Conservatives are leaving America wide open to the Delta variant

Vaccine refusal means a surge in new cases is all but inevitable

The United States.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

The United Kingdom is suffering another major coronavirus outbreak. Cases have increased by roughly 15-fold since May, and are still soaring upwards. This is despite the fact that the U.K. is one of the most-vaccinated countries in the world, with about 68 percent of the population having at least one dose and 50 percent with two.

The reason is the Delta variant, which is much more contagious and possibly more deadly and now makes up the overwhelming majority of U.K. infections. There appear to be both outbreaks in clusters of people who are not vaccinated yet, and also a significant number of "breakthrough" infections that got past the vaccine — though importantly, vaccination still seems to prevent almost all serious illness, as U.K. hospitalizations have increased far, far less than cases.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.