Public Health

The White House is doing the right thing when it comes to combating the Covid-19 Delta variant, says Gottlieb

The Biden government is taking the right approach in tackling the highly contagious Covid-19 Delta variant by deploying response teams to vulnerable communities, said Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Thursday.

“I think the government is doing the right thing when it comes to changing its strategy,” Gottlieb, the former FDA chief under former President Donald Trump, told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” about the grassroots approach new government.

Gottlieb explained that the targeted response can help teams focus on vaccinating the communities prone to Covid and the Delta variant.

“Right now we need to move to a grassroots strategy and try to put resources into local communities so that local groups can encourage people to get vaccinated, put the vaccines in the hands of doctors, and find ways to get more vaccines to get into the hands of small providers who can encourage their patients to vaccinate, “said Gottlieb.

The Delta variant is driving a sharp spike in new Covid cases across the country and currently accounts for about 25% of the new cases sequenced in the US. Officials believe it will become the dominant strain in the country, dwarfing the currently dominant alpha variant.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, attributed the increase in part to delayed vaccination rates. The CDC director added that about a third of all counties across the country have so far vaccinated less than 30% of their population. She said most of them are in the South and Midwest.

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC employee and a member of the board of directors of Pfizer, genetic testing startup Tempus, health technology company Aetion Inc., and biotechnology company Illumina.

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