US and China: Lift Travel Ban Once Herd Immunity is Achieved

If you’ll ask China’s Center for Disease Prevention and Control Wu Zunyou, the US and China should lift travel barriers once both US and China reached herd immunity. Wu made this statement while attending an online forum that was organized by Brookings Institution and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The Chinese epidemiologist said that the US can reach 90% herd immunity by August. This projection means that 90% of the population received their vaccine.

Herd Immunity by August

United States had the worst of the COVID19 pandemic. Based on the number of COVID19 cases, the US had the highest number of recorded infections. It has 30 million COVID cases and counting. The good news though is that new cases are slightly dropping. Plus, the US started vaccinating its population on December 14.

US health officials have been aggressive in vaccinating the population in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US is currently giving out 1.7 million shots a day. This becomes more urgent now, given the cases of COVID19 variants spreading in different parts of the US.

By the end of February, 15% of the US population received at least one dose of the COVID19 vaccine. That’s equivalent to 75 million COVID19 vaccine doses administered.

On the other hand, China has its COVID19 situation under control. There are currently a small number of new cases and is a stark contrast to how China was during the start of the pandemic.

Wu called China the “safest country” in terms of COVID19 prevention. China, which has a 1.4 billion population, already administered 40.5 million doses by early February.

He predicts that the US is likely to vaccinate 80% of its population by June and 90% by August. Wu then added that “we could remove all political barriers” once herd immunity is achieved and resume travel between two countries.