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> 2. For the delta-variant we need a higher vaccination rate to reach herd immunity. Estimates vary, but most put this around 85%.

That's not how herd immunity works. You don't set a moving goalpost out of nowhere. We should be measuring R instead, and I suspect R is hardly impacted by vaccines at least for the Delta variant.

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R0 is for the delta variant is 6 - 7, ergo herd immunity (1-1/R0) is 0.833 - 0.857.

So, yes, it kinda works like that.

Except that vaccinations dont stop the transmission.

Yeah. The math is wonky. Vaccinations reduce transmission by about 50%. They don't reach herd immunity even at 100% vaccination, but they do help. Vaccinations + N95 masks + modest social distancing likely would do it.

But we'll probably do vaccinations, wait for more aggressive mutations, add facemasks, wait for more aggressive mutations, and so on, until we have a super-virus.

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