The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has renewed the debate on herd immunity. Although the concept seems plausible in an ideal setting, achieving this would possibly require intentional sacrifice of a section of the herd, not only in terms of loss of life but also in terms of long-term pain and suffering. For example, there have been suggestions that up to 2 million people would die before getting there in the USA alone (Aschwanden, 2020). Although commentators in the Lancet have concluded that “any proposed approach to achieve herd immunity through natural infection is not only highly unethical, but also unachievable”, it could be the only option for certain resource-poor and fragile nations (Jones and Helmreich, 2020).
