Would opening schools, colleges help achieve herd immunity?

'If schools and colleges go back to functioning in full swing, keeping in mind distancing and sanitisation norms, there is a possibility that sooner or later, everyone will get exposed. Children have fresh immunity, and they can be major contributors to us achieving herd immunity,' according to the AIIMS professor.

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Govt is mulling reopening of schools by August-end or September (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal/ Representational)

While parents and teachers are worried about schools reopening, there are many who debate that it might help develop a herd immunity. As reported by the indianexpress.com earlier, herd immunity implies preventing an infectious disease from spreading by immunising a certain percentage of the population. While the concept is most commonly used in the context of vaccination, herd community can also be achieved after enough people have become immune after being infected.

Elaborating on this, Dr Amitav Banerjee, professor, and head Community Medicine at Dr DY Patil Medical College, Pune commented, “If we choose to open schools and colleges once the curve stabilises, there are very strong chances that we will be able to achieve herd immunity. Children and young adults have fresh immunity, which makes them better prepared to fight infections. It has a multiplier effect; if we develop it, we can protect many people. If we study USA data, 24 districts in the USA do not report a single child fatality.”

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“The mean age and Body Mass Index (BMI) has been an important factor in the number of deaths. The recent CDC update mentions that obesity is a major risk factor for fatality from Covid-19 virus. Japan never had a lockdown and despite having higher mean age, there were very few fatalities, which reconfirm CDC findings,” Dr Banerjee added.

The idea behind achieving herd mentality, however simple it may sound, is actually quite complex in terms of achievement. Explaining how exactly herd immunity is achieved, Dr Sanjay K Rai, professor, Centre of Community Medicine, AIIMS New Delhi elaborated, “There are two basic ways of achieving herd immunity — by developing a vaccine, and by exposure to infection. Since there is no possible way of knowing by when we can find a vaccine and how effective it will be, the only other alternative is through infection.”

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Dr Rai was quoted as saying in an official statement by HEAL Foundation, “If schools and colleges go back to functioning in full swing, keeping in mind distancing and sanitisation norms, there is a possibility that sooner or later, everyone will get exposed. Children have fresh immunity, and they can be major contributors to us achieving herd immunity. The process is quite complex, though, careful interpretation and increase in testing are vital for it to be successful.”