Health experts warn of Delta Variant

The Delta Variant could be weeks away from becoming the dominant COVID-19 variant in the country.

Health experts say it spreads more easily and could be more dangerous. It’s the same variant that ravaged India and now it’s been identified in more than 85 countries including the U.S. which is why world leaders are working together to ramp up global vaccine distribution.

But right now, less than 11 percent of people around the world are fully vaccinated.

In the U.S. more than 46 percent of people have been fully vaccinated, but Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Wyoming are among the states with the lowest vaccination rates. Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said, “It’s going to be hyper-regionalized where there are certain parts of the country, we can have very dense outbreaks.”

Chair of Global Public Health, Univ. of Edinburgh Devi Sridhar said, “Either you get vaccinated and you’re exposed and you are protected or you don’t get vaccinated and you get Covid and you take your chances.”

One health expert is calling for more of a grassroots, bottom-up campaign to get more people vaccinated by empowering local leaders and doctors to reach out to their own communities.