Dr. Fauci and CDC chief Walensky say vaccines, not masks, are the weapon to ...

Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky have said that getting vaccinated is more important than wearing a mask to combat the Indian Delta variant of COVID-19.

The two health experts spoke at a White House press briefing Thursday, amid a 10 percent spike in COVID cases nationwide and said that vaccinated residents are, in fact, protected from the variant and the WHO’s recommendations are meant for communities with low vaccination rates.

White House COVID tsar Fauci said, ‘You have a broad recommendation for the country as a whole that, if you are vaccinated, you have a high degree of protection so you need not wear a mask indoor or outdoor. 

'But also as it’s been said and as the CDC has recommended, there’s a degree of flexibility. People at the local level, depending on the on-ground situation, will make recommendations or not according to the local situation.’ 

Furthermore, they said that it is more important for unvaccinated residents to get their shots to protect against the Delta variant as opposed to wearing face masks. 

Receiving one dose of a two-dose mRNA vaccine - those made by Pfizer and Moderna - is not believed to offer sufficient protection from the highly-infectious Delta variant. But completing the two dose vaccine is currently thought to offer around 96 per cent protection from serious illness as a result of a COVID infection. 

The Delta variant is now believed to account for a fifth of new COVID infections in the US, amid fears numbers could soon surge, especially in areas with low vaccination take-up.  

Walensky spoke with TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday to address confusion over masks in reference to the World Health Organization’s recommendations. 

Los Angeles County Health Department has urged even fully-vaccinated locals to begin wearing the face coverings indoors, although it has stopped short of making that advice

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