While the UK has long abandoned the strategy of achieving herd immunity by allowing the virus to spread throughout the least at risk sections of the population, the availability of vaccines has finally opened up the possibility of getting there without having to sacrifice the public’s health. As the latest government figures show though, there is still a long way to go before the 60 percent mark – considered the minimum level required – is reached.
As of December, and largely without the help of a vaccine, estimates based on blood test results taken from a randomly selected subsample of the adult population, indicate that England had the largest share of people with the relevant SARS-CoV-2 antibodies – 12.1 percent, or one in eight.
This chart shows the estimated share of the UK population with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in December 2020, by country.
