Countries will need at least 80 percent of their population vaccinated against COVID-19 to significantly lower the risk of new clusters or outbreaks fueled by variants, a top World Health Organization leader estimated June 7.
It's not immediately clear from available data what the specific figure for vaccination coverage should be to fully affect transmission, according to Mike Ryan, MD, executive director of WHO's emergencies program
"But it's certainly north of 80 percent coverage to be in a position where you could be significantly affecting the risk of an imported case, potentially generating secondary cases or causing a cluster or an outbreak," he said during a media briefing.
"At the end of the day, high levels of vaccination coverage are the way out of this pandemic," Dr. Ryan said, especially considering the presence of more transmissible coronavirus variants.
As of June 7, about 42 percent of the U.S. population was fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and about 52 percent had received at least one shot, according to the CDC.