CDC scientist says the U.S. is 'nowhere close' to herd immunity - CNBC
is "nowhere close" to achieving herd immunity from Covid, and more transmissible variants mean even more people will need to get vaccinated to reach it, a CDC scientist said Friday.
Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a given community have antibodies against a specific disease, either through vaccination or prior exposure to the virus.population is not immune to SARS-CoV-2 and variants may cause this portion of the population that is not immune to increase," said Adam MacNeil, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To reach the threshold of herd immunity while battling new, more contagious virus strains, a higher proportion of the population needs to get vaccinated, MacNeil said at a Food and Drug Administration meeting reviewing Johnson & Johnson's application to authorize its Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use.