We have endeavoured in this space to remain dispassionate amidst the pitched battles being fought between the pro-vaxxers and the anti-vaxxers over which is better — natural immunity or vaccination against COVID-19 and its variants.

More and more it is looking like it is not an ‘either or’ decision, based on a January 2022 study released by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that the combination of natural immunity and vaccination is the optimum weapon against the novel coronavirus.

The CDC study underscored what many have been arguing — that those who have recovered from COVID-19 have more protection against infection, that is, natural immunity, than those who have only been vaccinated.

We hasten to emphasise that the study warned strongly against deliberately trying to get infected by the virus to gain natural immunity, saying that could lead to serious loss of life. The agency advised that even if one believes he or she has natural immunity, vaccination is the ultimate backup.

What one can take away from it is the growing view that Jamaica is being saved from more horrifying death numbers because the much milder Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus has given natural immunity to a large segment of our population.

There is some credibility in that argument when it is considered that such a large majority of Jamaicans — almost 80 per cent — have not opted to take the vaccination, which puts us only above dispirited and downhearted Haiti. We should definitely have been seeing more mass hospitalisations and deaths.

The Government can use this study to make more practical decisions about restrictions, and maybe it has started since we have seen a shift away from lockdowns and curfews and certainly no-movement days.

While the State must continue to encourage our people to get vaccinated, it is potentially explosive to ignore — or try to punish — the other 80 per cent, and it would not surprise us if any Government willing to follow this dangerous path did not suffer greatly at the polls.

Right now, the extraordinarily high number of unvaccinated puts into question the Government’s projection for attaining herd immunity. The original estimate was that we would reach that threshold at 65 per cent vaccinated.

This is now looking like an impossible target and we’d be lucky if we can get anywhere between 30 and 40 per cent vaccinated. In which case, the urgent question is: What is the plan for moving the country forward out of this pandemic?

We suggest that if the Government does not have the answer to this question at this time, what it should not do, in the meantime, is hold back this country in this no-man’s land, where we are not getting more people to vaccinate in any appreciable number, while the economy continues to haemorrhage.

A shift of emphasis to testing suggests itself as a sensible move at this time. Thankfully, testing is becoming more commonplace and, after much public pressure, cheaper, as the initial heartless profiteering has been exposed and embarrassed.

More Jamaicans are opting to get self-test kits, which will make testing more prevalent and cheaper still. Our advice to the Government is that it should wholeheartedly embrace self-testing kits and begin to educate the public on its practical usefulness.