Dr. Kirsten Schaffer:

I think the committee may have misunderstood me. I am definitely not someone who advocates herd immunity, because the price we would pay is far too high. What I said in my opening statement was that I believe we should keep community transmission low enough to allow hospitals to function and protect the vulnerable. As Professor Giesecke said, we now know far more about how the virus is transmitted, so we can give better advice for the elderly and vulnerable on how they can protect each other. This is really around social distancing, wearing masks, staying away from large gatherings and being careful when coming in contact with other people. This is how we should try to protect them. I definitely would not go down the route of herd immunity.