Art Caplan: Pursuing 'Herd Immunity' Is A 'Bad Idea'

Medical ethicist Art Caplan spoke with Boston Public Radio on Wednesday about herd immunity, regarding COVID-19.

“Herd immunity, bad idea - Sweden tried it - didn’t work,” he said. “Sweden basically said, let’s let [COVID-19] run its course, we’re not going to isolate, we’re going to let everybody get infected, and then once that’s done we won’t be able to infect each other, we’ll all have antibodies.”

But Sweden had terrible death rates, Caplan noted. “Too many old people died, too many vulnerable people died, so they admitted it was a mistake.”

President Donald Trump’s new virus advisor, Dr. Scott Atlas, is pushing for a herd immunity response, Caplan added.

“This idea is now circulating back in the White House with this new advisor Dr. Scott Atlas,” he said. “I don’t know why we’re listening to this again, because we have this giant example of a country failing.”

Art Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Chair, and director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.