and america's covid crisis. now, we have got a gorgeous live zoom audience that will be with us throughout the night. we are one year into the pandemic and we wanted to hear from you, the american people. many of you submitted questions and here is what you wanted to know. ee will we be with the coronavirus and these other mutants till 2022 >> please tell the difference between the moderna vaccine, the pfizer vaccine and johnson & johnson vaccine? >> will the future protect us from future variants of covid or will we have to go into lockdown again? >> when will we get into some kind of normal? >> this pandemic has upended billions of lives world wide. more than 510,000 american lives with black is and brown lives more likely to be infected for coronavirus, to be hospitalized for it and die. u.s. life expectancy also dropped by a year in the first half of 2020 according to a new government report. but for black americans, it was nearly three years. and for latinx people, nearly two years. such staggering immeasurable loss has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives. we are now at a crucial crossroads, with two vaccines now available and a third by johnson & johnson that an fda advisory panel has just approved. but even with more vaccines, it may still take months to vaccinate enough of the american public to keep us all safe. and the rollout is already serving as a disturbing mirror for who gets to thrive in this country and who gets left behind. tonight we will shed light on the racial and health in equities that plague this country, and what can be done about it. we have got a lot to cover, so let's just jump right in. joining me now is white house chief medical adviser and leading infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci. congresswoman joyce beatty of ohio, chair of the congressional black caucus. congresswoman brenda lawrence of michigan, second vice chair of the cbc. and thank you all for being here. i want to start with you, chairwoman beatty. thank you, first of all, so much for joining with us and getting together with us to do this. this is so important. but i have to ask you this question, which is maybe a bit depressing question. what does it say about this country, that a pandemic that has affected the entire world has become a race and equities issue and an inequality issue in this country? >> well, first of all, joy, let me thank you for being here. i'm excited and looking forward to hearing from our constituents and those calling in. but i think you hit it on the nail. it's very devastating that when we think of the coronavirus, we cannot think of it in a -- as a single issue. it is the economic issue, and it is also the social justice issues. we know how it has affected us. it has affected us as we look at housing, as we look at small businesses. 41% of black-owned businesses have closed, devastated. people are being evicted but for the congress putting dollars in. we put forbearances on mortgages. it's affecting us like no other disease, no other epidemic has, and that's because for black americans, we were already behind. there were already disparities. we know in the health care we're treated disproportionately already. so we're having to double down in this fight, and that's why the congressional black caucus is being so involved and so strong with this. >> and, congresswoman lawrence, is facing this equity issue, is it about investment? is it about social change, some combination? what do you think is the priority to change this dynamic? >> what we are witnessing is an intersection of all the issues that black america are facing. health disparity. the fact that we die at a higher rate than any other ethnic group. the fact that we're looking at access to health care. we are looking at historic fear, and we're going to talk about that, of vaccine and the fear of the health care industry because are they going to hurt us, harm us, ignore us or are they going to help us? and so today, that's why this is black history month, and this is a time for us to look at this intersection of challenges that we have in america when it comes to black america, health care, and this virus has just ripped the scab off of so many challenges in america. >> indeed. and, dr. fauci, you have been at this for a long time, multiple pandemics that have faced this country. it is sadly the rule at this point, that each of these pandemics does wind up being a racial disparities issue. what can we do about that in your view? >> well, there are a couple of things that you can do, and you can do things immediately, such as make sure that we have equal access or equity to the interventions that would be important. the one we're facing right now is to make sure with two vaccines that have gotten approval, moderna and pfizer, and you mention correctly, the j&j vaccine has been voted approval by the advisory board of the fda. that looks like it will be imminent they'll get their e.u.a. we have to make sure there is equal access to this lifesaving -- to the african-american community. we absolutely need to do that. >> absolutely. well, i could ask all of you questions for a solid hour but we are not going to do that. because we are not here to talk about my questions. we are here to take the questions from our wonderful audience. hundreds of you sent in questions. we're going to get right to them. of all the questions we received, the most by far were about vaccine access. here are two people, kathy and pat, who are both eligible to receive the vaccine, but have not been able to navigate the system. >> i'm a 69-year-old female and i live in new jersey. i work in philadelphia. i've been on multiple lists trying to get vaccinated. i stood in line for over three hours. when i got to the front of the line i was told i didn't have a philadelphia address and photo i.d. so i wasn't eligible. i would like to know what i need to do so i can get vaccinated. >> i have preexisting conditions, yet i can't get a vaccine. my question is if you say minorities aren't getting vaccinated, perhaps it's because they're not a priority. so why not make them a priority so they can get vaccinated? >> dr. fauci, i'mtute that the first person who made that comment had to go through that very difficult and i'm sure burdensome experience of getting up to the line and finding out that she could not do that. the biden administration is now that we've taken over, trying to make sure that we can expedite and make as easy as possible the accessibility of vaccines to everyone, but also particularly to people of color, the brown and black people in our population. in order to do things like setting up community vaccine centers that are in the areas that are demographically heavily weighted towards minority populations to make it easier to get through the process. also pharmacies, making sure that vaccines are available, and she doesn't have to go through the experience she went to, and even having mobile units that actually go to -- not easy to access areas. so we're trying very hard to make sure that that experience that she had is not repeated. the situation with priorities, she has a underlying condition, and that is now one of the priorities that will be next up on the priority list. you know, when we had the priorities there were phase 1 a, phase 1 b, and then p who are a any age, 16 and up, who have an underlying condition. so hopefully we will get that and get the vaccine to her and people just like her as quickly as possible. >> before we move on to the next question, i want to give you an opportunity, chairwoman beatty. is there anything in the covid relief bill that will make that easier, to prioritize people who should be in line getting the vaccine, but right now are not? >> absolutely. there are dollars set in there for us to do education and awareness because the first lady, we should have had or she should have been able to know what she needed before going there and getting in the front of the line. the other thing is we have put $350 billion in this plan for emergency funding, but for vaccine distribution. and as dr. fauci said, we have areas to get to. we did the essential workers, and now we're coming up with the different levels. but we need to make sure that they're in our communities. we actually even put dollars in there, some $20 billion, for transportation. we know a lot of people in our communities don't have access to getting to the points of where they can go. so between the distribution, dollars to education and awareness, putting them in our communities, that should be very helpful because there are so many disparities. >> yeah, indeed. let's go to another question. diamani from las vegas is a student at howard university in washington, d.c. and his question is about the transparency of the vaccine trials. >> many black people live with preexisting conditions and many have died more than other ethnic groups and racial groups. so my question is have black folks, especially those with preexisting conditions, been properly represented and tested within the trials and research for these vaccines? >> that's a huge question. dr. fauci, i'm going to ask you to take that one. >> thank you, joy. that's a great question, and we have tried and i believe succeeded for the most part in getting representation in the major trials to get people of color as well as those who have underlying conditions. it was not easy for a number of reasons. in fact, we spent about ten saturdays in a row working with the leaders of the company that was doing the trial to try and help them because of the experience that we've had over the years in making sure there is proper representation of minority groups in the clinical trial. and, in fact, we did succeed in the moderna trial there was over 10% were african-american. there was about 20 to 21% were latinx. in the novavax trial which has now been completed, in the enrollment there was 13% african-american and well over 20% were latinx. so we made a special effort to make sure that you are represented so that when we say a vaccine is safe and effective, it's safe and effective for everyone, including you and your community. >> thank you for answering that question. okay, we have two questions about people who might be hesitant to get the vaccine. the first comes from swan, a high school art teacher from the detroit metropolitan area. she's concerned that some of those with strong opinions in her community