pandemic and how to prepare for the next one. the cdc just strengthened its booster recommendations because of the new variant saying all adults here in the united states should get a booster shot instead of may. how significant is that? i think the messaging is much more clear, wolf. the latest recommendation before this was people over the age of 50 should get one but 18 and older, 18 to 49 may get one. now with what is going on with this new variant they re really strengthening that recommendation and it makes sense. what you re hearing from scientists is we don t know yet if there will be any diminishing of the effectiveness of these vaccines but you have what is called the cushion effect when you get a vaccine. a lot of antibodies, typically more than you need to actually decrease the likelihood of severe illness but if there is erosion of that effect, you get as much cushion as possible. you get boosted and boost up
or two months after the johnson & johnson single dose vaccine. how significant is this as we wait to hear how severe cases may be because of the new variant? this is the clearest language we ve had. there s been a lot of back and forth. the change now is they were saying that people over the age of 50 should get a booster. people under 50 could or may get a booster they said before. now they re saying all adults should get a booster. and i think that s an important message because i think the thing that we think about with vaccine escape immunity, this idea that the variant is somehow escaping the immunity of the vaccine, it s more like you have a cushion effect. right now there s a significant cushion effect of these vaccines against the circulating virus. with this new one, there may be less of a cushion. less of a sort of buffer effect there. if you have a booster, you ll increase the buffer, if that makes sense. more of a cushion and when we re dealing with something that s unkno
preventing infection versus preventing serious disease. we know that they can be very good at preventing serious disease across the board. that s likely to be the case here as well. there is something known as the cushion effect. i put this full screen together for you. i want you to look at this. when we talk about escaping immunity, people think, well, is the virus sort of getting around the antibodies? the way to more think about this is these vaccines provide this sort of cushion effect of antibodies, way more than you really need. against the current virus, it is 1 to 1,000 cushion effect. with the mu tated virus, it may start to drop off. that is the first indicator of this sort of escape in immunity. we don t know that for sure, but that is going to be a big concern. it makes a stronger case even for boosters you want to get more of that cushion effect so that no matter the variant, it can provide you some of the protection. sanjay, you said you were going to come back to the
for other governmental entities as well. i think it was very smooth and very normal flight. as i said before, the fact that they and other spacex are landing the first stage back on the ground safely for reuse is a big deal. i think their capsule and creature comforts of big windows, soft chairs, all that sort of thing, and re-entry profile, it is my understanding that they have a different design than the russian one for cushion effect from chairs and also have an ability to fire retro rockets to give them a smooth landing. then last thing i learned, there s a crush capability like in car frames when it hits the earth in event of a problem, there s kind of a crush protector helps them to land softly. those technology advancements are important.
effect. then in addition, three parachutes, not just one, to slow the vehicle, and retro rockets fire. as it settles into the sand, it is a gentle cushion effect as you come to the west texas desert. there s a lot of sand in west texas to land in. no particular bulls eye, had a wide open field to land in. a beautiful day, by the way, 75 degrees here now. locals are saying we can t believe the weather, it is normally 110 degrees out here. we had a string of beautiful low temp days in the west texas desert. perfect for first flight. stars align for blue origin and jeff bezos at least today. tom costello, you re back for more coverage later on. stephanie ruhle, you re with us as well. to hear tom talk about the landing, it looked on video, you see a cloud of sand come up, it is fascinating to hear what it must have been like inside that capsule. perhaps a more gentle landing