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To achieve herd immunity, we would need to cut the R value by between 45 and 55 per cent, said Associate Professor James Wood, a University of NSW vaccine modeller and member of the federal government’s Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.
“That would theoretically be achievable with a vaccine with 70 per cent efficacy against transmission but would require in particular high coverage in the 18-35 year group, which appear to contribute a greater fraction of transmission.”
But there is now a complicating factor that did not exist six months ago: the emergence of B.1.1.7, a variant of the coronavirus that is substantially more transmissible.
.
To achieve herd immunity, we would need to cut the R value by between 45 and 55 per cent, said Associate Professor James Wood, a University of NSW vaccine modeller and member of the federal government’s Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.
“That would theoretically be achievable with a vaccine with 70 per cent efficacy against transmission but would require in particular high coverage in the 18-35 year group, which appear to contribute a greater fraction of transmission.”
But there is now a complicating factor that did not exist six months ago: the emergence of B.1.1.7, a variant of the coronavirus that is substantially more transmissible.