A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, August 8, 2021 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.

       STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning. Hope you're doing well today.

       You can see from our open that lots of issues are competing for attention this week. Our roundtable and experts are here to break them all down.

       And we begin with the pandemic, as the Delta variant appears to be sweeping us back to the future, the seven-day average of daily cases an astounding 741 percent higher than it was in mid-June, topping 100,000 for the first time since early February.

       Hospitalizations are up by more than 40 percent, overwhelming health care workers in the hardest-hit states. The good news, more than 50 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, and the vaccination rate has picked up by 25 percent in the last week.

       NIH Director Francis Collins joins us now.

       Good morning, Dr. Collins. Thanks for joining us again this morning.

       I want to start by putting up the cover of "USA Today" on Friday. We see it right there. As it says, we are failing one another across the country in this fourth COVID surge. Is that your analysis?

       DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Well, I'm afraid we should not really have ever gotten in the place we are. So, in that regard, yes, we are failing.

       We have vaccines that we know are highly effective and safe. And yet half the country is still not fully vaccinated. And about 90 million people have not even gotten one dose. We would not be in the place we are right now with this Delta surge if we'd been more effective in getting everybody to take advantage of these immunizations.

       And now we're paying a terrible price as the cases go up quickly, most of the cases, of course, now in unvaccinated people. Almost all of the deaths are unvaccinated people. And these are younger people now, including children. The largest number of children so far in the whole pandemic right now are in the hospital, 1, 450 kids in the hospital from COVID-19.

       And, of course, since they're under 12, many of them, they couldn't be vaccinated. But the rest of us who were over 12 could have done a better job.

       STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's dig into that on children a little bit more.

       As you point out, we are seeing more children hospitalized, some children even dying from this. Is the Delta variant more serious for children?

       COLLINS: You know, we don't have rigorous data to show for sure that they are, but I certainly am hearing from pediatricians that they're concerned that, this time, the kids who are in the hospital are both more numerous and more seriously ill.

       We will have to get better comparisons to be sure of that. We do have evidence that Delta may be more serious for older folks as well, and including middle-aged people and 20s and 30s, where it does seem, from studies in Singapore and in Scotland and then in Canada, that this is a virus that is not only more contagious, but potentially more lethal.

       STEPHANOPOULOS: Tom Bossert, who served as President Trump's homeland security adviser, said yesterday on "GMA" that the situation is so bad in the hardest-hit states, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, that we're past the point of mitigation; all we can do is deal with the consequences.

       Do you agree with that?

       COLLINS: Well, not entirely.

       I hope he's not suggesting, therefore, that we should just give up on trying to get the rest of the country vaccinated. We still have time to do that.

       If people are listening to this who still haven't taken that step, it's time. In fact, it's past time, but it's not too late. But, certainly, we are going to have to deal with hospitalizations, all kinds of stresses on the medical care system and unnecessary deaths because of what's already present. But we got to do everything we can to stop that. And that includes the wearing of masks in places where we can reduce the spread of this very contagious virus.

       STEPHANOPOULOS: You say it's past time for people to get vaccinated. Is it time for more vaccine mandates?

       COLLINS: Well, that's a obviously hot topic. For me, as a not political person, as a physician, as a scientist, the compelling case for vaccines for everybody is right there in front of you. Just look at the data.

       And certainly I celebrate when I see businesses deciding that they're going to mandate that for their employees and, as a person who runs the National Institutes of Health with 45,000 employees and contractors, I am glad to see the president insisting that we go forward requiring vaccinations or if people are unwilling to do that, then regular testing, at least once or twice a week, which will be very inconvenient.

       Yes, I think we ought to use every public health tool we can when people are dying. Death rates are starting up again. You just went through the numbers about how many new cases we are seeing. We are on a very steep up swift of that curve and we ought to be thinking of every possible intervention.

       STEPHANOPOULOS: Sir, your sigh there said it all. That was about as close as a yes as you could get. You clearly believe that vaccine mandates could make a difference.

       COLLINS: I do believe they can make a difference. I understand how that can sometimes set off all kinds of resistance. But isn’t that a shame, George? I mean, how did we get here? Why is it that a mandate about a vaccine or wearing a mask suddenly becomes a statement of your political party?

       We never should have let that happen. And come on, America. We can separate these, can’t we? We’re incredibly polarized about politics, we don't really need to be polarized about a virus that's killing people. We ought to be doing everything we can to save lives. And that means get the vaccine. And that means wear the mask when you're indoors in a crowded space. And if you're unvaccinated, wear it all the time.

       STEPHANOPOULOS: School year starting for so many kids and their parents right now. What's your best advice to parents as they send their kids back to school?

       COLLINS: I would ask that they would think about masks in the way that they ought to be thought about. This is not a political statement or an invasion of your liberties. This is a life-saving medical device. And asking kids to wear a mask is uncomfortable, but, you know, kids are pretty resilient. 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.

       It will probably result in outbreaks in schools and kids will have to go back to remote learning which is the one thing we really want to prevent. This kind of virtual learning which kids have had to go through now for more than year is really bad for their development. We ought to be making every effort to make sure they can be back in the classroom. And the best way to do that is to be sure that masks are worn by the students, by the staff, by everybody. It's a small price to pay for being able to keep kids where they need to be to learn.

       STEPHANOPOULOS: The Delta variant transmits more easily as you said. It could be more dangerous as well. What do we know about the other variants out there?

       COLLINS: Well, there's Lambda which came up in Peru and which we’re studying closely, which has now had some thousand or so cases in the U.S. Not yet really worried about it being even more contagious but needs to be looked at.

       At NIH, working with the FDA and CDC, we have a very vigorous team that looks at every new emerging variant to see what would it’s affect be in terms of the vaccine. Will the vaccine work against this one? So far so good.

       We don't have anxieties yet about Delta or Lambda or any of the others that are sort of lurking out there. But we all worry about the day when a variant arises that is so different from the original Wuhan virus (ph), that basically the vaccines stop working as well. And then we have to really move forward quickly with a booster.

       The best way to prevent that from happening is to reduce the number of infections because that’s how mutants happen. It’s because people are infected with the virus and it copies itself slightly wrong and then you get something that’s even worse. So all the more reason why we should be doing everything possible to cut back the wild spread of Delta so that we don't get something even more dangerous.

       STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, sir, does the FDA need to be doing more to get full authorization for those vaccines?

       COLLINS: FDA is working 24/7. I talk to those folks frequently. I know they are very much hoping now to get something out in terms of full approval within the next month. But meanwhile, while people are waiting for that -- and I understand that would help, please be clear about this, the vaccines have incredible evidence for their safety and effectiveness. They work against Delta. They will save your life.

       Please, if you're on the fence, get off the fence. Go -- find a place that’s easy. Go to Vaccines.gov. Roll up your sleeve. Become part of the winning team.

       STEPHANOPOULOS: Dr. Collins, thanks as always for your time and your information.

       COLLINS: Thanks, George.