right violence in america. wash "washington journal" tuesday morning sure to join the discussion with your phone calls facebook comments text and tweets. >> the traveler former minneapolis police officer continues this week. he's charging a death of george floyd perfume is our live coverage of today's trial watch tonight beginning at eight eastern on c-span2 or anytime it c-span.org. >> health and human services secretary javier testifies thursday on the president's 2022 budget request before house appropriations subcommittee. watch that live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three. online at c-span.org or listen live on the free c-span radio app. spirit want to introduce his joining us from nashville, tennessee, thank you for being

with us. >> thank you for having me, steve. >> personal explain the role of your velvet of this vaccine? >> for the past years and the chief medical officer for pfizer since retired. our group is very involved in making sure that information about the vaccine was complete and up-to-date. to make sure people that offering the vaccine are receiving the vaccine have the information they need to make the right decision. my group is also involved in making sure the safety was monitored very carefully within the clinical trials as well as after the clinical trials but remember many more people receive the vaccine after the clinical trials than actually before the drug received emergency use authorization. that monitoring after the medicine reaches the general public is called vigilance is squarely in response of my organization. >> i want to ask about some news on this monday.

this is a headline by cnbc based on the study that took place in israel the covid very this coming from south africa, or these new strength is gotten so much concern was able to break through the pfizer vaccine. the story points out was able to evade some of the protection and the vaccine. explain the story and the significance of this in terms of how wehi deal with these variants? >> when we hear about variants having resistance to the vaccine, we have to really understand where that information is coming from. because a lot of it today does come from the laboratory. with that has shown is that some of these variants require a higher concentration of antibody to be killed. the level of antibody generate by the vaccine is so much higher than that it really has no clinical significance. these recent reports now indicate that in some cases the level of antibodies achieved in an individual may not have been high enough to overcome that level of resistance in that particular

variants and the individual got sick. i think we have to be very careful to not blow this out of proportion these are very rare individualat cases. and the vast majority of individuals who are infected with the coronavirus have received the pfizer vaccine are adequately protected from the disease.ot >> host: window coronavirus first into your radar screen? when did you first start hearing about this? >> and c everybody did december-2019 hear about these cases occurring in a small town known as wuhan. coincidentally that a special significance for me because i was scheduled to visit wuhan in march of 2020. because part of my organization is based in wuhan. we are following it especially carefully.

as the story emerged we realize that it was probably not safe for me to it go there. so we cancel that trip. but actually what we are seeing also was the fact this was not limited to wuhan. this was spreading. we're very concerned about making sure our colleagues who were basin wuhan were safe and able to be from this to the extent possible from what we new at that time. we had to understand the impact this had not just in china but on a worldwide basis especially in regard to the ability for us to continue to produce our medicines that insights around the world and also make sure we're going to be able to take appropriate steps to address this challenge that was becoming more and more apparent it was going to be a world wide challenge we had to step up to meet. >> host: you for the argument for many americans of vaccines not safe i'm not going to get one, address that. >> guest: one of the things people are concerned about is

the short period of time it took to develop the vaccine for the case with the pfizer mrna vaccine a seven half months from the time the first person received that as a vaccine candidate to the time and had emergency use authorization for that's an unprecedentedly short period of time. so people wonder, g what was sacrifice and trying to do that as quickly as possible? i haveve first-hand insight and i can cite no quarters were cut no were banned a bandit know or compromised anything less than a full understanding of the safety and efficacy of this vaccine. any of this happened in a short period of time, and that happened because in part there were so many cases in the population they were able towe get the trials completed faster that when we brought the application for emergency use authorization to this had

favorable benefit risk relationship with very good insight into the safety. not only we but regulatory authorities around the world felt the benefits vastly outweigh the risks and it was something that was not only going to be useful, but absolutely essential in helping us and this pandemic. so when the pfizer mixing, them a moderna vaccine is astute under two step process. the vaccine seen to be kept at a cold temperature. consonant johnson is one vaccine, does not need to be at a cold temperature. why? explain the difference is below the some of the vaccines and wanted to distributionn facilitiesti. >> for the mrna vaccines, these are caps-lipid nanoparticles. they are unstable once herrt thoughts room temperatures they have to be kept at a low

