By Douglas Busvine
BERLIN (Reuters) – The suspension of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine could delay efforts to vaccinate most people in the European Union by over two months to December, scientific information and analytics company Airfinity forecast on Wednesday.
“If the EU can’t use the J&J vaccine indefinitely it could push the timeline for vaccinating 75% of the population back into December,” London-based Airfinity said in a forecast update provided to Reuters.
Without J&J, the EU would reach 75% coverage – viewed as a benchmark for achieving herd immunity – by Dec. 8, Airfinity projected, representing slippage of more than two months from an earlier expected date of Sept. 30.
In the United States a lack of J&J would push back reaching the 75% threshold to Sept. 17 from July 22, it estimated.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
