WHO: Global Herd Immunity Against COVID-19 Unlikely in 2021

"We will not achieve (...) herd immunity in 2021," said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan during a briefing in Geneva, arguing that "it takes time to produce large-scale doses, not just millions, but billions." The official then urged the population to "be a little patient."

According to her, "the vaccines will arrive in all countries." "But in the meantime, we must not forget that there are measures that work," she recalled. Among the factors that could mitigate collective immunity, experts cited limited access to vaccines in developing countries, vaccine skepticism, and the potential for viral mutations.

Since the launch of these vaccination campaigns, several countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany and other EU countries have been pioneers in these mass vaccination campaigns. Morocco, which is also part of it, could start in the coming days. For the record, collective immunity is acquired when a sufficient number of people in a population are immunized against an infection to prevent its spread.

In the United States, where the highest number of daily cases in the world is recorded, more than 25.4 million vaccine doses had been distributed so far, with nearly 9 million doses administered. In Germany, on the other hand, more than 600,000 people have so far been vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the Robert Koch Institute of Public Health.