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Covid’s Delta Variant: What We Know

Covid's Delta Variant: What We Know

The super-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is now responsible for about one in five Covid-19 cases in the United States, and its prevalence has doubled in the past two weeks, health officials said on Tuesday.

Delta was first identified in India and is one of several “Concerning Variants” named by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. It quickly spread to India and the UK.

Its appearance in the United States is not surprising. And with vaccinations rising and Covid-19 case numbers falling, it’s unclear how much of a problem Delta will cause here. Still, its rapid surge has raised concerns that it could jeopardize the nation’s progress in fighting the pandemic.

“The Delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the US to our attempt to eliminate Covid-19,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s foremost infectious disease expert, at the briefing. The good news is that the vaccines approved in the USA work against the variant. “We have the tools,” he says. “So let’s use them and crush the outbreak.”

Here you will find answers to some frequently asked questions about the Delta variant.

Delta, formerly known as B.1.617.2, is believed to be the most transmissible variant to date and is spreading more easily than both the original strain of the virus and the alpha variant first identified in the UK. Public health officials said Delta could be 50 percent more contagious than Alpha, although exact estimates of its infectivity vary.

Other evidence suggests that the variant may be able to partially bypass the antibodies produced by the body after a coronavirus infection or vaccination. And the variant can also make certain monoclonal antibody treatments less effective, the CDC notes.

Delta can also cause more serious illnesses. For example, a recent Scottish study found that people infected with the Delta variant were about twice as likely to be hospitalized as people infected with alpha. But uncertainties remain, scientists said.

“The article on serious illnesses is the one question I think that hasn’t really been answered,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Delta has been reported in 80 countries. It is the most common variant today in India and the UK, where it accounts for more than 90 percent of cases.

Delta was first identified in the United States in March. Although Alpha remains the most widely used variant here, Delta has spread quickly. At the beginning of April, Delta only made 0.1 percent of cases in the United States, according to the CDC. By early May, the variant accounted for 1.3 percent of cases, and by early June that number had risen to 9.5 percent. A few days ago, the estimate was 20.6 percent, said Dr. Fauci at the meeting.

The delta variant is unlikely to pose a huge risk for fully vaccinated people, experts said.

“If you are fully vaccinated I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, Dean of Brown University School of Public Health.

According to a recent study, the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine protected 88 percent against symptomatic illnesses caused by Delta and was nearly 93 percent effective against the alpha variant. But a single dose of the vaccine was only 33 percent effective against Delta, the study found.

“Fully immunized people should be able to cope with this new phase of the epidemic,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “However, the protection that a single dose offers seems to be poor and if you are not vaccinated at all you naturally consider yourself at high risk.”

Understand India’s Covid Crisis

Delta will likely infect “large numbers” of unvaccinated people, he said.

The pandemic is decreasing in the United States, with cases, hospital admissions and deaths falling. The seven-day case average, around 10,350 per day, is the lowest since March 2020, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, at the briefing on Tuesday. “These numbers show the extraordinary progress we’ve made against a formidable opponent,” she said.

So while Delta may represent an increasing percentage of cases, it is not yet clear whether this will increase the total number of cases.

“I don’t think we’re going to see another big, national surge in the United States because we have enough vaccinations to prevent this from happening,” said Dr. Osterholm.

Still, vaccination rates were very uneven and lower in certain states and populations. Delta could fuel outbreaks in the south, where vaccinations are delayed, or in young people who are less likely to be vaccinated than their elders.

“In places where the virus is still very vulnerable, this opens a window for the resumption of cases,” said Justin Lessler, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. “But even in these states, and certainly nationally, we are unlikely to go back to the numbers we saw last winter.”

Still, he said, it could make our way out of the pandemic longer. “The slack continues,” he said.

To be vaccinated. If you’ve already been vaccinated, encourage family, friends, and neighbors to get vaccinated. Vaccination is likely to slow the spread of all variants and reduce the likelihood that new, even more dangerous, variants will emerge.

“I encourage people who have been vaccinated to trust vaccines, but be aware that there will continue to be new varieties of transmission,” said Saskia Popescu, infectious disease epidemiologist at George Mason University. “So it’s really about ensuring local, national and global vaccinations.”

