DR ANTHONY Fauci sounded alarm bells about the potent Indian Covid-19 strain having already arrived stateside and cautioned if Americans put off vaccinations it could be on course to devastate.
On Tuesday, the White House chief medical adviser shared concerns about India’s Delta variant, B1.717.2, and how it could soon usurp the other highly transmissible UK variant known as B1.1.7, or Alpha, at a swift rate.
“That variant, the Delta variant, currently accounts for more than 6 percent of the sequence cases in the United States,” Fauci said during a White House COVID-19 task force briefing, according to a published transcript.
He then elaborated that the situation of the Delta variant gaining ground in the US is almost a rerun to the virus’s variant that has gripped the UK.
“This is a situation the way it was in England where they had a B.1.1.7 dominant and then the 617 took over,” he said.
“We cannot let that happen in the United States…”
Fauci then advocated for Americans to help avoid potential catastrophe by receiving a jab.
“And for those who have not been vaccinated yet, please get vaccinated,” he pleaded. “This is the national month of action.
“We want to get to and above the goal of 70% of the adult population receiving at least one dose by the 4th of July.”
So far, there are an estimated 164,828,274 or 61 percent of US adults over 18 have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Also troubling Fauci is the Delta variant’s ability to infect younger populations, suggesting they are especially vulnerable.
“…the transmission is peaking in the younger group of 12-20-year-olds, mainly that group that we’re concerned about here about making sure they get vaccinated,” said Fauci.
Fauci’s comments came one day after Sharon Peacock, professor of public health and microbiology at the University of Cambridge, told the Wall Street Journal the Delta variant is set to go global.
“Given that level of transmissibility, I would anticipate that it would actually spread around the world,” she said.
“We’re seeing a major shift in the cause of infection in the UK, and that change has happened relatively rapidly over a period of a few weeks, and it doesn’t look as if that’s going to really stop,” Dr. Peacock said.
The various vaccines offered in the US and elsewhere appear to arm individuals from exposure to the Delta variant.
But early data is showing the shots become less effective with only one dose instead of two, according to Reuters.
Analysis conducted by the Public Health England saw AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines achieve only 33 percent effectiveness against the Delta variant after one dose.
There’s a substantial drop when the same research found them to be about 50 percent effective against the Alpha variant.
But when two doses were achieved, the Pfizer vaccine leaped to an 88 percent efficacy and the AstraZeneca’s was about 60 percent.
