(DETROIT) — An 11-year-old girl was sleeping over at her grandmother’s home when gunfire erupted outside, shooting and killing her, authorities said.
The young girl “was murdered while attending a sleepover with her grandmother in our community,” Detroit Police Chief James White told reporters. “Making TikTok videos and laughing one minute and being shot in the back … the next.”
Two people are in custody — one adult and one minor — following Saturday’s shooting, which took place around 10:15 p.m., Detroit police said.
No one besides the 11-year-old was struck when the shots rang out, police said.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan told reporters, “When you can have an 11-year-old girl in a home with her grandmother and five other children as young as the age of 7, dancing joyously in the house, and have a bullet come through and kill her — it hits you very hard.”
The police chief blamed “irresponsible gun ownership” and “irresponsible use of a weapon.”
“It is of epidemic proportions right now in our country and in our city,” he told reporters.
The 11-year-old’s name has not been released.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the victim’s family and friends at this unimaginable time,” the Detroit Police Department tweeted.
The little girl’s death came amid another weekend of mass shootings in the U.S. Three people were killed and many others injured when multiple people opened fire on a Philadelphia street, and at least three people were killed with others injured in a mass shooting outside a Chattanooga, Tennessee, nightclub.
(NEW YORK) — Over the past decade, the number of children overdosing on melatonin, a sleep aid, has increased by 530%, according to a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The largest increase, a 38% jump, came in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, which the study’s authors say was likely because more children were spending more time at home.
In 2021 alone, more than 50,000 calls were placed to poison control centers in the United States about melatonin ingestion by kids, the study found.
“Most were unintentional exposure, meaning the parent did not give the child melatonin,” said ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, also a board-certified OBGYN. “So the implication is the child got into it themselves.”
Here are four things for parents to know to help keep kids safe:
1. Melatonin is a widely-accessible supplement.
Melatonin is a hormone that plays a role in sleep, according to the National Institutes of Health.
In the U.S., melatonin supplements are considered dietary supplements, which means they are accessible to the public without the regulations of a prescription drug.
Melatonin supplements come in the form of tablets, capsules, liquid and even gummies, which may make them more attractive to kids.
According to the study’s authors, “Increased sales, availability, and widespread use have likely resulted in increased access and exposure risk among children in the home.”
2. Melatonin has not been widely studied in kids.
There have not yet been enough studies on melatonin and kids to know the full impact of the supplement, according to the NIH.
Even in adults, according to the NIH, the long-term impacts of melatonin are not well-known, even if the supplement does appear to be mostly safe with short-term use.
With kids, because melatonin is a hormone, there is a possibility that taking it by supplement could impact hormonal development like puberty and menstruation, according to the NIH.
3. Melatonin ingestion by a child is a medical emergency.
According to Ashton, when a child ingests melatonin without adult supervision, it is a medical emergency that requires immediate action.
“You either want to bring them to an emergency room or contact a poison control center,” she said.
The phone number to reach a poison control center is 800-222-1222.
Symptoms of melatonin ingestion in kids includes abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting, excessive tiredness and labored breathing.
4. Parents should store melatonin out of kids’ reach.
Ashton said parents should keep all medications and supplements, including melatonin, out of the reach of kids, even young teenagers.
Bottle tops should also be kept securely closed, according to Ashton, who encouraged parents to talk to their kids about medication safety.
“You always want to use any medication exposure as an opportunity to really teach that child about medication, that it should only be given by an adult, is not candy and can have consequences both good and bad,” she said.
The CDC also has additional tips HERE for keeping medication safely away from kids.
(WASHINGTON) — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday that he’s tested positive for COVID-19 and is “experiencing mild symptoms.”
“I plan to work remotely while isolating according to CDC guidelines, and look forward to when I can safely return to the office and the road,” Buttigieg, 40, tweeted.
I have tested positive for COVID-19 and am experiencing mild symptoms. I plan to work remotely while isolating according to CDC guidelines, and look forward to when I can safely return to the office and the road.
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) June 6, 2022
(MINNEAPOLIS) — The state trial for two former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death was delayed until next year by a judge, who said a recent plea deal accepted by a third officer charged in the fatal arrest of the 46-year-old Black man could create the “reasonable likelihood of an unfair trial.”
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ordered that the trial for Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng will be delayed until Jan. 5, 2023.
Thao and Kueng were expected to go on trial together beginning on June 13.
Both men are charged with aiding and abetting in murder and aiding and abetting in manslaughter.
