During the first four months of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the United States, demand for the vaccine was far greater than supply. Increasingly, the opposite is happening: The vaccine doses available exceed the number of people stepping forward to receive them. Some states and counties have even turned away unneeded shipments of vaccines.
A high rate of vaccination nationwide is crucial to controlling the pandemic’s threat to public health and ushering in a return to full economic activity. While the vaccination rate required to attain “herd immunity”—population-level resistance to the virus—is unknown and depends on a variety of factors, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he believes about 70 to 85 percent of people would need to acquire immunity through vaccination or previous infection with COVID-19. Reaching a vaccination rate of 50 or 60 percent—as the United Kingdom and Israel have—would dramatically lower the number of coronavirus cases and allow the United States to bring transmission under control. As of May 5, 32 percent of the total U.S. population, or more than 107 million people, had been fully vaccinated, and about 45 percent of the population had received at least one dose. President Joe Biden recently announced a goal to have 70 percent of adults—who represent 54 percent of the total U.S. population—receive at least their first shot by July 4.
This issue brief discusses the measures that private entities can take to counter the slowing…
