{"id":135984,"date":"2022-02-09T20:47:47","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T04:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=135984"},"modified":"2022-02-09T20:47:47","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T04:47:47","slug":"briefing-by-white-house-covid-%e2%81%a019-response-team-and-public-health-officials-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=135984","title":{"rendered":"Briefing by White House COVID-\u206019 Response Team and Public Health Officials"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Good morning, and thanks for joining us.\u00a0 Today, we\u2019ll start with an update from Dr. Walensky on the state of the pandemic and CDC\u2019s COVID-19 surveillance efforts.\u00a0 DR. WALENSKY:\u00a0 Good morning.\u00a0 Thanks, Jeff.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to start by walking you through today\u2019s data.\u00a0 The current seven-day daily average of cases is about 247,300 cases per day, a decrease of about 44 percent over the previous week.\u00a0 The seven-day average of hospital admissions is about 13,000 per day, a decrease of about 25 percent over the previous period.\u00a0 And the seven-day average of daily deaths are at about 2,400 a day, which is an increase of about 3 percent over the prior week.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0eJb9XUTRGI\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This week, we reached a tragic new mark of 900,000 deaths in this country from COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>Each week, I share with you the burden of disease in the United States, including case counts, hospital admissions, and the number of deaths.\u00a0 Much of the data I readily share is because we have made huge strides in our ability to effectively monitor this virus, and new tools allow us to prepare and react to an evolving virus and inform response measures in near real time.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I\u2019d like to walk you through just a few of the layers of surveillance we have in place, some that we have been expanding and developing over the past two years and others that are bedrocks of our public health work.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start at the local community level where our biggest question is: Can we quickly identify spikes in cases?\u00a0 As people with COVID-19 shed the virus, testing in wastewater or our sewage systems can help us monitor COVID-19 in communities and provide an early warning of increased COVID-19 cases to help communities prepare.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, CDC publicly released national wastewater surveillance data, tracking more than 400 testing sites across the country in 212 communities, which we will double to more than 800 testing sites in the next four weeks.<\/p>\n<p>On this map, you can see the testing sites that we monitor and trends in the levels of the virus.\u00a0 Communities in blue have decreasing levels of virus, while communities in red and orange have increasing levels.<\/p>\n<p>This is a powerful tool that, when paired with traditional public health surveillance, can help us identify where the disease is spreading and how best to distribute resources.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve also made significant progress in syndromic surveillance, defined by the ability to identify symptoms and cases that are suggestive of COVID-19 disease.\u00a0 Through syndromic surveillance, we can answer questions about disease severity and patient populations with the highest burdens of disease \u2014 crucial information to inform guidance and prevention measures.<\/p>\n<p>More than 6,000 healthcare facilities across the country, representing over 70 percent of emergency departments, contribute data to our syndromic surveillance and help us understand where and how the virus is having an impact.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to monitoring where the virus is and how disease presents in the community, our genomic surveillance can quickly identify variants so that we can understand their impact.\u00a0 Each week, CDC analyzes genomic sequences from all 50 states and uses these sequences to understand the spread of variants across the country.<\/p>\n<p>On this slide, you can see the projections of variant proportions for the last 14 weeks.\u00a0 Omicron, shown in pink and purple, now represents nearly 100 percent of viruses circulating in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Our cohort studies and state-level surveillance data provide detailed and regular reports of how our vaccines are working in the real world among diverse populations, giving us faster and better data to know that our vaccines are working against new and emerging variants.