SALT LAKE CITY – New data shows that immunity to COVID-19 is increasing in Salt Lake County, and health experts are optimistic that the community is working to obtain collective immunity.
On Friday, people attended the Mountain America Expo Center for the second round of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
This means that in just a week, Salt Lake County residents will be fully vaccinated and cross the line to the other side of COVID-19 immunity.
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Elaine Spear, 79, even brought her dog Bella for the occasion, exclaiming, “I think that’s wonderful!” while she rolled up her sleeve.
Spear said she is calling everyone she knows to ask them to get the vaccine. It is worth celebrating her second dose.
“I’m going home to celebrate and summon all my friends,” she said enthusiastically. “And, remotely, we’re all going to have a drink in celebration.”
According to the Salt Lake County Health Department, the number of people who completed both doses of the vaccination – including Spear – is still very low.
“The best guess is that we are now about 6% for Salt Lake County when it comes to individuals who are fully vaccinated,” said Ilene Risk, manager of the epidemiology department at the Salt Lake County Health Department.
However, she has just discovered some good news regarding collective immunity.
“What they found – and these are the most recent data – is that about 20 to 25 percent of Salt Lake County residents showed immunity against the disease itself, or vaccine, or both,” explained Risk.
This represents a quarter of the population showing immunity to COVID-19. Risk credited those numbers to the University of Utah’s HERO Project, which has been monitoring COVID-19’s activities in the community since last spring.
READ: See how to register for a COVID-19 vaccination in Utah
Thousands of people were tested for COVID-19 and COVID-19 antibodies at different points throughout 2020.
“20 to 25% is fabulous,” said Dr. Stephen Alder, leader of the Utah HERO project.
“Fabulous”, especially because, explained Dr. Alder, they estimate that the immunity rate was around 10% in December.
Dr. Alder spoke about some of the other results they are seeing at the Utah HERO Project, such as discovering that consumers are more active when they can go to places where they feel safe and have a mandatory mask.
This shows that state mandates are good for the economy, he said, and that economic and health considerations need not be contrasted with each other.
They also found that schools that follow good guidelines are seeing low COVID-19 transmission rates.
He indicated that it bodes well for where we are going and said that we hope that we can control the pandemic and see a resolution in the not too distant future.
“Hopefully, we’re talking about a few months before we really start to see the numbers that … give us a chance to be optimistic about how quickly we can come up with at least what our new normal will be,” he said.
But he and Risk explained that everything depends on continuous vaccinations and measures such as wearing masks and social distance to continue the trend of increasing collective immunity.
They said that experts project that 70 percent is the magic number for achieving herd immunity and nullifying COVID.
Risk said that if people are not vaccinated, they will not reach that number. The pandemic will become longer and more prolonged, and the use of masks will continue.
The two emphasized the importance of not letting the guards down yet.
Although Spear now has both shots, she said she will still be practicing the same security measures.
She expressed that she is proud to be part of the community’s effort to fight for the herd’s immunity.
“I am very happy to have the second and to be able to be part of this wonderful vaccination movement for everyone,” she said, adding: “And I think everyone should.”