might refuse to get vaccinated. >> how can we help the nay sayers consider receiving the vaccine so we can protect our entire community as a whole? >> keeping that in mind, this next question is also about distrust, but this time of the medical community. here's emoryie, a visual merchandiser from the virgin islands who now lives in brooklyn, new york. >> as you can see, there is only a small percentage of african-american people that have taken this vaccine, and that is because we actually don't trust the doctors. for someone like myself who is not willing to take the vaccine, convince me on why i should take it. >> i'm going to throw that one to you, congresswoman lawrence. >> thank you so much. joy, as we look at the challenges that we have with the deaths, with covid, when we look at the responsibility that we have to ensure that my community, that the black community is effectively vaccinated, i want to say i was confronted when i was delaying myself to get the vaccine and i'm proud to say i've had both of my shots. the question to me was, why are you delaying? and i said, well, you know, some people are getting sick. i don't know if it's been tested. and my friend, who is a doctor, said, brenda, if you get sick, i can fix that. but if you die, i can't fix that. i need you. i need your contribution. and i will say to everyone, especially my health care workers, my god, we could not have survived without you being there for us. we need you to live. this vaccine does not discriminate. it will take away any life. and it hurts me when i see a line of people getting vaccines and my people are not represented. but i'm invited to the funerals of those who have died. i have taken the vaccine. i believe in it. i need my people, my community to step up. and we've had ministers open up their church to give them a safe environment. we have had the community health centers been funded through our covid relief plan so that they can be right in the neighborhoods to help my brown and black community who they serve every day. but i do encourage everyone to, please, i need you alive and i want you to take the vaccine. >> you know what's scarier than the vaccine? covid. covid-19 is scareyer than the vaccine. we have so much more to talk about tonight. stay with us as our reid out special, race and america's covid crisis continues right after this. is ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ hey limu! [ squawks ] how great is it that we get to tell everybody how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? i mean it... oh, sorry... [ laughter ] woops! [ laughter ] good evening! meow! nope. oh... what? i'm an emu! ah ha ha. no, buddy! buddy, it's a filter! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ (vo) ideas exist inside you, electrify you. they grow from our imagination, but they can't be held back. they want to be set free. to make the world more responsible, and even more incredible. ideas start the future, just like that. you love your pet...but hate wearing their hair. did you know that your clothes can actually attract pet hair? with bounce pet hair & lint guard, your clothes can repel pet hair. one bounce mega sheet has 3x the hair fighting ingredients of the leading dryer sheet. simply toss into the dryer to bounce out hair & lint. look how the shirt on the left attracts pet hair like a magnet! pet hair is no match for bounce. it's available in fresh scent & unscented. with bounce, you can love your pets, and lint roll less. tonight i'll be eating a calzone from doughballs in aurora. (doorbell) rock on. tonight i'll be eating lobster thermidor au gratin. really? sh-yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt. make it two calzones! with relapsing forms of ms, there's a lot to deal with. not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things too. who needs that kind of drama? kesimpta is a once-monthly at-home injection that may help you put this rms drama in its place. kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the rate of relapses, active lesions and slowing disability progression versus aubagio. don't take kesimpta if you have hepatitis b, and tell your doctor if you have had it, as it could come back. kesimpta can cause serious side effects, including infections. while no cases of pml were recorded in rms clinical trials, it could happen. tell your doctor if you had or plan to have vaccines, or if you are or plan to become pregnant. kesimpta may cause a decrease in some types of antibodies. the most common side effects are upper respiratory tract infection, headache and injection reactions. dealing with this rms drama? it's time to ask your doctor about kesimpta. dramatic results. less rms drama. welcome back to our special edition of "the reid out mt american town hall race and covid-19." congresswoman joyce beatty of ohio and brenda lawrence of michigan. this question is about racial disparities when it comes to covid-19 and it comes from the president much howard university dr. wayne a.i. frederick. >> we are dying at a disproportionate rate compared to our white neighbors. what efforts are made through the cdc to work with leaders in the black community to improve the distribution of the vaccine? >> dr. fauci, i'll throw that one to you. >> well, there are a number of things that are being done. some i mentioned before. namely, the community vaccine centers that are actually in the areas where are demographically represented more by african-american communities, pharmacies, as well as mobile units to get to poorly accessible areas. what president biden has formed is a task force chaired by dr. marcell a nunez smith whose job is to do exactly what you're referring to, is how do we make sure we look in every way possible to make sure there is equitable distribution of these lifesaving vaccines to the minority community. it is a top priority of president biden. he's been very explicit about that, and he's instructed us to make sure this gets implemented. >> all right, that is an excellent answer. let's take the next question. this is for representatives beatty and lawrence. derica of el paso, texas, is pursuing a degree at washington university. and she has questions about access to the vaccine. >> have you reached out to communities to find out what would be more convenient in order to receive the vaccine? also have you thought about incentivizing for those who receive the shot? >> i'll start with you, congresswoman beatty. >> absolutely, and thank you for that question. for the congressional black caucus, we actually have four nurses within the congressional black caucus, and we are reaching out in our own committees -- communities when we go back to our district. let me just tell you about in the heartland of it all in ohio. we have a young doctor by the name of dr. laurel espee bayo who put a video together what you're talking about. these are all black doctors. they will give you a statement go why you should get it, the ramifications if you don't get it, where you can go, and they've made themselves available to our younger folks because it's so important for you to know where you can go. and because of the disparities, it's really important for us to have community access. we have churches. we have health centers. but the biggest thing, if you don't know where to go and if you don't know about it, then you can't do it. so we are engaging barber shops and beauty salons to get engaged and to tell their constituents more about how to get the shot and where to go. >> and, congresswoman lawrence, same question. >> so, one of the things we're doing in detroit that i think is really powerful, the mayor has designated saturday as senior day. so if you are age 60, you can pickup a senior and bring them to the testing center. so it's not about you going online and going through all this procedure. it's opening it up so that seniors who we know are the ones that are most critical, that they have access to testing a day that they can figure out, on saturday, they can get their son or daughter to get them in a car, take them there. or they can call for transportation. when you talk about giving incentives, i know that there is dialogue about travel, about other things that can happen if you get your vaccine. but we're not there yet. we still have too many people that need to step up. and one issue i need to bring forward is that a lot of people are bypassing the second shot. the first shot does not complete the job. you have to get the second one so you're fully -- get all of the benefits of the vaccine. so i'm encouraging people, the churches have been amazing of including others when they are making sure that this is a safe place, and i'm encouraging you. my community health centers have been amazing. and the mobile, having the mobile trucks to go into those communities like dr. fauci said. >> let's get one more question is. next up is andrew from just outside springfield, missouri. he has a question for dr. fauci about the speed of vaccine distribution. >> when the johnson & johnson vaccine gets approved, if it gets approved for emergency distribution, does this mean that the rollout of the vaccines that we're already seeing is expected to get faster? >> dr. fauci? >> it won't -- it's going to get faster because we're getting better and better at it. but once the j&j vaccine gets into the mix, as it were, it will be treated exactly like the others in the distribution and the planning to get it out. the more vaccines we have in the mix, the quicker you get vaccines out. i believe if you look at the next couple of months, there is going to be a rather substantial increment in the amount of vaccine that's going to be available. once that occurs, you can start mass vaccination procedures, which will, in fact, directly answer your question about speed. the entire process will speed up. with j&j, with moderna and with pfizer. >> i have so many questions. i think i have about an hour's worth. i'm going to hold back because we have to take a break. the congress women will be back with us in a bit and, of course, dr. fauci is sticking with us throughout this special for this reid out virtual town hall. more straight ahead. stay with us. ♪ ♪i've got the brains you've got the looks♪ ♪let's make lots of money♪ ♪you've got the brawn♪ ♪i've got the brains♪ ♪let's make lots of♪ ♪uh uh uh♪ ♪oohhh there's a lot of opportunities♪ with allstate, drivers who switched saved over $700. saving is easy when you're in good hands. allstate click or call to switch today. