What is herd immunity anyway? Here’s how many people South Africa should vaccinate

South Africa is planning to vaccinate two-thirds of its population to reach herd immunity.

But the math isn’t that straightforward because it depends on the amount of protection each COVID vaccine provides.

For example, if the country follows this plan with the Johnson & Johnson jab, we would not have sufficient protection to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

At the start of the year, the health department unveiled its plan to vaccinate 40-million South Africans as part of a three-phase roll-out. They said 67% of the population would need to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity. Here’s why ending COVID is not that simple.

Read the full script here.

READ MORE: Ending a pandemic: How to calculate how many people need to get vaccinated

Yolanda Mdzeke

Yolanda Mdzeke is a multimedia reporter at Bhekisisa.

Aisha Abdool Karim

Aisha Abdool Karim was a senior health reporter at Bhekisisa from 2020 to 2022.

What is herd immunity anyway? Here’s how many people South Africa should vaccinate

Yolanda Mdzeke

Aisha Abdool Karim

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