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve heard me discuss many of these platforms before, like our hospital surveillance through CDC\u2019s COVID-NET and IVY; our collaboration with seven integrated healthcare and public health research centers through VISION; surveillance of infection is essential in frontline workers in HEROES-RECOVER; and our nationwide surveillance of vaccine effectiveness in children and young adults in overcoming COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>Taken together, these studies provide us an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of how vaccines are working with participations in sites nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>And importantly, COVID-19 vaccines are being administered under the most intensive vaccine safety monitoring effort in the United States\u2019 history.<\/p>\n<p>Our nationwide vaccine safety networks \u2014 such as V-safe, which provides personalized and confidential health check-ins via text message \u2014 and other systems \u2014 such as VAERS, the Clinical Immunization Safety project, and the Vaccine Safety Datalink \u2014 empower us with the data of any rare side effects or reactions after vaccination or boosting.<\/p>\n<p>This is a huge amount of data.\u00a0 CDC \u2014 along with our partners across government; state and local jurisdictions; academia; and healthcare \u2014 has cast a wide and comprehensive net over the country to follow the virus and its impacts in real time.<\/p>\n<p>And we will continue these data as our guiding \u2014 using these data as our guiding source as we look to what comes next.<\/p>\n<p>I know there will come a time when we move from a phase of crisis to a point where COVID-19 is not disrupting our daily lives.\u00a0 And as we all look forward to this next step, I want to instill in everyone that moving forward from this pandemic will be a process that\u2019s led by our surveillance and our data.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m confident that CDC and our public health partners are well positioned to lead the way.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.\u00a0 And now, with that, I will turn things back over to you, Jeff.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Thanks, Dr. Walensky.<\/p>\n<p>Now, let\u2019s move to booster shots.\u00a0 We know that there are a number of different ways to view progress on boosters, depending on which data set you\u2019re looking at.<\/p>\n<p>For example, some people assess boosters as a proportion of all adults who are fully vaccinated, while others look at the total U.S. adult population, even though not every adult is eligible for a booster shot yet.<\/p>\n<p>So, before I turn to Dr. Fauci on the effectiveness of booster shots, I want to review how we assess the available data and use the best available data to measure the progress we\u2019re making on getting people booster shots.<\/p>\n<p>CDC data aggregated from state health departments shows that more than 90 million booster shots have been administered.\u00a0 We know that that is likely undercounted as some people reported their booster as a first shot and others forgot their vaccination card altogether.<\/p>\n<p>States have been matching data and have encountered some challenges across different channels, which has led to delayed reporting for booster shots in many states.<\/p>\n<p>CDC is working with states to address these issues to improve the data.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, CDC conducts a weekly survey, which is a nationally representative survey of over 16,000 adults.\u00a0 Looking at the CDC survey results, you get a more up-to-date picture of the progress we are making on boosters.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the latest CDC survey, we estimate over two thirds\u00a0 of all eligible adults and over 80 percent of all eligible seniors \u2014 those most at risk\u00a0 and most vulnerable \u2014 have received a booster shot.<\/p>\n<p>CDC\u2019s survey results are consistent with the Kaiser Family Foundation survey which shows 70 percent of eligible adults report they\u2019ve gotten a booster.<\/p>\n<p>So, we have a strong foundation to build on, with most eligible adults boosted.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, we estimate at least two out of three adult \u2014 eligible adults in the U.S. are now boosted \u2014 two out of three eligible adult Americans with a booster shot.<\/p>\n<p>And across the last two months, we\u2019ve made important strides on equity, with the majority of booster shots going to people of color, in a very improvement from the prior two months.<\/p>\n<p>The significant progress we made on boosters is one of the reasons why we were able to confront Omicron with fewer disruptions to schools and businesses than in prior surges.\u00a0 And we clearly need to keep driving this progress.<\/p>\n<p>So , our message is clear: All eligible individuals should get their booster shot right away.