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Stefan Simanowitz. (2020, November 14). “Sweden hoped herd immunity would curb #COVID19. Don’t do what we did” write 25 leading Swedish scientists “Sweden’s approach to COVID has led to death, grief & suffering. The only example we’re setting is how not to deal with a deadly infectious disease” https://t.co/azOg6AxSYH https://t.co/u2IqU5iwEn [Tweet]. @StefSimanowitz. https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1327670787617198087

Sweden’s COVID death toll is unnerving due to herd immunity experiment. (n.d.). Retrieved March 4, 2021, from https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/07/21/coronavirus-swedish-herd-immunity-drove-up-death-toll-column/5472100002/

the Guardian. “Brazil Variant Evaded up to 61% of Immunity in Previous Covid Cases,” March 2, 2021. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/02/brazil-variant-evaded-immunity-previous-covid-cases.

Prof. Devi Sridhar. (2020, March 25). We will be stuck in an endless cycle of lockdown/release for next 18 months, if we do not start mass testing, tracing, & isolating those who are carriers of the virus while pursuing rapid research for antiviral treatment or vaccine. This is the message the public needs to hear. [Tweet]. @devisridhar. https://twitter.com/devisridhar/status/1242743618986745861

JAMA Network. (2020, November 6). Herd Immunity as a Coronavirus Pandemic Strategy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tsUTAWBJ9M

Kenneth Fordyce. (2020, November 3). @devisridhar @georgeeaton Yet another article packed full of wise words: E.g., ‘in some ways, the people pushing for “herd immunity” are forcing us into these lockdown-release cycles because you end up in a reactive position by underestimating the spread of the virus and the hospitalisation rate’ [Tweet]. @FordyceKenneth. https://twitter.com/FordyceKenneth/status/1323544552112852992

‘Expert Reaction to Study Evaluating the Accuracy of the AbC-19TM Rapid Test for SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies | Science Media Centre’. Accessed 26 February 2021. https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-study-evaluating-the-accuracy-of-the-abc-19tm-rapid-test-for-sars-cov-2-antibodies/.

Pancevski, B. (2020, December 6). Long a Holdout From Covid-19 Restrictions, Sweden Ends Its Pandemic Experiment. Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/long-a-holdout-from-covid-19-restrictions-sweden-ends-its-pandemic-experiment-11607261658

ReconfigBehSci on Twitter: ‘I just had cause to revisit the Friston modelling paper from Sept: Https://t.co/QOTC8fXV0n 1/n’ / Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved 26 February 2021, from https://twitter.com/SciBeh/status/1336277391233208320

Brown, Rebecca C. H., Julian Savulescu, Dominic Kelly, and Dominic Wilkinson. ‘A Public Health Ethic Should Inform Policies on COVID-19 Immunity Passports – Authors’ Reply’. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 0, no. 0 (7 December 2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30922-1.

Youyang Gu. (2021, February 24). When can we return to normal? Forget about ‘herd immunity’. Below is my estimate for the number of susceptible individuals over time, as a proportion of the US population. Looking at this graph, what is the best point to go back to normal? Christmas? Fall? Or Summer? 🧵 https://t.co/V4uiFk5YcP [Tweet]. @youyanggu. https://twitter.com/youyanggu/status/1364627872233750543

Byline Times. (2020, October 25). Google doing its job here. Our revelations about the Koch funded libertarian think tanks behind the discredited Herd Immunity theory is public interest journalism [Tweet]. @BylineTimes. https://twitter.com/BylineTimes/status/1320322956837425152

Jed. ‘The Geography of the COVID19 Third Wave | Jed Kolko’. Accessed 25 February 2021. http://jedkolko.com/2020/10/18/the-geography-of-the-covid19-third-wave/.

