omicron leading us closer to herd immunity against COVID-19?Experts say it's not likely that the highly transmissible variant — or any other variant — will lead to herd immunity."Herd immunity is an elusive concept and doesn’t apply to coronavirus," says Dr.
Don Milton at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.Herd immunity is when enough of a population is immune to a virus that it’s hard for the germ to spread to those who aren’t protected by vaccination or a prior infection.RELATED: Omicron variant may be less dangerous than delta, US health officials sayFor example, herd immunity against measles requires about 95% of a community to be immune.
Early hopes of herd immunity against the coronavirus faded for several reasons.Test sample tubes labeled 'COVID-19 Omicron variant' are pictured in this illustration photo of a new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529.
Photo by STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images One is that antibodies developed from available vaccines or previous infection dwindle with time.