showing a lack of urgency so far with the types of treatments. he's going to join us later on. first, we bring in dr. paul, an fda vaccine advisory board member from the children's hospital in philadelphia. thanks for joining us. tell us about the bill. is it a game-changer? >> in some ways it is. the study was done in people unvaccinated. so they treated half and didn't treat the other half. found the drug was 88% effective in treating hospitalization. for people that weren't vaccinated, they're willing to take medicines like hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin that don't work. this drug works. with the vaccine, this is the perfect thing to do. >> let's talk about limitations. there's some with this bill. it's really only intended for people that tested positive and show no symptoms or mild symptoms. the key, as i understand it from talking to doctors today is that you have to get your hands on this pill and take it very early on in your illness. meaning if you wait any time more than five days, there's really no evidence it's going to help you at all. is that right? >> that's right. so what happens is the virus attaches to the lining of your nose. multiplies thousands of times. at that point, virus replication is an important part of the disease profess. then immune response kicks in. that's when you develop symptoms. at that point, virus reproduction is not an important part of the disease processing anymore. so anti-virals or mono clonals don't work anymore. you have to get it early to have an effect. >> you've been talking about booster shots. you said you're concerned that this emphasis on boosters at the exclusion of all else is misguided. you said we still need to keep the number 1 priority on getting more americans vaxed. talk to us about that. >> we haven't decided if we want the vaccine. if we decide what we want from every vaccine, protection against serious illness, the kind of illness that causes you to see a doctor's care or go to the icu, these vaccines do that because they create excellent memory cells. those are long-lived. so you should be protected for a while even against the omicron variant as we learned from the south african studies. you get 70% protection against serious illness. now, kind of provides against mild illness. that depends on anti-bodies that fade overtime. that's where the booster comes. in it helps decrease your child of having mild illness. for omicron, if you have a couple doses of mra vaccine, you're at risk of getting mild illness. your immunity is not as good at protecting. so the question is, what do we want from boosters? you're right. further preventing disease in those that are largely already going to be prevented is not the key as much as it is preventing the disease in those for whom are completely vulnerable, meaning the unvaccinated. >> dr. paul offit, thank you. love to have you back. >> thank you. >> so also here with us is dr. marc siegel. he's a fox news medical contributor. so dr. siegel, let's keep the thread here with this paxolovid pill. the fda approved it. the biden administration preordered 10 million doses. for some reason public health experts say it will be a long time until it's widely available. why? what is the hold-up now? >> you know, that's the whole thing that has characterized the administration, isn't it? the hold-up is that it should have been preordered in a way that pfizer was gearing up and making it. not now that we have to wait for the production lines. now i'm very excited about this drug. it prevents the virus from making off spring, that it can then go to other cells. a hugely important drug for hiv. very similar. that was a game changener the 90s for hiv. this can be a game changer here and could be given to vaccinated people as well, by the way. i understand they're trying to target unvaccinated. you made a very good point to dr. offit, who i know well. we have to get it out of the starting gates. you get a rapid test, which we can't get either right now. 500 million tests but they're not. people, by the way, waiting online at pharmacies or anywhere to get a rapid test. guess what they're doing if they're not feeling well? you wait in a line to get a rapid test and you still have to pay for it, by the way. >> i know. i went to try to get one the other day. they wanted to change me $250 for a rapid response. i was like is this for real? >> that's the difference between theoretically covered by the government versus really covered. so a, peek can't get them. b, they can't pay for them and c, they're sitting there feeling poorly for hours waiting for a test spreading this incredibly contagious variant. no good. go home. >> i want to ask you about the army vaccine before i let you go. what are you hearing, the army developed this vaccine that doesn't just combat all the variants in circulation but future variants? >> yeah. a lot of second generations vaccines in the pipeline. there's one in israel and one in new york. the military have one of the top infectious disease resource programs in the country. we haven't talked about them. they have a vaccine that looks like a soccer ball. it's not the mrna type. it has so many targets that it can cover all the variants as they emerge. it's in stage 2 trials. it's months away but shows a new technology. going to be in the future. >> reasons to be hopeful there ahead of christmas. dr. siegel, thanks so much. >> thanks, gillian. >> moments from now, the president's covid response will hold a briefing. this comes after a rare moment when president biden praised former president trump. take a listen. >> thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, america is one of the first countries to get the vaccine. >> dr. ben carson, a member of -- was a member of the trump covid task information. he's here to join us as the white house down plays the president's underwater approval rating on the economy. that is next. >> at what point do you look at poll numbers and change course on economic policies? 