We have a ton of developments today in the Coronavirus Vaccine situation. What we do know is encouraging in many waysramping up vaccine production. What we dont know about the effectiveness is terrifying. It makes you wonder if the u. S. Needs to dramatically rethink the current Vaccine Distribution strategy. Lets start with the good news. Today johnson and johnson leased some promising data from its phase three clinical trials. The vaccine is 72 effective in the u. S. At preventing moderate to severe illness. Experts consider that a strong level of protection. Here is the potential worrying news. The company disclosed the data suggests the vaccine was less effective against the South Africa Covid Variant we have been dropping. Effectiveness dropped from 72 to 57 . Its called that because it was south africa was the first place it was found which is more contagious and resistant to the vaccines we have. Its already in the United States and appears to be spreading. The more contagious uk variant is spreading rapidly around the United States as well. A briefing which ended moments ago dr. Fauci said the spread of these variants should be wake up call for all of us in the United States. This is a wake up call to all of us that we will be dealing, as the virus uses its devices to evade pressure, that we will continue to see the evolution of mutants. This all tells us its an incentive to vaccinate as many people as we can as quickly as we can. All right. Lets build off that. Theres concern among some Health Experts that in this race against time and the variantsva this is race we are already losing. Dr. Michael olsterhom, a member of the disbanded Task Force Said on this show yesterday that the darkest of the darkest days actually lies ahead. Which is a sober analysis of time when 3300 people are dying on average every single day. He recommends we radically rethink our Vaccine Distribution strategy now to put all our focus on getting as many people as humanly possible the first dose of the vaccine so more people have some degree of protection as these variants spread. So far, the experts inside the Biden Administration say theres not enough data to show a shift in strategy would be worth it. On the data we do have, its too risky. Here is the concern from some. We dont have the data about how pref lents the strains are. We dont have data about how effective pfizers vaccine is. Some moderna could be highly effective after one dose but we dont know for sure. Were not confident that either up with of these two vaccines will be as helpful against the variants as well. Were almost a year into the pandemic and were back in a highly unsettling phase where were making critically important decisions of an incomplete picture of how bad things are and how much worse they could get. Theres a nagging feeling by the time we get everybody vaccinated, we have to vaccinate everybody again because of the va variants. Monica, coming out of the administration, theres a lot of anxiety that the, look at that New York Times map yesterday when there was a differentiation between high a high likelihood of getting or an extremely likelihood of getting it and it was the entire spread of the United States. How much thought is the Covid Task Force in the biden world thinking about radically changing our Vaccine Strategy . They are weighing a couple of different options. It was notable that the cdc director said we have to treat every new case as a possibly variant and there are all of these challenges that are sure to come not just from the uk vaiant which is in 29 states up from 26 a couple of days ago to the South African variant that is isolated in South Carolina but dr. Wolenski indicated she thinks theres Community Spread and its in far more states. By the time you get Somebody Tests and you have the results and get this information, think about the people they could have come into contact with. Thats why she and other white house officials have stressed that really its not the time for travel. They double, triple down on mask wearing even though this question remains about whats better. One mask, two masks, some people raising questions about triple masks. The white house official position is just wear a mask. Whether you add a second one to it is great but the most important thing is to wear a face covering. You had dr. Fauci today in this briefing saying that the johnson and johnson news is really encouraging for several reasons. Even though the lower Efficacy Rate may be concerning to some. He said you shouldnt think about it that way because its a single shot. Its incredibly cheap to produce and something they believe they can scale up quickly. He sees that as something that is very promising. Something else thats worrying people like dr. Fauci and cdc director is this question of now also Variants Chuck that can emerge in large american cities. This was presented to them as a major question of how worried should we be about a los angeles vaiant or a new york variant. Thats something they are tracking closely. Lastly, President Biden was asked in the oval office this afternoon what his reaction was specifically to the johnson and johnson Trial Numbers and he said he didnt want to get ahead oift. He wanted to speak to dr. Fauci and