Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips on the dangers of a herd immunity strategy with COVID-19

Chief clinical officer, Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, speaks with CNN International's Rosemary Church on how herd immunity is dangerous to the community and how it has failed in Sweden. 

"The dangers are exactly what [Sweden] experienced there. In that the virus can completely get out of control. The theory that proponents of herd immunity which really is a fringe theory that isn't accepted in typical well respected in public health realms Is that if you get younger, healthier people exposed and therefore immune to the virus, you can protect older people. The problem is that you can't control it. Once it gets broadly out in the community, everybody gets exposed to it."

Dr. Compton-Phillips notes that many people in our communities have conditions that make this virus even more of a risk. The scale of exposure could lead to over two million people to die if we were to try herd immunity. 

Church mentions the possibility of a vaccine to be approved before reaching Phase 3 of testing and how many health care professionals are calling on an independent panel to review the vaccine. The sentiment of distrust around vaccines in the country raises concerns for professionals like Dr. Compton-Phillip. She expresses her concerns that if a vaccine that isn't fully proven to the public, the unknown factor around safety and side effects of the vaccine would cause another problem in itself.