From PolitiFact Texas:
Study how science determines COVID-19 ‘herd immunity threshold’
The strategy to bring about herd immunity within a population to stop the spread of COVID-19 has been a matter of intense debate in the course of the pandemic.
One part of this debate involves the herd immunity threshold, or the percentage of a population that needs to be vaccinated against a disease, whether through infections or vaccinations, to reduce the spread. The more contagious an infection is, the higher the threshold.
Measles, for example, a highly contagious disease that is at least three times as contagious as COVID-19, requires a herd immunity threshold of about 94%, meaning that 94% of the population must be immune to measles before it can be transmitted. price declines.
But establishing a concrete herd immunity threshold for COVID-19 has so far been theoretical guesswork. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say that the herd immunity threshold for any virus is between 50% and 90%. Researchers in the UK and Brazil assumed during the early part of the pandemic that the threshold could be up to 6% to 21%, although critical errors were found in their study.
Earlier this month, D-Cypress State Representative Jon Rosenthal, who lost a family member and friend to COVID-19, took to Twitter to dispel common myths and “rampant misinformation” about the virus and the vaccines, which are now slow. to clear the way. is distributed throughout Texas. In his tweet, Rosenthal repeats a number commonly repeated as COVID-19’s herd immunity threshold.
“Defeating the pandemic AND restoring our economy is the safest and most effective way to immunize the population,” he tweeted on Tuesday. “The way to achieve ‘herd immunity’ is for> 70% of the population to be vaccinated.”
Immunity can be achieved in two ways: through natural infections, which create antibodies in people who have recovered from a disease that could potentially ward off future infection (an estimated 20% of the world’s population is naturally infected); or by vaccination, a safer way to immunity because it does not cause disease.
The herd immunity threshold for COVID-19 has been a moving target throughout the pandemic, as researchers struggle to understand the virus. Let’s see what the current thinking on the virus threshold is …
Read the full story and see how Rosenthal’s claim was rated by PolitiFact. Listen to an interview with PolonFact’s Brandon Mulder in the audio player above.