Herd immunity and lifting lockdowns: a new trolley problem?

Ezio Di Nucci

Herd immunity and lifting lockdowns: a new trolley problem?

Research output: Other contribution › Net publication - Internet publication › Research › peer-review

Abstract

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 language	English
Publication date	9 Jun 2020
Publisher	BMJ Publishing Group
Publication status	Published - 9 Jun 2020

Bibliographical note

Journal of Medical Ethics blog, 9.6.2020

Access to Document

https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-ethics/2020/06/09/herd-immunity-and-lifting-lockdowns-a-new-trolley-problem/

Cite this

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title = "Herd immunity and lifting lockdowns: a new trolley problem?",

abstract = "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{\textquoteright}s population. We are therefore intentionally sacrificing the 0.6% in order to achieve herd immunity...",

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