TAMPA, Fla. — We know seniors are a high-risk group and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made those 65 and up a priority.
But when it's widely available, what does it mean if people don't get the vaccine? The more people who get vaccinated, the better herd immunity response we get.
But experts say in reality, we might not get to that point. We talked with Dr. Jill Roberts. She's a molecular biologist with a background in microbiology and a public health advocate.
She says in order to get a true herd immunity, we need about 90 percent of people to get vaccinated.
She used the flu as an example. We get a flu shot every year, and we only need 60 percent of people to get vaccinated for herd immunity and we struggle to get that. The possibility of preventing deaths from the flu was possible using things like wearing masks.
Roberts says essentially what the general population decided was the number of people who actually die from influenza is acceptable. It ranges every year from 25 to 50,000.
Coronavirus is a different beast in that we're not even a year in and more than 350,000 people have died, Roberts said.
"Once we get enough people vaccinated if we can get those death numbers down, right, we can get it to numbers that are more acceptable, I wouldn't say totally acceptable, but more acceptable, I think you'll see more and more people get rid of the masks, stop doing the social distancing, reopening places," she said.
Roberts says while 90 percent seems like a lot, the crowd that doesn't want to get vaccinated is small but loud.
And when you look at statistics, in say childhood vaccines, numbers get up to 98 percent of all kids are up-to-date on their shots.
She says what needs to happen is an increase in the number of vaccines, an increase in where they are available and keep them at a decreased or no cost.
And messaging needs to continue that those who are high risk get the vaccine and then hope everyone else will participate.
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