Delta variant of increasing concern, accounts for 6 percent of new U.S. coronavirus infections, 60 % in UK

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Wed, 2021-06-09 14:50 — mike kraft

Delta variant accounts for 6 percent of new U.S. coronavirus infections But vaccines appear to be highly effective in blocking symptoms of the latest, fast-spreading version of the coronavirus, health officials reported June 8. Lenny Bernstein Washington Post

A highly transmissible coronavirus variant first identified in India accounts for 6 percent of new infections in the United States, the Biden administration said Tuesday. Yet vaccines appear to be highly effective against this version of the virus that has quickly spread into Great Britain and elsewhere.

Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious-disease expert, revealed the extent of the variant’s push into the United States, but said it appears to be slowed by vaccines.

“It’s essentially taking over” in the United Kingdom, Fauci said at a briefing for reporters. “We cannot let that happen in the United States, which is such a powerful argument” for vaccination, he said.

Fauci referred to data from Britain’s public health agency that shows two doses of the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca are 88 percent effective in preventing symptomatic disease caused by the new variant, also known as delta. He said in an interview that the Pfizer data would be similar for Moderna’s product, which also is an mRNA vaccine.

What we know about the highly infectious coronavirus delta variant

But one vaccine dose offers just 33 percent protection, the data shows, a reminder of how strongly the second shot boosts immunity to the virus, Fauci said. With the United States in the midst of providing vaccines to adolescents and other people who have waited to get them, second doses are critical, he said.

Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said virus transmission in Britain is “peaking” among 12- to 20-year olds, one of the groups that the United States is rushing to vaccinate. In Britain, he said, the delta variant now accounts for more than 60 percent of new infections. Some British scientists are warning that the country faces a third wave of infection. ...

At the same briefing, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported the continuing decline of coronavirus cases in the United States. She said “just over 10,000 new cases of covid-19,” the disease caused by the virus, were reported Monday, and the rolling seven-day average of cases totaled 13,277. ...

Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the task force, said the American Hospital Association will help employers find medical partners to open pop-up vaccine sites at workplaces during business hours, and Uber and Lyft will continue providing free transportation to vaccine centers through July 4. ...

ALSO SEE: Delta variant of COVID-19 sparks public health concern across Southern US

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