Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that unvaccinated people are giving Covid a chance to mutate into a more deadly strain urging Americans to get the vaccine.
“When the virus spreads through the unvaccinated population, as it is doing rapidly now in many states with low vaccination rates, it can mutate regardless whether the person gets mild symptoms at all,” Fauci told Good Morning America.
“And when you give it an ample opportunity to mutate, you may sooner or later get another variant.”
The expert warned that the coronavirus may “smolder” during the autumn and winter seasons if the number of the unvaccinated population is “overwhelming.”
“We’re very lucky that the vaccines we have now do very well against the variants – particularly against severe illness,” he added.
“We’re very fortunate that that’s the case. There could be a variant that’s lingering out there that can push aside delta.”
