Fauci warns of 'two Americas' due to widening gap between vaccinated and unvaccinated

Authored by thehill.com and submitted by Jeremy_Martin
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Anthony Fauci Anthony FauciFeehery: Trump should endorse DeSantis Last foreign scientist to work at Wuhan lab: 'What people are saying is just not how it is' Arkansas governor implores people to get vaccinated as COVID-19 cases rise in state MORE, the nation's leading infectious diseases doctor, on Tuesday said he is concerned that the widening gap between the vaccinated and unvaccinated in America will get worse, leading to possible spikes in coronavirus cases.

"When you have such a low level of vaccination superimposed upon a variant that has a high degree of efficiency of spread, what you are going to see among undervaccinated regions, be that states, cities or counties, you're going to see these individual types of blips," Fauci said during an appearance on Don Lemon Don Carlton LemonDC officer who protected Capitol says Republican rep refused to shake hands Club for Growth bashes CNN in social media ad CNN ramps up streaming plans ahead of Discovery merger: report MORE's CNN show. "It's almost like it's going to be two Americas."

Federal health officials say after an initial surge of Americans being vaccinated, inoculation rates, particularly in the Southeast and rural Midwest, have declined.

Sixty-six percent of American adults have reportedly been partially vaccinated against the coronavirus, a total that falls short of President Biden Joe BidenCriminal justice group urges clemency for offenders released to home confinement during pandemic Progressive poll: Majority supports passing Biden agenda through reconciliation Transportation moves to ban airline ticket sales to Belarus amid arrest of opposition journalist MORE's stated goal of 70 percent by July 4.

The lag in vaccination rates comes as the delta variant, believed to have begun in India, spreads throughout the world, with a number of cases being reported in the United States in recent weeks.

Recent studies have shown that vaccines being used in the U.S. are effective in fighting off the variant, but unvaccinated Americans remain at high risk of catching the more contagious strain.

"This is entirely avoidable, entirely preventable," Fauci said. "If you are vaccinated, you diminish dramatically your risk of getting infected and even more dramatically your risk of getting seriously ill. If you are not vaccinated, you are at considerable risk."

The president has said he is confident the federal government will be able to vaccinate as many Americans as possible and fully reopen the American economy by the end of the year.

"Together, we built an unparalleled vaccination program and managed one of the biggest and most complicated logistical challenges in American history," Biden said earlier this month. “What we’re seeing is a truly American accomplishment."

PMmeYourbuckets on June 30th, 2021 at 15:04 UTC »

I'd say it's more likely that there was two Americas already, and the vaccination gap is a symptom of that not a cause.

Santa_on_a_stick on June 30th, 2021 at 13:09 UTC »

In my state, the city I live in has ~100x the population of the small town I grew up in, but has about half of the reported cases of covid over the last week.

I'm starting to think we may have another pretty bleak fall/winter in front of us.

SomeGuyNamedPaul on June 30th, 2021 at 12:50 UTC »

At work we have an annual health screening that halves the cost of insurance. They're adding getting vaccinated to the list of requirements, though they claim that there will be an alternative. Hopefully the only alternative is a positive Covid test. It also sounds like they may be gearing up to requiring vaccination for being able to return to the office.