Want to Get to Herd Immunity? Think Micro to Go Macro.

To get populations vaccinated in large numbers requires educational and community-based efforts that prioritize inclusion and impact on diverse communities. For example, polio eradication efforts showed that approximately 80% of the population needed to be immunized to prevent outbreaks. Due to similar “hesitancy” issues that we face today, it took over a decade to get worldwide adoption and near eradication.

Achieving herd immunity from Covid-19 will be even more challenging — due to its high R-naught (how we measure contagion), current ubiquitous presence across the globe, recent mutations exacerbating contagiousness, and perhaps most of all, unprecedented levels of distrust and division that pose significant challenges to adoption.

First, we need to shift from a “one-size-fits-all” approach to hyper-targeted strategies for different populations — especially for those who have been “burned” by the healthcare system, namely women and BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) communities.