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>> what are you going to do if the administration doesn't like their own numbers. hard to say. thanks. president biden's poll numbers are still sinking. 45% of americans say they approve of the president's job. and pour it in to a hole in the economy about $300 billion in a shortened output. the result is they gave stimulus checks, expanded tax credit, unemployment benefits. personal savings rates soared and as a result, people have lots of money, lots of cash, government cash to spend but they are not in a hurry to work. the supply side couldn't keep up with the demand side. when supply can't keep up with demand, inflation and shortages and the rest of it. the solution is to do what joe manchin just did, stop them from pouring more money into pocket's peoples. thank god for joe manchin that will do anything to stop inflations that joe biden has done. >> and another thing out of the white house here, the president saying no matter what you think about the economy today, it's better than it was 1 1/2 years ago at the end of president trump's administration. take a listen to what he said. >> america is the only leading economy in the world where household incomes and the economy as a whole are stronger than they were before the pandemic. even accounting for price increases. the economy i inherited nearly a year ago wasn't just in crisis, it wasn't working for working people. >> gillian: so my question is we're a year in now. are voters going to buy that looking to the mid-terms? blaming it on the previous guys? >> gillian, as we know and mark knows that polls are just a snapshot. i remember when president trump's overall approval was around 35%. it's clear that a lot of great things are happening with the economy. i can take the glass is half full to mark's glass half empty. unemployment is way down. jobs are up. manufacturing is up. even on the supply chain, listening to the ceo of walmart and cost go. 50% of the containers are no longer at the port. the trucks are moving. a lot of good things are happening. as we get to 2022, the two biggest things have to be inflation subsiding, which i think will take time and where we are on the pandemic. those are the two book ends. the economy itself is doing very well. we know that. the numbers don't lie. and i also think what mark didn't mention and i believe he's supportive because it was bipartisan is the infrastructure bill. he didn't mention we had a $1.2 infrastructure bill that passed. 40% of republican senators approved it. it's the most important thing we've done in a long time. bridges and -- getting roads ready and also next generation gps and, you know, getting wi fi to rural areas. a lot of great things on the horizon. i don't like to predict where we're going because of one poll but i think the economy will do better. >> gillian: mark, you get the last word. about 15 seconds. >> first of all, the infrastructure bill is not stimulus. robert is right. covid is the problem. after we spent $1.9 trillion on covid, we can't you get a test? why are there not monoclonable anti-body troubles. they even screwed up the pandemic. which is not good. >> gillian: thank you to both of you for joining me. happy holidays. >> take care. >> gillian: inflation is not the only issue hitting president biden right now. the one thing that 3/4 voters say he needs to do more about is crime. we'll get into that next. i've g with the world. that's the nature of being the economy. observing investors choose assets to balance risk and reward. with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions. an asset more relevant than ever before. gold. your strategic advantage. i may have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. or psoriatic arthritis. but we are so much more. we're team players and artists. designers and do-it-yourselfers. parents and friends. if joint pain is getting in the way of who you are, it's time to talk to your doctor about enbrel. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop permanent joint damage. plus enbrel helps skin get clearer in psoriatic arthritis. ask your doctor about enbrel, so you can get back to your true self. play ball! enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common. or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. visit enbrel.com to see how your joint damage could progress. enbrel. eligible patients may pay as little as $5 per month. >> man: what's my safelite story? 