Nikiforuk, A. (2020, October 28). ‘Herd Immunity’ Is an Inviting Idea but Terrible Policy. The Tyee. https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/10/28/Herd-Immunity-Inviting-Idea-Terrible-Policy/?utm_source=weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=021120

Scudellari, M. (2020). How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond. Nature, 584(7819), 22–25. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02278-5

Hyde, Z. (n.d.). Herd immunity is the end game for the pandemic, but the AstraZeneca vaccine won’t get us there. The Conversation. Retrieved 24 February 2021, from http://theconversation.com/herd-immunity-is-the-end-game-for-the-pandemic-but-the-astrazeneca-vaccine-wont-get-us-there-155115

Yale SOM. (2020, October 27). Herd immunity is the end goal of developing a vaccine, @thehowie explains. But when government officials talk about relying on “herd immunity” as a strategy for slowing or stopping the Covid-19 pandemic without a vaccine, it’s a more dangerous approach. Https://t.co/aJ8VXos7zh [Tweet]. @YaleSOM. https://twitter.com/YaleSOM/status/1321150247503101956

Alex Wickham. (2021, January 5). The experts have now changed their minds on testing arrivals, masks, mass gatherings, mass testing, herd immunity... Https://t.co/hjVKVzD4Dc [Tweet]. @alexwickham. https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1346363554207698944

H, Yu, Yang J, Marziano V, Deng X, Guzzetta G, Zhang J, Trentini F, et al. “Can a COVID-19 Vaccination Program Guarantee the Return to a Pre-Pandemic Lifestyle?,” February 9, 2021. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-200069/v1.

magazine, C. A., Nature. (n.d.). COVID-19 Herd Immunity Strategies Could Bring ‘Untold Death and Suffering’ Scientific American. Retrieved 18 February 2021, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-19-herd-immunity-strategies-could-bring-untold-death-and-suffering/

Herd immunity: A zombie idea and a lethal strategy. (2021, January 21). TheArticle. https://www.thearticle.com/herd-immunity-a-zombie-idea-and-a-lethal-strategy

It’s Okay To Be Smart. (2021, February 4). Visualizing Herd Immunity (with 500 Mousetraps!) (feat. @The Slow Mo Guys​). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et_J8_x4qBs&feature=youtu.be

Phillips, N. (2021). The coronavirus is here to stay—Here’s what that means. Nature, 590(7846), 382–384. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00396-2

Britt, Robert Roy. ‘10 Signs the Pandemic Is About to Get Much Worse’. Medium, 19 October 2020. https://elemental.medium.com/10-signs-the-pandemic-is-about-to-get-much-worse-cf261bf3885d.

Cormier, Z. (n.d.). The Second-Generation COVID Vaccines Are Coming. Scientific American. Retrieved 11 February 2021, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-second-generation-covid-vaccines-are-coming/

Here’s a graph they don’t want you to see. (2021, January 25). Sebastian Rushworth M.D. https://sebastianrushworth.com/2021/01/25/heres-a-graph-they-dont-want-you-to-see/

Sebastian Rushworth M.D. (2021, January 25). This graph shows the share of the Swedish population testing positive to antibodies against covid week on week. The results are pretty startling. Https://t.co/rye4WImrvl [Tweet]. @sebrushworth. https://twitter.com/sebrushworth/status/1353775606274654208

News, J. A., Kaiser Health. (n.d.). Why the U.S. Is Underestimating COVID Reinfection. Scientific American. Retrieved 10 February 2021, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-the-u-s-is-underestimating-covid-reinfection/

Makulec, A. (2021, February 1). Demystifying Vaccination Metrics. Medium. https://medium.com/nightingale/demystifying-vaccination-metrics-cd0a29251dd2

Moore, S., Hill, E. M., Tildesley, M. J., Dyson, L., & Keeling, M. J. (2021). Vaccination and Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions: When can the UK relax about COVID-19? MedRxiv, 2020.12.27.20248896. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.27.20248896

Loomba, S., de Figueiredo, A., Piatek, S. J., de Graaf, K., & Larson, H. J. (2021). Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA. Nature Human Behaviour, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01056-1

Betsch, C., Böhm, R., & Korn, L. (2013). Inviting free-riders or appealing to prosocial behavior? Game-theoretical reflections on communicating herd immunity in vaccine advocacy. Health Psychology: Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 32(9), 978–985. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031590

