“Vaccines will not become available in any meaningful way until early to [the] third quarter of next year. And even then, about half of the U.S. population at this point is skeptical of even taking the vaccine,” said Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.in the U.S. Friday, the highest level since July. Between now and the holidays, the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. will likely “blow right through that,” he said.
Osterholm said the goal is to achieve herd immunity, not by allowing people to contract the virus, but by inoculating them through a vaccination program. That requires strengthening public confidence. Osterholm expected COVID-19 cases to rise in coming weeks, but he vehemently dismissed the idea that herd immunity can be a solution to the pandemic or that it can be achieved with just 20% of the population infected. That low percentage“First of all, that 20% number is the most amazing combination of pixie dust and pseudoscience I’ve ever seen,” Osterholm said. “It’s 50% to 70% at minimum.”that herd immunity can be achieved with such a low percentage.