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is this the kind of problem you the throw money at? >> i'm going to look at this glass half full. 1.6 billion to look at crime. the problem is you're empties prisons. prosecutors are not prosecuting crime. we're defunding the police. so even if you get them back, where are they? let's hire 100,000 departments. good luck recruiting. people can't fill up academies. why? you just demeaned the police. you have family pressure as well as peer pressure to not wear the uniforms, to not do this job. we're told they're the problem. we're trying to reimagine them. now we're trying to give them money to do their job and bring control back to the streets. they told you if you got rid of them, if you tried to push them back beginning in minneapolis because a few bad apples, you'll pay the price. now you want them to go back to gain control of the streets that they controlled? i don't blame them if they say forget about it. i love when you break down the numbers. inside the billions, 175 billion for victim assistance. 25 million to address -- 17 million rather to victim assistance and victim aid. i have an idea. let's really reign in crime and have less victims. instead of healing the wounds of those victimized, empower the cops to do their job. it has to come from the d.a.s. >> gillian: i interviewed jonathan turley about the smash and grab crime crisis in cities all around the country now. tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of merchandise is being stolen from stores and the perps are reselling them at a huge profit. turley says this may looks disorganized and chaotic but they're in essence organized crime. the justice department should go after them and prosecute the perps as such. not a bad idea, right? >> i'm surprised the burglars don't have a 401(k) and dental program. they get as much new paraphernalia as they can with the tickets still on them. then they put it on amazon or give it to e-bay and put it back on the market. whether it's the stack table on the the corner or in an after mark place. what happens is since you don't prosecute in california with paraphernalia stolen under $1,000, this has been on the books since 2014 and starting to realize without the lack of enforcement, you can do this anywhere any time. this is profitable. guess where near hitting? this is why, gillian, this is happening. 1.6 billion in to this. they're hitting high end stores. normally very secure areas. they're hitting upper class. when the gang members are shooting each other, we're okay with that. now it's bleeding everywhere. the hollywood elite and the rich and famous in san francisco. >> gillian: so the only question now, are we in the long line of work? have to live it there, brian. >> yes, we are. >> gillian: let's work on that. >> let's steal something. >> gillian: thanks, brian. a jury is weighing manslaughter charges against former officer kim potter. a question presented to the judge indicates the jurors may be having difficulty reaching an agreement. brian clay pool is looking at what to expect if a consensus is not reached. pool is looking at what to expect if a consensus is not reached. is struggling to manage your type 2 diabetes knocking you out of your zone? 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here's how the judge answered. >> you should discuss the case with one another and deliberate with a view toward reaching agreement. if you can do so without violating your individual judgment. >> the second question was if the zip ties on kim potter's firearm could be removed so jurors could hold it out of the box and get a feel for how it feels. the jury have been deliberating close to 21 hours as they weigh the charges of first and second degree manslaughter. the scene around the brooklyn center police department isn't different than eight months ago. extra fansing and barricades still surround the building as this trial moves to the conclusion. there's been a handful of protesters outside the courthouse in the single degree weather this week. officials say they're not expecting any trouble but they're ready for any unrest that may happen. gillian? >> gillian: thanks, garrett. let's bring in attorney brian claypool. you heard garrett's reporting there. what do you make of the questions that the jury asked the judge? especially does it sound like they're indeed dead locked? >> gillian, thanks for having me. merry christmas. the first question is what happens if they can't reach a verdict? it's going to be a hung jury. that means that there might be a trial again. but i think the more important question the jury asked, which i think favors the prosecution is they wanted to pull -- i guess take the gun that potter used and feel the gun. that is important. why? because testimony in a case established that a taser weighs 50% less than a gun. so that to me favors the prosecution. gillian, i'm not surprised at all at the amount of time it takes to deliberate. it's very rare to prosecute a police officer in the united states. who to we call when we need help? we call the police. so in a 100-yard dash, police officers always get a ten-yard head start in cases like this. >> gillian: an interesting point that you flagged about the jury wanting to handle the weapon. i didn't pick up on that on my own. i'm glad you said this. this gets to the heart of what the prosecution's case has been all along, which is look, she was a highly trained officer. he should have a and probably did know better. any confusion and what have you in the moment is all on her. >> absolutely. and i think if there's a retrial, which there there be if there's a hung jury, gillian. what the prosecution has to do to sail a guilty verdict is do what you're talking