July 28, 2022 -- As the school year is set to begin across the country, CNN reports that most children and teenagers are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and cases are rising again with the highly transmissible BA.5 variant.

Public schools in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and other large cities are scheduled to re-open next month.

In the past four weeks, 311,000 kids have tested positive for COVID-19, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported. Since the pandemic began, more than 14 million children have tested positive.

A CNN analysis reported that less than half of children and teenagers are fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated means it has been at least two weeks since receiving the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. Only a tenth of these age groups have received booster shots.

Children over 6 months old can be vaccinated. Those 5 years and older are eligible for a booster.

The CDC’s most recent data shows that about 24 million kids ages 5 to 17 are fully vaccinated, or about 45% of them. About 22 million are eligible for a booster, but only about 5 million have received one.

“The uptake of Covid-19 booster shots among eligible school-age children and teens has been slow, mostly because many children still haven't completed their initial doses of vaccine,” CNN reported.

The Kaiser Family Foundation shared survey results showing that about a third of parents of kids 5 to 17 said they will not get them vaccinated.

CNN: “Millions of US children remain unvaccinated as BA.5 spreads and new school year looms.”

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