'Hopefully we're in a much different place in the middle of a summer': Doctors discuss herd immunity

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- At Milwaukee Health Services, Inc. Walgreens helped vaccinate around 200 people Monday, March 29. 

"Demand kind of ebbs and flows. One of the things we've tried to do to assist with that is to offer our patients and our community options," said Dr. Aronica Williams, chief medical officer for Milwaukee Health Services, Inc. 

"We opened up appointments for our 2,340 doses and got them completely filled within 90 minutes, so I think you're still seeing strong demand from the public wanting to be vaccinated," said Dr. Matt Anderson, senior medical director for Primary Care at UW Health. 

"And hopefully getting more supply out. Hopefully we're in a much different place in the middle of a summer, whether we'll be at full herd immunity, but I think we'll be in a much better spot if people still take advantage of the opportunities to be vaccinated."

"I think that we're vaccinating the most vulnerable people first, but until we get our children vaccinated, we won't reach herd immunity. However, the good thing is if everyone in the family over 16 gets vaccinated, then within your little herd of a family, you'll protect your children," said Dr. Laura Cassidy, professor of epidemiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

She says the more people are vaccinated, the less chance it has to infect somebody and transfer to someone else.

"However the more people who are unvaccinated are still at risk, even if there is some level of herd immunity, they're still at risk of getting the virus," said Cassidy, "And every time somebody gets the virus, there's a risk of it mutating and becoming more contagious or more deadly."

Doctors say that's why it's important to continue doing the things we've done for the past year in public like mask-wearing and social distancing.