Cahill denied a motion from defense attorneys for a change of venue, but cited two recent events in his decision to postpone the trial.
The judge noted that pretrial publicity over the plea deal struck with a third defendant, former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane, and the convictions in February of Lane, Thao and Kueng on federal civil rights charges, could make it difficult at this time to select an impartial jury.
“These two recent events and the publicity surrounding them are significant in [that] it could make it more difficult for jurors to presume Thao and Kueng innocent of the state charges,” Cahill wrote in his ruling.
The judge added that postponing the trial should “diminish the impact of this publicity on the defendants’ right and ability to receive a fair trial from an impartial and unbiased jury.”
Lane pleaded guilty in May to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange for the plea, state prosecutors agreed to dismiss the top charge against him of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder.
Under the agreement, prosecutors and Lane’s attorneys will jointly recommend a sentence of 36 months in prison. Had he gone to trial and been convicted on all charges, he faced a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, according to the plea agreement.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 06, 9:05 am
Russia beefs up air defense on Snake Island
Russia has likely moved multiple air defense assets, including SA-15 and SA-22 missile systems, to Snake Island in the western Black Sea, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Monday in an intelligence update.
The move follows the loss of the Russian warship Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
“It is likely these weapons are intended to provide air defence for Russian naval vessels operating around Snake Island,” the ministry added. “Russia’s activity on Snake Island contributes to its blockade of the Ukrainian coast and hinders the resumption of maritime trade, including exports of Ukrainian grain.”
Russian forces captured Ukraine’s Snake Island in the early days of the invasion, memorably when Ukrainian soldiers defending the tiny islet told an attacking Russian warship to “go f— yourself.” Ukrainian troops have failed in their attempts to retake the previously inconsequential territory.
Meanwhile, in eastern Ukraine’s contested Donbas region, heavy fighting continues in the war-torn city of Sieverodonetsk, according to the ministry.
“Russian forces continue to push towards Sloviansk as part of their attempted encirclement of Ukrainian force,” the ministry said.
And in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Russian air-launched cruise missiles struck rail infrastructure Sunday in the early morning hours, “likely in an attempt [to] disrupt the supply of Western military equipment to frontline Ukrainian units,” according to the ministry.
Jun 05, 3:39 pm
Russian missiles target Kyiv
After five weeks of relative calm in Kyiv, Russian rockets hit Ukraine’s capital city on Sunday as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of strikes on “new targets” if the United States goes through with plans to supply Ukraine with longer-range missiles.
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said the war is still in its “hot phase” and “capturing Kyiv is still Russia’s main goal.”
An ABC News crew visited Kyiv’s Darnytskyy district, where several Russian cruise missiles slammed into a railway repair plant. One building was still on fire when the ABC News crew arrived. Nearby, another missile strike left a creater on a cement path.
It took hours before Ukrainian authorities permitted media access to the site, saying the area needed to be cleared for safety first.
The Russians claimed the attack in Darnystskyy destroyed military vehicles and armaments. Ukrainian officials said the missiles hit a railway repair plant where no tanks were stored.
Speaking on Russian TV on Sunday, Putin issued a warning to the West on supplying the Ukrainians with high-powered rocket systems. He said if the West carried through with it, Russia would hit “new targets they had not attacked before.”
Jun 05, 7:05 am
Putin warns of strikes if West supplies longer-range missiles
President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian forces would strike new targets if the West began supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles.
“But if they [missiles] are actually delivered, we will draw appropriate conclusions and apply our own weapons, which we have in sufficient quantities to carry out strikes on targets we aren’t striking yet,” Putin told Rossyia 1 TV Channel in an interview on Sunday.
(NEW YORK) — As the midterm election approaches, most Americans say that the economy, inflation and rising gas prices are the most important issues in determining how they will vote for Congress this November, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll.
With inflation on the rise since last fall, Americans have been significantly affected by the rising cost of goods and services. And, more than eight in 10 Americans (83%) now say that the economy is either an extremely or very important issue in determining how they will vote, in the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
In the poll, 80% of Americans say that inflation is also an extremely or very important factor in how they will vote and for gas prices, it is 74%.
Joe Biden’s approval ratings for his handling of these key issues are all well underwater, suggesting trouble for the president and Democratic candidates ahead of the midterm. Only 37% approve of Biden’s handling of the economic recovery, and even fewer approve of his handling of inflation (28%) and gas prices (27%).
Friday, Biden spoke about the May jobs report, which saw 390,000 jobs added and unemployment remained at 3.6%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Even though Biden said the latest jobs report was “excellent,” he acknowledged that many Americans are still worried about the economy.
