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A comment on Calling for benefit–risk evaluations of Covid-19 control measures. Parent comment

Re:Calling for benefit–risk evaluations of Covid-19 control ... by lostcolony on Sunday February 21, 2021 @08:46PM (#26219732)
>> 'Herd immunity totally relies on vaccinated people not being infectious.'

That's not accurate. Herd immunity only requires a vaccine reduce transmission rate sufficiently that R0 < 1. It doesn't require that R0 = 0.

If the R0 for a vaccinated person = X, such that 0 < X < 1, wearing a mask likely puts it < X. Which is a desirable characteristic.

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Re:Calling for benefit–risk evaluations of Covid-19 control ... by WalterBright on Sunday February 21, 2021 @09:47PM (#26220231)
Not knowing the transmission rate means one can not make any predictions of herd immunity.
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Re:Calling for benefit–risk evaluations of Covid-19 control ... by ummonk on Sunday February 21, 2021 @09:21PM (#26220032)
To be clear, it requires R < 1, not R0 (which is the initial rate of spread). More importantly though, we don’t really need herd immunity - once everyone has had a chance to get vaccinated, the virus ceases to be an issue, as contracting covid is no different from contracting the cold or at worst the flu.
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