Saad omer md phd7/23/2023 ![]() Measles, for example, spreads so easily that an estimated 95% of a population needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. The percentage of the population that needs to be immune to attain herd immunity varies by disease and how contagious that disease is. It’s a race between vaccination and variants. We need to get vaccinated as soon as we can so we can prevent the spread of COVID-19, which will also prevent the emergence of variants. “But if the virus reaches someone who has immunity, it is like hitting a wall. “If you are coughing and sneezing, and the droplets reach someone who is susceptible, then the virus will keep spreading,” Dr. Immunity is conferred either by building antibodies after an infection from the virus or from a vaccine.Įllen Foxman, MD, PhD, a Yale Medicine pathologist who is an expert in respiratory viruses, likens herd immunity to making the virus hit a “dead end.” Put simply, herd immunity means a large portion of a community is immune to a disease, making further disease spread unlikely. Juthani and other Yale experts explain herd immunity, why it matters, and what needs to happen to get there. ![]() An overall improvement of our numbers will tell us we are reaching that threshold.”īelow, Dr. “There is not a certain number or cut-off it’s a gradient, meaning we’ll know we’ve reached it if we see the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths go down. We can’t say for sure what percentage of the population needs to be reached,” says Manisha Juthani, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist. “The reality is that we don’t know when herd immunity will occur. While health experts are hopeful that day will come, there is much that remains unknown and much work-particularly with global vaccination efforts-that needs to be done to achieve the goal. Now that we have effective coronavirus vaccines, many are wondering if and when we will reach herd immunity with COVID-19. He has also served as an academic affiliate of the Office of Evaluation Sciences –formerly known as the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team.Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the term “herd immunity” was possibly something you only heard about during flu season or during reports of upticks in measles cases-if at all.īut COVID-19 has brought that concept-when an infectious disease is less likely to spread because enough people have immunity either through exposure or vaccination-to the front of our minds. National Vaccine Advisory Committee, Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria -Vaccine Innovation Working Group, and WHO Expert Advisory Group for Healthcare Worker Vaccination. ![]() ![]() He has served on several advisory panels including the U.S. Omer has published widely in peer reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Lancet, British Medical Journal, Pediatrics, American Journal of Public Health, Science, and Nature and is the author of op-eds for publications such as the New York Times, Politico, and the Washington Post.ĭr Omer has received multiple awards –including the Maurice Hilleman Award by the National Foundation of Infectious Diseases for his work on the impact of maternal influenza immunization on respiratory illness in infants younger than 6 months-for whom there is no vaccine. He has directly mentored over 100 junior faculty, clinical and research post-doctoral fellows, and PhD and other graduate students.Dr. Dr Omer’s work has been cited in global and country-specific policy recommendations and has informed clinical practice and health legislation in several countries. Moreover, he has conducted several studies on interventions to increase immunization coverage and acceptance. Dr Omer’s research portfolio includes epidemiology of respiratory viruses such as influenza, RSV, and - more recently - COVID-19 clinical trials to estimate efficacy of maternal and/or infant influenza, pertussis, polio, measles and pneumococcal vaccines and trials to evaluate drug regimens to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Omer has conducted studies in the United States, Guatemala, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, and Australia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |