Opinion

The path to ‘herd immunity’ would be lined with half a million dead Americans

Tom Frieden, a physician, is president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of the global public health organization Vital Strategies, and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009-2017).

As the covid-19 pandemic continues in the United States and many parts of the world, millions of Americans are increasingly impatient for the economy and society to regain a more normal footing. Some “maverick scientists” with “an audience inside the White House,” as The Post reported last week, argue for “allowing the coronavirus to spread freely at ‘natural’ rates among healthy young people while keeping most aspects of the economy up and running.”