
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s Today show Wednesday that the Delta variant will dominate in many parts of the US in several weeks to a month – but fully vaccinated people can do all the things they want on July 4.
Fauci said the Delta variant has “exploded” in the UK and said that the doubling time of the variant is around two weeks.
“Right now, it’s at 20%, Savannah, of our isolates, so you would expect just the doubling time, you know, in several weeks to a month or so, it’s going to be quite dominant,” Fauci told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. However, the vaccines that are being distributed now work well against this “problematic variant.”
The people that concern Fauci are those who are unvaccinated.
“It’s very difficult. We’re beyond, Savannah, the larger mass vaccination program. Right now, it’s got to be in the trenches,” he said, when asked how he would explain the large numbers of unvaccinated people.
“Many people just need more information. They’ve let it go, they haven’t paid attention to it,” he said. “They have to start paying attention to it now, because if they are unvaccinated, they are at risk. Whereas those who are vaccinated can have a great Fourth of July, I mean, you could just do all the things you want to do on the Fourth of July if, in fact, you’re vaccinated.”
