World News for Students of English

04-06-2020 07:00

Herd immunity is the situation when majority of a population becomes immune to an infectious disease.

Depending on how contagious the virus is, this usually means that 70-90% of people need to be immune to achieve herd immunity. Typically, this is done through a vaccine or a mass infection.

It can take months or even years to vaccinate 90% of a population. On the other hand, mass infection could overwhelm hospitals and result in more deaths.

According to some experts, the best way to achieve herd immunity is to continue social distancing measures until a vaccine is developed. Without a vaccine, lower infection rates and greater access to testing, herd immunity may never be achieved. Experts say that the coronavirus is here to live with us, and without increasing the herd immunity, it will eventually spread again.

Difficult words: contagious (when a disease or virus spreads from one person to another, usually by direct contact), mass infection (when many people get infected with a virus), social distancing measures (restrictions that tell when and where people can meet in order to stop the spread of an infectious disease).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.