Experts are concerned that the spread of the Delta variant and the decline in vaccination rates in the US may spell disaster for those yet to get inoculated
Those still dying from Covid-19 in the US are “overwhelmingly” unvaccinated, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Tuesday.
“This virus is an opportunist,” Walensky said. “As long as there are those who are not vaccinated, Covid-19 will remain a threat.”
While Fauci thinks a return to the high virus surges of 2020 is unlikely, communities with low vaccination rates could experience localized surges because of the Delta variant, he said earlier this week. Full vaccination with current vaccines is effective against Delta, he has said.
“For those areas where you have a high vaccination rate, you’re not going to see” Delta become dominant, Fauci told CBS Wednesday. “Again, another powerful reason why we need to get vaccinated.”
Using TikTok to reach young adults
Standing in the way of closing the vaccination gap are young people and states with low vaccination rates, Fauci said.
“It’s a combination of some states and regions that are below where we need them to be,” Fauci told CNN. “Within that context, it’s younger people — particularly 18 to 26 — where you really want to try and get them to get vaccinated.”
Fewer than half of the adults in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Wyoming have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to data from the CDC.
And even in high vaccination states, like Vermont, young adults are a “tough nut to crack,” Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine told CNN.
As of Monday, 81.3% of eligible Vermonters had started the vaccination process. Levine said he knows that if he can get that younger demographic to get vaccinated, the state numbers would look even better “because there are thousands of thousands of them and we do think they want to be vaccinated.”
Levine is confident that the college-going part of this age group will get vaccinated, if they haven’t already, because most colleges and universities in the state have required, or will require, the vaccine. He still has some concerns about the 18- to 29-year-olds who are in the work force and not in college.
“Most of them are not a truly vaccine-resistant group,” Levine said. “They don’t have that strong polarized view. They’re mostly in the category where it’s just not at the top of their list right now.”
Levine said one strategy that might work is to make vaccinations and information so accessible that young people stumble onto it — and Fauci has taken on the challenge with a TikTok.
“I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams I would be doing TikTok with people today,” Fauci told CNN, noting misinformation about the vaccine has been spreading on social media.
“We’ve got to go out there and push the envelope out in the media — including the media that’s giving misinformation,” Fauci said.
A new target date for vaccinations
Officials and experts have been putting extra effort into increasing vaccination rates as the country is on a path to fall short of Biden’s goal to have 70% of adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4.
“We’ve made tremendous progress in our vaccination efforts to date, and the ultimate goal has been to get America back to normal,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said this week.
Fauci said the new date officials have set their focus on is mid-July.
“If you look at the rate now, it’s probably going to be within the first couple of weeks of July,” Fauci said. “Maybe the second or third week of July.”
Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, said he does not think it’s a “big deal” for the nation to fall slightly short of the July 4 target.
“You set a goal. If you reach it, great. If you don’t, you keep going to try and reach it and go beyond it,” he said.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Virginia Langmaid, Naomi Thomas, Michael Nedelman, Kaitlan Collins and Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.
