Nearly 55% of Americans are now fully vaccinated, but given the vaccination goals laid out by President Joe Biden earlier this month, it’s still unclear if the country is on track to meet those expectations.
In order to reach herd immunity, vaccination rates need to be closer to 80 or 85%, according to Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and an Affiliate of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health on Thursday’s Ask an Expert.
"Herd immunity is something to think about and strive for," said Adalja to KCBS Radio’s Margie Shafer and Eric Thomas. "But it shouldn’t be the ultimate goal." The goal is not to eliminate or eradicate the virus, it’s to diminish the virus’ ability to make people seriously sick. In order to do that, vaccination of high risk populations needs to increase.
As vaccination rates do increase and case rates go down, some areas, like Santa Cruz County, are loosening restrictions. The discrepancies in protocols change, it makes it difficult for people to know what is and isn’t safe, said Adalja.
While the benefit of wearing masks for fully vaccinated people is marginal, businesses and restaurants might not want to be in the position of figuring out who is and isn’t vaccinated.
"But as cases go down, you have flexibility to think about these types of measures," and assess what is a good fit for each city, each county. "We’re likely to see this vary from state to state," said Adalja.
"It doesn’t have to be one size fits all," but there are some best practices to adhere to, he said. Unfortunately, there is a distinct divide between states that have enacted safety measures and those that have not, and that is unlikely to change.
It’s easier for restaurants and businesses to enact their own requirements and safety protocols, he said. It doesn’t create the same potential for animosity against the vaccine as opposed to when governments intervene and pass safety measures.
In the meantime, boosters are well on their way to being distributed to high-risk groups that need them. But for children aged 5-11, their vaccine has been delayed, and is most likely not going to be ready for distribution until closer to Thanksgiving, said Adalja.
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