Dr. Anthony Fauci now says as many as 90 percent of the population may need to be vaccinated or infected to achieve herd immunity to COVID-19 – admitting in a new interview that he intentionally raised the bar based in part on what he thinks the country is ready to hear.
“We really don’t know what the actual number is,” the country’s top infectious disease expert told the New York Times.
“I think the actual range is somewhere between 70 and 90 percent. But I’m not going to say 90 percent. “
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases acknowledged that he has deliberately increased that number as understanding of the virus’s science has changed – and as Americans have become more confident about coronavirus vaccines.
“When polls said that only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I said herd immunity would cost 70 to 75 percent,” he said.
“When newer surveys said 60 percent or more would make it, I thought, ‘I can spice this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85.”
He said he is comfortable pushing the line at 90 percent herd immunity because he doesn’t believe the virus is more contagious than the measles, which are within that range.
“I bet COVID isn’t as contagious as measles,” he said.
According to a recent USA Today-Suffolk University survey, about 46 percent of Americans plan to take the vaccine as soon as possible, while 32 percent are willing to wait for others to get the injection first.