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high you know how i feel ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel ♪ [man: coughing] ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day... ♪ no matter how you got copd it's time to make a stand. ♪ ...and i'm feelin' good ♪ start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. it's time to start a new day. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. dad! no shoes in the house. our son says, ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. since tide antibacterial fabric spray kills 99.9% of bacteria. just to be sure. he wants us to spray everything every time we walk into the door. it's just to be sure. just to be sure! i thought you just sprayed those. ma, it's just to be sure. see, he takes after my side of the family. for every just to be sure, it's got to be tide antibacterial fabric spray. ♪ hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play ♪ ♪ hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid ♪ ♪ and all that glitters is gold ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's. ♪upbeat music♪ transitions™ light under control. ♪upbeat music♪ transitions™ signature gen 8™ available now, in 4 vibrant style colors. transitions™ welcome back to a special edition of the "reid out virtual town hall" covid crisis. dr. fauci is still with us. and joining us is denise. pastor aber anthony abernathy. i want to ask father paul abernathy a question. you're going door to door about getting vaccines and participating in the process of trying to rescue ourselves from the crisis. what are you hearing at the doors, what kind of questions are you getting, what concerns are you getting? >> first, joy, it's so good to be with you. thank you so much for having me. i think that the concerns that we've been hearing really, there's three overarching themes. the first would be the mistrust of government. there is a deep history of failure of government in our community. the role of the dissemination of the vaccine is a concern to people. the second is clinical abuse which gives people pause. it's not just about tuskegee. we have plenty of clinical abuse that's lived experience even in this generation. racism that's experienced in the health care system that gives also people pause. thirdly, there is a mistrust of corporate america that at times we hear people thinking this is simply a ploy to help those who are rich become richer. and so what we've really done is taken this approach, not to try to convince people, but rather to disseminate information honoring their dignity to make choice, believing with the right information, they can make the best choice. and it's had a tremendous effect with that approach. >> we've had so many questions that got right to the issues you're talking about. i want to jump right back into those questions. this question, first one comes from dante of portsmouth, virginia who says covid is one of the reasons he's running for the virginia house of delegates. >> time and time again, we are given the undeniable fact that communities of color, specifically african-american communities are denied the same access to medical resources. what steps are the federal, state and local governments prepared to take to ensure equity within vaccination distribution? >> i'm going to throw that question to denise fehr. >> thank you so much for having me. let me say detroit was hit hard. we lost close to 2,000 of our close neighbors and friends, and most of those people who we lost were seniors. and that is why it is so important that we bring the vaccine directly to our most vulnerable. we want to do it in an equitable way. in the city of detroit, what we've done is bring the vaccine directly to our most vulnerable. we're out in the community. we are making sure that we're going to senior apartments. we're using our mobile clinics to vaccinate those in mental health facilities. we also have a massive drive-thru which i believe is the most efficient in the entire country. it's the only place where you can drive in and out in about 45 minutes or less and get your vaccine without leaving your car. and then finally, for our seniors, we have partnered with our clergy who are -- they have opened their doors to us and they have made sure that seniors have the opportunity to get their vaccine. and we are going to be expanding to more sites in the next couple of weeks because we have to keep vaxing our most vulnerable. >> hopefully dr. fauci is writing that down. he'll roll that out nationwide. sounds good. our next question is a writer from jersey city, new jersey. she and her family are eager to get the vaccine, but most of them, including her 75-year-old mom cannot get appointments. >> my question is why are states and municipalities requiring residency requirements? why aren't people who come to a vaccine center being required to show proof of where they live before being given access to vaccines that were designated for impacted communities? >> father abernathy, i hear about this all the time, people in states where communities are wealthy, lining up in communities of color and getting the vaccine. what