is that herd immunity does not mean letting the virus rip through the community.It is an end goal that will eventually be achieved through a series of measures including please God a vaccine.Until then I agree with Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese a sensible Labour man who published figures this week showing an enhanced shielding programme in his region would cost just one fifth of a tier-three lockdown.I appreciate this is a controversial proposition. Huge personal sacrifices would be made by around five per cent of the population. But we must be allowed to have the debate WITHOUT nasty name-calling.The most dangerous thing we can do at the moment is censor scientists including the eminent authors of the Great Barrington Declaration whose science doesn't fit the narrative of Sage the Government or the opposition."";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""News/Media"""
"324;2020-10-23 12:00:00;59;""MPs have herd immunity...from common sense"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""WITH sad predictability the corona crisis has seen headline-grabbing politicians seem to achieve immunity from common sense and the ability to face reality.Case in point this week: Welsh Labour MP Chris Bryant who found fleeting internet notoriety for telling me that believing in herd immunity a scientific theory since 1923 that has saved the human race from infectious diseases many times over makes me a 'nutcase' (sensitive language as ever from the chair of Parliament's Standards Committee).If you remove political posturing from the discussion the reality is that natural immunity to Covid-19 is the only way out of the current maelstrom. The question is how we are going to get there.I strongly believe Keir Starmer's approach of damning the country to a never-ending series of national lockdowns (even if they give them fancy names like circuitbreakers and firebreaks) is misguided.Scientists around the world crunching actual data rather than relying on dodgy modelling are increasingly saying the same thing about the damage that would do. A Lancet study of 50 countries for example found no link between lockdowns and decreased Covid mortality.Even the World Health Organisation has flip-flopped and now agrees that shutting down countries has one major consequence making poor people poorer.The true cost of lockdown was revealed in the starkest of terms this week with ONS statistics showing an excess death toll of 26000 in private homes from the start of lockdown in March to September. Just three per cent were linked to Covid.SNIPING The vast majority of those poor souls were either scared into staying home or told to by medical professionals and it killed them.Why have our broadcasters like BBC and Sky News not started a lockdown death toll to run alongside the coronavirus figures they put on large graphics multiple times a day? As regular readers know I am well aware of the brutality of the coronavirus. I picked it up in the initial London outbreak in March and it wasn't a pleasant experience.This deadly virus is not something to take lightly and I absolutely accept our way of life has been changed completely with the prospect of large gatherings or going to a nightclub sadly a long way off.However I am equally scared by the consequences of lockdown.Ugly results My heart breaks for those diagnosed with cancer at this time many of whom have seen life-saving treatment delayed for weeks or months. Which brings me back to ... Bryant why we should all want to achieve herd immunity responsibly and over a long period of time. That is not a 'crackpot' theory as that irresponsible showboater Chris Bryant dangerously told me.Remember back in March when Patrick Vallance our Chief Scientific Adviser said 'our aim' is to 'build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it'? Vallance is now so terrified about the potential ugly results of a public inquiry into coronavirus that he pretends it was never part of our response plan.What must be stressed is that herd immunity does not mean letting the virus rip through the community.It is an end goal that will eventually be achieved through a series of measures including please God a vaccine.Until then I agree with Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese a sensible Labour man who published figures this week showing an enhanced shielding programme in his region would cost just one fifth of a tier-three lockdown.I appreciate this is a controversial proposition. Huge personal sacrifices would be made by around five per cent of the population. But we must be allowed to have the debate WITHOUT nasty name-calling.The most dangerous thing we can do at the moment is censor scientists including the eminent authors of the Great Barrington Declaration whose science doesn't fit the narrative of Sage the Government or the opposition."";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""News/Media"""
"326;2020-10-23 12:00:00;59;""MPs have herd immunity...from common sense"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""WITH sad predictability the corona crisis has seen headline-grabbing politicians seem to achieve immunity from common sense and the ability to face reality.Case in point this week: Welsh Labour MP Chris Bryant who found fleeting internet notoriety for telling me that believing in herd immunity a scientific theory since 1923 that has saved the human race from infectious diseases many times over makes me a 'nutcase' (sensitive language as ever from the chair of Parliament's Standards Committee).If you remove political posturing from the discussion the reality is that natural immunity to Covid-19 is the only way out of the current maelstrom. The question is how we are going to get there.I strongly believe Keir Starmer's approach of damning the country to a never-ending series of national lockdowns (even if they give them fancy names like circuitbreakers and firebreaks) is misguided.Scientists around the world crunching actual data rather than relying on dodgy modelling are increasingly saying the same thing about the damage that would do. A Lancet study of 50 countries for example found no link between lockdowns and decreased Covid mortality.Even the World Health Organisation has flip-flopped and now agrees that shutting down countries has one major consequence making poor people poorer.The true cost of lockdown was revealed in the starkest of terms this week with ONS statistics showing an excess death toll of 26000 in private homes from the start of lockdown in March to September. Just three per cent were linked to Covid.SNIPING The vast majority of those poor souls were either scared into staying home or told to by medical professionals and it killed them.Why have our broadcasters like BBC and Sky News not started a lockdown death toll to run alongside the coronavirus figures they put on large graphics multiple times a day? As regular readers know I am well aware of the brutality of the coronavirus. I picked it up in the initial London outbreak in March and it wasn't a pleasant experience.This deadly virus is not something to take lightly and I absolutely accept our way of life has been changed completely with the prospect of large gatherings or going to a nightclub sadly a long way off.However I am equally scared by the consequences of lockdown.Ugly results My heart breaks for those diagnosed with cancer at this time many of whom have seen life-saving treatment delayed for weeks or months. Which brings me back to ... Bryant why we should all want to achieve herd immunity responsibly and over a long period of time. That is not a 'crackpot' theory as that irresponsible showboater Chris Bryant dangerously told me.Remember back in March when Patrick Vallance our Chief Scientific Adviser said 'our aim' is to 'build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it'? Vallance is now so terrified about the potential ugly results of a public inquiry into coronavirus that he pretends it was never part of our response plan.What must be stressed is that herd immunity does not mean letting the virus rip through the community.It is an end goal that will eventually be achieved through a series of measures including please God a vaccine.Until then I agree with Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese a sensible Labour man who published figures this week showing an enhanced shielding programme in his region would cost just one fifth of a tier-three lockdown.I appreciate this is a controversial proposition. Huge personal sacrifices would be made by around five per cent of the population. But we must be allowed to have the debate WITHOUT nasty name-calling.The most dangerous thing we can do at the moment is censor scientists including the eminent authors of the Great Barrington Declaration whose science doesn't fit the narrative of Sage the Government or the opposition."";""Dan Wootton"";""TALKRADIO"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"1281;2020-10-23 12:00:00;59;""MPs have herd immunity...from common sense"";""Unspecified"";""The Sunday Mirror"";"""";"""";""said 'our aim' is to 'build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it'?"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"351;2020-10-24 12:00:00;56;""Herd immunity ''will NOT work''"";""Unspecified"";""Scottish Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""Following pressure from experts urging herd immunity the Government's Sage group of scientists said 'policies to segment the population by age... are very likely to fail'. They warned it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from young to old and that many youngsters do not become severely ill so would be out spreading it leading to an 'uncontrolled epidemic'."";"""";""SAGE"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"352;2020-10-24 12:00:00;56;""Herd immunity ''will NOT work''"";""Unspecified"";""Scottish Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""Following pressure from experts urging herd immunity the Government's Sage group of scientists said 'policies to segment the population by age... are very likely to fail'. They warned it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from young to old and that many youngsters do not become severely ill so would be out spreading it leading to an 'uncontrolled epidemic'."";"""";""SAGE"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"355;2020-10-24 12:00:00;57;""Danger of letting young spread bug"";""Hanna Geissler"";""The Daily Express"";"""";"""";""And even if high levels of immunity could be achieved the measures would 'almost certainly' lead to a further epidemic wave in older people.The Sage paper said a strategy of separating anyone aged over 60 from younger age groups would be very likely to fail.Around 1.8 million people live in multi-generational homes including higher proportions of people from ethnic minority backgrounds.Some 3.4 million people overUnethical the age of 60 are employed and would have to stop working.A fifth of NHS staff and a quarter of care staff are over the age of 55.Sage also warned that prolonged shielding may have negative mental and physical health consequences.Meanwhile infections among younger people could still 'have dire consequences for the NHS' with a quarter of Covid-19 hospital admissions so far occurring among those aged 60 or under along with seven per cent of deaths."";"""";""SAGE"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"356;2020-10-24 12:00:00;57;""Danger of letting young spread bug"";""Hanna Geissler"";""The Daily Express"";"""";"""";""And even if high levels of immunity could be achieved the measures would 'almost certainly' lead to a further epidemic wave in older people.The Sage paper said a strategy of separating anyone aged over 60 from younger age groups would be very likely to fail.Around 1.8 million people live in multi-generational homes including higher proportions of people from ethnic minority backgrounds.Some 3.4 million people overUnethical the age of 60 are employed and would have to stop working.A fifth of NHS staff and a quarter of care staff are over the age of 55.Sage also warned that prolonged shielding may have negative mental and physical health consequences.Meanwhile infections among younger people could still 'have dire consequences for the NHS' with a quarter of Covid-19 hospital admissions so far occurring among those aged 60 or under along with seven per cent of deaths."";"""";""SAGE"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"357;2020-10-24 12:00:00;57;""Danger of letting young spread bug"";""Hanna Geissler"";""The Daily Express"";"""";"""";""And even if high levels of immunity could be achieved the measures would 'almost certainly' lead to a further epidemic wave in older people.The Sage paper said a strategy of separating anyone aged over 60 from younger age groups would be very likely to fail.Around 1.8 million people live in multi-generational homes including higher proportions of people from ethnic minority backgrounds.Some 3.4 million people overUnethical the age of 60 are employed and would have to stop working.A fifth of NHS staff and a quarter of care staff are over the age of 55.Sage also warned that prolonged shielding may have negative mental and physical health consequences.Meanwhile infections among younger people could still 'have dire consequences for the NHS' with a quarter of Covid-19 hospital admissions so far occurring among those aged 60 or under along with seven per cent of deaths."";"""";""SAGE"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"353;2020-10-24 12:00:00;57;""Danger of letting young spread bug"";""Hanna Geissler"";""The Daily Express"";"""";"""";""Dr Michael Head of the University of Southampton said: 'It is good to see a consensus statement from Sage reiterating that this segmentation idea is a strategythat has no place in our society.'This follows on from statements by theWHO [World Health Organization] who called the idea 'scientifically problematic and unethical'.                              'Attempting to reach herd immunity in this way is problematic for many reasons.'"";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"354;2020-10-24 12:00:00;57;""Danger of letting young spread bug"";""Hanna Geissler"";""The Daily Express"";"""";"""";""Dr Michael Head of the University of Southampton said: 'It is good to see a consensus statement from Sage reiterating that this segmentation idea is a strategythat has no place in our society.'This follows on from statements by theWHO [World Health Organization] who called the idea 'scientifically problematic and unethical'.                              'Attempting to reach herd immunity in this way is problematic for many reasons.'"";""Michael Head"";""University of Southampton"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"358;2020-10-24 12:00:00;58;""HERD IMMUNITY ''WILL NOT WORK''"";""Unspecified"";""Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""Sage said 'policies to segment the population by age... are very likely to fail'.It warned it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from young to old partly due to the country's 1.8million multi-generational households. It also said many youngsters do not become severely ill with Covid so the approach means it would spread more leading to an 'uncontrolled epidemic'."";"""";""SAGE"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"359;2020-10-24 12:00:00;58;""HERD IMMUNITY ''WILL NOT WORK''"";""Unspecified"";""Daily Mail"";"""";"""";""Sage said 'policies to segment the population by age... are very likely to fail'.It warned it would not be possible to prevent the virus spreading from young to old partly due to the country's 1.8million multi-generational households. It also said many youngsters do not become severely ill with Covid so the approach means it would spread more leading to an 'uncontrolled epidemic'."";"""";""SAGE"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Government"""
"347;2020-10-25 12:00:00;55;""A scientific bun fight with sinister and deadly fallout"";""William Bain"";""Sunday Herald"";"""";"""";""Gupta argues we can have it in three to six months� without injections."";""Sunetra Gupta"";""Oxford University"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Academic"""
"348;2020-10-25 12:00:00;55;""A scientific bun fight with sinister and deadly fallout"";""William Bain"";""Sunday Herald"";"""";"""";""Professor Sir Robert Lechler president of the Academy of Medical Medical Sciences to describe it as both unethical and simply not possible�."";""Sir Robert Lechler"";""Academy of Medical Sciences"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"349;2020-10-25 12:00:00;55;""A scientific bun fight with sinister and deadly fallout"";""William Bain"";""Sunday Herald"";"""";"""";""Sir Simon Stevens head of NHS England called it age-based apartheid�."";""Sir Simon Stevens"";""National Health Service"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"350;2020-10-25 12:00:00;55;""A scientific bun fight with sinister and deadly fallout"";""William Bain"";""Sunday Herald"";"""";"""";""Thats everyone being polite� added Dr Rupert Beale of the Francis Crick Institute in London. What everyone really thinks is that this is all f*g stupid.�"";""Rupert Beale"";""Francis Crick Insitute"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"322;2020-10-26 12:00:00;45;""Covid-19 herd immunity theory dealt blow by UK research"";"""";"""";"""";"""";""This is a really big challenge to the idea that herd immunity can be achieved through natural immunity� said Helen Ward professor of public health at Imperial and study co-author."";""Helen Ward"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"323;2020-10-26 12:00:00;45;""Covid-19 herd immunity theory dealt blow by UK research"";"""";"""";"""";"""";""The research also raises questions about how long a vaccine would last. But Wendy Barclay another co-author and head of the department of infectious disease at Imperial said: A good vaccine may well be better than natural immunity.�"";""Wendy Barclay"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"343;2020-10-26 12:00:00;54;""Majority of England unlikely to be immune from catching coronavirus study reveals"";""Kieran Murray"";""chroniclelive.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Graham Cooke professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College London said: 'The big picture here is that after the first wave of coronavirus the great majority of the country still did not have evidence of protective immunity.'So although we are seeing a decline in the proportion of people who are testing positive we still have a great majority of people who are unlikely to have been exposed.'So the need for a vaccine is still very large if you want to try and get a large level of protection in the population.' The study found there was no change in antibody positivity in healthcare workers between June and September."";""Graham Cooke"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"344;2020-10-26 12:00:00;54;""Majority of England unlikely to be immune from catching coronavirus study reveals"";""Kieran Murray"";""chroniclelive.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Helen Ward professor of Public Health at Imperial College London said this could indicate 'ongoing transmission' of coronavirus in those settings or 'repeated exposure'.Asked about herd immunity Prof Ward said: 'Even at best in the first round of the study 94% of the population remained not likely protected and now that has declined to over 95% of the population who dont have evidence of antibodies.'So I think we are a long long way from any idea that the population will be protected by other people.'"";""Helen Ward"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"345;2020-10-26 12:00:00;54;""Majority of England unlikely to be immune from catching coronavirus study reveals"";""Kieran Murray"";""chroniclelive.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'This study confirms suspicions that antibody responses “ especially in vulnerable elderly populations “ decrease over time.'What is less clear from this kind of study is the relationship between waning immunity and susceptibility to reinfection and the resulting severity of any subsequent infection and this is important to know.'"";""Jonathan Ball"";""University of Nottingham"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"325;2020-10-27 12:00:00;46;""Doubts over natural herd immunity reinforced"";""Ana Gross"";""Financial Times (FT.Com)"";"""";"""";""'This is a really big challenge to the idea that herd immunity can be achieved through natural immunity' said Helen Ward professor of public health at Imperial College London and co-author of the study."";""Helen Ward"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"346;2020-10-27 12:00:00;46;""Doubts over natural herd immunity reinforced"";""Ana Gross"";""Financial Times (FT.Com)"";"""";"""";""Jonathan Ball professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham said that while this study 'confirms suspicions' about waning immunity in elderly populations it is less clear what the relationship is between immunity dropping off and susceptibility to reinfection.'Antibodies are likely to be important in protecting us from future infection and disease but other arms of the immune system for example cellular immunity might also be key' he said."";""Jonathan Ashworth"";""University of Nottingham"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"327;2020-10-27 12:00:00;47;""GMB''s Dr Hilary says new study of weakening Covid-19 antibody numbers 'a blow' to idea of herd immunity"";""Andrew Gentry"";""manchestereveningnews.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Natural immunity when you're exposed to the natural disease Covid-19 does tend to wane.'Right now about 4.4% of people as we go into the second peak have antibodies that confirm protection against the coronavirus.'4.4% compared to 6% earlier in the year in June and July has waned particularly in the older age groups.'So being exposed to Covid-19 does not necessarily guarantee immunity going forward in the future.'Now that's a blow.'Dr Hilary stressed how 'we need a vaccine more than ever' in order to defeat the virus as it may be more effective than immunity from natural infection. 'The vaccine does tend to give a strong immune response according to the trails that have been done so far.'Later on in the show revisiting the segment he added: 'We need a vaccine more than ever.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"328;2020-10-27 12:00:00;48;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""She said: Even at best (in the first round of the study) 94 per cent of the population remained not likely protected and now that has declined to over 95 per cent of the population who dont have evidence of antibodies.So I think we are a long long way from any idea that the population will be protected by other people.�Prof Ward explained: The way herd immunity works is if you bring an infection into say a workplace you dont have much probability of passing it on.That can happen with a vaccine or if everybody got infected at the same time.But if you think 95 out of 100 are not immune and likely to be susceptible then we are a long long way from protection.�˜MILES OFF"";""Wendy Barclay"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"329;2020-10-27 12:00:00;48;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Wendy Barclay also from Imperial also agreed that Britain is miles off� achieving natural immunity levels.She told reporters: Looking in detail in certain geographical areas maybe after intense circulation [we can achieve herd immunity.�But in terms of waning immunity it does bring into question whether we can ever achieve herd immunity with this kind of infection [Covid-19]"";""Wendy Barclay"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"330;2020-10-27 12:00:00;48;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"331;2020-10-27 12:00:00;48;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He told reporters that we should not live in hope of achieving natural herd immunity.Dr Ryan said: As a global population we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting. This is not a solution and not a solution we should be looking to.�"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"332;2020-10-27 12:00:00;48;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Graham Cooke from Imperial who also worked on the study said: The big picture is after the first wave the great majority of the country didnt have evidence of protective immunity.The need for a vaccine is still very large the data doesnt change that.�"";""Graham Cooke"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"333;2020-10-27 12:00:00;49;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""She said: Even at best (in the first round of the study) 94 per cent of the population remained not likely protected and now that has declined to over 95 per cent of the population who dont have evidence of antibodies.So I think we are a long long way from any idea that the population will be protected by other people.�Prof Ward explained: The way herd immunity works is if you bring an infection into say a workplace you dont have much probability of passing it on.That can happen with a vaccine or if everybody got infected at the same time.But if you think 95 out of 100 are not immune and likely to be susceptible then we are a long long way from protection.�˜MILES OFF"";""Helen Ward"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"334;2020-10-27 12:00:00;49;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Wendy Barclay also from Imperial also agreed that Britain is miles off� achieving natural immunity levels.She told reporters: Looking in detail in certain geographical areas maybe after intense circulation [we can achieve herd immunity.�But in terms of waning immunity it does bring into question whether we can ever achieve herd immunity with this kind of infection [Covid-19].�Herd immunity was touted as a strategy at the start of Britains coronavirus outbreak however it was quickly denied by the government."";""Wendy Barclay"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"335;2020-10-27 12:00:00;49;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Health Secretary Matt Hancock released a statement on March 15 which said: We have a plan based on the expertise of world-leading scientists. Herd immunity is not a part of it.�"";""Matt Hancock"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"336;2020-10-27 12:00:00;49;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Ryan said: As a global population we are nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting. This is not a solution and not a solution we should be looking to.�"";""Michael Ryan"";""World Health Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Public Health/Medicine"""
"337;2020-10-27 12:00:00;49;""VIRAL ALERT UK is ‚miles off‚„ Covid herd immunity  without a vaccine we may never get there experts warn"";""Gemma Mullin"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Professor Graham Cooke from Imperial who also worked on the study said: The big picture is after the first wave the great majority of the country didnt have evidence of protective immunity.The need for a vaccine is still very large the data doesnt change that.�"";""Graham Cooke"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"338;2020-10-27 12:00:00;50;""Herd immunity without a vaccine has been ''''blown out of the water'''' Dr Hilary tells Good Morning Britain"";""Luke O''''Reilly"";""Evening Standard Online"";"""";"""";""'Nor did we want to hear that the idea of herd immunity which so many people have been relying on thats blown out of the water as well. 'Weve got to forget that getting Covid-19 will make us immune going forward."";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"339;2020-10-27 12:00:00;51;""Dr Hilary Jones warns herd immunity is ''way off'' amid concerns over coronavirus vaccine"";"""";"""";"""";"""";""Hilary said: 'Unfortunately it looks like herd immunity is way way off.'He revealed how in older age groups and the most vulnerable the antibodies lessened much quicker - while the vaccine trials saw a different result.Hilary went on: 'We cant rely on individual or herd immunity' adding that people who think they had it 'still need to abide by the guidelines'.Top news stories todayDiscussing this as 'natural immunity' he repeated that it was the older and vulnerable groups who had less antibodies over time.He revealed: 'Being exposed [to the virus] does not confirm individual immunity going forward.'So may people have been relying on [herd immunity]... that's blown out of the water as well we've got to forget getting Covid-19 will make us immune that's a real blow.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"340;2020-10-27 12:00:00;52;""Dr Hilary Jones warns herd immunity is ''way off'' amid concerns over coronavirus vaccine"";""Charlotte Tutton"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Hilary said: 'Unfortunately it looks like herd immunity is way way off.'He revealed how in older age groups and the most vulnerable the antibodies lessened much quicker -while the vaccine trials saw a different result.Hilary went on: 'We cant rely on individual or herd immunity' adding that people who think they had it 'still need to abide by the guidelines'.Discussing this as 'natural immunity' he repeated that it was the older and vulnerable groups who had less antibodies over time.He revealed: 'Being exposed [to the virus] does not confirm individual immunity going forward.'So may people have been relying on [herd immunity]... that's blown out of the water as well we've got to forget getting Covid-19 will make us immune that's a real blow.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"341;2020-10-27 12:00:00;53;""Immunity only lasts a few months study finds"";""Laura Donnelly"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""She said that Britain was 'miles off ' herd immunity."";""Wendy Barclay"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"342;2020-10-27 12:00:00;53;""Immunity only lasts a few months study finds"";""Laura Donnelly"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""Prof Graham Cooke another Imperial infectious diseases expert said: 'The big picture here is that after the first wave  the great majority of the country still did not have evidence of protective immunity. So although we are seeing a decline in the proportion of people who are testing positive we still have a great majority of people who are unlikely to have been exposed.'So the need for a vaccine is still very large if you want to try and get a large level of protection in the population.'"";""Graham Cooke"";""Imperial College London"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"312;2020-10-28 12:00:00;43;""Scientist infects himself with Covid-19 TWICE to study antibodies - and says results show that hopes of herd immunity are futile"";""Will Stewart"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""he Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said at a press conference on March 12 designed to inform the public on the impending Covid-19 crisis: 'Our aim is not to stop everyone getting it you can't do that. And it's not desirable because you want to get some immunity in the population. We need to have immunity to protect ourselves from this in the future.'Sir Patrick has since apologised for the comments and said he didn't mean that was the government's plan."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"320;2020-10-28 12:00:00;43;""Scientist infects himself with Covid-19 TWICE to study antibodies - and says results show that hopes of herd immunity are futile"";""Will Stewart"";""Mail Online"";"""";"""";""'The Government has been very clear that herd immunity has never been our policy or goal.'"";"""";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Government"""
"321;2020-10-28 12:00:00;44;""Everything you need to know about herd immunity and its place in fighting Covid"";""Tasmin Lockwood"";""The Northern Echo"";"""";"""";""He urged everyone to follow guidelines even if they have had Covid because 'we cant rely on individual or herd immunity'.Mr Jones said: 'Weve got to forget that getting Covid-19 will make us immune going forward. The vaccine is a different story.'People who have been exposed in the past cant guarantee that theyre immune. They need to know that they can get reinfected and that they can give the infection to other people.'"";""Hilary Jones"";""ITV"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"318;2020-11-02 12:00:00;42;""Farage remodels Brexit Party to campaign against confinement"";""Christopher Hope"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""THE Brexit Party is to be relaunched as an anti-lockdown party called Reform UK Nigel Farage and Richard Tice announce today in a move that could alarm Conservative MPs.In a joint article for today's Daily Telegraph Mr Farage and Mr Tice declare that 'lockdowns don't work' and say their new party will back a policy of 'focused protection' from coronavirus for the most vulnerable to allow the rest of the population to develop herd immunity.The plans to change the name of the Brexit Party to Reform UK are subject to approval by the Electoral Commission. Papers were submitted to the regulator last week.Reform UK hopes to stand a slate of candidates at May's local elections - when the Tories are contesting thou sands of shire seats - policing and crime commissioner elections and the next general election expected by 2024.The news will worry Conservative MPs scarred by the way that Mr Far age's previous Eurosceptic parties - the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party - have sapped support for the Tories at previous elections.The Brexit Party claimed to have 150000 'registered supporters' at its peak although numbers are understood to have fallen to tens of thousands since then. Hundreds of thousands of pounds is said to have been pledged for the rebadged party.Mr Farage said he expected to find support among people whose businesses have been adversely affected by the lockdown such as the selfemployed restaurateurs and those in the hospitality industry.He said: 'We feel there is a massive political hole at the moment. The crisis has shown how badly governed we are - everything from our quangos to the £12billion we have wasted on track and trace to firms being given the most ludicrous contracts.'The whole system of government in the UK is not working. Brexit is about making us free but beyond Brexit we have to be governed better. Brexit is the beginning of what we need. Brexit gives us self-governance - we now need to have good self-governance.' In a joint article Mr Farage the Brexit Party leader and Mr Tice the party's chairman make clear that the new par ty's focus will be fighting lockdown measures.They say: 'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good.'But there is a credible alternative recommended by some of the finest epidemiologists and medics in the world. It is the Great Barrington Declaration. It is effectively being practised to a large degree in Sweden with considerable success.'Focused protection is the key targeting resources at those most at risk: the elderly vulnerable or those with other medical conditions. Many of them of course would prefer to hug their grandchildren and enjoy a family Christmas with loved ones. They should not be criminalised for the simple acts that make life worth living particularly in their final years.''We must have the courage to live with the virus not hide in fear of it.'Last night a spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: 'The Brexit Party has submitted an application to change its name to 'Reform UK'. The application has yet to be assessed this may take up to six weeks.'Nigel Farage and Richard Tice: Page 18'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good but there is a credible alternative'"";""Nigel Farage"";""Reform Party"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Political"""
"319;2020-11-02 12:00:00;42;""Farage remodels Brexit Party to campaign against confinement"";""Christopher Hope"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""THE Brexit Party is to be relaunched as an anti-lockdown party called Reform UK Nigel Farage and Richard Tice announce today in a move that could alarm Conservative MPs.In a joint article for today's Daily Telegraph Mr Farage and Mr Tice declare that 'lockdowns don't work' and say their new party will back a policy of 'focused protection' from coronavirus for the most vulnerable to allow the rest of the population to develop herd immunity.The plans to change the name of the Brexit Party to Reform UK are subject to approval by the Electoral Commission. Papers were submitted to the regulator last week.Reform UK hopes to stand a slate of candidates at May's local elections - when the Tories are contesting thou sands of shire seats - policing and crime commissioner elections and the next general election expected by 2024.The news will worry Conservative MPs scarred by the way that Mr Far age's previous Eurosceptic parties - the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party - have sapped support for the Tories at previous elections.The Brexit Party claimed to have 150000 'registered supporters' at its peak although numbers are understood to have fallen to tens of thousands since then. Hundreds of thousands of pounds is said to have been pledged for the rebadged party.Mr Farage said he expected to find support among people whose businesses have been adversely affected by the lockdown such as the selfemployed restaurateurs and those in the hospitality industry.He said: 'We feel there is a massive political hole at the moment. The crisis has shown how badly governed we are - everything from our quangos to the £12billion we have wasted on track and trace to firms being given the most ludicrous contracts.'The whole system of government in the UK is not working. Brexit is about making us free but beyond Brexit we have to be governed better. Brexit is the beginning of what we need. Brexit gives us self-governance - we now need to have good self-governance.' In a joint article Mr Farage the Brexit Party leader and Mr Tice the party's chairman make clear that the new par ty's focus will be fighting lockdown measures.They say: 'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good.'But there is a credible alternative recommended by some of the finest epidemiologists and medics in the world. It is the Great Barrington Declaration. It is effectively being practised to a large degree in Sweden with considerable success.'Focused protection is the key targeting resources at those most at risk: the elderly vulnerable or those with other medical conditions. Many of them of course would prefer to hug their grandchildren and enjoy a family Christmas with loved ones. They should not be criminalised for the simple acts that make life worth living particularly in their final years.''We must have the courage to live with the virus not hide in fear of it.'Last night a spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: 'The Brexit Party has submitted an application to change its name to 'Reform UK'. The application has yet to be assessed this may take up to six weeks.'Nigel Farage and Richard Tice: Page 18'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good but there is a credible alternative'"";""Nigel Farage"";""Reform Party"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Political"""
"805;2020-11-02 12:00:00;42;""Farage remodels Brexit Party to campaign against confinement"";""Christopher Hope"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""THE Brexit Party is to be relaunched as an anti-lockdown party called Reform UK Nigel Farage and Richard Tice announce today in a move that could alarm Conservative MPs.In a joint article for today's Daily Telegraph Mr Farage and Mr Tice declare that 'lockdowns don't work' and say their new party will back a policy of 'focused protection' from coronavirus for the most vulnerable to allow the rest of the population to develop herd immunity.The plans to change the name of the Brexit Party to Reform UK are subject to approval by the Electoral Commission. Papers were submitted to the regulator last week.Reform UK hopes to stand a slate of candidates at May's local elections - when the Tories are contesting thou sands of shire seats - policing and crime commissioner elections and the next general election expected by 2024.The news will worry Conservative MPs scarred by the way that Mr Far age's previous Eurosceptic parties - the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party - have sapped support for the Tories at previous elections.The Brexit Party claimed to have 150000 'registered supporters' at its peak although numbers are understood to have fallen to tens of thousands since then. Hundreds of thousands of pounds is said to have been pledged for the rebadged party.Mr Farage said he expected to find support among people whose businesses have been adversely affected by the lockdown such as the selfemployed restaurateurs and those in the hospitality industry.He said: 'We feel there is a massive political hole at the moment. The crisis has shown how badly governed we are - everything from our quangos to the £12billion we have wasted on track and trace to firms being given the most ludicrous contracts.'The whole system of government in the UK is not working. Brexit is about making us free but beyond Brexit we have to be governed better. Brexit is the beginning of what we need. Brexit gives us self-governance - we now need to have good self-governance.' In a joint article Mr Farage the Brexit Party leader and Mr Tice the party's chairman make clear that the new par ty's focus will be fighting lockdown measures.They say: 'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good.'But there is a credible alternative recommended by some of the finest epidemiologists and medics in the world. It is the Great Barrington Declaration. It is effectively being practised to a large degree in Sweden with considerable success.'Focused protection is the key targeting resources at those most at risk: the elderly vulnerable or those with other medical conditions. Many of them of course would prefer to hug their grandchildren and enjoy a family Christmas with loved ones. They should not be criminalised for the simple acts that make life worth living particularly in their final years.''We must have the courage to live with the virus not hide in fear of it.'Last night a spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: 'The Brexit Party has submitted an application to change its name to 'Reform UK'. The application has yet to be assessed this may take up to six weeks.'Nigel Farage and Richard Tice: Page 18'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good but there is a credible alternative'"";""Richard Tice"";""Reform Party"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Political"""
"1278;2020-11-02 12:00:00;42;""Farage remodels Brexit Party to campaign against confinement"";""Christopher Hope"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""THE Brexit Party is to be relaunched as an anti-lockdown party called Reform UK Nigel Farage and Richard Tice announce today in a move that could alarm Conservative MPs.In a joint article for today's Daily Telegraph Mr Farage and Mr Tice declare that 'lockdowns don't work' and say their new party will back a policy of 'focused protection' from coronavirus for the most vulnerable to allow the rest of the population to develop herd immunity.The plans to change the name of the Brexit Party to Reform UK are subject to approval by the Electoral Commission. Papers were submitted to the regulator last week.Reform UK hopes to stand a slate of candidates at May's local elections - when the Tories are contesting thou sands of shire seats - policing and crime commissioner elections and the next general election expected by 2024.The news will worry Conservative MPs scarred by the way that Mr Far age's previous Eurosceptic parties - the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party - have sapped support for the Tories at previous elections.The Brexit Party claimed to have 150000 'registered supporters' at its peak although numbers are understood to have fallen to tens of thousands since then. Hundreds of thousands of pounds is said to have been pledged for the rebadged party.Mr Farage said he expected to find support among people whose businesses have been adversely affected by the lockdown such as the selfemployed restaurateurs and those in the hospitality industry.He said: 'We feel there is a massive political hole at the moment. The crisis has shown how badly governed we are - everything from our quangos to the £12billion we have wasted on track and trace to firms being given the most ludicrous contracts.'The whole system of government in the UK is not working. Brexit is about making us free but beyond Brexit we have to be governed better. Brexit is the beginning of what we need. Brexit gives us self-governance - we now need to have good self-governance.' In a joint article Mr Farage the Brexit Party leader and Mr Tice the party's chairman make clear that the new par ty's focus will be fighting lockdown measures.They say: 'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good.'But there is a credible alternative recommended by some of the finest epidemiologists and medics in the world. It is the Great Barrington Declaration. It is effectively being practised to a large degree in Sweden with considerable success.'Focused protection is the key targeting resources at those most at risk: the elderly vulnerable or those with other medical conditions. Many of them of course would prefer to hug their grandchildren and enjoy a family Christmas with loved ones. They should not be criminalised for the simple acts that make life worth living particularly in their final years.''We must have the courage to live with the virus not hide in fear of it.'Last night a spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: 'The Brexit Party has submitted an application to change its name to 'Reform UK'. The application has yet to be assessed this may take up to six weeks.'Nigel Farage and Richard Tice: Page 18'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good but there is a credible alternative'"";""Nigel Farage"";""Reform Party"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Political"""
"1279;2020-11-02 12:00:00;42;""Farage remodels Brexit Party to campaign against confinement"";""Christopher Hope"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""THE Brexit Party is to be relaunched as an anti-lockdown party called Reform UK Nigel Farage and Richard Tice announce today in a move that could alarm Conservative MPs.In a joint article for today's Daily Telegraph Mr Farage and Mr Tice declare that 'lockdowns don't work' and say their new party will back a policy of 'focused protection' from coronavirus for the most vulnerable to allow the rest of the population to develop herd immunity.The plans to change the name of the Brexit Party to Reform UK are subject to approval by the Electoral Commission. Papers were submitted to the regulator last week.Reform UK hopes to stand a slate of candidates at May's local elections - when the Tories are contesting thou sands of shire seats - policing and crime commissioner elections and the next general election expected by 2024.The news will worry Conservative MPs scarred by the way that Mr Far age's previous Eurosceptic parties - the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party - have sapped support for the Tories at previous elections.The Brexit Party claimed to have 150000 'registered supporters' at its peak although numbers are understood to have fallen to tens of thousands since then. Hundreds of thousands of pounds is said to have been pledged for the rebadged party.Mr Farage said he expected to find support among people whose businesses have been adversely affected by the lockdown such as the selfemployed restaurateurs and those in the hospitality industry.He said: 'We feel there is a massive political hole at the moment. The crisis has shown how badly governed we are - everything from our quangos to the £12billion we have wasted on track and trace to firms being given the most ludicrous contracts.'The whole system of government in the UK is not working. Brexit is about making us free but beyond Brexit we have to be governed better. Brexit is the beginning of what we need. Brexit gives us self-governance - we now need to have good self-governance.' In a joint article Mr Farage the Brexit Party leader and Mr Tice the party's chairman make clear that the new par ty's focus will be fighting lockdown measures.They say: 'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good.'But there is a credible alternative recommended by some of the finest epidemiologists and medics in the world. It is the Great Barrington Declaration. It is effectively being practised to a large degree in Sweden with considerable success.'Focused protection is the key targeting resources at those most at risk: the elderly vulnerable or those with other medical conditions. Many of them of course would prefer to hug their grandchildren and enjoy a family Christmas with loved ones. They should not be criminalised for the simple acts that make life worth living particularly in their final years.''We must have the courage to live with the virus not hide in fear of it.'Last night a spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: 'The Brexit Party has submitted an application to change its name to 'Reform UK'. The application has yet to be assessed this may take up to six weeks.'Nigel Farage and Richard Tice: Page 18'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good but there is a credible alternative'"";""Richard Tice"";""Reform Party"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Political"""
