the eu is some let s not pretend the eu is some sort of let s not pretend the eu is some sort of nonpartisan negotiator. so we won t sort of nonpartisan negotiator. so we won t get to a clean break here either we won t get to a clean break here either way, we won t get to a clean break here eitherway, but we won t get to a clean break here either way, but i think it s probably either way, but i think it s probably good that things are moving forward probably good that things are moving forward one where the other because we ve forward one where the other because we ve reached this awful stalemate which we ve reached this awful stalemate which wasn t doing anyone any good. let s l00k which wasn t doing anyone any good. let s look at which wasn t doing anyone any good. let s look at the daily telegraph now, which is olivia s paper. no tax cuts before inflation cools off. the p.m. fears the cost of burden crisis could word worsens popular those fears are well founded.
lot of period of time, dublin is putting a lot of pressure on the eu here, let s lot of pressure on the eu here, let s not lot of pressure on the eu here, let s not pretend the eu is some sort of let s not pretend the eu is some sort of nonpartisan negotiator. so we won t sort of nonpartisan negotiator. so we won t get to a clean break here either we won t get to a clean break here either way, we won t get to a clean break here eitherway, but we won t get to a clean break here either way, but i think it s probably either way, but i think it s probably good that things are moving forward probably good that things are moving forward one where the other because we ve forward one where the other because we ve reached this awful stalemate which we ve reached this awful stalemate which wasn t doing anyone any good. let s look which wasn t doing anyone any good. let s look at which wasn t doing anyone any good. let s look at the daily telegraph now, which is olivia s paper.
what data we do have with moderna vaccine with the two shots, it reduced the number of people that got infected, protecting about 38% to 44% of those people. we must remember over 400 children in this age group of up through 5, the 18 million kids in this country, have died because of covid and we have surely seen a much greater impact with omicron in this group than before. so anything we can do to bring to these kids to reduce serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths will be important and what we re really talking about is just preventing infection. i think the real benefit for these vaccines in younger kids will be greatly reduced in the likelihood of that serious disease, hospitalizations or deaths. and i know smart minds like you continue to track the covid variants as they turn up. how do you describe, i ve been wondering about kind of the trend of how this virus is developing. is there any predictability to it? because of course, everyone wants to know, is the next variant
for things like eating and drinking when the virus will not take a vacation, then i think it s a very important tool. until you do that, i think we are basically expending a lot of public health capital for something that will have very little return. let me ask you also. some developments now with vaccines and young children because there are some news out this morning, i want to ask you about this. reports that moderna is submitting for authorization by the end of the month for shots in kids 6 months to 5 years. pfizer also saying that it could have shots for that same age group ready and available in june. look, it s been a long road getting here for this final group. do you think this will be the end of that road? well, i don t think any road will end anytime soon with regard to vaccines. we re constantly realizing what the variants may do, how they minimize, in some cases, the effectiveness of the vaccines.
dangerous? you know, this is where we need a great deal of humility and we have to say, we don t know. you know, every morning, i get up, try to scrape the five inches of mud off my crystal ball to say what will happen and week after week after new variants emerge, we see those kinds of assumptions we made six weeks ago are now challenged. we don t know. this virus continues to mutate at a very, very high level. it continues to surprise us. so we can only hope that we won t see new virus strains that will defeat the immunity we have for vaccines and clinical disease. we can hope it s not more infectious but we don t know and we have to be honest about that, even if you look at the ba.2 activity in europe, some countries saw major increase in cases associated with ba.2 increasing. other countries did not. and so what s going to happen here in the u.s. based on that experience, i don t know. it s clear that we re seeing increases in cases in some areas, but will that happen all around