Will herd immunity ever be achievable as Covid mutations spread?

When the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, many nations and health agencies appeared to be banking on "herd immunity."

This strategy would see the virus spread across society, causing illnesses and eliciting an immune response in those who have recovered.

If enough people developed these antibodies — say, 60-70 per cent of the population — the virus's transmission would progressively decline, and those who infected been yet would be safe since the virus's capacity to spread was becoming increasingly restricted.

That was the plan, at least.

In actuality, Covid-19 spread over Asia, Europe, and the Americas, causing millions of infections – from which millions recovered – as well as hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and fatalities. The virus has caused about 164 million infections and 3.4 million deaths worldwide.

With the fast development of vaccinations, most countries abandoned the idea of seeking herd immunity, with noteworthy exceptions like Sweden, and lockdowns became the predominant method of attempting to limit the spread of Covid.

But, again, Covid-19 is proving unexpected, and we don't know how long vaccination protection or natural immunity established via past infection lasts.

Experts warn that vaccination reluctance, the involvement of children in transmission (young children are not eligible for immunizations), and, most significantly, the introduction of novel Covid variants throughout the world are all unknowns that might impede herd immunity.

Most of them anticipate Covid-19 will become endemic, similar to the flu (meaning it will circulate in segments of the population, most likely as a yearly hazard) while expecting it will become less harmful with time. We'll have to put up with it, just like the flu.