“I know that even with today’s good news, a lot of Americans remain anxious, and I understand the feeling,” Biden said.
Biden’s highest approval rating is for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic (56%), which is now among the least important issues to Americans, according to the ABC News/Ipsos poll.
In an April ABC News/Ipsos poll, there was a 20-point gap between Republicans and Democrats in enthusiasm to vote this November, with 55% percent of Republicans saying they were very enthusiastic about voting compared to 35% of Democrats. That gap has narrowed somewhat in this poll, but Republicans still enjoy a significant advantage with 57% saying they are enthusiastic about voting compared to 44% of Democrats.
The poll also found that gun violence (72% saying extremely or very important) and abortion (63%) are also potentially important drivers of the vote. As the nation waits to see if the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade and Congress considers legislation in the wake of the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, these issues stand just below the top tier drivers of the vote.
These figures also demonstrate that while rising inflation and gas prices may be the primary factors pushing people to vote this election cycle, gun violence and abortion are also growing in importance in the mind of voters.
A separate question asking what the single most important issue will be in their vote for Congress showed a similar ranking of issue priorities. The top issues were inflation (21%), the economy (19%), gun violence (17%) and abortion (12%).
Meanwhile, 70% think that enacting new laws to reduce gun violence should be a higher priority than protecting the right to own a wide variety of guns (29%). The last time this question was asked, in March 2021, 66% said enacting new laws to reduce gun violence should be the higher priority.
Thursday, Biden addressed the American people following a string of mass shootings across the country and said that if members of Congress do not act, they will be voted out.
“If Congress fails, I believe this time a majority of the American people won’t give up. I believe the majority of you will act to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote. Enough,” Biden said.
Congress will hold hearings this week to address the gun violence epidemic in the country as pressure mounts on legislatures to take action to combat the rise of mass shootings.
This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted using Ipsos Public Affairs‘ KnowledgePanel® June 3-4, 2022, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 542 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 4.8 points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 28-26-40 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents. See the poll’s topline results and details on the methodology here.
ABC News’ Dan Merkle and Ken Goldstein contributed to this report.
(LONDON and ABUJA, Nigeria) — Dozens of people, including women and children, were killed in southwestern Nigeria on Sunday when gunmen attacked a church, officials said.
The bloodshed occurred at St. Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo in Ondo state, more than 200 miles southwest of Abuja, the Nigerian capital. A group of unknown gunmen stormed the church at around 11:30 a.m. local time during a service for Pentecost Sunday, with about four of the assailants open firing inside the building while others shot at worshippers outside, according to Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Police Force’s command in Ondo state.
“Some lives were lost and some sustained varying degrees of injuries,” Odunlami said in a statement on Sunday, later telling ABC News on Monday that police do not yet have an estimate on the number of casualties.
Health workers at the Federal Medical Center in Owo told ABC News that at least 35 bodies had been transported to the hospital from the scene of Sunday’s attack. They said there is also an urgent need for blood donations for the many wounded.
Earlier media reports, citing local officials and hospital workers, had placed the number of dead at more than 50.
The attack remains under investigation and specialized police units have been deployed to Owo “to restore normalcy and fortify the entire community,” according to Odunlami. A motive for the massacre and the identity of the perpetrators was not immediately clear, as no group has claimed responsibility.
A U.S. official briefed on the situation told ABC News that the attack reportedly began with an explosion outside the church, followed by gunmen shooting sporadically at worshippers inside. Stray bullets also killed passersby, the official said.
One of the priests at the church, Rev. Fr. Andrew Abayomi, said they were at the end of the service and people were getting ready to leave when the first gunshot rang out.
“We hid inside the church but some people had left when the attack happened,” Abayomi told reporters in Owo on Sunday. “We locked ourselves in the church for 20 minutes. When we heard that they had left, we opened the church and rushed victims to the hospital.”
A Catholic Church spokesperson in Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Augustine Ikwu, said the attack “has left the community devastated,” but that all the priests and bishops in the parish were “safe.”
“Nonetheless, let us continue to pray for them and the good people of Owo and the state at large,” Ikwu said in a statement on Sunday.
Ondo state Gov. Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who visited the scene of the attack as well as some of the hospitalized victims, “is deeply saddened by the unprovoked attack and killing of innocent people of Owo,” according to his spokesperson, Richard Olatunde.
“The vile and satanic attack is a calculated assault on the peace-loving people of Owo Kingdom who have enjoyed relative peace over the years,” Olatunde said in a statement on Sunday. “We shall commit every available resource to hunt down these assailants and make them pay.”
