How local COVID vaccination efforts compare to state's COVID-19 vaccine recipients arrive Monday, April 5, 2021, to the Gainesville Ballroom on Atlanta Highway. - photo by Scott Rogers If the United States is to return “back to normal” and enter a post-COVID-19 world, federal health experts say that approximately 70% of the population need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 50% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. But in Georgia, those efforts have stalled, nearly a month after Gov. Brian Kemp expanded vaccine eligibility to Georgians 16 and older on March 25.