In an interview Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House's chief medical adviser, said that he supports COVID-19 vaccine mandates for teachers as the coronavirus continues to spread nationwide, fueled by the delta variant.

What You Need To Know

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House's chief medical adviser, said that he supports COVID-19 vaccine mandates for teachers

  • The nation's top infectious disease expert cited the need to protect children, many of whom are too young to get vaccinated against COVID-19

  • Dr. Fauci's comments come as state and local governments and school boards grapple with how to best protect students as the school year rapidly approaches

  • Fauci predicted that more vaccine requirements will come out after the vaccines receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration

"I'm going to upset some people on this, but I think we should [require teacher vaccinations]," Dr. Fauci said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Tuesday. "I mean, we are in a critical situation now."

"We've had 615,000-plus deaths, and we are in a major surge now as we're going into the fall, into the school season," he continued. "This is very serious business."

The nation's top infectious disease expert cited the need to protect children, many of whom are too young to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Currently, vaccines are only available for Americans age 12 and older.

"You would wish that people would see why it's so important for people to get vaccinated," Fauci said.

Dr. Fauci's comments come as state and local governments and school boards grapple with how to best protect students as the school year rapidly approaches.

Some states, like Florida and Texas, have imposed statewide bans on mask mandates, setting up showdowns with local school districts who are defying these orders. In Florida, the superintendent of the school district in Tallahassee, Florida, announced Monday that he will require students to wear masks amid an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations; in Texas, the Austin, Dallas and Houston independent school districts are all requiring masks despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order that bans agencies that receive state dollars from implementing mask mandates.

Two judges in Texas ruled against Gov. Abbott on Tuesday, allowing local officials to temporarily impose mask mandates.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson now says he regrets signing the state’s law banning mask requirements. He called a special session for lawmakers to consider rolling back the law, but the Legislature left the prohibition in place.

On the other hand, California is expected to impose a first-in-the-nation statewide requirement for all school employees to be vaccinated or submit for regular COVID testing. New York City imposed a similar mandate for all public school teachers to be vaccinated ahead of the first day of school in September.

"You're not gonna get mandates centrally from the federal government," Fauci said, noting that any mandates will come at the state and local level.

"But when you're talking about local mandates, mandates for schools, for teachers, for universities, for colleges – I'm sorry, I know people must like to have their individual freedom and not be told to do something. But I think that we're in such a serious situation now, that under certain circumstances, mandates should be done," Fauci added.

Dr. Fauci predicted that more vaccine requirements will come out after the vaccines receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), adding that he hopes that comes "very soon."

"There's no doubt that these vaccines are going to get fully approved," Fauci added. "This idea about, 'It's not fully approved,' is really a false narrative. It really is. I mean, you should consider this as good as fully approved and get vaccinated."

Fauci's comments about mandates echo those from President Joe Biden on Tuesday, who said that the effort to ban mask mandates is "totally counterintuitive and, quite frankly, disingenuous."

"When I suggest that people in zones where there's a high risk wear the mask like you all are doing, I'm told that government should get out of the way and not do that. you don't have the authority to do that," Biden said.

"And I find it interesting that some of the very people who are saying that who hold government positions are people who are threatening that if a school teacher asks a student if they've been vaccinated, or if a principal says that everyone in my school should wear a mask if the school board votes for it, that governor will nullify that," Biden continued. "That governor has the authority to say, 'You can't do that.'

"I find that totally counterintuitive and, quite frankly, disingenuous," Biden said, adding that his administration is checking to see whether or not the federal government has the power to intervene

At a White House news briefing Tuesday, press secretary Jen Psaki applauded the school districts that are defying DeSantis’ mask-mandate ban.

“I do want to call out the courage and the boldness of a number of leaders in Florida, including in Miami Dade County, people who are stepping up to do the right thing to protect students and keep schools safe and open,” she said. “We are continuing to look for ways … for the U.S. government to support districts and schools as they try to follow the science, do the right thing and save lives.”

Psaki also said Florida has not distributed money it received from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan to help schools during the pandemic. 

“So the question is, why not?” she said.

Psaki had a message for DeSantis: “If you're not interested in following the public health guidelines to protect the lives of people in your state, to give parents some comfort as they're sending their kids to school …. then get out of the way and let public officials, let local officials do their job to keep students safe,” she said. “This is serious. And we're talking about people's lives.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.