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

“ And I realized I didn’t answer one element of your question, which is: How are we preparing states and others in the distribution system for the pattern of vaccines that are coming off the line at Johnson & Johnson?The same thing is true for Johnson & Johnson as it is for Moderna and Pfizer: Everyone we’re distributing to — all the states and jurisdictions — have a — at least a three-week-forward view as to their vaccinations that are coming. They’re able to plan for them. ”

“ Next slide.
And so, how do you address these threat — which we clearly are facing — of a number of viral variants? On the one hand, vaccination: Maximize the immune response against the wild-type virus. You can do that by the proper adherence to the regimens shown on the clinical trial, or even plan — as some companies are doing — of, in the distance, giving a booster to the wild type.
Also, as I mentioned in a prior conference, perhaps plan, as we are doing with Moderna, to boost with a very variant-specific vaccine. ”

“ In fact, I had showed you in a previous press briefing what the issue was when you have a first dose of, let’s say, for example, Pfizer vaccine — very similar to the Moderna: you get a response that is protective. In this case, it would be about 52 percent. However, the second dose brings that level of antibodies quite high, which gives it redundancy to prevent the evolution, as well as to protect against viral variants. ”

“ When prevention measures like mask mandates are rolled back, cases go up.
An article published today in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report highlights the critical importance of these prevention strategies and the real risks when prevention measures are eased. This study looked at the relationship between COVID-19 cases and deaths, and both state-issued mask mandates and restaurants resuming on-premises dining from March to December of 2020. ”

“ And now, over the past week, they saw an increase in cases by 9 percent, something we desperately want to avoid.
Next slide.
How does that relate to variants? Let me just go through this. I refer to it as virology 101. What it really is is some fundamental tenets of virology; namely, RNA viruses, like SARS-CoV-2, tend to mutate. They have poor proofreading mechanisms. A virus cannot mutate if it doesn’t replicate. And it replicates in infected individuals.
A high baseline level of community spread of virus favors mutations and the evolution of variants. ”

“ And we have some evidence in the case of our community vaccination centers, in the case of retail pharmacies, in the case of the emerging program on community health centers that these steps are working.
Second, trusted messengers. We are spending a lot of time with people locally who people need to hear from and want to hear from to feel comfortable whether they should be taking the vaccine. People have legitimate questions. Let me be clear: A question about whether I should take the vaccine or not is not an illegitimate question. ”

“ We know that people are interested. I think the anecdote that you raise is one that is exactly why we want to make — to ensure that the communication is crystal clear — and that is because everyone has their specific scenario of what they’re trying and wanting to do. ”

“ You know, I think the science is now following the messaging that we have, and the messaging has followed the science. We have demonstrated that masks work. We have demonstrated that in-person dining — this is not the first report that demonstrates the impact of in-person dining and how cases and deaths will follow after in-person dining. ”

“ There was a poll that showed, in Michigan, only about 29 percent of Republicans said they would get the coronavirus vaccine. I’m wondering if there’s a special push for Republican voters, for conservative voters who, according to polling, are showing a big amount of vaccine hesitancy. ACTING ADMINISTRATOR SLAVITT: Yeah. You know, the only thing I would say — we’ve seen obviously a lot of the same information. We are engaged with stakeholder groups across racial and ethnic minorities, rural Americans, to reach young Americans. ”

“ These are legitimate questions, and they need to be answered in a straightforward way with people who they trust. Because the record of these vaccines is just outstanding from an efficacy and safety standpoint. ”

“ So I think all of this is very consistent.I think we’ve known that restaurants have led to cases, have led to clusters, so I think this is yet another report at a population level — at a large population level, over a durable period of time, that has demonstrated that you have decreases in cases and deaths when you wear masks, and you have increases in cases and deaths when you have in-person restaurant dining. ”