As hundreds of thousands of Americans get vaccinated against COVID-19 how long will it take for the world to reach herd immunity?
St. Mary’s Hospital interim chief medical officer Dr. Husnain Kermalli says getting enough Americans vaccinated against COVID-19 is the key to reaching that immunity.
“At least 70% should achieve immunity before we can establish a level of herd immunity, with the assumption that coronavirus is only spread through a certain number of people,” said Dr. Kermalli.
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In some cases herd immunity – when enough people are immune to a disease to prevent its meaningful spread - can be reached through enough of the people contracting, recovering from and being left immune to a particular illness. But because of the deadly nature of COVID-19, Dr. Kermalli says that would be too risky.
“Very similar to measles or pertussis, those aren’t good diseases to have.”
Now as thousands more Connecticut residents become vaccine eligible Monday, the doctor said expect the push for vaccinations to continue, to move the nation to a life post-pandemic.
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“Hopefully now that we have the vaccine really ramping up throughout Connecticut, we should see continued improvement along the way.”
