At today’s vaccine rates life will return to normal in seven years: Bloomberg
When will the pandemic end? It’s the question hanging over just about everything since COVID-19 took over the world last year. The answer can be measured in vaccinations. Report informs citing the .
Bloomberg has built the biggest database of COVID-19 shots given around the world, with more than 108 million doses administered worldwide. U.S. science officials such as Anthony Fauci have suggested it will take 70% to 85% coverage of the population for things to return to normal. Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker shows that some countries are making far more rapid progress than others, using 75% coverage with a two-dose vaccine as a target.
Israel, the country with the highest vaccination rate globally, is headed for 75% coverage in just two months. The U.S. will get there only in time to ring in 2022 (though North Dakota could get there six months sooner than Texas). With vaccinations happening more rapidly in richer Western countries than the rest of the globe, it will take the world as a whole 7.4 years at the current pace.
Bloomberg’s calculator provides a snapshot in time, designed to put today’s vaccination rates into perspective. It uses the most recent rolling average of vaccinations, which means that as vaccination numbers pick up, the time needed to hit the 75% threshold will fall.
The calculations will be volatile, especially in the early days of the rollout, and temporary disruptions can distort the numbers.