Your questions, answered "A recent statistic from Great Britain showed that 29 percent of those who were hospitalized and died from the delta variant had received a full course (two doses) of the vaccine. Why are American public health officials not more concerned? Everyone is saying very generally that the vaccinated are protected. Are we sure?" —Laura in Maryland Even several weeks ago, the delta coronavirus variant, which has taken over as the dominant strain in the United Kingdom, accounted for a small number of cases of covid-19 in the United States. But as the variant — also known as B.1.617.2 — quickly gains ground here, U.S. health authorities are expressing growing concern. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has upgraded the delta variant to a "variant of concern," and CDC director Rochelle Walensky recently said the variant may soon become dominant in the United States. "When these viruses mutate, they do so with some advantage to the virus. In this case, it is more transmissible," she said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America." "It's more transmissible than the alpha variant, or the U.K. variant, that we have here. We saw that quickly become the dominant strain in a period of one or two months, and I anticipate that is going to be what happens with the delta strain here." Walensky said the CDC is concerned because as the variant mutates, it could start evading available vaccines. "That's really what we're actively trying to prevent, which is why we're really encouraging people to get vaccinated," she said. As it stands, more than 150 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Research from Public Health England showed the vaccines, particularly Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca, were 33 percent effective against symptomatic infection from the delta variant after one dose. But after the second dose, Pfizer, an mRNA vaccine, was 88 percent effective and AstraZeneca, an adenovirus-vectored vaccine, was 60 percent effective. And the shots appear to be just as powerful at preventing hospitalizations from the delta variant as they are at preventing hospitalizations from other variants. "I will say, as worrisome as this delta strain is with regard to its hyper-transmissibility, our vaccines work," Walensky said on "Good Morning America." So to answer your question, yes the delta variant is more contagious, more likely to cause severe illness and shows moderate signs of resistance to post-infection and post-vaccination immunity. But in the British study you referenced, the 42 deaths were among more than 33,000 people who contracted the delta variant, and only about 8 percent of that total number were fully vaccinated. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, said that the vaccine does provide protection against the variant. It's just that when millions and millions of people are vaccinated — many of whom are older with preexisting health conditions — "you are bound to have breakthroughs and you will see a few hospitalizations and deaths," he said. He said people should still "be careful" — by getting vaccinated and continuing to wear masks. | 
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