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Fauci declares delta variant ‘best risk’ to the nation’s efforts to get rid of Covid

Fauci declares delta variant 'greatest threat' to the nation's efforts to eliminate Covid

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a press conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC on Tuesday, April 13, 2021.

Leigh Vogel | Bloomberg | Getty Images

White House senior medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday the highly contagious Delta variant is the “greatest threat” to the nation’s attempt to eradicate Covid-19.

Delta, which was first identified in India, now accounts for about 20% of all new cases in the United States, up from 10% about two weeks ago, Fauci said during a White House press conference on the pandemic.

He said Delta appears to be “following the same pattern” as Alpha, the variant first found in the UK, with infections doubling in the US about every two weeks.

“Similar to the UK, the Delta variant is currently the biggest threat in the US to our attempt to eliminate Covid-19,” he said.

Fauci’s comments come after CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Friday urged Americans to get vaccinated against Covid and said she expected Delta to become the dominant coronavirus variant in the United States

Studies suggest that it is about 60% more transmissible than alpha, which was more contagious than the original strain that emerged from Wuhan, China, in late 2019

“As worrying as this Delta strain is about its hypertransmittance, our vaccines are working,” Walensky told ABC’s Good Morning America. If you get vaccinated, “you will be protected against this Delta variant,” she added.

In the UK, the Delta variety recently became the dominant variety there, surpassing Alpha, which was first discovered in the country last fall. The Delta variant now accounts for more than 60% of new cases in the UK

Health officials say there are reports that the Delta variant also causes more severe symptoms, but that more research is needed to confirm these conclusions. However, there is evidence that the Delta strain may cause different symptoms than other variants.

Fauci said Tuesday the US had “the tools” to defeat the variant and urged more Americans to get fully vaccinated against Covid and “destroy the outbreak.”

The Biden administration said Tuesday that it is unlikely to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of getting 70% of American adults to receive one or more vaccinations by July 4th.

“In this case, two weeks after the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech, the effectiveness of the vaccines was 88% effective against Delta and 93% effective against Alpha when it comes to symptomatic diseases,” said Fauci, citing a study.

The World Health Organization said Friday that Delta is becoming the predominant variant of the disease worldwide.

On Monday, WHO officials warned that the variant was the fastest and strongest coronavirus strain to date and that it would “pick up” the most vulnerable people, especially in places with low Covid-19 vaccination rates.

It has the potential to be “more deadly because it is more efficient in the way it is transmitted between people, and it will eventually find those at risk who will become seriously ill, hospitalized and possibly die”, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Emergency Health Program, said during a news conference.

Delta has now spread to 92 countries, said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director for Covid, on Monday. She said, “Unfortunately, we still don’t have the vaccines in the right places to protect people’s lives.”

WHO has urged wealthy nations, including the US, to donate cans. The Biden government detailed early Monday where it will be sending 55 million doses of vaccine, most of which will be distributed through COVAX, the WHO-supported immunization program.

“These vaccines are highly effective against serious illness and death. That is what they are intended for and that is what they must be used for,” said Van Kerkhove. “This is what COVAX and WHO and all of our partners have worked to ensure that these vaccines reach the most vulnerable people.”

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WHO says delta is turning into the dominant Covid variant globally

WHO says delta is becoming the dominant Covid variant globally

A joint government and NHS public information display will indicate that a Covid-19 variant concern has been identified locally and will provide guidance to residents on June 11, 2021 in Hounslow, UK.

Mark Kerrison | In pictures | Getty Images

Delta, the highly contagious variant of Covid-19 that was first identified in India, is becoming the dominant strain of the disease worldwide, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist said on Friday.

This is due to its “significantly increased transferability,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO senior scientist, during a press conference at the agency’s Geneva headquarters. Studies suggest Delta is about 60% more transmissible than Alpha, the variant first identified in the UK that was more contagious than the original strain that emerged from Wuhan, China in late 2019.

The situation worldwide “is so dynamic because of the variants circulating,” she added.

