‘Herd immunity’ in Europe by August

Berlin, April 28

Europe can achieve herd immunity against Covid within the next four months, the head of BioNTech, which developed the first widely approved vaccine with US partner Pfizer, said Wednesday.

While the exact threshold required to reach that critical level of immunisation remains a matter of debate, experts say a level above 70 per cent will significantly disrupt transmission of Covid within a population. “Europe will reach herd immunity in July, latest by August,” Ugur Sahin, BioNTech's chief executive, said. His company's vaccine makes up a large share of the doses administered in Europe. — AP