Fauci supports that vaccination against covid is mandatory 0:23
[cnn-podcat episodeguid = 136cb8b0-20ac-4f04-9c62-ad7f00f2d2ff]
(CNN) -
As Americans prepare for a new school year amid rising COVID-19 cases, experts say there is no time to waste in increasing vaccination rates that are already on the rise.
Currently, the US has an average of 486,332 people a day starting their vaccination, which is a 10% increase from last week's rate, and the highest daily average since June 18, according to the data released Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC.
While the improvements are promising, even more Americans need to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, especially considering that it takes six weeks from the first dose for people to be fully protected, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, former director of the CDC.
But still just over half of the total population is fully vaccinated, and 31.2% of the vaccine-eligible population remains unvaccinated.
The large part of the population that is not yet vaccinated is even more worrying as cases increase.
With an average of more than 116,600 new COVID-19 cases per day, it is the highest in about six months, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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And the rates of hospitalizations and deaths have nearly doubled in the past two weeks.
More than 68,000 people are hospitalized with covid-19, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Vaccinations "are stable even against the delta variant. The problem is that we don't have enough vaccinated people," Frieden told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
"Vaccination is our way out of this pandemic, but we have to increase the numbers."
More than 99.9% of those fully vaccinated have not had a serious post-vaccination infection, according to the CDC
The vaccines are even more effective than experts expected, Frieden said.
More than 99.99% of people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have not had a post-vaccination case that has resulted in hospitalization or death, according to a CNN analysis of CDC data.
But as effective as the vaccines are, Frieden said that with rates that are too low, vaccination may need to be combined with mask-wearing mandates.
"What we know very well is that vaccines work and masks work," he said.
"Doubling protection is particularly important because we have this doubly infectious delta variant."
Expert calls for a vaccination mandate among adolescents who go to school
Concern about the increase in cases is increasing as parents begin to send their children to school for the new year.
A CNN analysis dated Aug. 5 found that at least seven states - Arkansas, Arizona, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah - prohibit districts from requiring masks in schools.
On August 6, a judge in Arkansas temporarily blocked enforcement of the state law that prohibits mask-wearing mandates in schools, in response to two lawsuits, one from a school district and one from parents, who want the masks to be masked. schools may require masks if they wish.
School districts can enforce mask-wearing mandates while the lawsuit continues.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis intensified the fight in the state over masking mandates on Monday when his office said the state board of education could move to withholding the salaries of superintendents and school board members. to ignore the governor's decree that effectively prohibits mask-wearing mandates in school districts.
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Alachua Florida Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Carlee Simon wrote - in an op-ed in The Washington Post - that her district is challenging the ban.
She told CNN's Don Lemon that DeSantis is not taking the novel coronavirus situation seriously enough.
A health expert said mandatory vaccination for teens ages 12 to 17 may be necessary as the new school year begins.
Speaking about the increase in pediatric ICU admissions in certain parts of the country, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that "schools they will be an accelerator "for infections among children without the universal use of a mask.
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"It's not even going to be enough to have mask-wearing mandates," he said.
"We need all teens to be vaccinated, and we really have to move toward vaccination mandates for 12-17 year olds in schools."
Some states only have a quarter of the adolescent population vaccinated, Hotez said, so both the mask and an increase in vaccination rates among students will be important to contain the spread at school.
"If we are going to give our chance to fight for a successful school year, we will need everyone who is eligible for the vaccine to get vaccinated and everyone to wear a mask," Hotez said.
Local Leaders Take Different Sides in Debates Over Mask Mandates
Some health experts have pointed to vaccination and mask-wearing mandates as possible solutions for the increasing cases.
And while some local leaders move toward those efforts, others reject them.
On Monday, Washington joined many states in announcing requirements for state employees to be vaccinated against cobid-19.
Governor Jay Inslee's term would cover 60,000 state employees and 400,000 healthcare workers plus thousands of contractors.
According to the mandate, these workers must be vaccinated in places where the state does business.
Some local leaders are rejecting the Texas anti-mask mandate policy, as many hospitals in the state are overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases.
As of Monday night, more than 9,000 people across the state are hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
There are currently 394 ICU beds available statewide.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter Monday to the Texas Hospital Association asking hospitals to voluntarily postpone elective medical procedures to "increase hospital capacity for covid-19 patients," according to a statement from Abbott office press.
Last month, Abbott issued a decree saying that no government entity, including school districts, could require the use of masks.
On Monday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins asked a Texas court for a temporary restraining order banning the mask-wearing injunctions.
"Governor Abbott has decided on a course of action that prohibits face covering mandates statewide. Regardless of your motivations or the dangerous nature of such a decision, it is within your legislatively delegated authority to require coverage or refuse to do so." Jenkins wrote in his presentation on Monday.
"But the governor has also tried to prohibit local elected officials from making a different decision, in response to local conditions, to protect their own communities."
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice told his constituents that "they are at great risk if they are not vaccinated," but added that he "absolutely does not" want to impose anything like wearing masks or vaccines.
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Justice said that if things continue as they are, a mask-wearing mandate might have to come back at some level.
"You, right now, need to run to get vaccinated, and you should take your kids to run with you, if necessary, to get vaccinated," Justice said.
"I'm telling you as a governor, as a friend, as the person you really trusted, right now, you should make this a number one priority in your life and run to get vaccinated."
CNN's Deidre McPhillips, Claudia Domínquez, Camille Furst, Keith Allen, Jennifer Henderson, Jacqueline Howard, Elizabeth Stuart, Amara Walker, Virginia Langmaid and Evan McMorris-Santoro contributed to this report.