"It really is a terrible situation that we've been through and that we're still going through. And that's the reason why we keep insisting to continue with the public health measures," Fauci says. "We don't want this to get much worse than it already is."
Top Biden administration officials insisted on Sunday that K-8 schools can safely reopen by April, even without requiring all teachers to be vaccinated first, as some states make educators a priority for Covid-19 shots.
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5.5% of US is fully vaccinated
While vaccinations are ongoing, it s unlikely they ll help the US reach herd immunity levels any time soon.
So far, more than 42.8 million Americans have received at least the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to CDC data.
More than 17.8 million people have been fully vaccinated. That s about 5.5% of the US population.
Herd immunity is reached when the majority of the population becomes immune to an infectious disease either through infection and recovery or through vaccination.
Fauci estimates between 70% to 85% of the US population needs to be immune for herd immunity to take effect against the virus.