Anthony Stephen Fauci, Rochelle Paula Walensky, and Jeffrey Dunston Zients

“ The issue that would have someone think it’s possible to have escaped from a lab would mean that it essentially entered the outside human population already well adapted to humans, suggesting that it was adapted in the lab.However, the alternative explanation, which most public health individuals go by, is that this virus was actually circulating in China, likely in Wuhan, for a month or more before they were clinically recognized at the end of December of 2019. ”

“ We certainly understand that people are tired and everyone wants to return to some state more normal as quickly as possible, but we can’t let down our guard. And the President is doing everything he can with the mask mandate on federal land and buildings, the mask mandate on interstate travel.Each time the President speaks about the virus, he reminds people that it’s a time, as I said earlier, for optimism but not for relaxation ”

“ One of the important things that will be done and must be done is to sequence the genome of the virus that’s the breakthrough virus, because it would be very important to see if they broke through with the wild-type virus, which would indicate a real diminution of immunity, or whether it broke through with one of the variants, which would be much more explainable if you don’t have enough cross-reactivity. ”

“ Millions of Americans can now get a shot in their local pharmacy the exact same way they get their flu shot. We will increase the total number of participating pharmacies to more than 20,000.
There are 300 community health centers providing vaccines, which we will expand up to 950 in the coming weeks. Importantly, over 65 percent of the shots administered at these community health centers have been to people of color.
In addition to pharmacies and community health centers, there are over 650 federally supported community vaccination sites across the country. ”

“ With regard to the breakthrough cases of people who’ve been vaccinated and ultimately have gotten infection, obviously this is something that we take seriously and follow closely.You will see breakthrough infections in any vaccination when you’re vaccinating literally tens and tens and tens of millions of people. ”

“ We’re vaccinating at 2.5 million people a day and they are protected from COVID. If you haven’t been vaccinated, your turn is likely very soon. We can turn this around, but it will take all of us working together. Please keep wearing your well-fitting mask and taking the public health actions now that we know can reverse these concerning trends. ”

“ Not only have these communities seen disproportionate cases of COVID-19, but they have also often had higher rates of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease that have resulted in increased hospitalizations and deaths. Additionally, survey data indicate that these communities are facing higher rates of stress, anxiety, and other mental health challenges as they navigate the pandemic. ”

“ In addition, 60 percent of the funding must go to support local health departments, community-based organizations, and community health centers. Jurisdictions may use these new resources to provide funding to local health departments, faith-based and other community-based organizations to identify and train trusted messengers in communities to conduct door-to-door outreach, to raise awareness about COVID-19 vaccines, to help get individuals sign up for appointments, and to provide them transportation to vaccine appointments. ”

“ A food assistance and housing nonprofit in a rural high-poverty community could receive these funding to conduct vaccine outreach and education and to ensure its clients, including those with disabilities and limited mobility, of transportation to a FEMA-supported mass vaccination site. ”

“ On places to get vaccinated, we’ve dramatically increased the number of convenient and trusted places for people to get a shot. Today, across the country, there are nearly 50,000 sites where Americans can go to get a shot. ”

“ No country has ever vaccinated this many people this fast. And this effort will coincide with us reaching into harder-to-reach communities all across the country to keep up this pace and ensure and fairness. ”

“ On vaccinators in the field, we’ve deployed over 6,500 federal personnel to serve as vaccinators and to support vaccinations, including calling on FEMA, retired doctors and nurses, and active-duty military to administer shots. And in the coming weeks, at the President’s direction, we will increase the 2,900 active-duty military men and women in the field to over 6,000 active-duty troops. ”

“ Importantly, this funding will continue our work to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines by those disproportionately affected by the virus. To achieve this goal, 75 percent of the funding must focus on specific programs and initiatives intended to increase vaccine access, acceptance, and uptake among racial and ethnic minority communities. ”

“ And we’re just asking people to hang on a little while longer in terms of the masks and the mitigation strategies so that we can get the majority of people vaccinated.We’ve done a lot. We have a mask mandate at the federal land and buildings. ”

“ As you know, we’ve done a lot to help accelerate their production. And they’ve maintained a steady cadence of production. And both Moderna and Pfizer appear on track to meet their first-quarter targets.We’ve also been working closely with J&J. And we said right at the beginning that they started with an inventory of about 4 million doses, which we distributed immediately ”