Spain's coronavirus antibodies study adds evidence against herd immunity - CNN

Spain's coronavirus antibodies study adds evidence against herd immunity - CNN

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No herd immunity in hard-hit Spain Only 5% of Spain’s population has had COVID-19, despite it being one of the European countries most affected by the pandemic. A serological survey tested more than 61,000 people from randomly selected households for antibodies against the coronavirus. The highest rate of infection was around 10%, in Madrid. That is well below the required level — something more like 60% (maybe) — to achieve therd immunity, which might slow the outbreak. Scientists don’t know for sure whether a past infection will give a person immunity, or to what extent. The study comes on the heels of similar results from France and elsewhere. “In light of these findings, any proposed approach to achieve herd immunity through natural infection is not only highly unethical, but also unachievable,” write virologists Isabella Eckerle and Benjamin Meyer in a commentary accompanying the research. CNN | 5 min read Reference: The Lancet paper