temperature. when this was first being developed at pfizer and bion tech. their ultra low temperatures minus 80 degrees celsius. so that was where we had the experience. and that's what once we got the eu a emergency use authorization, that is what pfizer had to have all the sites adhered to, keep it at that very low temperature until it was ready to be administered, by and then administered. since that time companies have had more ofe a chance to test the vaccine for stability at less stringent conditions. and actually, just recently, the fda and the european agency as well have now relax those requirements. so no longer does the pfizer biotech vaccine have been capped at minus 88 can be kept at minus 24 after two weeks. there are many more facilitiesie on the country and around the

world to have those resources. so now can reach for places that it could before. so when you talk to my distribution. that's an issue they came upon yesterday meet the press. secretary of state was asked by chuck todd on the issue of the u.s. role in the vaccine distribution globally. here's part of his interview. >> check i think we have a significant responsibility. we are going to be the world leader on helping to make sure that the entire world gets vaccinated. and here's why. unless and until the vast majority people in the world are vaccinated, it's still going to be a problem for us. as long as he virusess replicating somewhere, it could be mutating and it could be coming back to hit us. but similarly the world has a very strong interest in making sure we are vaccinated. the same thing applies. if the virus is replicating here and mutating here, that's going to be a problem for the rest of the world. so if taken a leadership role already today when rick re- joined the world health t organization were the largest in theco international facility

to make vaccines more available especially to lowto and middle income countries. we have an important arrange with india, the quad countries to increase vaccine production around the world. and we made long with our nearest neighbors mexico and canada. as we get more comfortable with where we are vaccinating every american, we are then look at what we can do, what more we can do around the world. >> can you elaborate with the sec. of state was talking about specifically pfizer's role in this global distribution? >> i think secretary described it very well. there is a responsibility that pfizer and large pharma companies that have vaccines have not only an impact in other countries but the united states were so reliance on one another for supplies and materials and trade. so i think this is very

important. this was predicted that when you have initial production, not everyone can get it at the same time. it has to be prioritized. we solve it in the united states were the first groups to be vaccinated were most vulnerable. so they have the same kind of prioritization has to be considered in terms of saying okay, who is going to be the next group to get this? pfizer, even those us-based company has international scope and responsibility. and it recognizes this. and as a result even before pfizer knew the results of the clinical file it was scaling up mass production of the vaccine to do everything it could to make sure that if the vaccine worked and if it received emergency youth use authorization as many doses could go out as possible. addition pfizer is upgrading

its facilities, reaching out and using new facilities in order to produce more vaccines. in addition, what are the important steps that was actually prompted id pandemic and this crisis was the willingness of competitor companies other large pharma companies to band together, work together and cooperate to produce the vaccine. so not only is the pfizer being produced at those locations but actually they've offered their vaccine production facilities to upscale production and make it more available on a worldwide basis. so i think these are very significant steps that have been taken to address this very problem of meeting the edneeds not only of americans, but of people around the world and developed in in developing countries to make sure we are able to eradicate this

pandemic. to end this pandemic and allow economies to reopen them for us to get back to our lives. >> doctor rothenberg one final point that i went to bring interviewers and listeners. moving forward, whether to treatment for cancer or future vaccines, what are the lessons over the past 12 to 13 months in developing the code vaccine? gimmick one of the early decisions that was made at pfizer was to initiate something called project lightspeed. that took a look at every step along the way of clinical developed the process takes years for medicines or vaccines to see what can be done to shorten that. could they be overlapped or in parallel will be the risks? what would be the benefits? so a process that would normally take years was then truncated to seven half months in the case of the covid-19

vaccine. in addition, communication across organizations within the company was absolute essential. everybody recognized because the ceo late out very early on was this was the highest priority for the company. so whenever anyone called to address an issue related to the vaccine, people stopped what they were doing, they took the quality entered the meeting to be able to manage problems in real-time. to keep things going to make sure this is everybody's top priority. that was an important lesson as well.as what was also learned in dire situations like this, but others beyond just the company are willing to interact asis in a more real-time basis. so when pfizer reached out to the fda to request a meeting to get guidance on the next step for the vaccine's development or question that it had, rather than having to

submitted in writing, prepare briefing document get it scheduled, a process that could take four -- eight weeks, the call weeks, the calls responded was actually responded to immediately or responded to latermeon that day. so you can see when you have everyone recognize this is such a high priority has such meaning wherever you sit in this ecosystem that you could really dance together and really get things done quickly and high quality without sacrificing any element of quality of safety.ot >> wert joining us from nashville, tennessee the former chief medical officer for pfizer praise also the faculty of vendor universities medical center. before that the university of texas health science center in san antonio to get your phone calls. from rochester michigan nancy good morning. >> caller: good morning. i have a question. my husband and i came down with covid about two weeks ago.

