ABC's Mark Remillard - August 9, 2021 - KRDO's Afternoon News

Dr. Anthony Fauci says he's hopeful the Food and Drug Administration will give full approval to the coronavirus vaccine by the end of August and predicted the potential move will spur a wave of vaccine mandates in the private sector as well as schools and universities.  The FDA has only granted emergency-use approval of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, but the agency is expected to soon give full approval to Pfizer.  That approval will hopefully encourage more unvaccinated Americans to get their shots as the delta variant continues to surge through much of the United States -- with many of the infected being children.  One example: children with COVID-19 used to make up 1% of patients hospitalized at Children's Hospital New Orleans. Now they account for about 20%, according to Dr. Mark Kline, physician-in-chief at Children's Hospital New Orleans.  He said about half of the children hospitalized are under 2 years old. Most of the others are between 5 and 10 years old, so too young to be vaccinated.   And National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins expanded on that with ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos this weekend saying: "We know that kids under 12 are likely to get infected and if we don't have masks in schools, this virus will spread more widely" putting kids right back into the remote learning they were in when the pandemic first began.  Back-to-school season has already begun.