The variant has spread to more than 80 countries and continues to mutate as it spreads around the world, the WHO said on Wednesday. It now accounts for 10% of all new cases in the United States, up from 6% last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky urged Americans on Friday to get vaccinated against Covid, saying she expected Delta to become the dominant variant of coronavirus in the United States.

“As worrying as this Delta strain is about its hypertransmittance, our vaccines are working,” Walensky told ABC’s Good Morning America. If you get vaccinated, “you will be protected against this Delta variant,” she added.

In the UK, the Delta variety recently became the dominant variety there, surpassing Alpha, which was first discovered in the country last fall. The Delta variant now accounts for more than 60% of new cases in the UK

The WHO declared Delta a “questionable variant” last month. A variant can be described as “worrying” if, according to the health organization, it has been shown to be more contagious, more fatal, or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.

WHO officials said Wednesday there are reports that the Delta variant also causes more severe symptoms, but that more research is needed to confirm these conclusions. Still, there is evidence that the Delta strain may cause different symptoms than other variants.

Swaminathan said Friday that scientists still need more data on the variant, including how it affects the effectiveness of Covid vaccines.

The German company CureVac earlier this week named variants as one of the reasons why its Covid vaccine was only 47% effective in a clinical study with 40,000 people.

An analysis published by Public Health England on Monday found that two doses of the Pfizer BioNTech or AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective against hospitalizations from the Delta variant.

“How many become infected and how many of them are hospitalized and seriously ill?” said Swaminathan on Friday. “That is something that we are watching very closely.”

– CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt and Rich Mendez contributed to this report.

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Delta Variant: What to Know For Summer season Journey

Delta Variant: What to Know For Summer Travel

With vaccinations on the rise and mortality rates related to Covid-19 going down in Europe and other parts of the world, many people are making plans to travel this summer and beyond. But experts say the quickly circulating Delta variant is a new concern for travelers, particularly those who are unvaccinated.

The European Union said on June 18 that the United States would be added to its “safe list” of countries, a decision that should allow even unvaccinated visitors from the U.S. (who can provide proof of a negative coronavirus test) to enter its 27 member states for nonessential travel. These countries, however, can impose their own restrictions and requirements for entry.

The E.U. decision comes the same week that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention elevated the Delta variant of the coronavirus to a “variant of concern” as it appears to spread more quickly and may affect people more severely than earlier forms of the virus.

If you’re wondering how the variant will affect your travel plans, here is everything you need to know before booking a flight.

So far, the variant, first identified in India, has spread to more than 80 countries as of June 16, according to the World Health Organization. In a news conference on June 10, Dr. Hans Kluge, W.H.O.’s regional director for Europe, said that the variant was “poised to take hold” in Europe.

Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said this will probably be the case in other countries, as well.

“If you’re out and about this summer, chances that you’re going to encounter the Delta variant, either in the U.S. or in Europe or other parts of the world, are pretty high,” she said.

The Delta variant currently makes up between six and 10 percent of cases in the United States, said Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, adding that it will probably will be the dominant strain in the United States by August.

If you are fully vaccinated, particularly with a two-dose vaccine, “don’t worry about the Delta variant,” Dr. Jha said.

Millions of Americans have received either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines; both are two-dose vaccines. Studies have shown their efficacy drops only slightly when encountering variants.

“People who have been vaccinated still do quite well against this variant,” Dr. Jha said, “but it is one where you need a high degree of immunity to ward off, so you really need to have both of your doses of your vaccine.”

The C.D.C. has a global variant map that shows the countries where different variants have been identified, though it does not list infection rates. It also lists the risk level by country.

Using information from government sources compiled by the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford, The New York Times has been tracking global vaccinations, showing the percentage of people vaccinated in individual countries.

You may also look online to the national health department websites for the country you are planning to visit to get more specific data.

In Britain, for instance, where the Delta variant is already the most widespread strain, the National Health Service publishes information on the spread of the variant and vaccination rates in the country.

Unequal access to the vaccine across the world has meant that poorer countries are less adequately protected, with cases continuing to rise in parts of South America, Southeast Asia and Africa. According to the W.H.O., 75 percent of vaccine doses have gone to just 10 nations.

