In early December, Indonesia announced an unusual plan for vaccinating its populace against COVID-19. Instead of giving vaccines to endangered groups like healthcare workers and the elderly — like virtually every other country that has released a vaccination plan — Indonesia will give the vaccines to normal, healthy adults aged 18 to 59.
The aim of the plan is to end the outbreak in Indonesia by targeting not vulnerable people but those who disproportionately transmit the virus — the hubs of the country’s social network. “Our aim is herd immunity,” said Amin Soebandrio, a biologist and director at the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology in Jakarta, Indonesia.
But there’s one major problem with the Indonesian plan: no one knows if the first wave of successful COVID vaccines can bring about herd immunity. Trials have shown the vaccines can prevent people from getting sick, not that they prevent people from getting ...