can be done about ha? >> well, i think the registration process really has to change. if we're talking about an online registration process, it's going to favor people who have better access to those digital platforms. we really have to think. if we're going to disseminate links to sign up and register for people to come to vaccine centers, we have to understand people who have access to the online registration as well as transportation, and even sometimes a social support system to help them navigate the complexities of online registration, they will be the first to get the vaccine. we need to take a look at a different way of doing this. i think building up phone banks in our community becomes very important. i know we have had to do this in partnership with our local health department and university of pittsburgh in helping facilitate the vaccination as well as i believe we should have core of community health deputies that are able to go door to door and register people door to door. we can take people from our community and essentially depp depputize them in the effort. we'll see this around centers. >> do you think there should be a residency requirement? should be you limited to the zip code where you live to get vaccinated? >> i do not believe that that really is best. and the reason why i say that, in some of our communities, it's not -- we have had so much displacement over the years that we have people who still consider, for example, our neighborhood their home, but they have been displaced to adjoining neighborhoods or in some cases neighborhoods that are maybe three neighborhoods or more away. this, though, is still their home and this is where their comfort level is. i think because of the displacement we have to be open to people who really are leveraging their social networks, staying within certainly the demographic of our community, but using that as an opportunity to bring those of our neighbors that are comfortable so they can receive the vaccine. >> herman from the bronx brought up a topic we hear more than any other topic when it comes to skepticism. distrust in the scientific community due to the notorious tuskegee experiment. take a listen. >> i would like to know with the controversy surrounding the tuskegee experiment, how can we as african americans, latino, asian and indigenous people community, that once this vaccine is distributed, it will not be tampered with before it goes into our arms and it will be safe and effective? >> dr. fauci, i'm so glad someone asked this question. a lot of people do. it is ironic because tuskegee was about withholding medicine, not giving something that was tainted. please answer that question. it comes up so much, the tuskegee question about trust. >> well, i think the first thing you have to do is you have to respect that skepticism because it's well founded. but once you say that you do respect the fact that you do have hesitancy, to try and explain that the egregious ethical violations that have occurred, that led to the tuskegee incident and to subsequent types of incidents have now had ethical constraints put in place that would make a reputation of that essentially impossible. that's the first thing. the other part of that questioner's question is how can you be sure that what's being put into your arm is really safe and effective. the safety and efficacy of the vaccine has been determined by the clinical trial of tens of thousands of people, including african americans, latinx and whites. the decision as to whether or not it's safe and effective is not made by the federal government or by the company in case one understandably might have some skepticism about that. it's made by independent data and safety monitoring boards who are responsible to the general public. not to the administration and not to the drug company. and the ultimate decision as was made today by the advisory committee regarding johnson & johnson was an independent committee. so the entire process was was transparent and independent. and finally, the fact that the people, why i myself and the president of the united states and vice-president kamala harris publicly got vaccinated with the same vaccine that we want to put into the arms of everyone, including black and brown people to protect them, to save their lives, that of the community and that of the country. >> thank you so much for that. very important point. thank you, denise fair and father paul abernathy. we have more on "reid out virtual town hall" covid. we'll be right back. wn hall" cod we'll be right back. ♪ and so are lost for good ♪ ♪ and some of them are pretty flawed ♪ ♪ and some of them are slightly odd ♪ ♪ but many are small businesses that simply lack the tool ♪ ♪ to find excited people who will stop and say 'that's cool'♪ ♪ and these two, they like this idea ♪ ♪ and those three like that one.