Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday the British variant of coronavirus is spreading fast enough that it could become the dominant strain of the virus in the United States by the end of March.
Speaking during a virtual news briefing by the White House COVID-19 response team, Fauci said the original strain of coronavirus is currently still “dominant” in the U.S.
But Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the president, said models show that the British strain, referred to as the B117 variant, is spreading quickly and could be the dominant strain in the U.S. within about six weeks.
The encouraging news, Fauci said, is that current vaccines currently being distributed in the United States have shown to be quite effective against the B117 variant. But he cautioned they are less effective against the so-called South African variant.
Fauci said the hope is that the virus will be brought much more under control before the variant can become dominant in the United States. He said, “It gets back to vaccinating as many people as you possibly can and implementing the public health measures.”
According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, at least 32 million Americans have received at one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 9.5 million have received two doses.
