to school and employees before they go to work. we need to change that expectation here in the u.s. as well. imagine what a big game changer it would be if we make it the norm before people get together for dinner or go to see a play that they get tested before. that is why the rapid testing is so important. it needs to be widely available. it can t be something that costs $10 or $20 and you can t buy at a store when you need it. this is something that i hope the biden administration will do more of ramping up. it will certainly give you peace of mind. especially parents sending kids to school. let s talk mixing and matching. the fda advisers are talking about moderna and j&j application for booster shots. you mentioned you were hoping they will approve a mix and match apprpproach with a mixinge vaccines from the initial vaccine from the booster.
confidence come back. it s a fine line. it s not the nuanced messaging the cdc is used to giving. i think that s why we re going to continue to watch the case rates. continue to encourage vaccination. and then like i said, i m looking i m not expecting every child to get vaccinated, but the advent of pediatric vaccines will signal a shift that i think will put a lot more consumer confidence just back out there and we need that, and we need to message that as scientific officials. follow the science. but also follow the science to know that we re safe and protected when we re vaccinated and what that means if your household can celebrate which we can if we re vaccinated. of the two october meetings, the j&j, mo der ma, questions about boosters, is the pediatric vaccine the bigger potentially game changer for the long-term trajectory of the pandemic? it is. but i look for those other fda meetings. it s not just about the boosters. it s also about the mix and match.
cleanup on aisle 7 situation, but what do viewers need to know as they think about their holiday gatherings? i think the key thing is that we don t know what the holidays will bring unless you can kind of guarantee that you keep the crowd small, limit it to mostly vaccinated people, and, of course, with children s vaccines potentially being one of the key meetings during the fda s month of october, that could be a big game changer. i mean, a lot of what dr. fauci has had to give pretty sound advice on has been because under 12 people are not vaccinated. immune compromised people are basically unprotected. the most people at a household gathering, the better protection, the higher the confidence if vaccinated. if case rates stay low, we ll have an incredible holiday season. if we can vaccinate more people, we deserve to reward the benefits come from those kind of hard-earned vaccinations and what we ve been doing the last 20 months.
late. on the plus side, others number is quite startling, 26 times higher than a year ago, the number of thankfully that allergies and infections is lower because of the vaccine so that is the big game changer and i think there is some talk of may be some restrictions coming back over the winter. i m not sure how easy that would be for the government to sell or to even get through the house of commons but we do need to see what the uptake is and how much of that results in hospitalisations and how long the vaccine is effective before any decisions on this can be made. rachel, what do you think of the prospect of restrictions going back in? i prospect of restrictions going back in? ~ ~ ., , prospect of restrictions going back in? ~ , in? i think mo is absolutely right and most nurses in? i think mo is absolutely right and most nurses believe - in? i think mo is absolutely right | and most nurses believe vaccines in? i think mo is absolutely right i and most nurses believe vaccines ar
nonetheless, the numbers are worse. i think it s because the delta variant is a big game changer. it a much more transmissible virus and our behavior is worse. last year, when there was that biker s convention in sturgis, south dakota it was in the news. it triggered a massive outbreak in south dakota. 100,000 americans are in hospitals right now because of covid. one month ago, 35,000 americans were in hospitals. these numbers are increasing dramatically. as you correctly point out from this delta variant and all these unvaccinated americans, johnson & johnson now says that a booster dose of its single dose covid-19 vaccine increases the immune response for the 14 million americans who received that j&j single dose shot, should they consider getting a booster of j&j or of the pfizer or moderna shot instead? well, neither right now.