about. i would have started when kim potter was in the car. she testified at trial, i wouldn't have pulled this guy over for a tag infraction. so why did you pull him over? let's go to the next round where they're putting handcuffs on duante wright. last time i checked the video he's outside the car. how did he get back in? why are you using a trainee? why didn't you handcuff him? the key point, the holster, the taser is on the left side because she's right-handed. she pulls out a gun. there's a click on the gun, but not a click on the taser. the taser is a big wide grip. weighs 50% less than a gun. here's a kicker. there's a photo in evidence where she's pointing the gun. if i'm prosecution, i would have broken down how many seconds that was. one, two, three. why? that shows consciously in her mind she has to know that that is a gun. why didn't she give a verbal command? i'm going to shoot with a daysfer you don't surrender. why was a police officer reaching in on the passenger's side of the door? i've done a lot of police cases. they're not supposed to. they're supposed to come up on the side, look behind the window for other people in the car and potential weapons. you never put your arm in the car on the passenger side. why? that created a cross fire issue. she could have hit the woman next to dante or the other officers. that's what i'd be doing in the next trial. there might be. >> brian, thanks for getting in to the nitty gritty details with us. illuminating stuff. thank you. >> you bet. thanks. merry christmas. >> gillian: you too. breaking moments ago, the house committee investigating the capitol riot is asking for an interview with jim jordan. they want it to happen as soon as january 3. the panel says that they want to discuss one and possibly multiple communications that he had with former president trump on the day of the riot. now we're standing by to hear from the congressman. so far no response. a briefing from president biden's covid response team after biden acknowledged the trump administration's success with the covid vaccine. take a listen. >> thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, america is one of the first countries to get the vaccine. >> gillian: well, dr. carson is part of that prior administration. he's going to join us next. oug ♪ ♪ superpowers from a spider bite? 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>> i'm very happy to see that happen. i've been advocating for that for awhile. congratulations to the fda for recognizing the importance of cutting through the red tape and getting this out there. treatments are something that we have neglected for quite some time now. dating way back to the beginning of the crisis. part of it is red tape. it doesn't make any sense when you're dealing with a pandemic. we need to look at that and get that change quickly because we need to go down several pathways. yes, it was a wonderful thing that we're able to get get the vaccine in record time. no question about it. we should also have been looking at other possibilities and other treatments. use our whole armormentiarian. we don't need government mandates. we need to let the health care system work. we need to give them the armormentiarian that they need. >> gillian: were you surprised, dr. carson, by the president's comments yesterday? we played that clip. he seems to acknowledge the role that the trump administration has in getting the vaccine and getting it out fast. >> i was pleased to see both of them have some relatively kind words for each other. we really need to turn down the temperature. there's plenty of credit to go around. we don't have to be a hog about credit. what we need to do is worry about how we get the progress -- problem solved. now that we're using both vaccines and therapeutics, i think we're well on the way to getting this under control, if we act in a logical way and not a political way. that's a big if. >> gillian: it's nice to hear you say that. you made headlines yourself when you talked to lawrence jones. i don't want to misquote you. please correct me. you made the case that maybe we shouldn't be testing people who are exposed to covid, who are asymptomatic. break that down for us. >> yeah, if you're asymptomatic, you don't have any problem with this. why do you need to be tested? if you're symptomatic, that's the time to get the test. now we have a therapeutic to give for that. when we have something as contagious as the omicron, that means it's going to be widely spread. if we're going to test everybody walking down the street, we're going to have a lot of people that are positive. if we overreact to it, it's going to create a real crisis. >> gillian: interesting. so you mean in this instance, right? people who are fully vaccinated, who are exposed and asymptomatic shouldn't get tested or would that apply to folks that are not vaccinated? >> i'm talking about people that are in the safe category. who have either had covid already or have their vaccinations and you know, they should be relatively safe. i'm not sure why there's so much concern about them coming in contact with someone who isn't vaccinated. those who are advocating that need to make it clear why those people should be afraid of the unvaccinated individuals. >> gillian: interesting. dr. carson, we have to leave it there. thanks for your time today. merry christmas to you. >> thanks, gillian. same to you. >> gillian: