Infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci has suggested that the US could achieve herd immunity the summer of 2021 with COVID-19 vaccine’s arrival, MSNBC reported.

“The real bottom line is when do you get the overwhelming majority of the population vaccinated so that you can get that umbrella of herd immunity?,” Fauci said, as quoted by MSNBC.

“I believe if we’re efficient about it and we convince people to get vaccinated, we can accomplish that by the end of the second quarter of early 2021, namely by the end of the late spring (or) early summer,” he added.

Fauci had previously suggested a threshold of around 75-80% of the population developing antibodies to reach herd immunity in the country.

“It’s really going to depend on the efficiency of the rollout,” Fauci said while saying that people with no comorbidities will probably start getting vaccinated by March.

Also read: How US dealt with COVID-19 through the year

“By the time that we get into the fall, we can start approaching some degree of relief where the level of infection will be so slow in society, we can start approaching some form of normality,” he added.