Corona crisis: Anthony Fauci warns of a more dangerous virus variant than Delta

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Anthony Fauci (archive image): Adviser to President Joe Biden warns of a new variant

Photo: Stefani Reynolds / CNP / MediaPunch / imago images / MediaPunch

Since President Joe Biden took office, the United States' corona policy has actually been a success story.

The vaccination campaign got off to a strong start, while the number of new infections fell rapidly in the spring.

Now, however, the delta variant has also fully arrived in the USA and is worsening the situation again.

At the same time, there are a significant number of people who oppose the vaccination and who are reluctant to take the protective measure.

Now the US health expert Anthony Fauci has warned against the development of a new, even more dangerous variant if the spread of the highly contagious Delta mutant is not contained.

Fauci said on NBC on Sunday: “If you allow the virus to circulate freely and don't try to stop it, then sooner or later there is a chance that you will get another variant (...) that still could be more problematic than Delta. "

If the virus can spread and change further, there is a risk that in the end a variant will develop that the current vaccines - unlike Delta - would not protect against.

The pandemic must be brought under control, warned the prominent immunologist and presidential advisor.

The best way to do this is to have vaccinations.

Vaccination requirements at the local level would be helpful.

"Terrible price" for refusing to vaccinate

Many vaccine skeptics point out that the vaccines against the coronavirus in the USA only have an emergency approval so far.

According to Fauci, the most important vaccines could soon be finally approved.

"I hope this will be the case in August," said the virologist.

The director of the US research agency National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, warned that vaccination requirements could make a difference.

He told the broadcaster ABC that the country is now paying the "terrible price" for the fact that so many people are not vaccinated.

Considerations to make vaccinations compulsory on a larger scale are the subject of heated political disputes in the USA.

Due to the spread of the delta variant, the number of new infections in the USA has risen sharply again - to around 100,000 cases on a seven-day average.

The situation is particularly tense in countries with a low vaccination rate.

In the second half of June, the seven-day average was around 11,000 new cases per day.

The United States last reported an average of 100,000 new infections every day in February.

Authority recommends masks for children

According to the US health authority CDC, well over half of the entire population is now fully vaccinated.

Almost 59 percent of all citizens have received at least one dose of vaccine.

After a rapid pace, the vaccination campaign is now making slow progress in view of the widespread skepticism among the population.

President Biden and high-ranking government officials are increasingly desperate for the population to get vaccinated.

The CDC also recommended on Sunday, with reference to the risk of infection even from asymptomatic children, that all children from the age of two should wear masks in public indoor spaces - and thus expressly also in schools.

Education Minister Miguel Cardona joined this council on the CBS broadcaster.

The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, had previously banned all school districts from making mask compulsory - although his state has been particularly hard hit by the recent corona wave.

DeSantis is profiling itself as a populist in the crisis - and is likely to already have a possible candidacy in the 2024 presidential election in mind.

jok / dpa