Giubilini, A., Caviola, L., Maslen, H., Douglas, T., Nussberger, A.-M., Faber, N., Vanderslott, S., Loving, S., Harrison, M., & Savulescu, J. (2019). Nudging Immunity: The Case for Vaccinating Children in School and Day Care by Default. HEC Forum, 31(4), 325–344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-019-09383-7

Burton, D. R., & Topol, E. J. (2021). Toward superhuman SARS-CoV-2 immunity? Nature Medicine, 27(1), 5–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-01180-x

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Katy Milkman on how to nudge people to accept a covid-19 vaccine. (2020, November 30). The Economist. https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2020/11/30/katy-milkman-on-how-to-nudge-people-to-accept-a-covid-19-vaccine

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In case anyone is wondering vaccines provide herd immunity.

All pandemic strategies end up reaching herd immunity.

Brown, R. C. H., Kelly, D., Wilkinson, D., & Savulescu, J. (2020). The scientific and ethical feasibility of immunity passports. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30766-0

Bauch, Chris T. “Estimating the COVID-19 R Number: A Bargain with the Devil?” The Lancet Infectious Diseases 0, no. 0 (October 22, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30840-9.

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Ending Covid-19 via herd immunity is “a dangerous fallacy.” (2020, October 14). The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/14/ending-covid-19-via-herd-immunity-is-a-dangerous-fallacy

Aubrey, A. (2020). Will Kids Get A COVID-19 Vaccine? Pfizer To Expand Trial To Ages 12 And Up. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/10/13/923248377/will-kids-get-a-covid-19-vaccine-pfizer-to-expand-trial-to-ages-12-and-up?t=1602805163253

Geneva, S. and agencies in. (2020, October 12). WHO chief says herd immunity approach to pandemic “unethical.” The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/12/who-chief-says-herd-immunity-approach-to-pandemic-unethical

Times info@bylinetimes.com (https://bylinetimes.com/), B. (2020, October 9). Climate Science Denial Network Behind Great Barrington Declaration. Byline Times. https://bylinetimes.com/2020/10/09/climate-science-denial-network-behind-great-barrington-declaration/

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The anti-lockdown scientists’ cause would be more persuasive if it weren’t so half-baked | Sonia Sodha. (2020, October 11). The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/11/the-rebel-scientists-cause-would-be-more-persuasive-if-it-werent-so-half-baked

VogelOct. 6, G., 2020, & Pm, 4:35. (2020, October 6). ‘It’s been so, so surreal.’ Critics of Sweden’s lax pandemic policies face fierce backlash. Science | AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/it-s-been-so-so-surreal-critics-sweden-s-lax-pandemic-policies-face-fierce-backlash

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Decerf, B., Ferreira, F. H. G., Mahler, D. G., & Sterck, O. (2020). Lives and Livelihoods: Estimates of the Global Mortality and Poverty Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic. IZA Discussion Paper, 13549.

Take away: "Immune training" or bystander effects from other vaccinations may help to fight off Covid-19 or other infections, in spite of not being specific to that pathogen. Some of these effects are sex-specific.

Claim: "Somehow immunology has been blind to sex"

The evidence: This is not entirely true- there is actually a LOT of research into sex differences in the immune response, and it is well-known that women can generally mount stronger Th1-type immune responses against viral infections than men. This is thought to be partially linked to estrogen cycling, and partly due to the fact that women have 2 active copies of genes associated with immunity because those are encoded on the X chromosomes. Men only have 1 copy, and thus they don't generally mount as strong an inflammatory response. However, women are also more prone to autoimmune diseases as a consequence of having stronger inflammatory responses than men, which is seen in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus.

Sources: (https://www.nature.com/articles/nri.2016.90).

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Pfattheicher, Stefan, Michael Bang Petersen, and Robert Böhm. ‘Information about Herd Immunity and Empathy Promote COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions’, 30 September 2020. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/wzu6k.

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A Brazilian city devastated by COVID-19 may have reached herd immunity. (2020, September 24). Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-brazil-city-manaus-herd-immunity

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COVID-19: Open, reasoned, detailed, discussion of the options is overdue and welcome. (2020). https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3702/rr-2

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