Health officials in Wilmington advise residents to get vaccinated to fight COVID-19 Delta variant

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) —Local health officials continuing the push to get North Carolinians vaccinated, to help fight COVID-19 and the new Delta variant.

Dr. Paul Kamitsuka, an infectious disease specialist at Wilmington Health, says the best protection again the new strain are mRNA vaccines, like the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna.

Both are reportedly very effective against the Delta variant.

So far, there have not been any confirmed cases of the new strain in the Cape Fear, but Kamitsuka says its characteristics should be reason for concern.

“Delta appears to be significantly more than alarming, in the sense that 60% more contagious than the UK variant, which was in turn more contagious than the viruses that were circulating last year, and there does appear to be some mounting evidence that it also causes more severe disease,” said Dr. Dr. Paul Kamitsuka, infectious disease physician at Wilmington Health and chief epidemiologist at NHRMC

Kamitsuka says the Delta variant is expected to be the dominant strain within the next 3 weeks.