Should Patrick Vallance have resigned over the ‘herd immunity’ comments?

[Redolent]

The misleading term ‘herd immunity’ is now firmly imbedded into the UK citizenry’s consciousness, despite the government’s repeated insistence that they never intended to pursue it. (Eg Hancock this week) Not only is the concept itself flawed and unlikely to ‘work’, as WHO has repeatedly warned, but Vallance’s use of the term threatens to undermine all current and future attempts to continue the virus. ‘Oh well, we’re pursuing herd immunity anyway...’ as people increasingly defy the rules. On BBC Health Check this morning, Dr Xand told the audience his impression that the UK strategy is still broadly one of herd immunity...

Of course Vallance reflects the government’s flawed thinking, but I’m very surprised that they haven’t chosen him as a fall guy, and as a way of banishing this term for good.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/13/coronavirus-science-chief-defends-uk-measures-criticism-herd-immunity

Herd immunity isnt really a method.
It is a state we would like to reach, which is a very different thing.

The government toyed with trying to reach herd immunity as quickly as possible, but realised the strain on the NHS would be too great, and that we would lose ad advantage of learning about the virus over time (better ways to treat it).
And of course, there was a chance we might be become immune, or it wears off quickly.

I lost faith in him some time ago. The political spin on the science was awful and he lost confidence in him.

I really dislike the demanding of resignations.

No of course he shouldn't resign. He hasn't done anything wrong.

Chris Whitty seems to be inching toward herd immunity

I don't think the term herd immunity was put into the UK publics consciousness by Patrick Vallance, I'm sure many people knew what it was before he mentioned it.

We could lock down longer, but is it worth it with the amount of travel going on?

Other countries are pushing for tourism and football/sports to start up again. Our government seems open to the idea. So what will be the point of a further lock down?

As for a vaccine, it's been said that it might not work for the most vulnerable groups, so herd immunity via antibodies or a vaccination, is their only way of being fully mobile again.

Just to add to the voices, the Prime minister of Australia and officials in NZ said that if the UK wasn't going for herd immunity, it wasn't clear what they were doing. All said that the UK government must have had that plan because of their inaction for so long.