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari condemned what he described as “the heinous killing of worshippers.”
“No matter what, this country shall never give in to evil and wicked people, and darkness will never overcome light,” Buhari said in a statement on Sunday.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As rising prices continue to impact many across the country, some are turning to TikTok to learn budgeting strategies.
“More and more people are interested in taking control of their finances and you obviously see some of this because of the economy right now,” ABC News Chief Business Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis said. “But you have to be careful if you’re looking at this stuff, because not every size fits every person and every budget and you also have to watch out for scams.”
Based on some of the budgeting strategies that are trending on the popular app, Jarvis said some people are able to save a few hundred extra dollars a month.
To try out some of these strategies, read about them below.
50-30-20 rule
“This is 50% of your spending goes towards your needs. 30% goes towards your wants and 20% goes into your savings,” Jarvis said. “Again, a model that can work really well for people because it creates some structure but it doesn’t necessarily work for every person. But if you’re taking home $2,000, that would basically mean $1,000 goes towards your needs. $600 goes towards your wants and then $400 goes towards your savings. What you do with that savings can really create a big difference, too.”
Cash stuffing
“What cash stuffing is — you look again at your budget, you look at every area of your spending, including where you’re going to put money towards savings and you start putting it into envelopes,” Jarvis said. “You literally cash out and put everything into envelopes each month. And then at the end of the year, you have this nice little savings cash that you can unlock and it can be really fun.”
However, Jarvis said there are risks.
“The thing you have to keep in mind is that when it’s not in a bank when it’s not in an account and it’s literally cash, you can lose that. Some people even hide it to make sure they’re not spending it,” she said. “It’s not necessarily covered by homeowners insurance. So really make sure a.) you know where you’re putting it and b.) that you’re not putting it in a place that can be taken away if someone in the worst-case scenario invades your home. And finally, keep in mind it’s not going to grow.”
Jarvis added, “If you put your money into a bank savings account with a small interest rate on it, or you put your money into the stock market, in an IRA, for example, that has the ability to grow. In the cash situation, it’s not growing but you are capping your spending.”
Other great resources
While these videos may be entertaining and useful, Jarvis warned against following advice that requires you to spend more money upfront.
Two apps that are good resources to help you get started include Digit, an automated savings app that analyzes what goes in and out of your checking account. Then, it periodically moves funds from checking to savings in amounts its algorithms believe are safe to save. Another is Qapital, which aims to help users effortlessly save small amounts of money but with a twist. It lets users set up savings rules. For example, you could set up a “guilty pleasure” rule so the app stashes money into your savings every time you buy takeout.
(PHILADELPHIA) — Three people were killed and at least 11 others were injured when “several active shooters” opened fire at a crowded intersection in Philadelphia’s South Street entertainment district late Saturday night — one of a string of mass shootings that erupted across the country over the weekend, officials said.
The Philadelphia shooting was one of at least five across the nation involving four or more victims in a violent 27-hour span, including one that left three people dead and 11 injured in Chattanooga, Tennessee, another in which three people were killed at a graduation party in Socorro, Texas, and yet another that left a 14-year-old girl dead and eight people injured at a strip mall in Phoenix, Arizona, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks shootings across the nation.
In total, nine people were killed and 37 injured in the five shootings.
The Philadelphia shooting erupted just before midnight at the busy intersection of Third and South streets.
Inspector D.F. Pace of the Philadelphia Police Department said hundreds of people were milling about the area when the shooting caused a panic and sent people running in all directions, some diving behind cars for cover.
“There were hundreds of individuals just enjoying South Street, as they do every single weekend, when the shooting broke out,” Pace told reporters.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a press conference Sunday afternoon that a police officer responding to gunshots in the area witnessed a man firing a gun into a crowd and attempted to detain him. Outlaw said the officer fired at the armed man three times before losing the assailant in the crowd.
Outlaw said investigators believe the officer shot the gunman, who is still being sought.
No arrests have been announced. Investigators are combing through security video in hopes of identifying the suspects and determining a motive for the shooting.
Outlaw said the shooting possibly started during a physical confrontation between two people, including one of the people killed in the incident.
“These individuals eventually began firing at one another with both being struck, one fatally,” Outlaw said.
The names of the three people killed in the episode — a 34-year-old man, a 27-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man — were not immediately released. Outlaw said two of the slain victims were innocent bystanders as well as many of those who were wounded.