his medical team before weighing in but continue to stress the need for his Coronavirus Relief package to get passed through congress. It shows a departure from the last administration where now you have these Health Experts leading the briefings. Taking more of the questions on the science, data and vvaccines. We can expect those to take place three times a week. The next ones will be monday, wednesday friday with the same experts. Monica, do we have an idea what the timeline would be for johnson and johnson for the vaccine to be put into use . How soon do they file with fda and we are semifamiliar with that process once that begins it feels like its about a week. When does the clock start to tick there. Again, as we know in terms getting this, the Emergency Use Authorization is one thing but getting the final approval to then manufacture it and get it widely distributed is an entirely different one. While it will be likely a matter of weeks before we can see that, its closer to a matter of months before people will really start to have access in terms of the general public to getting this shot. That is why you have the white house before even getting the reaction to what was going to happen with johnson and johnson purchase additional pfizer and moderna vaccines in the hundreds of millions so they can get to their target but the bottom line and main take away is you have experts saying it will be a matter of months, not weeks, likely late summer, early fall by the time every one who wants a shot can get one. Monica getting us started from the white house. Thank you. I want to go to dasha who is in new jersey. We know theres a demand for vaccines to explain what is the hold up. How many of this is supply . How much is distribution . Explain where you are and explain what we thought we would be looking at today. Reporter im in the supply hub. This is where they have ppe, medical supplies and cooled storage for the Covid Vaccine. They have the capacity to store about a million doses in here but, chuck, i love to have you guess how many vaccines do you think are in this freezer right now. Yeah, im guessing somewhere near zero. Reporter lets take a look. Ive got my gloves on because it is pretty cold in here. Lets take a look. To shelf. Nothing in here. Yeah. Reporter bottom shelf, nothing in there. Nothing in the freezer next to it there either. Close this tight. Nothing in here. Chuck, theres not been a single dose of vaccine in any of these freezers here. They are getting right now about 1500 to 2,000 doses a week. Thats the allocation. It can pretty much fit in your College Dorm Room mini fridge. Thats the amount of supply they are getting now. Its across the board. We looked at the state level, city level, county level. The investment in infrastructure has been massive. A lot of it is sitting idle. We were at one of the six megasites in new jersey. The former racetrack at meadowlands where they can Vaccinate Thousands O Peechl a day. They are only using a fraction of that infrastructure. Its where i met the governor. He was touring the facility today. I asked him about this issue. Take a listen. Theyll do 80 vaccinations a day. They can do 2400. I have supreme confidence. What do you hope to see for this place and how soon do you want to see it . As soon as we can. Our hope is we get as close to 2400 a day as possible. I think its probably a minimum number of weeks away. Maybe a month or two but this place could do 2400 a day and will be doing it before long. Reporter a couple of months ago i was reporting on the preparation for this roll out. Back then i was asking county, hospitals can you really do this can you build out this infrastructure . Can you get your hands on freezers the answer has been in the places we have been reporting, yes. They have done that leg work. The thing thats missing now is the vaccine. Chuck. Dasha burns, theres a good sign that if the vaccine comes, theres a system ready to go. Were looking for vaccine. Let me bring in dr. Besser. I want to put up a graphic here. There is, we got the johnson and johnson vaccine. The pfizer is a 52 Efficacy Rate and moderna is 80 . Should we be going to battle right now with as many one shots as we can until we figure out a way to isolate these variants . Chuck, i think its going be really important to see the real data and fda for johnson and johnson before including that in the overall group. The number i saw was 66 from one dose. Your question still holds. I think its important to continue to consider all different types of strategies. One of the things that gave me real faith in the Pfizer Moderna vaccines is it went through an independent Review Process by the fda and the Advisory Committee and well want the see that with j and j. These vaccines were approved for twodose regimen. If were going to move beyond that to something else, id want to see the experts weigh in on that and say whats being done based on science . Whats being done based on modelling and concern about the pace of this pandemic . I dont like to weigh in without that kind of analysis. The committee that advises cdc On Immunization Practices will have a will the of things to consider. You have two vaccines that are 95 effective with two doses. You have one vaccine thats