Will there ever be herd immunity in Hungary?

With the help of a sociologist from Milton Friedman University, we introduce the Covid-solidarity that can be experienced in Hungarian society. A survey from November shows a pretty variable picture.

One of the critical points in the spread of the virus is how selfless a person can be. Social solidarity is vital. This may also affect when herd immunity may be developed, as coronavirus vaccine is not mandatory, writes index.hu.

István Grajczjár, a sociologist at Milton Friedman University, conducted a study on the subject based on a nationally representative survey in November. More than 1000 people were interviewed, which was followed by data analysis considering different levels of society. Studies show that during the current epidemic crisis, solidarity is most determined by someone catching the infection.

Another important factor is education, occupational position, income and confidence.

“In this situation, women are much more cautious, which affects their level of solidarity.  Working men trust the vaccination more as they are considered to be at higher risk. Thus they would like to protect their social group by vaccination. Therefore, their level of solidarity regarding herd immunity is higher,” says Isvtán Grajczjár.

The sociologist shared his concern about the results that showed that 26.2 per cent of the participants are exclusive solidarity. This group would get the vaccination, but not because of solidarity with the others. According to them, natural selection decides who gets sick and how strong their body is. Exclusive non-solidarity (12.5 per cent) is even more extreme. They would not vaccinate themselves and leave it to nature how their body reacts to the virus.