COVID: Set US Goal at 5M Vax Doses Per Day for Herd Immunity, says AHF

With three additional COVID vaccine candidates close to being submitted for consideration for emergency approval by the FDA, AHF urges the Biden administration to aim high with its vaccine dosing goals—to distribute 5 million vaccine doses daily—for a better shot at achieving herd immunity more quickly

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today called on the members of the Biden administration’s COVID task force to aim higher with their daily COVID vaccine dosing goals, suggesting that officials aim to distribute five-million vaccine doses each day in order to more quickly achieve herd immunity.

Data analyst and writer Nate Silver (@NateSilver538), founder of the influential media platform FiveThirtyEight, recently created a chart showing the “Daily Pace Required to Vaccinate 80% of the US Population, including Children.” He noted that at the current pace—1.3 million doses per day—it will take six to seven months for one dose and a full year for those requiring two doses to vaccinate 80% of the US population. He Tweeted the chart (@NateSilver538) along with the following comment:

“Maybe instead of shots per day, it's also worth thinking about TIME: how long it would take to vaccinate the country. Here's a little conversion table for that, assuming you want to vaccinate 80% of the US population including children.” Nate Sliver, founder of FiveThirtyEight (see chart here)

“AHF is encouraged by the focused all-hands-on-deck attention the Biden-Harris administration has placed on the COVID pandemic, but it needs to set moon shot goals to control this deadly threat,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF.

“Pressing the Biden administration to distribute five-million COVID vaccine doses daily sets a high bar, but the upside is that if we succeed, or even come a bit closer, we stand a better chance of reaching the threshold of vaccine distribution required for herd immunity to occur far more quickly: reaching enough of the US population in just seven to eight weeks with one dose and only three to four months for two doses—compared to our current year-long trajectory,” added John Hassell, national director of advocacy for AHF. “The state of the pandemic here and around the globe calls for a radical approach. It’s time for the US to over promise AND over deliver on vaccine distribution.”

About AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.5 million people in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare.