president biden. it could add, this is very good news, millions more vaccines to the market just at a time when new worries are surfacing about covid variants and the risks that they could push the number of new cases back up again. we cannot be resigned to 70,000 cases a day. 2,000 daily deaths. please hear me clearly, at this level of cases with variants spreading we stand to completely lose the hard earned ground we have gained. let s get right to it and bring in dr. michael osterholm. doctor, what is your reaction to this news? have you ever seen two major competitors merck and j&j join forces for one mission? well, i haven t seen anything quite like this, stephanie, and it s very good news. i congratulate the companies and the administration for helping make it happen. we also have to realize it will still be months before these vaccine doses will be rolling off the assembly line from merck but it s very good news. what could that mean for vaccine supply? well,