Collective immunity to COVID-19 will not be achieved this year, although vaccines have begun to be distributed in many countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday, January 11.
“We are not going to achieve … herd immunity in 2021,” said WHO researcher Sumya Swaminathan during a briefing in Geneva, stressing the importance of continuing to apply preventive measures such as physical distancing, washing hands and wearing a mask, AFP reports.
Swaminathan praised the "incredible progress" made by scientists who have successfully developed several safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year. However, she stressed that their deployment “takes time”. "It takes time to produce doses on a large scale, not just millions but billions," she added, urging to be "a little patient."
Swaminathan assured that eventually "vaccines will appear in all countries." “But for now, we must not forget that there are other effective measures,” she said.
According to her, it is necessary to continue to take medical and social measures to limit the transmission of the virus "at least until the end of this year."