Leading infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed his approval of requiring students returning to in-person classes to get COVID vaccines during a conversation with CNN's "State of the Union" over the weekend.
The 80 year old director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who warned that the U.S. might reach up to 100,000 new COVID deaths by the end of the year said forcing students to get COVID vaccines is a must.
"I believe that mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea," Dr. Fauci told "State of the Union'' host Jake Tapper on Sunday, as reported by the New York Post.
While the Chief White House medical adviser does not expect federal vaccine mandates to be implemented in universities and schools, he believes that schools should take it upon themselves to implement vaccine mandates, especially now that the Pfizer jab has been given full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Fauci argued that a vaccine mandate for students "is not something new." He explained, "We have mandates in many places in schools, particularly public schools, that if in fact you want a child to come in-we've done this for decades and decades requiring [vaccines for] polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis."
For example, in New York City, public school students are already required to receive multiple doses of nine different vaccinations throughout their educational years. According to Fox News, a small school district in Los Angeles, the Culver City Unified School District, is one of the first in the country to require students aged 12 and above to get COVID vaccines.
In the U.S., the FDA has fully approved the Pfizer COVID vaccine for individuals aged 16 and older, while it has a Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for children aged 12 to 16. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to recommend Americans aged 12 and above get COVID vaccines. The health organization is monitoring the rise of COVID cases and deaths across the country, the latter of which Dr. Fauci predicts to reach 100,000 by December.
The Guardian reported that Dr. Fauci predicts upwards of 100,000 COVID deaths in the U.S. alone following the increasing trend in different states. Recent statistics from Johns Hopkins University revealed that the virus' delta variant has increased rates of fatality by more than 50% in just one week across 14 states and by at least 10% in 28 more states. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University said on Sunday that the U.S. death toll from COVID is almost at 637,000.
"What is going on now is both entirely predictable and entirely preventable," Dr. Fauci said, arguing further that it's now even more important to get vaccinated in the face of increased deaths from COVID.
The chief medical adviser to the White House pressed that by forcing students and those in the private sectors to get COVID vaccines, "we could turn this thing around."
He added, "It's so important that people in this crisis put aside any ideological and political differences and just get vaccinated."