♪ ♪ and that's 'cause personalized ads ♪ ♪ find good ideas for everyone ♪ there it is... “the extra mile.” on the border of expected and extraordinary. for those willing to go further. like vans customized for work or play. with safety and tech to keep you connected. supported by a five-star sales, service and finance team. and backed by the one star you know. so, go the extra mile. it's never crowded because so few have what it takes to go there. mercedes-benz vans. (burke) at farmers, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. like how nice it is to switch and save on your auto policy. but it's even nicer knowing that if this happens... ...or this happens... ...or this... ...or even this... ...we've seen and covered it. so, call 1-800-farmers to switch your auto policy and you could save an average of four hundred seventy dollars. get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks? now they can! this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry for up to 12-weeks. psst! psst! allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! you're good. welcome back to this special edition of the reid out our virtual town hall on america's covid crisis. with me is now dr. gary gibbons, director of heart, lung and blood institute at the national institutes of health. all right, we're going to do this as a lightning round. i have a bunch of questions to get through. i'm going to fire them right off. robin from los angeles has a popular question that goes to the question of whether this new single-dose vaccine will start to create almost like a rich person/poor person dichotomy between the vaccines. take a listen. >> i'd like to know if any varks vaccine is better for african americans than the other. johnson & johnson is one shot. what shot would you recommend and does it matter? >> dr. gibbons. >> well, at this point we're fortunate we now have what appears to be three options, presuming that all three get the e.u.a. and the good news is all three are very effective at preventing the most severe consequence of covid. severe disease, hospitalizations and death. so the recommendation right now is the most important thing is for america to get vaccinated. >> very quickly, dr. fauci, there are a lot of people saying if you have a one-dose vaccine, people are going to start to shunt off poorer communities to get the johnson & johnson because they don't have to worry about them coming back. are we going to find a vaccine apartheid where people push one vaccine toward communities of color and the others are for the affluent? >> we are aware of that consideration and that possibility. and for that reason there is going to be equitable distribution of all three vaccines in exactly the same way, so that there isn't that inadvertent or even deliberate attempt to be putting vaccines and shunting them to one group versus the other. getting back to the question that you asked and that dr. gibbons answered quite correctly, all three vaccines are good vaccines. if i were in a situation where they said this one is ready now, take it, i'd have the one that is the most available to me and i would take any one of the three. >> all right, great. our next question is going to come from dr. leslie harris, a physician in brooklyn, new york. >> my question is, when is the capacity for vaccination going to meet us at the practitioner level where doctors and professionals similar to myself can dispense just as we do the flu vaccine in our local clinics and offices? >> dr. gibbons? >> well, this is being ruled out -- rolled out in a variety of settings. practitioners are an important part of that system. in particular related to the topic today, fairly qualified health centers will be a prime site since they treat and care for so many communities of color. >> our next question is coming from jack in indianapolis. he is one of our youngest and most adorable viewers. >> hi, dr. fauci. i'm jack and i'm 10 years old. i live in indianapolis. when will us kids be able to get the vaccine? >> dr. fauci? >> great question. so, right now the trials have shown that by the time we get to the beginning of the fall, the fall school term likely, that there will be enough evidence of the safety and of the efficacy of high school students, namely, people from 12 up to 17 or 18. the trials on what's called an age de-escalation, from going from 12 to 9, 9 to 6, 6 to 2, and six months to two years, that will likely be by the end of the year at the earliest and more likely by the first quarter of 2022. so it is very likely that young children in elementary school will be able to get the vaccine in the beginning of 2022. >> let's go to an interesting question from alberto in castro valley, california. he's one of the 28 million americans already diagnosed with covid-19. >> as a person who suffered through covid back in june 2020 and continues to deal with the lingering effects such as fatigue, migraines, headaches, shortness of breath, how many doses, if any, of the vaccine do you recommend based on the current immunity within my body? >> dr. gibbons? >> well, it appears that he has what we're calling the post-acute syndrome of covid-19 where there are individuals who have lingering symptoms, even after much of the virus has been cleared from their bodies. and it's clear that we're still actively studying that at n.i.h. and it will be apparent -- it will be important for him to be vaccinated in order for him to ensure there is no recurrence of the infection. >> here's one more. connie from cleveland has a question on vaccine immunity. >> my question is how long will the