at 66 with one dose. Who do you recommend that vaccine for . How do you use these together . This is group at the cdc that is used to dealing with these kinds of questions because for a lot of im a pediatrician. For a lot of pediatric disease, you want do see from them what is the balance here between a very high level of protection with two doses and a slightly lower level of protection with one dose. How do you play that out . I think were having the wrong conversation. The focus is all about how many people are being vaccinated rather than who is being vaccinated. I saw a map of chicago and if you look by neighborhood, the highest Vaccine Rates are in the lowest neighborhoods for vaccination. You can say, wow, this state is doing a great job rolling out the vaccine but you got do ask who is being vaccinated. I think what were going to see with the way this is playing out right now is a widening disparity and increasing gap between people of color and others in terms of rates of ifection, hospitalization and death. Its so much harder to reach people who are working 9 00 to 5 00. Who dont have the opportunity to take off from work. Are we doing mobile clinics . Are we getting out to Community Clinics where a lot of people get care . Those are hard to do. How many doses did you do today rather than how many people of true increase risk did you vaccinate . Well see maybe increasing levels of vaccination but not the people who are keeping society going. People working in the Grocery Store and driving our buses. I want to know they are protected before people at lower risk. Were making a will the of decisions based on a perfect environment. We want to distribute the best of the vaccines. The best of the people. Were not in a perfect environment. Were in a war were losing. Were in a race were losing. We got the variants popping up faster than we can deal with them. It feels like a Whack A Mole Game thats out of control. It feels like by the time were getting vaccinated, well havec again. I think your assessment is on target. When you think about flu and the way we approach flu, we vaccinate everybody and we gear up and get ready to vaccinate again. Everywhere theres a committee that meets to say, okay, given the mutations that have occurred in flu, what should the vaccine look like there year. Theres a good chance that is whats going to happen with covid. Viruses mutate and if this one remains as effective in terms of being transmitted and mutating in ways that advance its ability to transmit, advance its abilities to elude vaccine, we will be vaccinated on an annual basis. One of the exciting things im hearing is that Vaccine Manufacturers are look at these mutation and already looking at how do they adjust those vaccines to make sure they are effective. The other piece of this, though is we may call this the South African variant but viruses dont respect borders. If we dont join the Global Community of trying to control this everywhere, the idea that just vaccinating people in america will keep us a safe is a misunderstanding of how viruses work. We have every selfinterest in doing all we can to make sure vaccines reach every country. Its selfinterest and humanitarian. Should we be fast tracking a study on moderna. Whether its a 66 or 72 coming out of johnson and johnson. Maybe one shot at moderna is a good idea too. I think that is an important question. You want to have vaccines that are a one shot vaccine that doesnt require Ultra Cold Temperatures is really a goal here. You want to be doing one shot studies looking at new vaccines that will be effective against the vaiant thats emerged from south africa. Its an ongoing race between us and the virus. I dont have as gloomy a picture as you in terms of losing this. We are starting the see numbers come down. We are seeing data that we can get children into schools. Thats going be great in terms of parents, especially moms being able to get back to work. There is some hope. Just the fact that we have vaccines that are going into arms a year into this pandemic i think is miraculous. I dont want to lose sight of that part. Fair enough. Im glad to know youre more optimistic than i am. I want to be optimistic too. Thank you for coming on. Pleasure. Up ahead, the vaccine view from the state level as governors trying to vaccinate as many people they can are running into tremendous roadblocks. Well talk with the governor of Mississippi Plus the pledge he made in this age of divided politics that caught my attention in the state of the state. [ Speaking Indistinctly ] [ truck beeping ] [ Speaking Indistinctly ] [ beeping continues ] [ Engine Revving ] obviously, i have not been to the zoo since. [ truck departs ] what . Switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. You know, like the sign says. Go pro at subway® for double the protein on Footlong Subs and the new protein bowls. And if you want to go pro like marshawn, dont let anything get in your way. Here we go yeah, appreciate you, man go pro and get double the protein for just 2 more. At tmobile, we have a plan built just for customers 55 and up. Saving 50 vs. Other carriers go pro and get double the with 2 unlimited lines for less than 30 each. 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