What percentage of the population needs to be vaccinated in order to get herd immunity?

I haven’t herd.

I’ve always said over 80%. That’s what I learned in school, and I see no reason it would have changed. With 80% you still get clusters and outbreaks though.

Sorry to mention politics, but all that alt-right crazy messaging targeted at Republicans that they shared across social media over the last 9 months about 50% and citing Sweden’s plan blah blah ridiculousness. Americans spreading that information didn’t even fully understand Sweden’s plan and made up things and believed anything without actually studying up on what is usually needed for herd immunity. If you were listening to that stuff just forget it. I’m not making assumptions you or anyone on this Q was.

Keep in mind the youngest approved age for the current vaccines is 16 years old, so there will be millions of Americans not vaccinated (children) even if we vaccinate 90% of adults. Meaning we won’t even get above the 80% threshold until we start vaccinating children, although some of them likely have immunity from already having been sick.

Better to get over 90% of the population immune really. Can be combined people with natural immunity from having covid and people who have been vaccinated.

Really important is having entire communities not vaccinated. For instance we might have 90% in the US, but then let’s say all the Buddhists in one congregation, or all the Pentecostals, or all the Chassidic (random groups I’m choosing) have contact with covid then a big outbreak happens and more chance it gets outside of their cloister.

Thing about covid is it started in the animal kingdom so you can’t get rid of it altogether like Polio or Smallpox. Not unless you can be certain not to have the bats near humans, or be sure the people near the bats are vaccinated so it can spread.

I’ve been reading 75%.

I heard Fauci say 75% also, which probably would get us up over the 80% immunity levels.

75%, but you can do that with less if you concentrait on achieving 75% of urban areas.

Dr Facui is saying 90% !

@Tropical_Willie I’m going to say it doesn’t bode well when our health officials make changes like that. The anti-vax alt-right nut jobs take a hold of that sort of them and run with it to persuade their followers that it’s all made up.

Well you know what group will have the increased death rate and COVID-19 ‘long-haul’ conditions.

The disease is only a year old; they’re still learning what it is and what can happen.

There was an excellent Sawbones podcast on herd immunity back in October that details why 90% is really the necessary vaccination rate for true herd immunity.

As far as Sweden is concerned, the Swedish Government said last week tha their “plan” had been an abject failure.

Depends how contagious the disease is. The more contagious the disease the more people need to be immunised to protect the unimmunised. Measles for example needs about 95% of the population immunised to be protective.

This morning on a news show, I saw a clip of Fauci saying 70, 75, or 80%.

All, the question includes a link to a Reuters news story stating that Fauci said 90%. The same link has the following statement:

“Fauci, who is advising both President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden on the pandemic, acknowledged that he had incrementally increased his estimates from earlier in the year, when he tended to say only 60% to 70% would need to be inoculated for herd immunity to be reached.”

I can understand equivocation by the likes of @filmfann, @janbb and even @JLeslie. Aftyerall, the fact that Fauci has been leading us on does not sit too well with the Left.

Up yours @crazyguy, Fauci hasn’t been “leading us on”.

He adjusts his thinking as new information comes in, and has all along. I know that is really hard for someone like you and your idol Trump that cannot abide new evidence of anything.

And people being able to adjust to new evidence does not sit well with Conservatives.

Isn’t that what everyone has been doing all along, including Trump? Adapting to new information?

Trump does not adjust to new information, and neither does @crazyguy. You don’t either @Yellowdog, you are fixated on some fantasy white right wing idea of America while ignoring centuries of history.

@crazyguy Did I equivocate?

I love it that crazyguy thinks filmfann, JLeslie and I represent “the left.” I think @______ and gorillapaws would have something to say about that!

@JLeslie Did he say 90%? No! “I heard Fauci say 75% also, which probably would get us up over the 80% immunity levels.” Sure sounds like equivocation to me!

@zenvelo New information is not a new poll showing different results. New information is data on efficacy and/or spread rates or fatality rates.

@zenvelo Dr Fauci himself said that he upped the number based on a poll. But, of course, you know what he meant!

@Lightlyseared Are you saying that Fauci’s new estimate is based on updated information about the contagiousness of the coronavirus?