Fauci: If community spread doesn't get under control, US 'may sooner or later get another variant'

The more the virus spreads, the more it has "ample opportunity" to mutate, Fauci said.

If the U.S. does not get control over the community spread of the delta COVID variant, the nation will continue to see more variants that evade the protection of the vaccines, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the White House. "That will happen, George, if we don't get good control over the community spread which is the reason why I and my colleagues keep saying and over again, it is very important to get as many people vaccinated as we possibly can," Fauci told anchor "GMA" George Stephanopoulos Thursday. "People who say, 'I don't want to get vaccinated because it's me and I'll worry about me, I'm not having any impact on anybody else,' that's just not the case," Fauci said. 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 of whether the person gets mild symptoms, or even no symptoms at all.