"1280;2020-11-02 12:00:00;42;""Farage remodels Brexit Party to campaign against confinement"";""Christopher Hope"";""The Daily Telegraph"";"""";"""";""THE Brexit Party is to be relaunched as an anti-lockdown party called Reform UK Nigel Farage and Richard Tice announce today in a move that could alarm Conservative MPs.In a joint article for today's Daily Telegraph Mr Farage and Mr Tice declare that 'lockdowns don't work' and say their new party will back a policy of 'focused protection' from coronavirus for the most vulnerable to allow the rest of the population to develop herd immunity.The plans to change the name of the Brexit Party to Reform UK are subject to approval by the Electoral Commission. Papers were submitted to the regulator last week.Reform UK hopes to stand a slate of candidates at May's local elections - when the Tories are contesting thou sands of shire seats - policing and crime commissioner elections and the next general election expected by 2024.The news will worry Conservative MPs scarred by the way that Mr Far age's previous Eurosceptic parties - the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party - have sapped support for the Tories at previous elections.The Brexit Party claimed to have 150000 'registered supporters' at its peak although numbers are understood to have fallen to tens of thousands since then. Hundreds of thousands of pounds is said to have been pledged for the rebadged party.Mr Farage said he expected to find support among people whose businesses have been adversely affected by the lockdown such as the selfemployed restaurateurs and those in the hospitality industry.He said: 'We feel there is a massive political hole at the moment. The crisis has shown how badly governed we are - everything from our quangos to the £12billion we have wasted on track and trace to firms being given the most ludicrous contracts.'The whole system of government in the UK is not working. Brexit is about making us free but beyond Brexit we have to be governed better. Brexit is the beginning of what we need. Brexit gives us self-governance - we now need to have good self-governance.' In a joint article Mr Farage the Brexit Party leader and Mr Tice the party's chairman make clear that the new par ty's focus will be fighting lockdown measures.They say: 'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good.'But there is a credible alternative recommended by some of the finest epidemiologists and medics in the world. It is the Great Barrington Declaration. It is effectively being practised to a large degree in Sweden with considerable success.'Focused protection is the key targeting resources at those most at risk: the elderly vulnerable or those with other medical conditions. Many of them of course would prefer to hug their grandchildren and enjoy a family Christmas with loved ones. They should not be criminalised for the simple acts that make life worth living particularly in their final years.''We must have the courage to live with the virus not hide in fear of it.'Last night a spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: 'The Brexit Party has submitted an application to change its name to 'Reform UK'. The application has yet to be assessed this may take up to six weeks.'Nigel Farage and Richard Tice: Page 18'Lockdowns don't work: in fact they cause more harm than good but there is a credible alternative'"";""Richard Tice"";""Reform Party"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Political"""
"314;2020-11-07 12:00:00;41;""V&A chairman advocates ''herd immunity'' strategy"";""Adam Sherwin"";""I "";"""";"""";""The Government should consider abandoning lockdowns and adopt a 'herd immunity' strategy for managing the pandemic instead Nicholas Coleridge chairman ofthe Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) said.The V&A was in 'dire straits' due to enforced closures said Mr Coleridge who suggested that Covid-19 was 'not very dangerous' to people over 60 who were in good health.The former head of the Cond© Nast magazine empire63 who was hospitalised with a bout of Covid during the summer said: 'A little bit of me is wondering whether it might be better to keep things moving more the herd immunity approach. I wonder whether we'd have done better to let it burn out rather than eking it out bit by bit.'Mr Coleridge said his four children had all caught Covid but soon recovered after 'taking a big mug of whiskey honey and hot water to bed and getting an early night'."";""Nicholas Coleridge"";""Victoria and Albert Museum"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Business"""
"315;2020-11-07 12:00:00;41;""V&A chairman advocates ''herd immunity'' strategy"";""Adam Sherwin"";""I "";"""";"""";""The Government should consider abandoning lockdowns and adopt a 'herd immunity' strategy for managing the pandemic instead Nicholas Coleridge chairman ofthe Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) said.The V&A was in 'dire straits' due to enforced closures said Mr Coleridge who suggested that Covid-19 was 'not very dangerous' to people over 60 who were in good health.The former head of the Cond© Nast magazine empire63 who was hospitalised with a bout of Covid during the summer said: 'A little bit of me is wondering whether it might be better to keep things moving more the herd immunity approach. I wonder whether we'd have done better to let it burn out rather than eking it out bit by bit.'Mr Coleridge said his four children had all caught Covid but soon recovered after 'taking a big mug of whiskey honey and hot water to bed and getting an early night'."";""Nicholas Coleridge"";""Victoria and Albert Museum"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""Business"""
"316;2020-11-07 12:00:00;41;""V&A chairman advocates ''herd immunity'' strategy"";""Adam Sherwin"";""I "";"""";"""";""The Government should consider abandoning lockdowns and adopt a 'herd immunity' strategy for managing the pandemic instead Nicholas Coleridge chairman ofthe Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) said.The V&A was in 'dire straits' due to enforced closures said Mr Coleridge who suggested that Covid-19 was 'not very dangerous' to people over 60 who were in good health.The former head of the Cond© Nast magazine empire63 who was hospitalised with a bout of Covid during the summer said: 'A little bit of me is wondering whether it might be better to keep things moving more the herd immunity approach. I wonder whether we'd have done better to let it burn out rather than eking it out bit by bit.'Mr Coleridge said his four children had all caught Covid but soon recovered after 'taking a big mug of whiskey honey and hot water to bed and getting an early night'."";""Nicholas Coleridge"";""Victoria and Albert Museum"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Business"""
"311;2020-12-03 12:00:00;39;""Coronavirus breakthrough: London has achieved ''herd immunity'' claims former Pfizer chief"";""Svarr Nanan-Sen"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Dr Yeadon said: 'I am convinced that the country is broadly at herd immunity.'There have been extensive papers published stating that people had prior immunity because their bodies had seen a related virus like a common cold that is not controversial even public health England has now published on that front.'I believe we are at herd immunity as evidence by the lack of Covid deaths in London right now.'We were about 200 to 250 every day seven months ago I checked three days ago and it was nine."";""Mike Yeadon"";"""";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Individual"""
"307;2020-12-09 12:00:00;37;""Piers Morgan just dismantled Michael Gove in a matter of minutes live on air"";""Isobel van Hagen"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Mr Gove says the govt were 'not following the policy of herd immunity.'"";""Michael Gove"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"308;2020-12-09 12:00:00;38;""''Check your facts!'' Michael Gove slaps down Piers Morgan on Covid ''defensive tactic'' claim"";""Aurora Bosotti"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He said: 'Talking about honesty Piers Sweden never followed a policy of herd immunity.'They did have a different approach towards the nature of restraints that were applied. They were less rigorous than those applied in other countries.'On that particular case you should check your facts.'"";""Michael Gove"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"309;2020-12-09 12:00:00;38;""''Check your facts!'' Michael Gove slaps down Piers Morgan on Covid ''defensive tactic'' claim"";""Aurora Bosotti"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely. 'Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it. Those are the key things we need to do.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"310;2020-12-09 12:00:00;38;""''Check your facts!'' Michael Gove slaps down Piers Morgan on Covid ''defensive tactic'' claim"";""Aurora Bosotti"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'Our aim is to try and reduce the peak broaden the peak not suppress it completely. 'Also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it. Those are the key things we need to do.�"";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";1;""Government"""
