15 April 2021, 2:02 pmTexas Gov. Greg Abbott may have been overly optimistic Sunday when he said on Fox News that his state could be “very close” to herd immunity — the point where so much of the population is immune to COVID-19, either from being vaccinated or previously infected, that the virus can no longer spread.
“I don’t know what herd immunity is," Abbott said, "but when you add that to the people who have immunity, it looks like it could be very close to herd immunity.”Michael Osterholm, a public health researcher and director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, said, “There is no way on God’s green earth that Texas is anywhere even close to herd immunity.
About 19% of people in Texas are fully vaccinated, while the numbers are 22% in Michigan and 24% in Minnesota. No one is sure what the level should be, Osterholm said. “Anybody who will tell you exactly what the level of herd immunity is is also likely to want to sell you a bridge.”