Why Herd Immunity Is Slipping Away

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2021

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From the earliest days of the pandemic, herd immunity has consistently factored into conversations about how countries can find their way out of lockdowns and restrictions. Now, many experts believe that the United States may never reach the requisite level of immunity. We explore why, and what it might look like to live in a country where there is no herd immunity against the coronavirus. Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From New York Times, I'm Michael Obaro.
0:02.6	This is a Daily.
0:04.1	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:07.4	From the beginning of the pandemic.
0:09.8	There's been a lot of talk of herd immunity.
0:11.8	herd immunity.
0:12.7	herd immunity.
0:13.7	Public health officials said that achieving herd immunity.
0:17.5	herd immunity is what's going to save the country from an endemic pandemic.
0:21.7	Would mark the end of the crisis.
0:24.1	If you get an overwhelming majority of the people vaccinated,
0:28.3	we can reasonably quickly get to the herd immunity that would be a blanket of protection for the country.
0:34.9	Today, as infections fall and the country begins to fully reopen,
0:40.5	my colleague, Appurva Mondivili, on why experts now believe that achieving herd immunity may not ever happen.
0:49.5	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:53.4	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:56.2	It's Friday, May 7th.
0:58.8	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
1:01.7	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
1:04.8	Appurva, describe this reporting that you have been doing over the past few weeks.
1:09.9	I had been thinking about where we are with getting to the end of the pandemic.
1:15.3	We've been talking about getting to herd immunity as this percentage of population that we have to get to.
	...

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