Dr. Fauci says coronavirus vaccine mandate for eligible students is a 'good idea'

More kids will be heading back to the classroom all across Washington this week and as they approach that first day of school some health experts says they support the idea of mandating COVID-19 vaccines for eligible children.

"We need all the help we can to stop this 5th wave now," said Dr. Nathan Schlicher with the Washington State Medical Association. "We saw the governor, we saw health care, we saw pretty much every health system in the state. We've seen large employers come out and say the data is there. It was there before final approval and they're doing their mandates."

While speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci says it's now become a controversial topic but it's important.

"I believe mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea," Fauci said.

The reasoning, aside from its safety, is that vaccine mandates have been something students have dealt with for years.

"We've done this for decades and decades,” Fauci said. “Requiring polio, mumps, rubella, hepatitis. So, this would not be something new."

But another major reason is to increase consistently low vaccine numbers.

In Washington, children and teenagers have some of the lowest vaccination percentages compared to other age groups.

Which isn't good when the delta variant is still circulating as much as it is right now.

"You're going to see more children infected and quantitatively, since more children are infected, you're going to see more children, unfortunately, getting hospitalized and that's what we're seeing," Fauci said. "We still are in a situation where there's a lot we can do about it."