this is why this IS the trump virus!
Officials in Trump's administration say, despite public denial, the president is actually pushing for a herd immunity strategy for COVID-19
- Public health officials have repeatedly said the approach would cost thousands of unnecessary infections and deaths.
- Herd immunity is when a population has enough people who are immune to a virus it slows the spread of transmission.
Three officials in President Donald Trump's White House said the administration, despite publicly denying it, is actually pushing for a herd immunity strategy to the COVID-19 pandemic, although it could ******* thousands of Americans unnecessarily,
The Daily Beast reported.
Three senior health officials told The Daily Beast that the administration is taking the step to push that strategy into policy despite public health experts and doctors warning that the strategy would result in many more people getting sick and dying.
Public health officials have repeatedly said that a herd immunity approach would be dangerous and potentially catastrophic.
"This is simply wrong," Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said
on Twitter on Monday. "Herd immunity is not a strategy or a solution. It is surrender to a preventable virus."
One source told The Daily Beast that while the administration has been careful not to use the term "herd immunity," their policy efforts focused on the idea that vulnerable Americans should be protected while everyone else is able to get exposed and potentially infected