Anthony Stephen Fauci, Andrew M. Slavitt, and Rochelle Paula Walensky

“ Health plans will make outbound calls to unvaccinated Americans of over 65 who live in areas of high social vulnerability. They’ll talk to them about vaccine efficacy, safety, and the value of vaccinations. Then they will facilitate vaccine registration and appointment scheduling for seniors. They’ll arrange transportation to and from a vaccination site and ensure seniors get back for a second shot. They’ll also look to deploy mobile vans into communities of need. Their goal again is to get 2 million of the most vulnerable seniors vaccinated as soon as possible. ”

“ You have to get your scientists and your public health officials to take a close look at the match between the antibodies that are induced by the vaccine that you are using and what its efficacy against the P1 and P2 variant that is dominant in Brazil. ”

“ And on the next slide is an example here of a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, namely looking at neutralizing antibody titers after the first and second dose.
If you look there at day 21, which is the time that you would be giving the second dose, the antibody titers that are there are good enough to suppress infection but to some extent — I mean, when you look at the data of the degree of efficacy that you do get after one dose. But take a look at what happens after the second dose. The degree of increase is at least tenfold in both of these age groups that was studied. ”

“ And, of course, last week, we announced that we’re going to be distributing masks to community health centers and food banks. We think it’s critically important — critically important that, particularly over the next period of time — this is not forever, but the next period of time, when the President has called for this, we know that it can save tens of thousands of lives if people do this. ”

“ In terms of Johnson & Johnson and Merck, I’m going to probably defer that question to the company. You know, I think we have a good plan. I will tell you we always worry about everything. I mean, that’s sort of part of our ethic around here — is execution mentality means that we are constantly worried. So anything that has yet to happen in the future, I can assure you we have world experts from manufacturing, from the Department of Defense, and from the companies all very focused on this. ”

“ We knew this could happen as variants emerged and reached more people in more communities, but we can still reduce their impact.
The most recent seven-day average of cases — 66,000 — is an increase of 3.5 percent from the prior seven days. The most recent seven-day average of deaths also increased 2.2 percent from the previous seven days to now slightly more than 2,000 deaths per day.
Today, we are at a critical nexus in the pandemic. So much can turn in the next few weeks. On the one hand, cases in the country are leveling off at rates just on the cusp of potential to resurge. ”

“ It is really a very difficult situation that Brazil finds themselves in because it is really difficult in the sense that even with infection from the original virus that was circulating — and recovery from that virus does not, in fact, protect you against reinfection from the circulating variant in Brazil.The best thing one can do is to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible and as many people as possible. ”

“ David Kessler’s leadership, and the active participation of both Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer. And this is truly — I’m sorry, Johnson & Johnson and Merck. This is truly a story where there are no bad guys; there’s only good — only good actors here. Everybody got together and found ways to bring forward the timeline so we can get Americans fully vaccinated and into a very different place, in a very different part of that pandemic. ”

“ And I — suffice it to say that there are plenty of people — health officials, as you know — in every state who feel now is the wrong time to lift the mask mandate.That it — I know it seems counterintuitive to folks to hear good news in the coming of vaccines and the acceleration of vaccines. ”

“ One is to follow the recommendation of the science and the scientists and wherever that goes, and so the President is 100 percent behind Dr. Walensky and the CDC’s recommendations.I don’t think you could be any — possibly be any clearer about the importance and the need for masks. As a leader, it’s probably one of the topics he talks about most frequently. ”

“ This vaccine was approved on Saturday. The CDC reviewed it on Sunday. The same day, vaccines were packed and shipped from J&J facilities. Monday, the vaccines arrived at UPS and FedEx hubs and were delivered to vaccination sites so that, yesterday, Tuesday, the first vaccines were administered in states across the country.
Now, Johnson & Johnson and Merck are not the only ones and they’re not the only businesses stepping up. As I highlighted last Friday, U.S. companies are stepping up to help the country lead its way out of this crisis. ”

“ And so we hope that other elected officials who have the authority in their domains will, in fact, listen.We’re realistic enough to recognize that everybody is not going to pay attention everything we say, but we think this is very, very important. ”