Updated 

June 18, 2021, 11:29 p.m. ET

Dr. Jha said it’s important to look at not just vaccination rates for the country, but also the vaccine that is being used there. Brazil, Turkey and other countries are relying on one or both of the two main vaccines manufactured by Chinese companies to inoculate their citizens.

“We don’t have data that the Chinese vaccines, for instance, are quite as good in general, and particularly around the Delta variant,” Dr. Jha said.

A recent study by the C.D.C. shows that the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines reduce the risk of infection from any form of the virus by 91 percent for fully vaccinated people. The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine is about 66 percent effective at preventing infection.

“Is it complete? No,” Dr. Nuzzo said. “But is it pretty darn good to the point that I personally would relax? Yes.”

It’s possible for vaccinated people to still be infected, she said, but the cases of this happening are quite low, and even if they get infected, they are unlikely to become ill. She added that those who have symptoms are more likely to spread the virus, so “if the vaccines did a good job at keeping you without symptoms, the likelihood that you’re going to spread it is quite low.”

If you want to further improve your odds of not getting infected, she recommends continuing to follow safety protocols like wearing a mask, social distancing and avoiding crowded, poorly ventilated indoor spaces.

If you are vaccinated but your immune system is compromised, because of a medical condition or because of certain medications you take, you should heed caution. You may not be fully protected, she said.

“If you’re an unvaccinated person, that, I think, makes your travel prospects much riskier,” Dr. Nuzzo said. “I really would not advise people traveling in an era of the increasing spread of these, not only more transmissible but possibly more severe, forms of the virus.”

Dr. Jha adds that “the simple answer” for protecting yourself as a traveler is to get vaccinated. This, he said, makes the prospect of encountering the Delta virus much less risky.

“But if you are unvaccinated or with unvaccinated people, then it really does pose a substantial risk,” he said.

He adds that travelers can use other safety measures to protect themselves, like wearing masks or social distancing, “but if you’re going to be vacationing this summer, that’s a less fun way to vacation.”

Dr. Nuzzo suggests thinking about vaccination and safety measures as different layers of protection against the virus. “Each layer adds something,” she said. “Vaccination is the thickest layer of protection against all forms of the virus.”

If your kids are over 12, get them vaccinated, said Dr. Jha. But for children under 12, who cannot yet get vaccinated in the United States, he suggests continuing to follow mask-wearing and social distancing rules. He also said that getting vaccinated yourself can help protect your children.

“The single biggest thing we can do to protect kids under 12 is to make sure everybody around them, all the adults, are vaccinated,” he said. “There’s very good evidence that when adults are vaccinated, kid infection numbers go down.”

He said that he plans to travel with his children this summer, one of whom is too young to be vaccinated.

Dr. Nuzzo, who has two young unvaccinated children, said she will, as well. “We are in a phase where we have to gauge the risks and benefits of everything that we do,” she said. “Everybody’s going to make those calculations differently.”

When the initial version of the coronavirus swept the globe last spring, much of the world hunkered down, restricting domestic movement, and many countries shut their borders to nonessential travel.

Now, many nations are opening up, but concern remains about the virus, particularly about the Delta variant. Some countries are making specific changes to their entry decisions because of the variant, while others are ordering emergency lockdowns.

On June 18, Italy’s health minister said that the nation would require a mandatory five-day quarantine and testing for people coming from Britain, even if they are vaccinated, over concerns about the Delta variant. It also extended the ban on arrivals from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

On the same day, Portugal ordered a weekend lockdown for the capital region of Lisbon, as a way to curb a surging number of virus cases. Roughly half of the reported cases stem from the Delta variant.

Rules around testing and requirements to enter another country are evolving and can change quickly from one day to the next. Make sure to check the requirements for your destination country before booking your flight, but also in the days before to you travel make sure you are following the most updated rules.

THE WORLD IS REOPENING. LET’S GO, SAFELY. Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter: Each week you’ll receive tips on traveling smarter, stories on hot destinations and access to photos from all over the world.

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Biden says delta Covid variant is ‘notably harmful’ for younger folks

Biden says delta Covid variant is 'particularly dangerous' for young people

President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Friday, June 18, 2021, regarding the achievement of 300 million COVID-19 vaccinations.

