Public health experts and scientists do not believe herd immunity is attainable in the near future because of proliferating COVID-19 variants and decreasing COVID-19 vaccination rates, according to a Politico item that cites a New York Times report.
According to the experts who spoke with the Times, the coronavirus will more likely become a constant but manageable threat in the U.S. for several more years.
Dr. Anthony Faucithe nation's top infectious diseases expert and President Biden's chief medical adviseracknowledged a shift in thinking by experts who had once believed achieving herd immunity by summer was a possibility. However, Harvard University epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch told the newspaper that vaccination is still the key to combatting the pandemic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of early May, 56 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and more than 40 percent are fully immunized.