Joe Biden says 'difficult' to achieve herd immunity by summer end

American President Joe Biden has said that it would be difficult for the United States to reach herd immunity by the end of this summer. Speaking to CBS network in an interview, the newly minted leader reckoned the idea of getting 75 per cent of American population vaccinated against coronavirus was "very difficult". Biden administration, which took charge on January 20, is tasked with inoculating US’ gigantic population under Operation Warp Speed before the infection spreads further.

Over 27 million vaccinated 

As of now, the US has reported 27,611,403 cases and 474,933 deaths from the deadly virus. Also, the country has successfully inoculated over 27 million people, majorly frontline workers as of now. The current vaccination rate in the country stands at about 1.3 million doses administered per day. As per the experts believe it would take another year to reach herd immunity.

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Read: Johnson & Johnson Seeks Emergency Use Authorisation Of Its COVID-19 Vaccine In US

Last week, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) applied for emergency authorisation for its COVID-19 vaccine with US health authorities. The vaccine developed by J&J has shown an efficacy rate of 66 per cent overall, as per the latest results of clinical trials conducted on 44,000 people. The developers revealed that the jabs were also 85 per cent effective in preventing severe cases of the infection.

“J&J subsidiary Janssen Biotech "has submitted an application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its investigational single-dose Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate," a company statement read.

As of now, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given emergency approval to the vaccines developed by Moderna Inc. and Pfizer/BioNTech. However, under the new appointed Biden administration, American officials were mulling strategies to expedite their inculcation drive. Since J&J jabs require only single-dose, experts believe there were high chances of it getting approved.

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