On 1 April, 2020, President Trump misspoke but was unequivocal about "herd immunity": "Other countries tried to use [...] the herd mentality. It’s just [...] something that doesn’t work." But on 15 September, he said "a herd mentality" might make a vaccine unnecessary, and on Monday, 12 October, "two senior administration officials" endorsed the Great Barrington Declaration, a call for "herd immunity" in response to the pandemic. But this "herd mentality" about herd immunity accepts rather than combats mass death, as WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out on Monday: "Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination" that has never "been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak." (Andrew Shields, #111words, 14 October)

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Trump's "herd mentality" and calls for coronavirus "herd immunity"