Herd immunity and lifting lockdowns: a new trolley problem?

Research output: Other contributionNet publication - Internet publicationResearchpeer-review

How does pursuing herd immunity compare with lifting lockdowns, from an ethical point of view? The (moral) problem with the pursuit of herd immunity under a pandemic such as COVID-19 is that getting more than half of the population infected (the herd immunity threshold is at least 60%), given a CFR of say 1%, means having to kill at least 0.6% of one’s population. We are therefore intentionally sacrificing the 0.6% in order to achieve herd immunity...
Original languageEnglish
Publication date9 Jun 2020
PublisherBMJ Publishing Group
Publication statusPublished - 9 Jun 2020

Bibliographical note

Journal of Medical Ethics blog, 9.6.2020

ID: 242659029