"306;2020-12-10 12:00:00;36;""ITV GMB: Row explodes as Piers blasts Gove for ‚ignoring‚„ science: ‚Check your facts‚„"";""Alex Davies"";""express.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Talking about honesty Piers Sweden never followed herd immunity� Mr Gove pointed out.They did have a different approach to the nature of strengths that were applied - in that particular case you should check your facts.�Morgan backtracked to claim it was a form of herd immunity as the two began to talk over one another.Im grateful for the clarification Piers' Mr Gove sarcastically replied. 'But I think its also the case that its important to clarify that the UK Government was never pursuing herd immunity."";""Michael Gove"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"302;2020-12-15 12:00:00;35;""Backers of ''herd immunity'' shouldn''t have been allowed near Boris Johnson"";""Alan McNally"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""On 21 September Prof Chris Whitty and Prof Sir Patrick Vallance held a public briefing where they presented worst-case scenario figures for Covid cases anddeaths into autumn and winter if no action was taken. The briefing was widely criticised as scaremongering but the projected figures of 50000 cases and 200 deaths per day has proved to be largely correct with 45000 cases and 450 deaths per day in October-November. The same day Sage set out in anofficial document that a circuit breaker should be considered for immediate introduction�.A report in the Sunday Times over the weekend suggests that the decision not to impose a circuit-breaker lockdown was influenced by a meeting involving the prime minister the chancellor and three proponents of a herd immunity� approach to managing the virus: Prof Sunetra Gupta and Prof Carl Heneghan of the University of Oxford and Prof Anders Tegnell the Swedish epidemiologist who has masterminded Swedens catastrophic Covid control policy (in the last monthSweden has reported 1400 Covid deaths while neighbours Norway and Finland both of which have roughly half its population reported 100 and 80 respectively). The delay in imposing national restrictions resulted in an estimated 1.3 million extra Covid infections.The idea behind the herd immunity approach� is that we should allow Covid to run through the majority of the population who will supposedly have very minor symptoms while shielding our most vulnerable members of society. The belief is that this would generate immunity to the extent that the virus would have insufficient hosts to infect and would die out. The problem with this hypothesis is that is completely scientifically flawed and there is no data to support it. And yet it continues to be pushed. In March Gupta and colleagues raised the possibility that half of the UK population had already been infected by Sars-CoV-2. This was subsequently shown to be false. In September she stated that the worst-case scenario presented by Whitty and Vallance of 50000 cases per day was very likely wrong “ but it has been proved largely right.First we dont have sufficient evidence regarding the extent of natural protective immunity after Sars-CoV-2 infection. Indeed we know that re-infection is possible. Second Sars-CoV-2 doesnt just infect humans “ it has been documented in mink and family pets. This means that even if the human population did become immune those shielded would still be at risk as the virus could be maintained in animal hosts. Thirdly it is naive in the extreme to suggest the young and healthy will not suffer serious symptoms from Covid infection with deaths occurring in all age groups and a number of post-infection complications well documented. And finally no mechanism by which we could effectively shield all vulnerable members of society has been demonstrated. The idea of preventing large swathes of the country from being exposed to Covid is near ridiculous as evidenced by the situation in care homes across the country.Herd immunity is only an effective strategy for infectious diseases when its achieved via vaccination not by natural infection. A study of the Brazilian city of Manaus suggested that left to spread unchecked Covid can infect up to 75% of the population with devastating consequences. In short there is no safe� way to allow Covid to run through a population without upending the healthcare system and experiencing an unacceptable number of fatalities. This is not just my opinion it is the mainstream view of every respected infectious disease researcher in the country (and across the world as evidenced by the John Snow memorandum ).That such a fringe view could be presented to the prime minister as he weighed a decision on national Covid containment policy is deeply disturbing especially when it flies in the face of the opinion of the governments most respected scientific advisers. More disturbing still is that our government appears to make important decisions on Covid based on the economy repeating the same mistakes while failing to grasp that the only way to protect prosperity is to suppress Covid as far as possible until widespread vaccination has occurred."";""Alan McNally"";""University of Birmingham"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"303;2020-12-15 12:00:00;35;""Backers of ''herd immunity'' shouldn''t have been allowed near Boris Johnson"";""Alan McNally"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""On 21 September Prof Chris Whitty and Prof Sir Patrick Vallance held a public briefing where they presented worst-case scenario figures for Covid cases anddeaths into autumn and winter if no action was taken. The briefing was widely criticised as scaremongering but the projected figures of 50000 cases and 200 deaths per day has proved to be largely correct with 45000 cases and 450 deaths per day in October-November. The same day Sage set out in anofficial document that a circuit breaker should be considered for immediate introduction�.A report in the Sunday Times over the weekend suggests that the decision not to impose a circuit-breaker lockdown was influenced by a meeting involving the prime minister the chancellor and three proponents of a herd immunity� approach to managing the virus: Prof Sunetra Gupta and Prof Carl Heneghan of the University of Oxford and Prof Anders Tegnell the Swedish epidemiologist who has masterminded Swedens catastrophic Covid control policy (in the last monthSweden has reported 1400 Covid deaths while neighbours Norway and Finland both of which have roughly half its population reported 100 and 80 respectively). The delay in imposing national restrictions resulted in an estimated 1.3 million extra Covid infections.The idea behind the herd immunity approach� is that we should allow Covid to run through the majority of the population who will supposedly have very minor symptoms while shielding our most vulnerable members of society. The belief is that this would generate immunity to the extent that the virus would have insufficient hosts to infect and would die out. The problem with this hypothesis is that is completely scientifically flawed and there is no data to support it. And yet it continues to be pushed. In March Gupta and colleagues raised the possibility that half of the UK population had already been infected by Sars-CoV-2. This was subsequently shown to be false. In September she stated that the worst-case scenario presented by Whitty and Vallance of 50000 cases per day was very likely wrong “ but it has been proved largely right.First we dont have sufficient evidence regarding the extent of natural protective immunity after Sars-CoV-2 infection. Indeed we know that re-infection is possible. Second Sars-CoV-2 doesnt just infect humans “ it has been documented in mink and family pets. This means that even if the human population did become immune those shielded would still be at risk as the virus could be maintained in animal hosts. Thirdly it is naive in the extreme to suggest the young and healthy will not suffer serious symptoms from Covid infection with deaths occurring in all age groups and a number of post-infection complications well documented. And finally no mechanism by which we could effectively shield all vulnerable members of society has been demonstrated. The idea of preventing large swathes of the country from being exposed to Covid is near ridiculous as evidenced by the situation in care homes across the country.Herd immunity is only an effective strategy for infectious diseases when its achieved via vaccination not by natural infection. A study of the Brazilian city of Manaus suggested that left to spread unchecked Covid can infect up to 75% of the population with devastating consequences. In short there is no safe� way to allow Covid to run through a population without upending the healthcare system and experiencing an unacceptable number of fatalities. This is not just my opinion it is the mainstream view of every respected infectious disease researcher in the country (and across the world as evidenced by the John Snow memorandum ).That such a fringe view could be presented to the prime minister as he weighed a decision on national Covid containment policy is deeply disturbing especially when it flies in the face of the opinion of the governments most respected scientific advisers. More disturbing still is that our government appears to make important decisions on Covid based on the economy repeating the same mistakes while failing to grasp that the only way to protect prosperity is to suppress Covid as far as possible until widespread vaccination has occurred."";""Alan McNally"";""University of Birmingham"";""Healthcare services and capacity can be managed in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"304;2020-12-15 12:00:00;35;""Backers of ''herd immunity'' shouldn''t have been allowed near Boris Johnson"";""Alan McNally"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""On 21 September Prof Chris Whitty and Prof Sir Patrick Vallance held a public briefing where they presented worst-case scenario figures for Covid cases anddeaths into autumn and winter if no action was taken. The briefing was widely criticised as scaremongering but the projected figures of 50000 cases and 200 deaths per day has proved to be largely correct with 45000 cases and 450 deaths per day in October-November. The same day Sage set out in anofficial document that a circuit breaker should be considered for immediate introduction�.A report in the Sunday Times over the weekend suggests that the decision not to impose a circuit-breaker lockdown was influenced by a meeting involving the prime minister the chancellor and three proponents of a herd immunity� approach to managing the virus: Prof Sunetra Gupta and Prof Carl Heneghan of the University of Oxford and Prof Anders Tegnell the Swedish epidemiologist who has masterminded Swedens catastrophic Covid control policy (in the last monthSweden has reported 1400 Covid deaths while neighbours Norway and Finland both of which have roughly half its population reported 100 and 80 respectively). The delay in imposing national restrictions resulted in an estimated 1.3 million extra Covid infections.The idea behind the herd immunity approach� is that we should allow Covid to run through the majority of the population who will supposedly have very minor symptoms while shielding our most vulnerable members of society. The belief is that this would generate immunity to the extent that the virus would have insufficient hosts to infect and would die out. The problem with this hypothesis is that is completely scientifically flawed and there is no data to support it. And yet it continues to be pushed. In March Gupta and colleagues raised the possibility that half of the UK population had already been infected by Sars-CoV-2. This was subsequently shown to be false. In September she stated that the worst-case scenario presented by Whitty and Vallance of 50000 cases per day was very likely wrong “ but it has been proved largely right.First we dont have sufficient evidence regarding the extent of natural protective immunity after Sars-CoV-2 infection. Indeed we know that re-infection is possible. Second Sars-CoV-2 doesnt just infect humans “ it has been documented in mink and family pets. This means that even if the human population did become immune those shielded would still be at risk as the virus could be maintained in animal hosts. Thirdly it is naive in the extreme to suggest the young and healthy will not suffer serious symptoms from Covid infection with deaths occurring in all age groups and a number of post-infection complications well documented. And finally no mechanism by which we could effectively shield all vulnerable members of society has been demonstrated. The idea of preventing large swathes of the country from being exposed to Covid is near ridiculous as evidenced by the situation in care homes across the country.Herd immunity is only an effective strategy for infectious diseases when its achieved via vaccination not by natural infection. A study of the Brazilian city of Manaus suggested that left to spread unchecked Covid can infect up to 75% of the population with devastating consequences. In short there is no safe� way to allow Covid to run through a population without upending the healthcare system and experiencing an unacceptable number of fatalities. This is not just my opinion it is the mainstream view of every respected infectious disease researcher in the country (and across the world as evidenced by the John Snow memorandum ).That such a fringe view could be presented to the prime minister as he weighed a decision on national Covid containment policy is deeply disturbing especially when it flies in the face of the opinion of the governments most respected scientific advisers. More disturbing still is that our government appears to make important decisions on Covid based on the economy repeating the same mistakes while failing to grasp that the only way to protect prosperity is to suppress Covid as far as possible until widespread vaccination has occurred."";""Alan McNally"";""University of Birmingham"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";0;""Academic"""
