Summary:
After continuous increase in cases all over the country and Serosurveys conducted across Delhi and Mumbai there were apprehensions that India has entered the stage of Heard Immunity.
Ministry of Health, however, have denied the reports of Herd Immunity by saying, “that herd immunity might as well be a distant dream for a country as big as India.”
A community is said to reach the herd immunity stage when a major section gains natural immunity to the disease by getting infected, or with the help of a preventive method, such as a vaccine.
Delhi and Mumbai`s serosurveys pegged that more than a quarter of the population in both of the cities had sufficient antibodies against the infection, which made experts believe that these cities had surpassed the worse and were on their road to recovery.
"Herd immunity is indirect protection from disease. This saves a population from disease. But it develops when a vaccine is developed or when a population has already suffered and recovered from it. Herd immunity in India is not an option. It can only happen after a vaccine has been developed," a Health Ministry official said.