Poll: Only Half In US Want Shots As Vaccine Nears
Speaker 1: 00:00 And FDA advisory panel we'll evaluate the Pfizer COVID vaccine tomorrow. They are expected to recommend emergency authorization of the vaccine. Many researchers believe the first vaccinations could begin in the U S as early as next week. As we stand at the brink of a huge national vaccination program, talk has turned to the subject of herd immunity. How many people need to get vaccinated before we reach an immunity threshold? President Trump is touting unsubstantiated numbers indicating he thinks herd immunity is around the corner. Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fowchee, director of the national Institute of allergy and infectious diseases spoke about herd immunity earlier. Speaker 2: 00:46 If we get a good uptake of vaccine and we convince the people who are reluctant to get vaccinated, and we vaccinate 75% of the population, then I believe that by the time we get to the middle to end of the summer, we will have that veil of protection that we will be able to, uh, to approach a strong degree of normality. Speaker 1: 01:17 Joining me is Dr. Francesca taurine and infectious disease specialist at East UC San Diego health. Dr. [inaudible] welcome. Speaker 3: 01:26 Thank you for inviting me. I'm delighted to be here Speaker 1: 01:29 Now, as I understand it, herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. And as a result, the whole community becomes protected. My question doctor is how do scientists determine that percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity? Speaker 3: 01:55 So there's herd immunity can be reached two ways, one, uh, due to immunity to having experienced the disease and, and our cells producing, uh, sufficient immunity. And then the second way is through vaccination, uh, with COVID, uh, the first, uh, natural immunity is not thought to be playing a big role and therefore we have to rely primarily on vaccine administration. And so that is why Dr. Fowchee was, uh, speaking about 70 to 75% of the population, uh, getting vaccinated. Uh, and therefore then, uh, getting a herd immunity acquired by the vaccine. Speaker 1: 02:48 How do you determine that 75% Speaker 3: 02:52 It's determined on, uh, the immunogenicity, uh, that is provided by the, the vaccine and on other factors that give us an idea of how the disease is in the community and how it spreads well, each year, Speaker 1: 03:11 Many people get vaccinated against the flu. Does herd immunity ever develop against that virus? Speaker 3: 03:18 Well, so herd immunity also for it to last, right? Uh, you also have to have a, a certain amount of disease that is circulating in the population, and then you have to have, uh, the virus not necessarily mutating too fast, right? And, and that is why in, in influenza for once we have many strains, the different strains that are circulating, and these strains also mutate, uh, and therefore it's really difficult to develop herd immunity during, you know, a year or even more. Speaker 1: 04:08 Now, Sweden tried to see if natural herd immunity would develop if enough people were exposed to COVID. And that was also a strategy embraced by Dr. Scott Atlas, formerly of the Trump Corona virus task force. Sweden now admits that was the wrong approach. Why was it the wrong approach? Speaker 3: 04:28 Because this infection, this pandemic is killing people, and therefore you are taking risks of getting a lot of people sick and, and die from the complications of having a lot of people who are sick, needing hospitalization and overwhelming the health system. And so that system was not a good idea. And, uh, that unfortunately the Swedish population had to experience that. Speaker 1: 05:04 Now president Donald Trump has been making claims without evidence about the level of immunity to the Corona virus that exists as a result of the number of people who have already had the virus and recovered in the U S you must have heard some of the things that the president has said, what is your reaction to them? Speaker 3: 05:22 I would say, let's look at the science and keep politics out and have the experts, uh, provide the scientific rationale and what the data is. Let's look at the data. That's what I would say. Yeah. Speaker 1: 05:37 We've seen poll after poll saying that there are a significant number of people who are not intending to get vaccinated in the U S if say only 60% of the population gets the vaccine and 40% do not. How does that impact overall protection from the virus? Speaker 3: 05:56 It will impact, and it will also impact how long our Phi is. Our public health measures have to continue, right? So if we want to get back to easier and better lives and not as miserable as they have been in the past year, we need to vaccinate as a community. And if a community vaccinates, that community will be protected and people who can't get vaccinated for whatever reason will be protected, right, or who could get vaccinated, but don't get a good response, will be pro protected by this book, by this vaccinated population. And so that's what we have to strive, and we have to strive to really be very transparent on, uh, how the vaccine is, uh, is working and, and the different vaccines, what the side effects are and, and showing our leaders, uh, take the vaccination and show the examples in their communities. Speaker 1: 07:09 I have been speaking with Dr. Francesca [inaudible] and infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego health, as always Dr. [inaudible]. Thank you so much. Speaker 3: 07:18 You're very welcome. And it was a pleasure. Thank you.