One of those killed was identified as Kris Minners, a resident adviser at Girard College in Philadelphia, the Girard College Federation of Teachers union said in a statement. Two more victims were identified by the Philadelphia Police Department Sunday afternoon as 34-year-old Gregory Jackson and 27-year-old Alexis Quinn.
“The loss of Kris reminds us that gun violence can and will touch everyone in our nation as long as our elected officials allow it to continue,” the teachers’ union statement read.
Police recovered two guns from the scene, including one with an extended magazine, authorities said. Shell casings from at least five different caliber guns were collected at the scene, authorities said.
Seven of the wounded victims were taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, overwhelming the emergency room staff and prompting 911 dispatchers to direct first responders to take additional victims to two other area hospitals.
Outlaw said the injured victims are 17 to 69 years old and their conditions ranged from stable to critical.
“This is beyond unacceptable,” said Outlaw, who asked any witnesses of the shooting to contact police.
The mass shooting came on the heels of a deadly Memorial Day weekend in Philadelphia, in which more than 40 people were shot in separate incidents across the city, including a 9-year-old boy and his father returning to their home from a holiday cookout, police said.
As of midnight Saturday, Philadelphia had recorded 211 homicides this year, 14 fewer than this time in 2021, a year that saw a record 562 homicides, according to Philadelphia Police Department crime statistics.
Second mass shooting in Chattanooga in the last week
Chattanooga, Tennessee, police are investigating the city’s second mass shooting for the second weekend in a row after a barrage of shots from multiple gunmen early Sunday left three people dead and 11 injured, officials said.
The shooting occurred around 3 a.m. outside a bar downtown Chattanooga.
Chattanooga police Chief Celeste Murphy said multiple gunmen are suspected in the shooting. She said of the three people killed, two were shot to death and one was struck by a car fleeing the scene.
No arrests have been announced.
The incident follows a mass shooting that occurred in downtown Chattanooga on May 28 in which six teenagers were shot, including two who were critically injured.
14-year-old shot dead in Phoenix
The Phoenix shooting broke out around 1 a.m. local time Saturday at a strip mall in the northern part of the city where more than 100 people were attending a party, according to the Phoenix Police Department. A 14-year-old girl was fatally shot in the incident, two women suffered life-threatening injuries and another six victims, including a teenager, sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
“I heard over a hundred gunshots going off,” a woman who witnessed the shooting told ABC affiliate station KNXV-TV in Phoenix.
She said that prior to the shooting, she heard cars doing burnouts and donuts in the street. Once the gunfire erupted, the witness said she saw people screaming and running in all directions.
“I, myself, was like hiding behind cars as the shots kept getting closer and closer,” the witness said.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego took to Twitter to voice her frustration over the surge in gun violence in her city and across the country, writing, “Seems we can’t go a day without another mass shooting.”
“Time has run out,” Gallego tweeted. “Change must happen now.”
Four shot, two fatally, in Mesa, Arizona
Two men were killed and two people were wounded in a shooting that occurred early Sunday outside a bar in Mesa, Arizona.
Sgt. Chuck Trapani of the Mesa Police Department said the shooting occurred around 2:30 a.m. outside The Lounge Soho. He said police went to the scene to investigate a report of gunshots and found two men shot in the parking lot. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Trapani said officers searched the area and found two more wounded people, who were taken to area hospitals.
Trapani told KNXV that officers arriving on the scene saw a silver car speeding away and chased it. Police stopped the car and detained three occupants.
He said that while no guns were found in the car, a weapon was found along the path the vehicle fled.
No arrests have been announced.
5 teens shot at graduation party
Five teenagers were shot and wounded Saturday night at a graduation party in Socorro, Texas, a suburb of El Paso, according to police.
Socorro Police Chief David Burton said at a news conference that two teenagers were in critical condition.
Burton said that about 100 teenagers and young adults were attending a graduation party at a home when an individual began firing into the crowd.
He said the wounded victims ranged in age from 16 to 18.
Burton said different caliber shell casings were found at the scene, but police have not confirmed whether more than one shooter was involved.
“The initial investigation indicates this was a targeted attack,” Burton said. “There is no immediate threat to the public.”
No arrests have been announced.
The mass shootings followed President Joe Biden’s prime-time speech Thursday addressing the surge in gun violence across the nation, including the rampage at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school on May 24 that left 19 students and two teachers dead, a racially-motivated massacre at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that left 10 dead and three wounded, and a shooting Wednesday at a medical office in Tulsa, Oklahoma that in which a doctor and three other people were fatally shot.