"305;2020-12-15 12:00:00;35;""Backers of ''herd immunity'' shouldn''t have been allowed near Boris Johnson"";""Alan McNally"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""On 21 September Prof Chris Whitty and Prof Sir Patrick Vallance held a public briefing where they presented worst-case scenario figures for Covid cases anddeaths into autumn and winter if no action was taken. The briefing was widely criticised as scaremongering but the projected figures of 50000 cases and 200 deaths per day has proved to be largely correct with 45000 cases and 450 deaths per day in October-November. The same day Sage set out in anofficial document that a circuit breaker should be considered for immediate introduction�.A report in the Sunday Times over the weekend suggests that the decision not to impose a circuit-breaker lockdown was influenced by a meeting involving the prime minister the chancellor and three proponents of a herd immunity� approach to managing the virus: Prof Sunetra Gupta and Prof Carl Heneghan of the University of Oxford and Prof Anders Tegnell the Swedish epidemiologist who has masterminded Swedens catastrophic Covid control policy (in the last monthSweden has reported 1400 Covid deaths while neighbours Norway and Finland both of which have roughly half its population reported 100 and 80 respectively). The delay in imposing national restrictions resulted in an estimated 1.3 million extra Covid infections.The idea behind the herd immunity approach� is that we should allow Covid to run through the majority of the population who will supposedly have very minor symptoms while shielding our most vulnerable members of society. The belief is that this would generate immunity to the extent that the virus would have insufficient hosts to infect and would die out. The problem with this hypothesis is that is completely scientifically flawed and there is no data to support it. And yet it continues to be pushed. In March Gupta and colleagues raised the possibility that half of the UK population had already been infected by Sars-CoV-2. This was subsequently shown to be false. In September she stated that the worst-case scenario presented by Whitty and Vallance of 50000 cases per day was very likely wrong “ but it has been proved largely right.First we dont have sufficient evidence regarding the extent of natural protective immunity after Sars-CoV-2 infection. Indeed we know that re-infection is possible. Second Sars-CoV-2 doesnt just infect humans “ it has been documented in mink and family pets. This means that even if the human population did become immune those shielded would still be at risk as the virus could be maintained in animal hosts. Thirdly it is naive in the extreme to suggest the young and healthy will not suffer serious symptoms from Covid infection with deaths occurring in all age groups and a number of post-infection complications well documented. And finally no mechanism by which we could effectively shield all vulnerable members of society has been demonstrated. The idea of preventing large swathes of the country from being exposed to Covid is near ridiculous as evidenced by the situation in care homes across the country.Herd immunity is only an effective strategy for infectious diseases when its achieved via vaccination not by natural infection. A study of the Brazilian city of Manaus suggested that left to spread unchecked Covid can infect up to 75% of the population with devastating consequences. In short there is no safe� way to allow Covid to run through a population without upending the healthcare system and experiencing an unacceptable number of fatalities. This is not just my opinion it is the mainstream view of every respected infectious disease researcher in the country (and across the world as evidenced by the John Snow memorandum ).That such a fringe view could be presented to the prime minister as he weighed a decision on national Covid containment policy is deeply disturbing especially when it flies in the face of the opinion of the governments most respected scientific advisers. More disturbing still is that our government appears to make important decisions on Covid based on the economy repeating the same mistakes while failing to grasp that the only way to protect prosperity is to suppress Covid as far as possible until widespread vaccination has occurred."";""Alan McNally"";""University of Birmingham"";""At risk populations can be protected in herd immunity approach"";0;""Academic"""
"827;2020-12-28 12:00:00;20;""Covid vaccine ''won''t give UK herd immunity until summer'' delaying return to normal life"";""Unzela Anna Khan"";""dailystar.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'On an individual basis these vaccines are so good that they will protect individuals so we don't have to wait for this nonsense about herd immunity developing through natural infection we can start to protect the individuals."";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1266;2020-12-28 12:00:00;21;""HERD WORK Coronavirus Scotland: We will get ‚herd immunity‚„ after Oxford vaccine but not until the summer warns Scots expert"";""Chris Musson"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""But the Scots academic warned: To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70 to 80 per cent of the population being vaccinated.And that Im afraid is going to take us right into the summer.�"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1268;2020-12-28 12:00:00;23;""Expert predicts when UK will reach herd immunity thanks to vaccine roll out"";""Poppie Webster"";""Echo"";"""";"""";""But he warned: To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70 per centto 80 per centof the population to be vaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.�"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1269;2020-12-28 12:00:00;24;""Herd immunity not likely until summer as school closures considered"";""Liam Trim"";""Salisbury Journal"";"""";"""";""But he told BBC Breakfast: To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.�Hospital pressure mounts"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1270;2020-12-28 12:00:00;25;""Expert predicts when UK will reach herd immunity thanks to vaccine roll out"";""Poppie Webster"";""News Shopper"";"""";"""";""But he warned: To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70 per centto 80 per centof the population to be vaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.�"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1271;2020-12-28 12:00:00;26;""UK ''unlikely to achieve Covid herd immunity before summer'' says chief scientist"";""Unspecified"";""The Scotsman"";"""";"""";""But he told BBC Breakfast: 'To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the population to be vaccinated and that I'm afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.'"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1272;2020-12-28 12:00:00;27;""Britain‚ |Monday 28th Dec 2020Britain unlikely to achieve herd immunity through vaccinations before summer warns Sage scientist"";""Unspecified"";""Morning Star"";"""";"""";""To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection vaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into thesummer I expect.�"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1273;2020-12-28 12:00:00;28;""Coronavirus vaccine: when will UK get herd immunity?"";""Poppie Webster"";""News Shopper"";"""";"""";""To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the population to be vaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.�"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1274;2020-12-28 12:00:00;29;""Coronavirus vaccine won''t see UK achieve herd immunity until the summer scientist warns"";""Jilian MacMath"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""But he told BBC Breakfast: 'To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that I'm afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.'"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1275;2020-12-28 12:00:00;30;""WAITING GAME Covid vaccines ‚won‚„t achieve herd immunity‚„ until summer as Britain faces months of restrictions"";""Alahna Kindred"";""thesun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The professor of outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool told BBC Breakfast: To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather thanthrough natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.�"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1276;2020-12-28 12:00:00;31;""WAITING GAME Covid vaccines ‚won‚„t achieve herd immunity‚„ until summer as Britain faces months of restrictions"";""Alahna Kindred"";""thescottishsun.co.uk"";"""";"""";""The professor of outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool told BBC Breakfast: To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.�"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1277;2020-12-28 12:00:00;32;""University of Liverpool SAGE expert warns UK won''t achieve herd immunity through vaccine before the summer"";""Luke Traynor"";""liverpoolecho.co.uk"";"""";"""";""But he warned: 'To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that I'm afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.'"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"828;2020-12-28 12:00:00;33;""Coronavirus vaccine ''won''t achieve herd immunity until summer'' delaying return to normal"";""Abigail O''Leary"";""Mirror.co.uk"";"""";"""";""'On an individual basis these vaccines are so good that they will protect individuals so we don't have to wait for this nonsense about herd immunity developing through natural infection we can start to protect the individuals."";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"301;2020-12-28 12:00:00;34;""Expert says herd immunity against Covid pandemic won''''t happen until summer"";""Daniel Smith"";""walesonline.co.uk"";"""";"""";""He added: The people that have been vaccinated will be protected within a matter of weeks and thats very important.On an individual basis these vaccines are so good that they will protect individuals so we dont have to wait for this nonsense about herd immunity developing through natural infection we can start to protect the individuals."";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1259;2020-12-29 12:00:00;12;""Monday 28th Dec 2020Britain unlikely to achieve herd immunity through vaccinations before summer warns Sage scientist BRITAIN is unlikely to achieve herd immunity through a Covid-19 vaccination programme before the summer a scientist advising the government..."";""Unspecified"";""Morning Star"";"""";"""";""To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection70 to 80 per cent of the population will probably have to beEnter your keywordsvaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into thesummer I expect.�"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1260;2020-12-29 12:00:00;13;""Vaccine ‚unlikely‚„ to provide herd immunity before summer says scientist"";""John Paul Holden"";""The Herald"";"""";"""";""But he told BBC Breakfast: To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70 per cent to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.