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The spread of the Delta coronavirus variant in the United States has some experts questioning whether it should be time to start testing even vaccinated people for the virus. Although health officials have said evidence shows vaccinated people are unlikely to spread the virus to others, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, says it may be important to watch to make sure the more transmissible Delta variant does not evade the effects of vaccines. (Howard and Enriquez, 7/8)

Twenty four states have seen an uptick of at least 10% in Covid-19 cases over the past week as health experts and the federal government keep pressing for more people to get vaccinated. The rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus has only ratcheted up the pressure. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that the variant, first identified in India, has accounted for more than half of all new Covid-19 infections in the country. (Elamroussi, 7/8)

With the Delta (B1617.2) variant outpacing COVID-19 vaccination in many countries, the world is at a perilous point in the pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said today. The warning comes a day after the WHO reported that cases have risen for the second week in a row, with nearly all regions reporting illness spikes. (Schnirring, 7/7)

While the world reels under the effects of the Delta variant, a new Covid-19 mutation is now on the radar of several countries. The Lambda variant, or C.37, believed to have originated from Peru, was designated as a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 14. A variant of interest categorisation is a level below the “variant of concern.” (Kapur and Lahiri, 7/8)

A new study has found that COVID-19 vaccines may be somewhat vulnerable to the California “Epsilon” strain of virus. The variant has three spike protein mutations it uses to weaken current vaccines by up to 70 percent, according to researchers from University of Washington and the San Francisco-based lab Vir Biotechnology. The strain’s mutations break down neutralized antibodies, which are produced by vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna and protect against infection, according to the study, published in the journal Science on July 1. (O'Neill, 7/7)