Biden called for a federal ban on assault weapons and implored Congress act, saying, “We can’t fail the American people again.”
(NEW YORK) — Early in the pandemic, scientists and public health experts leaned on their experience with other viruses to make predictions about COVID-19, hopeful that when enough people developed immunity, the virus would be stopped in its tracks.
But in the years that followed, and even after the introduction of highly effective vaccines, vaccine scientists and public health experts interviewed by ABC News realized COVID-19 is unlikely to completely disappear.
Although herd immunity through widespread vaccination can be a successful strategy for certain viruses, such as those that cause smallpox and polio, scientists no longer consider it an appropriate management strategy for the virus that causes COVID-19, these experts said.
Herd immunity refers to a situation where a virus can’t spread because it keeps encountering people who are resistant to it. As a result, a small number of people who lack resistance can still be protected by the “herd” of resistant people around them, because the virus is less likely to spread to them.
But herd immunity depends on some hidden assumptions. First, that resistant people stay resistant. Second, that resistant (or vaccinated) people cannot transmit the virus. Scientists learned over the past two years that these assumptions do not hold for COVID-19.
Vaccine scientists and public health experts said herd immunity isn’t realistic for COVID-19 because of what we’ve learned about the virus itself.
Chiefly, immunity wanes relatively quickly, and vaccinated people can still transmit the virus, especially when confronted with rapidly evolving new variants. Meanwhile, human behavior has been hard to predict, with a slower-than-hoped vaccine rollout, and constant changes in social distancing hampering scientists’ ability to anticipate and prepare for the future.
Lessons learned about the virus itself
Rarely does a vaccine offer total and complete protection against infection. On the one hand, tetanus shots can stay durable for over 30 years. But for COVID-19, both infection- and vaccine-induced immunity wanes over time.
“When you get a vaccine, it induces two types of immune response,” Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News. “One response is to make antibodies, which last three to six months. Antibodies can protect against even mild disease.”
Antibodies are proteins that bind to virus particles to inactivate them. They also help prevent people from transmitting the active virus to others since they can bind the virus before it gets to someone new.
Antibody-based immunity against mild disease wanes after three to six months. However, immunity against severe disease remains because of the second immune response.
“The second response is to make memory B and T cells, which are longer-lived,” Offit said.
Memory cells tend to lay dormant and need a trigger before they start generating antibodies.
The virus that causes COVID-19 has a short incubation period. Most infected people become contagious within the first few days, long before memory cells activate to make antibodies.
Since memory cells eventually act about two weeks in, infections typically won’t progress beyond mild illness. But by then, many folks will have transmitted the virus to others.
“All the vaccines still provide robust protection against severe disease,” Dr. Dan Barouch, virologist and immunologist at Harvard Medical school, told ABC News. “None of the vaccines do a very good job at preventing infection.”
Lessons learned about human behavior
Fewer than 70% of Americans are fully vaccinated two years after vaccines became available. Worldwide, many countries have even worse vaccine coverage.
Leaving reservoirs of unvaccinated people is like leaving flammable material around a forest fire. With plenty of fuel to feed it, the fire keeps burning. Every new infection is a chance for the virus to grow and mutate. Some mutations could confer vaccine resistance.
“Currently, the vaccine and boosters are free […] and accessible through mass public vaccination sites,” Azra Behlim, PharmD, MBA, Associate Vice President of Pharmacy Sourcing & Program Services at Vizient, a health care services company, told ABC News.
Going forward, things may shift toward charging a fee, like for other vaccines.
“[Federal] decisions […] on whether or not to extend provisions on the COVID Relief bill will impact whether this shift will take place now or at a later date,” Behlim said.
Experts speculate that real herd immunity could happen if everyone received vaccines every three to six months, so antibodies never waned. But the logistics of vaccine rollouts and booster fatigue concerns make that impossible.
“The only reasonable goal of this vaccine is to prevent serious illness,” Offit said, noting the vastly lower death and hospitalization rates now that more Americans are vaccinated.
As experts shift away from herd immunity to the prevention of severe illness, they say social distancing policies will need to be determined at the local level.
But social distancing policies use assumptions about human behavior, not just virus behavior, experts said.
“We have a snapshot of what happened in time, but as people’s behaviors change, those assumptions become less valid and the models tend to erode,” Dr. John Brownstein, ABC News contributor and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, said.
If more virulent and contagious variants appear, epidemiology models will have to change fast.
Genevieve Yang, M.D., Ph.D., is a psychiatry resident in New York City and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
