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PLAN-B to fight the coronavirus (herd immunity)

In today’s date not only India but the whole world has been influenced by Coronavirus. The virus is the cause of highly infectious disease called coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The thing that makes this virus dangerous is it’s high fatality rate. It is approximately 10 times more than the flu.

 The impact of coronavirus is catching focus as it spreads with the speed of what is recognized as a pandemic.

Pandemic basically means a disease that can potentially spread over whole country or the world.



The coronavirus disease affects the respiratory system. People infected with coronavirus experience moderate respiratory diseases in the beginning stage but as the infection increases respiratory diseases complicate.

The race to find a vaccine for coronavirus is going on. Many countries are trying their best to find the vaccine for the coronavirus as soon as possible.

Till the time vaccine comes many countries have initiated lockdown to practice social distacing and prevent the spread of the disease.

But the stats inform that vaccine would need some time for proper development and testing. In this duration of time the situation can further complicate thus there is an urgent need for quick solution to this problem.



PLAN- B (Herd immunity)

There is a possibility to eliminate the coronavirus before the vaccine to be discovered by adopting PLAN-B (herd immunity).

Herd immunity has also been used earlier to eliminate diseases such as polio and tuberculosis. Experts claim that it can possibly eliminate the coronavirus but it needs proper planning and setup.(not 100% sure)

Herd immunity is basically a situation in which a large part of a population is immune to an infectious disease that avoids further spreading of that particular disease.



EXAMPLE:

To understand this term, case of polio disease can be considered:

Few years back Indian government had initiated a special program to eliminate the polio disease. Small children were given polio drops to eliminate disease from the grass root level.

But possibly all children could not get the vaccine, despite this the disease was eliminated and was not spread anymore.

As a large part of population was immune to this disease they did not spread the disease anymore.

PLANNING

Till the time the vaccine comes scientists suggest that herd community with proper planning can be used to eliminate the coronavirus.

India seems to plan strategically for herd immunity experiment as it can have adverse effects if not planned properly.

Currently India’s third lockdown is going on but lockdown has it’s own adverse effects.A country cannot be closed for a long time.

It affects country’s economy, employment, population and many more things thus India is trying hard to plan and experiment herd immunity.

TYPES OF HERD IMMUNITY

In the first type a large proportion of population is infected with the disease and they gradually develop a immune response to it.

The basic idea behind this experiment is that when a person is infected with any bacteria the body responds by generating anti-bodies to eliminate the bacteria or the virus.

The antibodies provide the person protection against that foreign cell and thus immunize him/her, but the body needs a certain time to generate anti-bodies.
As there is no assurity in this process it can be dangerous and can also have adverse effects.



The second type of herd immunity involves immunizing a large part of population through vaccination. Through vaccination the people become immune which retards the spreading speed of the disease.

As the vaccines are man-made this way is also called artificial herd immunity and also it is a safe way as people have a guarantee of protection from disease.

NOTE:

As the vaccine for the coronavirus is not yet found so the first type (natural herd immunity) is ideal for use now.

IS USE OF HERD IMMUNITY A GOOD OPTION ???????
As every coin has two sides. Herd immunity also has it’s own advantages and disadvantages.

Human body needs a certain time to generate antibodies but coronavirus infection can increase with a great speed and complicate the situations further.

Thus herd immunity just based on human immune system can be fatal. Many countries that performed this experiment have suffered.

No such effort to experiment natural herd immunity has been initiated by India, as the process becomes more secure India might initiate it.

Researchers suggest to inject basic antibodies of the coronavirus in a large population to practice herd immunity, through this step the process can be made more secure.

This topic is under research and the scientists are trying hard to make the process more secure and efficient, till then social distancing must be followed in order to reduce the spread of disease.




CONCLUSION:

Natural immunity based on human immunity is not a good option to fight the coronavirus. Once the basic antibodies are developed this process would be more secure to adopt practically.

Please comment down and provide me a feedback, contact me if you have any query regarding the topic. 

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