The global COVID-19 herd immunity is unlikely to be achieved this year, even if countries do not struggle to administer vaccines, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist warned this week.
Dr Soumya Swaminathan said on Monday it was critical that countries continue to encourage social distance and other public health measures in the foreseeable future.
“Even if vaccines start to protect the most vulnerable, we are not going to reach any levels of population immunity or herd immunity in 2021,” Swaminathan said at a news conference.
“Even if it happens in a few pockets, in a few countries, it will not protect people around the world.”
Experts estimate that about 70 percent of the people need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
Britain, the USA, France, Canada, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands are some of the countries that have already launched vaccination programs.
But many developing countries have not yet received any shots, mostly captured by rich countries.
Dr Bruce Aylward, an adviser to the WHO’s Director General, called on the global community to do more to ensure that poorer countries also receive the vaccine.
“We can not do this on our own,” Aylward said of the UN agency’s efforts to ensure more vulnerable regions had access to the shots.
With Post threads