US senior health official warns of 'pandemic of the unvaccinated'

One of the US' top healthcare officials has warned of a "pandemic of the unvaccinated" as parts of the United States experience a surge in COVID-19 infection rates, fuelled by the Delta variant, according to a recent news report of The Irish Times.

"We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk, and communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well," said Rochelle Walensky, head of the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at a press briefing on Friday. "This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated."

She warned of "patterns of local outbreaks" driven by community transmission in some parts of the country where people were not vaccinated, adding that 97 percent of people entering hospital with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

"The good news is that if you are fully vaccinated, you are protected against severe COVID, hospitalisation and death, and are even protected against the known variants – including the Delta variant – circulating in the country. If you are not vaccinated, you remain at risk. And our biggest concern is that we are going to continue to see preventable cases, hospitalisations and, sadly, deaths among the unvaccinated."