TAMPA - Health experts said today the Delta variant originating in India is on its way to becoming the dominant strain in the U.S.

New research that’s getting published this week from genomics sequencing company Helix finds the Delta variant is growing faster in U.S. counties with lower vaccination rates.

When it comes to variants, Florida had the most cases nationwide when it was last updated by the CDC in April.

The CDC has no surveillance of Delta.

According to Helix, Florida currently has the most cases of variants and Delta.

In their research Helix found the dominant Alpha variant cases have dropped to almost half in a matter of weeks.

These cases have presumably been displaced by Delta and Gamma.

USF's Dr. Tom Unnasch said what will remain of coronavirus cases in the next few months will be those more infectious and disease severe variants.

"So case numbers are down but vaccinations are also down,” said Dr. Unnasch from USF’s Center for Globlal Infectious Disease Research.  “My concern is that as this Delta variant takes hold we could see another uptick in case numbers and the vaccination numbers aren't going to be sufficient enough to keep up with that."Vaccinations are down in Florida two thirds from their peak in April said Dr. Unnasch.

His prediction of 70% of adults vaccinated by late June is not going to happen.

He said it's now looking like October to reach that goal in Florida.

Medical experts also said vaccines are working against the Delta variant but it's spreading aggressively among unvaccinated individuals.

The Gamma variant is less transmissible but the vaccine is less efficient against it.