Former head of the Food and Drug Administration Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus is becoming prevalent in unvaccinated communities in the United Kingdom.
During an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation”, Gottlieb told host John Dickerson that the delta variant, a more infectious strain of the virus that has surged in the U.S. since spring, doesn’t appear to be more dangerous than other variants of the virus, but he noted it is infecting more members of unvaccinated communities, especially children.
“It doesn’t necessarily appear more pathogenic, meaning more dangerous, but it’s infecting people more easily and it’s starting to become very prevalent in the UK in communities that are unvaccinated,” Gottlieb told Dickerson.”So kids, for example, young people seem to be the population that’s spreading it in the United Kingdom.”
Dickerson also asked Gottlieb if the spread of the more infectious delta variant, which is thought to be as much as 60 percent more infectious that previous strains, might prod people who haven’t received a vaccine to do so.
“Yeah, I think that’s right,” Gottlieb responded, going on to compare states who have high and low vaccination rates.
“But when you do look at those estimates, you see it varies widely between states. So Connecticut, for example, where I am, shows no upsurge of infection, but Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri show very substantial upsurges of infections,” Gottlieb said. “That’s based entirely on how much population wide immunity you have based on vaccination.”
America looks to be on track to miss President Biden’s goal of having 70 percent of the country vaccinated by July 4. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, 65 percent of American adults have received one vaccine shot while 45 percent are fully vaccinated.
Biden on Friday cited the danger posed by the delta variant in pleading with people to get vaccinated.
“It’s a variant that is more easily transmissible, potentially deadlier and particularly dangerous for young people, but the good news is we have the solution,” Biden said, adding that the “science and the data are clear” that vaccines are the most effective form of protection against the variant.