Herd immunity not a 'strategic choice' for India: Health Ministry

India cannot rely on herd immunity to stop the spread of coronavirus pandemic considering its demography and scale, the Health Ministry said on Thursday. It also added that the country will have to count solely on the vaccine to combat the disease.

"In a country the size of (and with) a population like India, herd immunity can't be a strategic choice or option," the health ministry official said.

"Herd immunity is an indirect protection from a disease. This saves a population from a disease. But it develops when a vaccine is developed or when a population has already suffered and recovered from it. Herd immunity in India is not an option. It can only happen after a vaccine has been developed," Rajesh Bhushan, the officer on special duty, health ministry, during a press briefing on Thursday.

He also hinted that the country is looking at a multilateral, WHO-led mechanism to secure coronavirus vaccines and India is yet to contact any of the candidates that are leading the development race.

"Government has not signed an agreement with any vaccine manufacturing company. There are multiple stakeholders within and outside government and ministry of health has started actively engaging with such stakeholders. It’s too premature to comment on supply and distribution of vaccine at this stage but whenever it comes it has to be deployed on a much larger scale than the existing vaccines,” said Bhushan.

Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community becomes immune to a disease, stopping the spread of disease from person to person. Due to which the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune.

Herd Immunity can only be observed when there is a large enough population that is immune to it - a threshold known as herd.

Out of more than hundred vaccines being developed around the world, 25 vaccines have entered clinical human trial phases -- including two from India. Among all the candidates, China, US and UK are leading as they have initiated stages of experiments among people.

India's indigenous vaccine 'covaxin' developed by Bharat Biotech along Indian Medical Research(ICMR) and National Institute of Virology.

India have recorded more than 1.5 million coronavirus cases and continues to have fastest growth in infection rate. However, time and again, health ministry have cited that recovery rate in India is much higher than any other country affected by the virus.

Meanwhile, casualties on Friday crossed 35,000 mark, making India fifth highest country in death toll.