West Virginia's coronavirus response coordinator says herd immunity very unlikely with COVID-19 [View all]
WHEELING — West Virginia’s coronavirus response coordinator doesn’t think herd immunity will happen with COVID-19.
Missing that threshold isn’t as much about those who decline a COVID-19 vaccine, Dr. Clay Marsh said this past week. It’s more about those who can’t receive a vaccine right now — children.
Only people age 16 and older can receive the Pfizer vaccine. The Moderna vaccine is authorized only for people 18 and older. Vulnerable children may get vaccinated, but there remains a significant swath of the United States population that can’t get a shot and will still be susceptible to getting sick.
“The absolute definition of herd immunity for a virus that has a reproductive rate or transmission rate that this virus does would be about 80 percent,” Marsh said. “And since I don’t think we’ll be immunizing our children, I don’t think we’ll get up to 80 percent as a country. Now, enough people might get infected to substitute for that, so it’s possible.”
Read more: https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/local-news/2021/03/marsh-says-herd-immunity-very-unlikely-with-covid-19/
(Parkersburg News and Sentinel)
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