R&I – FS
Sweden, whose outlier no-lockdown herd immunity strategy has been criticised and even vilified by pundits and medical professionals, has been doing remarkably well recently, whereas other European countries are bracing themselves for a second wave of infection.
While population immunity is still below the classic 60 percent level, it may be enough to effectively stop the Covid-19 epidemic in Sweden, one of Denmark’s most prominent epidemiologists has suggested.
“There are indications that the Swedes have gained an level of immunity to the disease, which, together with other measures in place, is enough to keep the disease down”, Kim Sneppen, a professor of biocomplexity at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, told the newspaper Politiken.
An earlier study by professor Tom Britton at Stockholm University estimated that the threshold for full herd immunity might be as low as 43 percent of the population, which is far below the classic figures of 60-70 percent accepted in epidemiology. The basis for this is the assumption that the most sociable and active members of society are the first to get infected.
“Just 20 percent immunity makes a pretty big difference, because those who were infected at the start of the epidemic were the most susceptible to the coronavirus and the most socially active,” Britton said.
Søren Riis Paludan, a professor of biomedicine at Aarhus University, said that more and more evidence suggested that the Public Health Agency of Sweden may have been right in choosing to pursue a strategy that allowed for a controlled development of immunity.
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Article URL : http://maltawinds.com/2020/09/21/sweden-professor-says-immunity-level-in-swedes-is-high-enough-to-keep-disease-down/