\u00a0 Booster shots are free.\u00a0 They\u2019re available at 90,000 convenient locations across the country and, as Dr. Fauci will discuss, critical to getting people the highest level of protection.<\/p>\n<p>With that, over to you, Dr. Fauci.<\/p>\n<p>DR. FAUCI:\u00a0 Thank you very much, Jeff.\u00a0 What I\u2019m going to do now over the next couple of minutes is to just build on what Jeff said and talk to you, based on real data, why it is so critically important to get booster shots.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to talk about laboratory data, clinical trial data, and real-world data.<\/p>\n<p>Next slide.<\/p>\n<p>So there are multiple \u2014 and I can\u2019t show them all \u2014 in vitro studies that show that COVID-19 vaccine booster doses markedly increase the neutralization of variants, including what we\u2019re dealing with currently, namely Omicron.<\/p>\n<p>Next slide.<\/p>\n<p>This is the slide that shows the genomic mean titer of antibody, namely the proteins that neutralize the virus.\u00a0 If you look at the far left-hand side of the slide, seven months after people receive a second dose and before the booster, look how low the response is to Omicron, which is the bar that has the red circles.\u00a0 It\u2019s 23.<\/p>\n<p>One month after the booster, it goes way up into the highly protective zone of 850.\u00a0 And even six months after the booster, it is still at a high level of 136 \u2014 way above what it was seven months after the second dose.\u00a0 So, that\u2019s representative laboratory data.<\/p>\n<p>Next slide.<\/p>\n<p>Now, a randomized controlled clinical trial showed the dramatic impact of the booster dose in preventing symptomatic disease.\u00a0 And the data are really striking.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you one clip of that on the next slide.<\/p>\n<p>As you can see in red are individuals who\u2019ve gotten two doses \u2014 it says placebo, but it\u2019s two doses \u2014 without the booster.\u00a0 And this is a\u00a0 Pfizer study, but it really holds true with other products like Moderna.<\/p>\n<p>If you look at the result in blue of the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 following a booster shot, the difference is dramatic.<\/p>\n<p>Next slide.<\/p>\n<p>Now we\u2019ll move to real-world effectiveness studies showing that booster doses reconstitute the waning protection, especially against severe disease, hospitalization, and deaths.<\/p>\n<p>So, next slide.<\/p>\n<p>So, here, we look at individuals less than six months after the second dose.\u00a0 And on the\u00a0 far left, you see when you\u2019re dealing with Delta, it\u2019s 90; when you\u2019re dealing with Omicron, it\u2019s 81.\u00a0 But more than six months after the second dose, it wanes with Omicron to 57, holding up a bit better with Delta.<\/p>\n<p>But after the third dose, you get protection at 90 percent with Omicron, which\u00a0 is even better than after six months after the second dose.\u00a0 Again, another example of the critical importance of boosting.<\/p>\n<p>Next slide.<\/p>\n<p>Here is another way of looking at it.\u00a0 When you look at symptomatic disease and hospitalizations, again, when you\u2019re dealing with Omicron, on the far left, the protection against symptomatic disease is quite low at week 25, following two doses.\u00a0 If you look at the boost, it goes up substantially to 40 percent.<\/p>\n<p>But the critical data are on the right-hand part of the slide.\u00a0 If you look at hospitalizations and look at two doses of the Pfizer BioNTech either at 2 to 4 weeks or 10 to 14 weeks, it\u2019s still way up there at 75 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Next slide.<\/p>\n<p>And again, if you look at CDC data, which shows a dramatic reduction in the risk of hospitalization and death for people who\u2019ve received a booster dose, we can see that on the next slide.<\/p>\n<p>And this is a summary of data: If you compare a fully vaccinated person with one who has received a booster shot, and look at the monthly rate of COVID-19 associated hospitalizations during a timeframe of December 2021, there was a 45-fold higher likelihood of an unvaccinated person in the age range of 50 to 64, and a 51-fold higher likelihood of an unvaccinated age 65 and older of being hospitalized when you compare it to an individual with a boost.<\/p>\n<p>Next slide.<\/p>\n<p>When you look at death rate, again, the data are really rather striking.\u00a0 If you look at unvaccinated in red and look at the death rate per 100,000 compared to a fully vaccinated person who\u2019s not been boosted \u2014 showing you why vaccinations even without boosts are important.\u00a0 But look what the booster does: It brings back the death rate per 100,000 to a remarkably low level.<\/p>\n<p>So, we can only come to one conclusion on the last slide: that\u00a0 COVID-19 vaccines, booster shots can keep you out of the hospital and certainly can save your life.<\/p>\n<p>Back to you, Jeff.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Thanks, Dr. Fauci.<\/p>\n<p>Before we open for questions, I want to highlight how far we\u2019ve come in our fight against COVID.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, we learned the U.S. economy created 6.6 million new jobs in the President\u2019s first year in office.\u00a0 That\u2019s the best 12 months of job creation in our nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, this includes 467,000 jobs created in January and 510,000 in December.\u00a0 Those were the two months when we were at the height of the Omicron surge.<\/p>\n<p>The first time we faced a similar threat from COVID back in April of 2020, we lost around 20 million jobs in one month.\u00a0 Even as we face the extremely transmissible Omicron variant and saw a record number of cases, businesses stayed open and our economy kept growing stronger.\u00a0 That\u2019s because we\u2019re in such a different position today in terms of our ability to manage this virus.<\/p>\n<p>We have over 210 million people fully vaccinated and vaccines freely available.\u00a0 And we have more tools like boosters, treatments, masks, and tests that give us additional layers of protection.<\/p>\n<p>Today, fully vaccinated and boosted Americans are able to keep living their lives safely, even when this virus throws us a curveball.\u00a0 And we\u2019re able to keep our kids in school and keep our businesses open.<\/p>\n<p>As the President said on Friday, January was a tough month for this country, but we got through it together.\u00a0 Over the past three weeks, daily cases are down over 65 percent; hospital admissions are down 40 percent.<\/p>\n<p>The President\u2019s COVID plan is working.\u00a0 We\u2019re moving toward a time when COVID won\u2019t disrupt our daily lives, a time when COVID won\u2019t be a constant crisis but rather will be something we can protect against and treat.<\/p>\n<p>With that, let\u2019s open it up for a few questions.\u00a0 Over to you, Kevin.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thanks, Jeff.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got a lot of questions today.\u00a0 So, let\u2019s actually try to keep it to one question.<\/p>\n<p>First, let\u2019s go to Zeke Miller at the AP.<\/p>\n<p>Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks.\u00a0 In the last week, we\u2019ve seen a number of Democratic-led \u2014 -run states move back towards normalcy, removing mask mandates.\u00a0 New York is expected to follow today.\u00a0 We saw Connecticut, other states lift mask requirements in schools.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve talked a lot about leading \u2014 the President trying to lead the nation out of the pandemic, but right now, the federal response seems to be following what a lot of states are doing.\u00a0 Is the White House planning for emerging \u2014 bringing the country out of the pandemic?\u00a0 And what would that plan look like?<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Well, thanks for the question.\u00a0 So while cases and hospitalizations, as Dr. Walensky showed, are trending downward, we do remain focused on fighting the Omicron surge.\u00a0 So, that\u2019s priority number one.<\/p>\n<p>The President, as I just mentioned, has been clear that we\u2019re moving toward a time when COVID won\u2019t disrupt our daily lives, a time when COVID won\u2019t be a constant crisis so we\u2019re no longer fearing lockdowns and shutdowns, but getting back to safely doing what we all love.\u00a0 In doing so, we will rely on the powerful set of tools that have been built: the vaccines, the booster shots, treatments, and testing.<\/p>\n<p>For the last several weeks, we\u2019ve been working closely with Secretary Becerra, our team of doctors.\u00a0 And the White House COVID Response Team under the President\u2019s leadership is reaching out to governors and outside public health experts and doctors and local public health officials on steps we should be taking to keep the country moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>We know that in different areas of the country, cases have fallen more significantly, and this will lead to different approaches and different timing.\u00a0 And we will continue to coordinate closely with state and local leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Next question.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Let\u2019s go to Sabrina Siddiqui at the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n<p>Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you so much.\u00a0 This is a question for Dr.\u00a0 Walensky.\u00a0 I just want to follow up on current guidance around masks, because, you know, the last CDC recommendation was that there should be indoor masking in public settings where transmission is substantial or high.\u00a0 According to CDC data, that appears to still be the entire country \u2014 the case in the entire country where community transmission is high.\u00a0 So is that still the recommendation?<\/p>\n<p>And furthermore, you\u2019ve also recommended that there be universal masking in schools.\u00a0 Is that \u2014 is that a recommendation you stand by as states are also moving to drop \u2014 or to lift mask mandates for teachers and students in schools?<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Dr. Walensky?<\/p>\n<p>DR. WALENSKY:\u00a0 Yeah, thank you, Sabrina.\u00a0 So we certainly understand the need and desire to be flexible, and we want to ensure the public health guidance that we\u2019re providing meets the moment that we\u2019re in.<\/p>\n<p>As we\u2019ve discussed and as you noted, cases and hospitalizations are falling.\u00a0 This is, of course, encouraging.\u00a0 And that leads us, of course, to have us look at all of our guidance based on the latest data and the science and what we know about the virus.<\/p>\n<p>We also look, of course, as Jeff mentioned, to our hospitalizations, looking at the hospitals as a barometer of how they\u2019re doing locally so those decisions can be made at the local level.<\/p>\n<p>And, of course, we at CDC will keep the public informed about our guidance, and we will clearly communicate those recommendations to the public if and when they are updated.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Next question, please.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 We\u2019ll go to Cheyenne Haslett at ABC News.<\/p>\n<p>Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hi, thank you.\u00a0 Dr. Walensky, you mentioned the specific benchmarks on hospitalization that you\u2019re looking to for when it will be a good time to change some of this guidance for unmasking, both in schools and generally in public for adults.\u00a0 What exactly will that benchmark be?<\/p>\n<p>DR. WALENSKY:\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 So, Cheyenne, we \u2014 you know, in part of our review of the surveillance, we look at wastewater, we look at cases, we look at hospitalizations \u2014 we\u2019ve been reporting hospitalizations \u2014 we look at deaths.\u00a0 And, of course, those decisions are made at the local level.<\/p>\n<p>But at this time, we continue to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial transmission \u2014 that\u2019s much of the country right now \u2014 in public indoor settings.\u00a0 And so we\u2019re, of course, taking a close look at this in real-time, and we\u2019re evaluating rates of transmission as well as rates of severe outcomes as we look at updating and reviewing our guidance.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Next question, please.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 We\u2019ll go to Victoria Knight at Kaiser Health News.<\/p>\n<p>Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks so much for taking my question.\u00a0 So, I\u2019ve been talking to people who are immunocompromised, people who are disabled, living with chronic illnesses, and they\u2019re all telling me that they\u2019re feeling like they are being left behind, especially in light of a lot of states lifting their mask mandates, and they\u2019re feeling like their needs are not being considered moving forward after Omicron.\u00a0 So what is your message to them?\u00a0 What do you expect them to do?\u00a0 Do they need to just stay in their houses?\u00a0 What is your message to people like that?<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Dr. Walensky?<\/p>\n<p>DR. WALENSKY:\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 So this is among the considerations that we take into account as we work on all of our recommendations.\u00a0 We, of course, have to make recommendations that are, you know, relevant for New York City and rural Montana.\u00a0 We have to make recommendations that are met \u2014 relevant for the public, but also for the public who is immunocompromised and disabled.\u00a0 And so, that \u2014 all of those considerations are taken into account as we work on our guidance.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Next question, please.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Let\u2019s go to Kaitlan Collins at CNN.<\/p>\n<p>Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks so much.\u00a0 Dr. Walensky, you just said that you do continue to recommend masking indoors in areas of high transmission, and that you said that that\u2019s most of the country right now.\u00a0 So are you seeing any data that supports the decisions of these governors to drop mandates?\u00a0 And when it comes to masking, should people be listening to the CDC or listening to their governors?<\/p>\n<p>DR. WALENSKY:\u00a0 Kaitlan, we\u2019ve always said that these decisions are going to have to be made at the local level and that policies at the local level will look at local cases, they\u2019ll look at how local hospitals are doing, they\u2019ll look at local vaccination rates.<\/p>\n<p>And they, as I understand it, in many of these decisions are using a phased approach.\u00a0 Not all of these decisions are being made to stop things tomorrow, but they\u2019re looking at a phased approach.<\/p>\n<p>And so, what I would say is: Again, they have to be done at the local level.\u00a0 But I\u2019m really encouraged that cases are continuing to drop dramatically, hospitalizations are continuing to drop dramatically as people are making these decisions and as we are working on our guidance.<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019m encouraged to see those trends.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Next question, please.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Let\u2019s go to Sheryl Stolberg at the New York Times.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Sheryl?<\/p>\n<p>Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can you hear me?<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Now we can, yes.<\/p>\n<p>Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sorry about that.\u00a0 Thank you for taking this question \u2014 it\u2019s for Dr. Walensky.\u00a0 Dr. Walensky, the states have been asking explicitly, governors have been asking explicitly for guidance from the CDC on mask-wearing and how to relax mitigation numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Is the CDC prepared to provide guidance to the governors?\u00a0 And when will it do so?<\/p>\n<p>DR. WALENSKY:\u00a0 Sheryl, thank you.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll simply go back to: Yes, we are prepared.\u00a0 We are working on that guidance.\u00a0 We are working on, you know, following the trends for the moment.<\/p>\n<p>What I will say though is, you know, our hospitalizations are still high, our death rates are still high.\u00a0 So, as we work towards that and as we are encouraged by the current trends, we are not there yet.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Next question, please.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Let\u2019s go to Kristen Welker at NBC.<\/p>\n<p>Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hi, everyone.\u00a0 Thanks so much for doing this call.\u00a0 I know that you have spoken in the past about the fact that we could be moving closer to having a vaccine for children under the age of five.\u00a0 And obviously, when you look at some of the polling, it\u2019s potentially concerning: Just 3 in 10 parents of children under the age of five say that they\u2019ll get their child vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>Can you update us on your latest efforts once those vaccines are approved to reach those parents who are still skeptical?\u00a0 What should they know?\u00a0 And why should they have confidence in the vaccines once they are approved?\u00a0 What will your messaging be, and what are your latest outreach efforts?<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Well, Dr. Fauci, maybe you can do a minute or two on the under-five vaccine status.\u00a0 And then I\u2019ll talk some about both the operational issues and the \u2014 answering questions and building confidence work.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Fauci.<\/p>\n<p>DR. FAUCI:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Thank you, Jeff.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, the data from the trials on children from 6 months to 24 months, as well as those from 21 months to \u2014 up to the end of 4 years have been conducted by the pharmaceutical company, in this case, Pfizer.<\/p>\n<p>The data have been submitted to the FDA, and the FDA VRBPAC, or their advisory committee, will be meeting on February 15th.\u00a0 I think people need to be assured that any decision that the FDA makes, as is historically always the case with them, will really be based on the scientific data of both safety and efficacy.\u00a0 And we can assure you that the decision will be based on that.<\/p>\n<p>And if, in fact, approved, it will be approved on the fact that the data show clear efficacy and safety.<\/p>\n<p>So, I\u2019ll go back to you, Jeff, for the rest of that question.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Thanks, Dr. Fauci.\u00a0 So, operationally, we will be ready once FDA and CDC make their recommendations.\u00a0 As we talked about last week, this vaccine is specifically formulated for these young kids.\u00a0 So, we\u2019re launching a new program specially for kids under five.<\/p>\n<p>The planning process is well underway.\u00a0 CDC is working with states to help them prepare.\u00a0 We\u2019ve secured enough vaccine supply for all kids in this age group \u2014 all 18 million.\u00a0 We have enough needles, syringes, and kits.\u00a0 And these are all specially formulated, are made for this age group to send alongside the vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019re working closely, you know, with pediatricians and family doctors and children\u2019s hospitals and pharmacies to make sure the vaccine is available at thousands of locations across the country \u2014 locations that parents know and trust.<\/p>\n<p>We can start packing and shipping the vaccine once FDA makes its decision.\u00a0 So, we will be prepared for those parents that are eager to get their kids vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>I think the second part of your question is \u2014 there are parents that are \u2014 that do have questions, and we need to answer those questions.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve learned through our efforts across the last year that the best messengers are local messengers \u2014 local community groups and leaders, doctors, and other health practitioners.<\/p>\n<p>So, we are working closely with HHS to line up that group and make sure that they have the materials that they need, the training they need to be able to answer the questions that parents have about getting their kids vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>Next question, please.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Last question.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go to Josh Wingrove of Bloomberg.<\/p>\n<p>Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hi there.\u00a0 Thank you very much.\u00a0 Dr. Fauci, can you talk a little bit more about what you think the data show now of the need for a shot beyond the third dose, beyond a booster?<\/p>\n<p>As you know, boosters are being given as early as five months \u2014 we are approaching five months now \u2014 some of the \u2014 first folks who got it.<\/p>\n<p>What do we know about how often or if further shots will be needed going forward, and in particular, whether we might need specific types of shots for any variant?\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>DR. FAUCI:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Yeah, thank you for that question.\u00a0 That\u2019s obviously an issue that have been followed very closely.\u00a0 Because as I\u2019ve said in answer to questions on previous press conferences \u2014 similar questions \u2014 is that you follow individuals for a period of time after the third dose and you measure a number of phenomenon.\u00a0 You measure laboratory phenomenon, but you measure the real-world data on the efficacy in preventing, for example, hospital visits, as well as hospitalizations.<\/p>\n<p>And I believe that you\u2019re going to be hearing data about that as they \u2014 data become available.\u00a0 And that should not be within a very long period of time.<\/p>\n<p>I think you should be appreciative of the fact that when you\u2019re talking about any decisions that will be made \u2014 and I\u2019m not anticipating any of that now \u2014 but that has to be put into the context of whom you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n<p>For example, there may be the need for yet again another boost \u2014 in this case, a fourth-dose boost for an individual receiving the mRNA \u2014 that could be based on age, as well as underlying conditions.<\/p>\n<p>So, I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to be hearing, if you do, any kind of recommendations that would be across the board for everyone.\u00a0 It very likely will take into account what subset of people have a diminished, or not, protection against the important parameters such as hospitalization.<\/p>\n<p>MR. ZIENTS:\u00a0 Thank you, everybody.\u00a0 We look forward to the next briefing.<\/p>\n<p>11:37 A.M. EST<\/p>\n<p>To view the COVID Press Briefing slides, visit:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/COVID-Press-Briefing-2.9.22-clean.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/COVID-Press-Briefing-2.9.22-clean.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Good morning, and thanks for joining us.\u00a0 Today, we\u2019ll start with an update from Dr. Walensky on the state of the pandemic and CDC\u2019s COVID-19 surveillance efforts.\u00a0 DR. WALENSKY:\u00a0 Good morning.\u00a0 Thanks, Jeff.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to start by walking you through today\u2019s data.\u00a0 The current seven-day daily average of cases is about 247,300 cases [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,33,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-health-fitness","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Chrome-Legacy-Window-292022-83559-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135986,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135984\/revisions\/135986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/135985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}