University of Sourthern California

MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH (MPH) ONLINE

R0 and vaccine coverage. How to use a COVID-19 vaccine to get to herd immunity and beat Coronavirus

R0 (the basic reproductive number) tells us more than just how many people will be infected in a totally susceptible population. It can be used to calculate the how much vaccine coverage is needed to get to herd immunity. As COVID-19 continues to spread, the development of a vaccine that will be used to immunize people is being talked about. A Coronavirus vaccine is likely to give immunity for about a year. Although we’ll only know for sure once vaccination programs are started. R0, which is pronounced R-naught, can be used to calculated how many people need to be immunized to end the pandemic. This video should be of interest to public health doctors, epidemiologists and people interested in global health.

This video was produced with support from the USC MPH Online program.

Learn more: ➡️ https://mphdegree.usc.edu/