vaccine last? and will i have to take it again in another year or two? >> this one is for you, dr. fauci. but or two? is the vaccine safe to take if somebody is hiv positive? >> well, the answer to the second question is absolutely. people that have hiv or are immuno compromised should definitely get the vaccine. they are more likely to get a serious complication if in fact they get infected. so the vaccine is very important for them. regarding the question of how long it lasts, we don't know that because we have just begun the process of vaccinating people. we know it lasts at least six months. we followed people that long from the clinical trials. likely, and i hope it will be longer than that. much the way that we find out is by following people over months to years. you can be observing people out to two years. now at least six months and likely longer than that. next, do not go anywhere. next, do not go anywhere ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ hey limu! [ squawks ] how great is it that we get to tell everybody how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? i mean it... oh, sorry... [ laughter ] woops! [ laughter ] good evening! meow! nope. oh... what? i'm an emu! ah ha ha. no, buddy! buddy, it's a filter! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins? heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release formula that helps it pass through the tough stomach acid. it then works to turn down acid production, blocking heartburn at the source. with just one pill a day, you get 24-hour heartburn protection. prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. this is an athlete, twenty reps deep, sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. nicorette® knows, quitting smoking is hard. you get advice like: try hypnosis... or... quit cold turkey are you kidding me?! instead, start small. with nicorette®. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette® tonight, i'll be eating the al pastor burrito from boca burritos right here in aurora. (doorbell rings) excellent as a local access show, we want everyone to support local restaurants. right cardi b? yeah! eat local! (trill sound) >> you're watching msnbc. >> welcome back to a special edition, our virtual town hall race and america's crisis. dr. anthony fauci is still with us and our congresswoman joyce beatty and brenda lawrence. this is from victor, a freshman at ucla who is askeding political science. >> i'm a freshman in college. as a student i wonder what you think the best approach is to bring students back into the classroom in a fair and e quitable way. >> this is for you. >> i think that it is important for us as we are dealing with the congressional black caucus through our education program to encourage students that you have to come back but come back when it is safe. stay focused and stay at homeworking. teachers are getting the vaccine. >> the next question is from antonio, a flight attendant on the risks essential workers face in this pandemic. what would you say to the front line crew members risking our lives daily and have been from the very beginning. >> this is for you. we recognize how prnd it is for the people that went to work every day in this pandemic. you have been in the first line of getting the vaccine. we also want you to know, and i will use my platform to recognize you and to continue to ensure that you get all of the protections with health care and everything else in our corona relief package and we appreciate you. you are our heroes. >> dr. fauci, i am going to ask you the question more than any other question you get. how long do you think that this is going to last, this situation where we have to lock ourselves down, wear masks and do social distancing. how long will we be in this do you think? >> well, it is difficult to predict. by the time we get to the fall and the winter, we may not be back to 100% before where we were when we started. we have to be patient. it is going to get better and better. we have to keep our eye out for the variants. the best way to protect yourself against that is to do the public health measures we talk about. wearing a mask. physical distancing. when vaccine becomes available, please get vaccinated. the more that get vaccinated the better off we will be and the quicker we will be get bathe normality you are talking about. >> these were such important questions. i want to thank the congressional black caucus of trying to help the community. thank you all for being here. we could do it for another hour. i think the most important thing to come out of this is to get vaccinated. get vaccinated. it is far scarier than covid. i want to thank dr. anthony fauci. our amazing viewers and the fabulous people in the audience. look at them. that is it for tonight on tonight's readout. i have my readout mask. join us on monday. my special guest will be stacey abe -- abrhams. -- abrhams. >> good evening. tomorrow the senate is poised to take up president biden's covid relief bill. a minimum wage increase cannot be in that bill because of senate rules. will democrats find a way to keep the increase in? will republicans find a way to shrink the bill down? i am joshua johnson, welcome to "the week."