Giving Compass' Take:
- German Lopez praises successes in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., but identifies several hurdles that must still be overcome in order to achieve herd immunity.
- What is the significance of herd immunity? What can you do in order to expand access to vaccination among vulnerable populations in the U.S. and abroad?
- Read about vaccine equity.
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According to Our World in Data, the US first breached the weekly average of 1 million doses a day on January 23. Less than three weeks later, on February 11, the country hit 1.6 million a day.
This meets both the goals set by President Joe Biden, who initially called for 1 million shots a day and then later revised his goal to 1.5 million shots a day.
That doesn’t mean the US is in the clear. Many experts argued Biden’s goals haven’t been ambitious enough. To get the US to herd immunity — when enough of the US population is immune so the virus no longer poses a major threat — by the end of the summer, America likely needs to hit an average of 2 million or 3 million doses a day.
Consider the following possibilities, assuming a herd immunity threshold of 80 percent (which could be too low or too high) and all vaccines continue to require two doses (which now seems unlikely):
- At 1.6 million shots a day, the US would reach herd immunity by mid-December.
- At 2 million shots a day, the US would reach herd immunity by mid-October.
- At 3 million shots a day, the US would reach herd immunity by the end of July.
- At 5 million shots a day (woo!), the US would reach herd immunity by the end of May.
Read the full article about herd immunity in the U.S. by German Lopez at Vox.