lindisfel,
I cannot believe the cognitive dissonance going on over this in the media and even here on the forum.
Herd immunity is something that is fostered, by vaccinations, in order to suppress disease. It is a farming term.
https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/herd-immunity
The 60% immunity the UK govt refers to seems to be something they hope will emerge due to the controlled roll out of anti-COVID-19 measures that they are slowly revealing. They hope to slow and extend the peak to ease pressure on the NHS over the Spring and Summer.
That was clearly explained in the youtube vid I just posted.
Will these measures have the same effect as vaccinations?
No one knows.
We don’t know how long immunity lasts after recovery from COVID-19
Heck, we don’t even know if there will be significant immunity at all.
The evidence isn't there yet.
The UK govt is hoping, guessing and IMHO trying to give the UK population hope that isolation and massive lifestyle change will make a difference. These measures will be rolled out in future, and we are being warned they are coming.
The media have, with typical media sound-bite catchy labels, attached a farming term to a carefully chosen non-farming phrase used by politicians and scientists in press conferences, and because it is sound-bitey and catchy, people are now repeating the media label.
Maybe, after enough people have contracted and recovered from the virus, there will be fewer people incubating it.
Personally, I see that as a good thing. Especially if it means I can pop round to my MIL without risking passing it on to her.
But it won’t be ‘herd immunity’.
That may turn up next year, when the vaccinations roll out.