Fauci urges anti-vaxxers to 'realize that the common enemy is the virus'

• Dr. Anthony Fauci says COVID-19 death rates are high largely due to unvaccinated people.
• In a "Meet the Press" interview that aired Sunday, Fauci said these deaths are "avoidable and preventable."
• He also urged anti-vaxxers to realize that the "formidable enemy" is the coronavirus.

As the Delta variant continues nationwide, Dr. Anthony Fauci is urging Americans - and anti-vaxxers in particular - to protect themselves against the coronavirus.

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview that aired Sunday, Fauci called the coronavirus pandemic a "formidable enemy" that's "tragically really disrupted our planet now for about a year and a half."

He alluded to anti-vaxxers who have been at best hesitant to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

"Whatever the reasons," he said, "some of them are ideological, some of them are just fundamentally anti-vax or anti-science or what have you. But, you know, we just need to put that aside now. We're dealing with a historic situation with this pandemic. And we do have the tools to counter it. So for goodness' sakes, put aside all of those differences and realize that the common enemy is the virus."

The variant has been detected in all 50 states, and health officials all over - including Fauci and others across city, state, and federal levels - continue to urge Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Five states in particular - Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada, and Utah - are susceptible to the Delta variant.

More than 605,000 people have died from the coronavirus since its inception in the United States, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. About 47% of the total US population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, JHU data says.

President Joe Biden said he hoped at least 70% of all adults in the country would receive at least one dose by the Fourth of July holiday this year. Twenty states have already hit the 70% partial vaccination rate among their adult populations. But nationwide, the White House conceded Biden's goal would likely fall short.

In the same interview, Fauci said deaths from the coronavirus are at this point "avoidable and preventable."

"The overwhelming proportion of people who get into trouble are the unvaccinated," Fauci said. "Which is the reason why we say this is really entirely avoidable and preventable."

Nearly all of the people who've died from COVID-19 in recent months were unvaccinated, according to a report from the Associated Press.