�"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1261;2020-12-29 12:00:00;14;""Who said it"";""Unspecified"";""The Press and Journal"";"""";"""";""To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that is going to take us right into the summer I expect� - Calum Semple;Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1262;2020-12-29 12:00:00;15;""No herd immunity through vaccinations tions before summer Sage scientist warns"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""But he told BBC Breakfast: 'To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that I'm afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.'"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1263;2020-12-29 12:00:00;16;""THEY SAID WHAT?"";""Unspecified"";""The Western Mail"";"""";"""";""'To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that I'm afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect' - Calum Semple below professor of outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) says the UK is unlikely to achieve herd immunity through a Covid-19 vaccination programme before the summer."";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1264;2020-12-29 12:00:00;17;""Herd immunity in UK is ''unlikely before summer''"";""Luke Traynor"";""Liverpool Echo"";"""";"""";""But he warned: 'To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated and that I'm afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.'"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1265;2020-12-29 12:00:00;18;""''''''''NO HERD IMMUNITY UNTIL SUMMER''''''''"";""Unspecified"";""Daily Post"";"""";"""";""But he told BBC Breakfast: 'To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of thepopulation to be vaccinated and that I'm afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.' "";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"826;2020-12-29 12:00:00;19;""Britain''''''''s race to build herd immunity with ''''''''game-changing'''''''' jab"";""Madeleine Cuff"";""I "";"""";"""";""'On an individual basis these vaccines are so good that they will protect individuals so we don't have to wait for this nonsense about herd immunity developing through natural infection we can start to protect the individuals' he told the BBC."";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1267;2020-12-29 12:00:00;22;""The UK is unlikely to achieve herd immunity through a Covid-19 vaccination..."";""Unspecified"";""The Irish News"";"""";"""";""But he told BBC Breakfast: To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the population to be vaccinated and that Im afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.� It comes as hospitals in the south of Britain face a rise in pressure as the number of coronavirus patients receiving treatment heads towards the April peak."";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1258;2020-12-30 12:00:00;11;""Expert: ''''Herd immunity unlikely until summer''''"";""Unspecified"";""Loughborough Echo"";"""";"""";""But he said: 'To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70 to 80 per cent of the population to be vaccinated and that I'm afraid is going to take us right into the summer I expect.'"";""Calum Semple"";""University of Liverpool"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Academic"""
"1257;2021-01-13 12:00:00;5;""Cross-reactive T cells-Correction"";""Unspecified"";""The Telegraph Online"";"""";"""";""An article (11 July) about Covid 19 argued that people with cross-reactive T cells ' will have natural immunity' having 'already successfully fought off other coronaviruses '. This was incorrect as such people may still contract and transmit Covid. The article also wrongly proposed that 'London is probably approaching herd immunity' but cross-reactive T cells do not prevent infection spreading and therefore do not create herd immunity and there was no evidence to support such immunity was being established in London. This correction follows an upheld ruling by IPSO."";"""";""The Telegraph"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"820;2021-01-15 12:00:00;3;""Coronavirus: Toby Young‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ Telegraph column ‚significantly misleading‚„ says press regulator"";""Conrad Duncan"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""Toby Young which suggested that London was probably approaching herd immunity �"";""Toby Young"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"824;2021-01-15 12:00:00;3;""Coronavirus: Toby Young‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ Telegraph column ‚significantly misleading‚„ says press regulator"";""Conrad Duncan"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The Independent Press Standards Regulator (Ipso) ruled this week that The Daily Telegraph must publish a correction for the July 2020 opinion piece which suggested that the common cold could provide natural immunity� to Covid-19 and called for an end to tight lockdown restrictions.In a judgement published on Thursday  it found that the newspaper had failed to take care not to publish inaccurate or misleading information� in relation to Mr Youngs claims."";"""";""The Indepdendent Press Standards Regulator"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"825;2021-01-15 12:00:00;3;""Coronavirus: Toby Young‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ Telegraph column ‚significantly misleading‚„ says press regulator"";""Conrad Duncan"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""The journalist who has repeatedly questioned scientific consensus on Covid-19 claimed in the article that the UK could dispense with pointless social distancing measures� during the pandemic."";""Toby Young"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""News/Media"""
"822;2021-01-15 12:00:00;3;""Coronavirus: Toby Young‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ Telegraph column ‚significantly misleading‚„ says press regulator"";""Conrad Duncan"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""wrong�"";""Toby Young"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"821;2021-01-15 12:00:00;3;""Coronavirus: Toby Young‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ Telegraph column ‚significantly misleading‚„ says press regulator"";""Conrad Duncan"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""all but disappeared�."";""Toby Young"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"823;2021-01-15 12:00:00;3;""Coronavirus: Toby Young‚„s ‚herd immunity‚„ Telegraph column ‚significantly misleading‚„ says press regulator"";""Conrad Duncan"";""Independent Online"";"""";"""";""However he said that so-called lockdown sceptics� still believed that major national restriction had caused more harm than they had prevented�."";""Toby Young"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""News/Media"""
"931;2021-01-15 12:00:00;4;""Daily Telegraph rebuked over Toby Young''''''''s Covid column"";""Archie Bland"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";"" When we have herd immunity Boris will face a reckoning on this pointless and damaging lockdown.�"";""Toby Young"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"932;2021-01-15 12:00:00;4;""Daily Telegraph rebuked over Toby Young''''''''s Covid column"";""Archie Bland"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";"" When we have herd immunity Boris will face a reckoning on this pointless and damaging lockdown.�"";""Toby Young"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""News/Media"""
"929;2021-01-15 12:00:00;4;""Daily Telegraph rebuked over Toby Young''''''''s Covid column"";""Archie Bland"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Young told the Guardian that he may have been overemphatic in putting the anti-lockdown case but its not as if the advocates of a pro-lockdown position are any less emphatic�"";""Toby Young"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Consequences of lockdown/related control measures (economic loss delayed herd immunity/other health outcomes) exceed consequences of herd immunity approach (deaths disease spread)"";1;""News/Media"""
"930;2021-01-15 12:00:00;4;""Daily Telegraph rebuked over Toby Young''''''''s Covid column"";""Archie Bland"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Young told the Guardian that he may have been overemphatic in putting the anti-lockdown case but its not as if the advocates of a pro-lockdown position are any less emphatic�"";""Toby Young"";""The Daily Telegraph"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""News/Media"""
"933;2021-01-15 12:00:00;4;""Daily Telegraph rebuked over Toby Young''''''''s Covid column"";""Archie Bland"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Ipso concluded that the Telegraph was unable to support its position and that it had failed to take care not to publish inaccurate and misleading information�.The statement was significantly misleading� it said noting that the Telegraph had not offered to run a correction. It misrepresented the nature of immunity and implied that people previously exposed to some common colds might be automatically immune to suffering symptoms and passing on Covid-19 to others.�"";"""";""Independent Press Standards Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"934;2021-01-15 12:00:00;4;""Daily Telegraph rebuked over Toby Young''''''''s Covid column"";""Archie Bland"";""The Guardian"";"""";"""";""Challenged on the claim the Telegraph referred to an article on Youngs own Lockdown Sceptics website. But the Ipso committee said that the studies ultimately relied on for the claim did not support its conclusion that London was close to herd immunity and ruled that the article was misleading both as to how herd immunity is reached and whether it existed in London�."";"""";""Independent Press Standards Organization"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""News/Media"""
"818;2021-01-30 12:00:00;2;""Breathtaking by Rachel Clarke review ‚� on the Covid front line"";""Christina Patterson"";""sundaytimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""to build up some degree of herd immunity�."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"819;2021-01-31 12:00:00;1;""Rage behind the facemask"";""Christina Patterson"";""The Sunday Times"";"""";"""";""'to build up some degree of herd immunity'."";""Sir Patrick Vallance"";""Government of the United Kingdom"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";1;""Government"""
"222;2020-03-15 12:00:00;347;""Coronavirus: No 10 facing questions about herd immunity‚„s human cost"";""Lucy Fisher  Kat Lay"";""thetimes.co.uk"";"""";"""";""Mr Hunt said that the health secretarys remarks came as a huge relief�. He said of the herd immunity concept: The cost in terms of lives lost would be catastrophic irrespective of the longer-term merits of herd immunity.� More drastic measures are needed if the government wants to curb the epidemic  he suggested. If we are now seeking to suppress the virus  we need to follow the countries that have done that successfully  including moving immediately to more social distancing policies  not just for the elderly but anyone who might come into contact with them � he said."";""Jeremy Hunt"";""House of Commons"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Political"""
"66;2020-03-14 12:00:00;397;""Experts cast doubt on UK plan for ‚herd immunity‚„"";""Shaun Lintern"";""The Independent"";"""";"""";""We dont know how long natural immunity will last. And if people who have experienced the infection will be protected forever thereafter or whether we will need vaccines to support them that gives continuous protection against reinfection.�On the variation between different countries attitudes on how best to tackle the virus she added: I think all governments should look at countries where measures have failed and try to do better. And thats why I dont understand why we dont have a European approach.�"";""Hanneke Schuitemaker"";""Janssen Vaccines"";""Natural herd immunity is an appropriate or efficacious COVID-19 control strategy/natural herd immunity is working or being achieved"";0;""Business"""