Evan Vucci | AP

President Joe Biden on Friday doubled his government’s request that Americans get vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as possible, warning that the highly transmissible Delta variant appears to be “particularly dangerous” for young people.

“The data is clear: if you are not vaccinated, there is a risk that you will become seriously ill or die or spread,” Biden said during a White House press conference.

Delta, the variant of Covid identified for the first time in India, “will make unvaccinated people even more vulnerable than it was a month ago,” he added. “It’s a more easily transmissible, potentially more deadly, and particularly dangerous variant for young people.”

Biden said that young people can best protect themselves by getting fully vaccinated.

“Please, please, when you have a shot, get the second shot as soon as you can,” he said.

The president’s remarks come as his administration’s latest goal of partially vaccinating 70% of US adults by July 4th is on the way to falling as the pace of vaccination slows.

The World Health Organization’s chief scientist said Friday that Delta is becoming the dominant strain of the disease worldwide. This is due to its “significantly increased transferability,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO senior scientist, during a press conference.

Studies suggest that Delta is about 60% more transmissible than Alpha, the variant first identified in the UK that was more contagious than the original strain that emerged from Wuhan, China in late 2019.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also said Friday that she expects Delta to become the predominant variant in the United States and urged people to get vaccinated. The variant now accounts for 10% of all new cases in the US, up from 6% last week, according to data from CDC.

“As worrying as this Delta strain is about its hypertransmittance, our vaccines are working,” Walensky told ABC’s Good Morning America. If you get vaccinated, “you will be protected against this Delta variant,” she added.

Health experts say the Delta strain is of particular concern for young people, many of whom do not yet need to be vaccinated. While scientists still don’t know if Delta is causing more severe symptoms, there is evidence that it could cause different symptoms than other variants.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the Delta variant essentially replaced Alpha, the variant that swept Europe and later the US earlier this year. He said as the virus continues to mutate, the US will need a higher percentage of the vaccinated population.

“How much more information do we need to see this virus mutate and create viruses that are more contagious?” said Offit, also a member of the FDA’s Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products. “We have to vaccinate now. Let everyone vaccinate now.”

According to the CDC, as of Friday, more than 176 million Americans, or 53.1% of the population, had had at least one injection. More than 148 million Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the agency.

States are offering incentives ranging from free beer to $ 1 million worth of lotteries to try to convince Americans to get a prick.

On Friday, Biden announced some of these incentives, including the fact that most pharmacies offer 24-hour service on select days in June.

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U.S. officers push for extra Covid vaccinations as delta variant features

U.S. officials push for more Covid vaccinations as delta variant gains

Travelers view Covid-19 results after being tested at JFK International Airport in New York on December 22, 2020.

Hit by Betancur | AFP | Getty Images

Federal health officials continue to urge more Americans to get vaccinated as the Delta variant accounts for a larger proportion of new cases in the United States.

“You need to get vaccinated to be protected from Covid-19, the Delta variant and any other variant that might come on the way,” said Jeffrey Zients, White House coordinator of the coronavirus response, Thursday.

The variant, first discovered by scientists in India, has now spread to more than 80 countries and accounts for more than 10% of new cases in the US, up from 6% last week.

“If you are vaccinated, you are protected, and if not, the threat of variants is real and growing,” said US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy in the briefing on Thursday after explaining that the Delta variant “is significantly more transferable and can be more dangerous than previous variants.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently identified the Delta variant as a variant of concern “based on increasing evidence that the Delta variant spreads more easily and compared to other variants, including B.1.1.7 (Alpha) causing more severe cases. “

New cases and deaths are falling dramatically in the United States thanks to generally successful vaccination campaigns in many states. Some parts of the country are still seeing spikes in cases and hospital admissions.

“We see that communities with the highest vaccination rates have lower new cases and hospital admissions, and communities with the lowest vaccination rates have higher new cases and hospital admissions,” Zients said.

