Fauci backs Covid vaccine mandate for US school children – latest updates

Coronavirus pandemic has killed over 4.5 million people and infected over 217 million globally. Here are the coronavirus-related developments for August 30:

A young boy is tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a mobile testing site as the country sees an increase in children infected with Covid-19, in Houston, Texas, US, on August 16, 2021. (Reuters)

Monday, August 30, 2021

Fauci backs Covid-19 vaccine mandate for US school children 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, has said that he supports Covid-19 vaccine mandates for children attending schools as the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to fuel a surge in cases in the nation.

“I believe that mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea,” Fauci told CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “We’ve done this for decades and decades, requiring polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis” vaccinations.

Currently, children under 12 are not eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

But Fauci, in a separate interview on ABC’s “This Week” program, said there should be enough data by early October for the US Food and Drug Administration to consider whether the shot is safe for children under that age.

“I think there’s a reasonable chance” that the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines could get FDA clearance for kids under 12 before the upcoming holiday season, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the White House, said last Tuesday.

As schools re-open for the fall, the rise in coronavirus cases is already causing significant disruptions.

Brazil registers 298 new deaths 

Brazil has recorded 13,210 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 298 deaths from Covid-19, the Health Ministry said.

Brazil has registered more than 20 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to579,308, according to ministry data.

Australia’s Victoria state reports 73 new locally acquired cases

Australia’s second-most populous state, Victoria, has reported 73 new locally acquired coronavirus cases in the 24-hour period to Sunday evening, health officials said. 

That was down from 92 cases reported the previous day, though Premier Dan Andrews has signalled that coronavirus restrictions are likely to be extended given the continued spread of the Delta variant. 

Mexico reports 6,837 new  cases, 259 more deaths 

Mexico’s health ministry has reported 6,837 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 as well as 259 more deaths, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 3,335,700 and the death toll to 258,165.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies