The so-called “delta” variant of the coronavirus, originally known as the Indian variant, is now accounting for about one in 15 new coronavirus cases in the United States, the Washington Post reports.
The delta variant is currently the predominant strain sweeping through the United Kingdom, and it could take precedent here in the United States because it is more likely to infect young people who aren’t vaccinated. Data from the UK show that the delta variant is “peaking” among 12- to 20-year olds and now accounts for 60% of the new cases across the nation.
“It’s essentially taking over” in the United Kingdom, Dr. Anthony 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.
While the vaccines help to stem the spread of coronavirus, they are not absolute protection against infection and the vaccines may not be as effective against new variants. One key piece of data is that people who only receive one dose of the vaccines that have a two-dose regimen have only a 33% effectiveness against some of the new variants.
The World Health Organization recently instituted a more scientific nomenclature for the various strains of the coronavirus, renaming the UK (B.1.1.7) variant, alpha; the South Africa (B.1.351) variant, beta; the Brazil (P1) variant, gamma; and the Indian (B.1.617.2), delta.