CDC urges COVID vaccines during pregnancy

We begin with scenes and statistics we thought were well behind us. Hospital admissions in Texas are higher than they've been since February, ventilators are being sent in bulk to Florida, and a field hospital is going up in Mississippi-- all because of COVID's summer surge, fueled by the Delta variant, that is tearing through every part of our country. Today, the CDC urged all pregnant women to get vaccinated. California became the first state to order its public school teachers and staff to do the same or submit to weekly testing. And there's other breaking news on the vaccine front. Sources tell CBS News that the FDA plans to allow people with certain underlying health conditions to get a booster dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna shot. CBS's Janet Shamlian leads us off in Houston. Janet, please tell us, how critical is this moment in Texas?

Major, good evening. Take a look. We are inside of a tent, it's equipped with supplies and hospital beds just like an emergency room, even though there is a hospital emergency room just outside of this tent. But tonight, it is so full they needed a backup plan. [SIREN WAILING] Tonight, the Delta variant is devastating the South. They've put up an overflow tent outside Houston's LBJ Hospital. Inside, a dozen emergency room patients are waiting for beds in the ICU.

We are challenged. We are stressed in our hospital capacity.

More than 20,000 new cases reported across Texas on Tuesday, the highest in six months, and spiking just as kids are going back to school. The San Antonio and Austin districts defying the governor's no-mask mandate, telling teachers, students, and staff masks will be required. And two Texas judges ruling local officials can require masks. - No more masks! No more masks!

Anger spilling over in Franklin, Tennessee, Tuesday outside a school board meeting. Parents yelling at medical professionals who advocated for masks. - We know who you are!

In Florida, the number of new cases is now averaging more than 20,000 a day for the first time since the pandemic started. 200 ventilators and other supplies were sent to the state from the national stockpile-- though on Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis said he was unaware of the shipment.

We have-- I mean, I would honestly doubt that that's true, but I'll look.

And tonight there's new guidance, the strongest yet from the CDC, urging women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant to get the vaccine, saying there is no increased risk of miscarriage. It's guidance Jamal Chubb wishes he and wife Cierra had sooner. Cierra gave birth to a healthy baby boy two weeks ago while COVID-positive. Her condition deteriorated, and she's now on a ventilator in the ICU. The South Carolina mom of three had not been vaccinated.

For us, it was because she didn't know enough and she didn't feel confident, when it came to getting the vaccine, that it wouldn't hurt our child.

Chubb told me doctors are not optimistic about his wife's condition-- he is.

I believe in miracles. I believe that when I look into my oldest daughter's eyes, as she reminds me so much of her mother, that. I want to be able to tell her that I did everything I could to get her mom back to her.

The administrator here told me that prior to COVID, the last time she had to get a mobile unit up and running like this was when she was commander of a combat support unit 10 years ago in Afghanistan. Major?

Janet Shamlian, thank you.