Health experts urge patience, warn herd immunity may take most of 2021 as vaccines roll out slowly

TAMPA, Fla. - In Florida, only about 3.5% of the population has been vaccinated against COVID-19. The rollout has been slower than anticipated, which means returning to some semblance of normalcy will take longer.

Medical experts say between 75% and 85% of the population will need to get inoculated against COVID-19 before we’re protected from the virus. Reaching herd immunity prevents the further spread and stops outbreaks.

"By the time we get to the third quarter of 2021, mainly the beginning of the fall that hopefully, we will get that critical number," said NIAID Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Still an extremely far away target in Florida.

LINK: COVID-19 vaccine distribution information in Tampa Bay area counties

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the Sunshine State has received more than 1.9 million doses of the vaccines. According to the Florida Department of Health, only about 775,000 have been administered and fewer than 100,000 people have received both doses of a vaccine.

"It’s always rocky in the early stages of a mass vaccination effort, as we are now, and we don’t know how many people we can vaccinate in a  given day yet, we haven’t reached that level where we’ve maximized our ability to vaccinate," University of South Florida professor of public health practice Dr. Marissa Levine said. "I’m hoping in Florida we’re gonna be vaccinating well over 150,000 people a day, because if we can do that we can get to the level of immunity that we need much quicker."

Levine says people need to be prepared that it could take until the fall for us to get there, but she’s wary of putting a timeline on it, saying the picture will be much clearer once vaccination distribution is fully ramped up.

In the meantime, don’t let your guard down. Keep wearing masks and keeping your distance.

"We all want to get back to normal, but this is gonna be the hardest part here where we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is pretty long yet," Levine said.

The World Health Organization says reaching herd immunity on a global level is going to take even longer and will not be achieved this year.