to build a future of unlimited possibilities. with new covid cases tonight averaging nearly 550,000 a day and the cdc out with some confusing guidelines on testing, i wanted to focus on the surge within the surge, according to the american academy of pediatrics, childhood covid cases are now at record levels and though kids on the whole deal with it much better than adults do, the latest surge is overwhelming children s
world, and our supply is going to ramp up over the coming months as more of these pills are manufactured. today i m directing my team to work with pfizer to double our order from 10 million to 20 million treatment courses to be delivered in the months ahead. we may need even more. that s the estimate we need right now. we ve already placed the largest order in the world. now i m doubling that order. these pills are going to dramatically decrease hospitalizations and deaths from covid-19. they re a game changer and have the potential to dramatically alter the impact of covid-19, the impact it s had on this country and our people. look, let me conclude with a quick recap. if you are vaccinated and boosted, you may get covid, but you are highly protected against severe illness. schools can and should be open this winter. we have all the tools to keep
dr. andrew berman, a pulmonologist and critical care doctor we just spoke with moments ago. take a listen to what he told me. of our sickest patients, most of them are unvaccinated or unknown vaccinated status. it s really clear, the message is get your covid vaccines, get your booster shots. wear your masks, treat this like it was the first wave. don t get comfortable. even healthy people can get very sick. reporter: and katy, they re emphasizing those measures, those tools we have in the tool kit even more now because this hospital is getting hit with a one-two punch, more people in their beds, but fewer staff members to care for them because staff themselves are getting sick. they re getting exposed. they re having to isolate, and so that is really putting that strain on the hospital system, and they don t want it to get overwhelmed, really emphasizing those measures more than ever. with me now is dr. ezekiel
the vaccine. congressman duncan says of the bun administration is forcing a shot on an estimated 20 million health care professionals nationwide, many of whom have had covid-19 and are immune. the nation nine staff shortage due to employees being fired for not complying with the vaccine mandate. i fear that this will cost lives instead of saving them due to understaffed medical facilities. what are your thoughts? some hospitals are down 10-25% of their staff. that s where the reasons why the influx of volume and patients that we are seeing right now with the omicron and with what we normally see with influenza or any bad flu season is stress in the hospital. but it is also more so a reduction in staff. and mandating that someone who works in a loading dock at the hospital needs to be vaccinated has nothing to do with care. they should have limited the immunity requirement and also
lightning round. always great to have you back. thank you so much for having me. some of your purporting, you say you were told that you could be busy, coughing, whatever. anything other than a fever, they want you coming in. what is the story? the multi-healthcare systems operate a number of urgent care facilities and hospitals here and there is a staffing crisis. the state of washington is the forcing healthcare providers to fire unvaccinated staff because they poser precipitation. that s nonsense because the vaccine seems not to be very effective at stopping the effect of omicron. here s the question. he voted to the point we are so desperate for step in bringing the workers in fayette balance this who are actively dealing with covid. they are priced by positive and symptomatic. tell me how the saver for a staff for the masks in patient that an unvaccinated covid this