In the UK, the Delta variant recently became the dominant strain there, outperforming its native alpha variant, which was first discovered in the country last fall. The Delta variant now accounts for more than 60% of new cases in the UK

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said last week that “we cannot allow this to happen in the United States” when he urged more people, especially young adults, to be vaccinated.

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WHO says delta Covid variant has now unfold to 80 nations and it retains mutating

WHO says delta Covid variant has now spread to 80 countries and it keeps mutating

A mobile Covid-19 vaccination centre outside Bolton Town Hall, Bolton, where case numbers of the Delta variant first identified in India have been relatively high.

Peter Byrne | PA Images | Getty Images

The delta Covid variant, first detected in India, has now spread to more than 80 countries and it continues to mutate as it spreads across the globe, World Health Organization officials said Wednesday.

The variant now makes up 10% of all new cases in the United States, up from 6% last week. Studies have shown the variant is even more transmissible than other variants. WHO officials said some reports have found that it also causes more severe symptoms, but more research is needed to confirm those conclusions.

The WHO is also tracking recent reports of a “delta plus” variant. “What I think this means is that there is an additional mutation that has been identified,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead. “In some of the delta variants we’ve seen one less mutation or one deletion instead of an additional, so we’re looking at all of it.”

The United Kingdom recently saw the delta variant become the dominant strain there, surpassing its native alpha variant, which was first detected in the country last fall. The delta variant now makes up more than 60% of new cases in the U.K.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the president, said last week that “we cannot let that happen in the United States,” as he pushed to get more people vaccinated, especially young adults.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated the delta variant as a variant of concern in the U.S. on Tuesday. The WHO designated the delta variant as a variant of concern in early May.

The WHO on Tuesday also added another Covid mutation, the lambda variant, to its list of variants of interest. The agency is monitoring more than 50 different Covid variants, but not all become enough of a public health threat to make the WHO’s formal watchlist. The lambda variant has multiple mutations in the spike protein that could have an impact on its transmissibility, but more studies are needed to fully understand the mutations, Van Kerkhove said.

The lambda variant has been detected by scientists in South America, including in Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina, thanks to increased genomic surveillance.

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Physician warns Southern states susceptible to Delta variant this summer time

Doctor warns Southern states vulnerable to Delta variant this summer

Dr. Peter Hotez warned that southern US states could feel the effects of the highly transmissible Delta-Covid variant as early as this summer, in part due to low vaccination rates.

“I’m really holding my breath about the south and what’s happening this summer,” said Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“Here in the south, especially in Louisiana, Mississippi, we are seeing really low vaccination rates. And in many of these southern states, less than 10% of teenagers are vaccinated, so we have a real vulnerability here, ”said Hotez.

A new study in the UK found that Pfizer’s vaccine was 88% effective against the Delta variant, first discovered in India.

Vaccination rates vary across the US: More than 50% of the population in many northeastern states are now fully vaccinated, compared with only about 30% of the population in many southeastern states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Tuesday, White House senior medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, on the importance of vaccines in protecting against the Delta variant, which he believes is responsible for more than 6% of US coronavirus infections that scientists have genetically sequenced.

Hotez told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that despite CDC warnings about an unexpectedly high number of cases of heart infections in 16- to 24-year-olds, he is still recommending Covid vaccinations for teenagers.

“I’m pretty confident that the possibility of severe Covid-19 from this new Delta variant is a much bigger problem, so I strongly recommend teenagers get their two doses of the vaccine,” said Hotez.

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Covid Delta variant not speedy risk to U.S.

Covid Delta variant not immediate threat to U.S.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Wednesday he believes enough Americans are fully vaccinated to delay the risk presented by the Delta Covid variant.

“The question is: Are there enough unvaccinated people that this could get into the population and start spreading more widely? I happen to think it’s unlikely that this is going to be a threat until the fall, perhaps,” the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner said on “Squawk Box.”

Gottlieb’s comments come as speculation grows that the U.K. could delay the lifting of all lockdown measures in England, set for June 21, due to the increasing prevalence of the Delta variant, which was first discovered in India.

The most severe cases involving the Delta variant appear to be in unvaccinated people or those who are only partially vaccinated, Gottlieb said. “It does seem to be a more dangerous variant. That said, two doses of the vaccine seem to be very protective.” 

