About 2 million Americans could die in an attempt to try to achieve so-called herd immunity in the country, medical experts have warned.
“If we’re waiting until 60 percent to 80 percent of people have it, we’re talking about 200 million-plus Americans getting this,” Leana Wen, emergency physician, told CNN.
He added that “at a fatality rate of 1 percent … that’s 2 million Americans who will die in this effort to try to get herd immunity.”
“Those are preventable deaths of our loved ones that we can just not let happen under our watch,” Wen said.
Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had also warned in August about the dangers of herd immunit against the raging virus.
He said if the United States allowed the coronavirus to spread unchecked in the effort to achieve herd immunity, the “death toll would be enormous.”
“If everyone contracted it, even with the relatively high percentage of people without symptoms … a lot of people are going to die,” Fauci said during a live Instagram session.
The United States at the moment holds the double grim record in fatalities and cases arising from COVID-19.
As at Tuesday 1300 GMT, the confirmed cases stood at 6,212,174 and while the number of fatalities was 187,742.
An average of 1,200 Americans die daily from COVID-19 complications.
*Reported by Xinhua/NAN
