UAB Researchers Estimate Alabama Could Reach Herd Immunity

As early as May or June, the country and Alabama could reach Herd Immunity to COVID-19. An epidemiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham projected these estimates. Suzanne Judd, a Ph.D. epidemiologist at UAB, said, “We’re getting closer to herd immunity, thanks to the vaccine, and also new scientific data that shows us that more people had COVID than were tested.”

Judd claims to have made her calculations based on the current COVID-19 vaccine delivery pace, along with a recent study from Columbia University. The study estimated that more than one-third of the United States’ population might have already been infected with the virus by January end.

Herd Immunity only occurs when the virus could take no more travel through the population, either through the vaccine or the antibodies if they had the disease and recovered. Scientists know how many people have been vaccinated and how many have been tested positive for the coronavirus. Many also got the virus but never got tested.

Judd said, “Current estimates are that we’ll see herd immunity sometime late spring, early summer in Alabama. Somewhere between May and June is likely, but this depends on many factors.” She also said that the more people that have immunity, the less the virus would spread. It will also be safer for us to interact with each other again soon.

The estimates also vary according to the population as they also need to be immune. The people who are not immune truly disrupt the virus’s spread. They also said that there are still many unknowns about herd immunity as well.