June 23 coronavirus news

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Mahtani, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 4:39 PM ET, Wed June 23, 2021
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8:26 a.m. ET, June 23, 2021

Delta could soon be the dominant strain in areas with low vaccination rates, Fauci says 

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 26.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 26. Sarah Silbiger/AFP/Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CBS This Morning Wednesday the Delta variant could be the dominant strain in areas of the US that have low vaccination rates in a matter of weeks. 

While the variant spreads more efficiently and data from the UK indicate that it makes people more seriously ill, Fauci said the vaccines in use in the US work well against it. 

“It will be the dominant strain among those areas, those regions of the country where the vaccination rate is lower than we would like,” Fauci said when asked if he was expecting Delta to be the dominant strain in a matter of weeks. “For those areas where you have a high vaccination rate, you’re not going to see that. Again, another powerful reason why we need to get vaccinated.”