“People who are fully vaccinated, I think, are pretty well protected against this new variant based on the accruing evidence,” added Gottlieb, who led the FDA in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. He’s now on the board of vaccine maker Pfizer.

On Tuesday, the White House’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, stressed the importance of Americans becoming fully vaccinated to protect against the Delta variant. Currently, Fauci said it accounts for more than 6% of the U.S. coronavirus infections that scientists have genetically sequenced.

The Delta variant, meanwhile, is becoming the dominant variant in the United Kingdom. The U.S. and U.K. now have around 53% of adults fully vaccinated against Covid. However, Gottlieb said England’s decision to delay the administration of second doses in order to give more people initial shots “probably opened the door to this spreading a little bit more widely.” 

At a White House briefing Tuesday, Fauci called out as examples Covid vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca — which is used in the U.K. but not the U.S. — saying they were around 33% effective in protecting against the Delta variant after one dose. For Pfizer, that rose to 88% efficacy after the second shot, Fauci said, while AstraZeneca’s vaccine was 60% effective, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“It does appear that two doses of the vaccine are more important against these variants than they were against the old strain of the virus,” Gottlieb said.

Despite vaccination progress in the U.S., Gottlieb acknowledged there could be worrisome situations in the country involving the Delta variant. “If you have a community where there’s a lot of unvaccinated people and you have a super-spreading event with Delta … you could get an outbreak here.”

Covid cases in the U.S. continue to fall. The country’s seven-day average of daily new coronavirus infections is around 14,400, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. That’s about 17% lower than it was a week ago. It also represents an over 60% decline from roughly a month ago. The highest single day of new cases in the U.S. was 300,462 on Jan. 2.

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus, health-care tech company Aetion and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ and Royal Caribbean’s “Healthy Sail Panel.”

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U.S. should vaccinate extra individuals earlier than Delta turns into dominant Covid variant

U.S. must vaccinate more people before Delta becomes dominant Covid variant

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, testifies during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing about the federal response to the coronavirus on Capitol Hill March 18, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Susan Walsh | Swimming pool | Getty Images

U.S. health officials are making efforts to get more Americans vaccinated to prevent the Delta variant, first identified in India, from spreading to the United States.

The variant has become the dominant variety in the UK, accounting for an estimated 60% of new cases. It’s now more common than the Alpha strain, formerly known as the B.1.1.7 strain and first identified in the UK, and transmission peaks in people between the ages of 12 and 20, said Dr. Anthony Fauci., White House chief medical officer, said at a news conference Tuesday.

In the US, the delta variant makes up more than 6% of the cases that scientists have been able to sequence, he said. The real number is likely higher since the US does the genetic sequence on a fraction of the time.

“In the UK, the Delta variant is quickly becoming the dominant variant … It replaces the B.1.1.7,” said Fauci. “We cannot allow that in the USA.”

President Joe Biden’s goal is to have at least one vaccination of 70% of all US adults by July 4th. It’s a bit of a chore, less than four weeks before it starts and 63.7% of the adult population got their first vaccination, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 53% of all adults in the United States are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

First discovered in October, the Delta variant has spread to at least 62 countries, the World Health Organization announced last week.

“We continue to see significantly increased transmissibility and a growing number of countries reporting outbreaks associated with this variant,” the WHO said last week of the Delta strain, noting that further studies were a high priority.

The Delta Tribe has India in a stranglehold, causing a surge in infections and deaths that has clogged hospital systems. The Indian government announced Monday that the country will shortly begin making Covid-19 vaccines available to all adults in the country free of charge.

Fauci also said the Delta variant is more contagious and could be associated with a higher risk of hospitalization than the original “wild-type” Covid-19 strain.

Studies also show that two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca shots are effective against the Delta strain, according to the National Institutes of Health.

According to NIH data, two doses of the Pfizer vaccine were found to be 88% effective against the Delta variant, while two doses of the AstraZeneca shot were 60% effective against the strain.

Fauci emphasized the importance of receiving two doses after NIH studies showed that three weeks after administration, just one dose of either vaccine provided only 33% effectiveness against the Delta variant.