The founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, Dr. Eric Topol, stated in an interview that 90% of Americans would have to be vaccinated in order to end the pandemic. He stated that these 90% of the people need to be vaccinated against the Delta variant.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said that between 70% and 90% of the U.S. population would need to get vaccinated against the virus, and then the country will reach herd immunity. “We really don’t know what the real number is. I think the real range is somewhere between 70 to 90 percent. But, I’m not going to say 90 percent.” Right now, 56% of the US population is fully vaccinated.
What is herd immunity?
Herd immunity happens when a large percentage of a specific population becomes immune to a virus. It can either happen naturally or by getting vaccinated to prevent infections. Around 56% of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated.
Fauci has also suggested that Americans may probably have to spend Christmas separated this year. But as of now, it is too early to tell. “We have to concentrate on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we’re going to do at a particular time.”
As of now, there are still a lot of people who don’t want to get vaccinated. Some were waiting for the full FDA approval of Pfizer’s vaccine, and some were waiting to see what happens to the others who get the vaccine. In the beginning, it was clear that, after getting the full approval, many more people would want to get the vaccine – but that was not the case. The number of people waiting for the approval was too small.