you bet. so we're also on verdict watch in the case of ghislaine maxwell. she faces up to 70 years in prison for allegedly trafficking underage girls for sex. we have mercedes colwin on the case. she's coming up next. this is an important mortgage rate watch alert for veteran home owners. mortgage rates are starting to climb nationally, but newday is holding the line at just two and a quarter percent, 2.48 apr, still the lowest in their history. if you're one of the thousands of homeowners with va loans who haven't yet refinanced, one call to newday is all it takes. there's no appraisal and no out of pocket costs. save an average of $3,000 a year. >> are you ready to start a great career? >> safelite is now hiring. >> you will love your job. >> there's room to grow... >> ...and lots of opportunities. >> so, what are you waiting for? >> apply now... >> ...and make a difference. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ >> man, i love that song! >> gillian: we're awaiting a verdict there ghislaine maxwell's trial. she stands accused of recruiting girls as young as 14 years old. maxwell denies it. she did not take the stand in her trial. she said prosecutors didn't prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. bryan llenas has the details breaking today. hi, bryan. >> hi, gillian. the jury has been deliberating for about 15 hours the last three days. we found out that they asked for more witness testimony. they want jane's testimony put in a binder that they had. they're asking for the testimony from kate and juan. kate and jane are accusers of ghislaine maxwell and juan was one of the house managers. that's what we have thus far. they will not be coming to court tomorrow. in fact, we may not see them until next week if they don't come up with a verdict in the next 30 minutes. they're contemplating whether or not ghislaine maxwell recruited and groom and trafficked underaged girls to be sexually abused by epstein and her. this comes down to whether or not they believe the four accusers in this case, mainly jane and carolyn. these are two women identified as such. jane was allegedly 14 years old. her father died when she says maxwell and epstein recruited her at assumer arts camp in michigan. carolyn was also 14. her mother was a alcoholic when the alleged abuse came from her. they said that maxwell enticed them to give sexualized massages to epstein. maxwell faces six charges, specifically the sex trafficking charge. the bottom line is they have to make a decision whether or not they believe maxwell -- whether or not they believe that maxwell knew the girls were underage and being abused at that time. you know, that last charge of those six has a maximum sentencing of 40 years behind bars. so we'll see what happens. the 59-year-old face as life sentence. she could be sentenced to rest of her life in prison. thus far we've heard nothing about a verdict coming today. could be next week. gillian? >> thanks, bryan. we'll check back. thanks so much. let's bring in mercedes colwin, a criminal defense attorney and fox news legal analyst. mercedes, both sides gave their closing arguments monday. it's now wednesday. it's wednesday, right? i don't know what day it is. it's now 48 hours later, right? the jury is asking for more testimony what do you read into that? >> bad news for the defense. they're looking and focusing on the accusers. it was very compelling testimony by the four brave women that came forward and their testimony was gut wrenching. several of them underage. the way that they were groomed and underprivileged and made them so vulnerable to epstein. it's very compelling. if i were the defense attorney, i would worry. one part, the one glimmer of light for the defense is that the jury wants to look at the fbi notes. the defense made a lot of arguments that that were inconsistencies in carolyn's testimony in court versus what she said to the fbi in 2007. that's the only glimmer of hope. when you tee the jury focusing on the accused and the accusations, it's usually bad news for the defense. >> gillian: one of the things, one of the arguments the defense is making here is that maxwell they say was scape goated. they say epstein is the real perp and now he's dead. >> the testimony from the accusers make a difference argument. they said she participated. they say she grabbed them, groped them, had them participate in orgies with other individuals. it's not the fact that she was this liaison, this person that recruited them. there's testimony and evidence where it is specific to sexualized acts done by maxwell herself. if the jury believes it. it's very problematic for her. >> gillian: quick. one second left here. when do you think we'll get a verdict? >> i'd say after the holidays. a lot is at stake. 70 years if she's convicted of all charges. >> thanks. happy holidays to you. we appreciate it. >> you too. >> gillian: that is "the story" today, wednesday december 22. we'll see you back here tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. "your world" with neil cavuto starts now. >> neil: talk about your holiday brawls. this was the scene at miami international airport earlier this week as travelers started clashing with police. one of the officers pulling a gun to control the crowd. now two men are facing charges on battery on a police officer and inciting a riot. those that exhibit this time of behavior are being warned.