Enough people have to take a Covid-19 vaccine for it to be efficient, Fauci says

Even a third of Americans getting vaccinated against the coronavirus won't be enough, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said.

"It's a combination of how effective a vaccine is and how many people use it," Fauci said.

"If you have a vaccine that is highly effective and not enough people get vaccinated, you're not going to realize the full, important effect of having a vaccine."

The less protective a vaccine is, the more people need to get it to provide population-wide immunity, Fauci said.

The fundamental goal is to get the level of infection so low that when there are little outbreaks, they're easy to control, he said.

A recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 54% of respondents said they would not get the vaccine if it was available for free before the November 3 presidential election -- a time frame suggested by President Trump but one health officials say is unlikely.

The hesitancy of many people to get a Covid-19 vaccine when it becomes available is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed, said Dr.

That's enough to cover 2.97 billion people -- less than half the world's population, if everyone needs two doses, as seems likely.

"Supply deals have already been agreed for 5.303 billion doses, of which 2.728 billion (51%) have been bought by developed countries including the UK, US, Australia, Hong Kong & Macau, Japan, Switzerland and Israel, as well as the European Union," Oxfam said in a statement.

The rest have been bought by or promised to developing countries including India, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico among others, it added.

"Access to a life-saving vaccine shouldn't depend on where you live or how much money you have," said Oxfam's Robert Silverman.