Expert says herd immunity from Covid is ‘mythical’ with the delta variant

Here's why herd immunity from Covid is 'mythical' with the delta variant Achieving herd immunity with Covid vaccines when the highly infectious delta variant is spreading is likely to be impossible, leading experts say. Holly Ellyatt CNBC

LONDON — Achieving herd immunity with Covid vaccines when the highly infectious delta variant is spreading is “not a possibility,” a leading epidemiologist said.

Experts agree on several reasons why such a goal — where overall immunity in a population is reached and the spread of the virus is stopped — is not likely.

Sir Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told British lawmakers Tuesday that as Covid vaccines did not stop the spread of the virus entirely — with vaccinated people still able to be infected and transmit the virus — the idea of achieving herd immunity was “mythical.”

“I think we are in a situation here with this current variant where herd immunity is not a possibility because it still infects vaccinated individuals,” said Pollard, one of the lead researchers in the creation of the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford vaccine. ...