Unvaccinated Americans could lead to a worse variant than Delta

• Dr Anthony Fauci warned that the continued, unmitigated spread of COVID-19 could lead to a more dangerous variant.
• The Delta variant is currently causing a wave of COVID-19 cases in the United States, particularly in areas with low vaccination rates.
• But the continued spread of the disease without vaccinations or masks could allow it to mutate further, he said.

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called on unvaccinated Americans on Sunday, warning that the continued spread of the virus among the unvaccinated could lead to more serious illness.

“As we’ve said from the start, this is basically a pandemic among the unvaccinated,” Fauci said Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. “It’s proven.”

“One of the problems is you don’t want people to get sick, to be hospitalized and to die. This is now happening predominantly – overwhelmingly – among the unvaccinated,” he added.

Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said the virus would not have the ability to mutate if it was not allowed to spread and replicate in a community as it does in areas of the United States, especially in southern states with low vaccination rates. rates.

“If you allow the virus to circulate freely and don’t try to stop it, sooner or later you are likely to get another variant that could – I’m not saying it will – that could be more problematic. than the Delta, ”he said. “Unvaccinated people should think about their own health, that of their families, but also the responsibility of the community to crush this virus before it gets even worse. ”

—Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 8, 2021

While those vaccinated can be carriers and spread the virus in so-called “breakthrough infections,” Fauci reiterated on Sunday that the people behind the current outbreak were not vaccinated. The vaccines are effective in preventing serious illness and death, even amid the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, he said.

“The good news is that it will almost invariably be an infection without symptoms or with minimal symptoms,” he said of the groundbreaking cases. “This means that vaccines still protect extremely well against serious illness leading to hospitalization and death.”

In the state of Alabama, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the United States, only 26 of the more than 11,600 people who have died from COVID-19 in the state have been vaccinated against the disease.

Fauci also explained on Sunday why the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed their guidance earlier this month and recommended that fully vaccinated people mask themselves in areas with high COVID-19 transmission and in areas with high COVID-19 transmission. schools.

“Back when we were dealing with Alpha, the virus level was low in the nasal shrouds,” he said. “Now we are finding that the virus level is really quite high, which means that even if you are protected, if you are infected, you can pass it on to someone else.”