we are doing fine. we did not get a vaccination. we had put in fort, we had changed our minds to get it but it was too late for us. we are doing fine now. but i have a question, i was asymptomatic. so i got a test after he got covid and i had it. now that were out it's almost 14 days and we are doing well, what do we do now? do we need to go get vaccinated? i know we have some antibodies but i do not of the protocol is now. see when thank you color. >> guest: get vaccinated. the reason being your body when it's exposed to the virus itself will generate an antibody response of help the body by off that infection. also potentially repel in the future. but what's been found is the level of antibodies that are produced with a vaccination, especially in people who have had prior infections is many

fold higher, ten -- 100 fold higher than your body generated to the natural infection. that is one recency of the vaccine. the second is, we do not know how long lasting that immunity may be from the natural infection. so if it wasn't a very strong reaction that antibody response could wane over time. what we believe, what is in fact with the vaccinations, suddenly the antibiotics which are the short-term way that your body manages and fights off a viral infection. but other elements memory d cells, memory t cells are able to be trained and actually after the infection is goned, they stay around. and they stay around for a longng time. how long, we do not know. but date is coming out there's run six months or around longer. i think for those reasons evenr in people with the virus and

had page this from sheila, tell us these vaccine producers can predict adverse reactions to it 510 years down the road? suspect the answer is obviously no one has five or ten years experience with this vaccine because we don't have five or ten years experience with this particular variant of coronavirus. but what we can do is draw on prior experiences. understand there are certain early side effects that have been characterized very well for this as well as all vaccines in the future. in very rare cases deutsche-occurring side effects everyone has to make up their own mind to wait speed what we know about the disease of covid-19, what that can do, not only make you sick, it can land you in the

intensive care unit. they could because not only short-term but long-term disability we are learning. and that can kill you. it's a one -- 2% fatality rate versus what we know about the vaccines. it comes mrna vaccinations those side effects are very well categorized. there in the vast majority of cases are some less than 10% less severe they are transit usually gone within 24 -- 48 hours. and no individual has been documented to have died from receiving the vaccine directly due to the vaccine. so you have to weigh theh uncertainty of what may happen five to ten years from now with the very real and present danger getting and dying from covid-19 the choices your prospectus from deb releasing folate pfizer vaccinated zero side effects.

i've been holding my 1-year-old great nephew the last week break no better feeling. my hopes for him he grows up and becomes and scientist. [laughter] thank you for the phone calls linda's ready >> wonderful pricing that is great. i think we cannot underestimate that impact of the vaccination as well. that's not simply saying okay if got the vaccination. now do everything you did before the vaccination and keep yourself separated and isolated. it really is beginning us to allow cigar lives back. to allow us to travel by the cdc is indicated now with little bit more comfort still with precautions really very important step in allowing people to get their lives back. it's not just the travel and seeing sites but it's interacting with friends and family and having those experiences that have been denied for the past year.

let's not underestimate the value of that. the importance of that and the role of vaccines and allowing them to regainn it. spirit to that william from connecticut says thank you in aa text message the first pfizer joe's is waiting for the second on april 19. less those who work on this technology for many years and w expedited the final research and the production. let's go to linda in minneapolis you're on the air good morning. >> good morning, thanks for taking my call. i had a comments and a question. i will make the comments. you just spoke about people being able to get together. either way i've over 80 and i've had two of the pfizer things and thank you very, very much. but, i have noticed my friends my contemporaries have really in my view opened up to doing things they have been vaccinated. i still am kind of cautious but i wonder specifically

about gathering together as a small group to have dinner in somebody's home. that kind of worries me. but i know friends were doing it now. they are very eager to get together. it's all very understandable. i like your opinion on that. and then the next question is what about a booster? do wea need one? in queue. >> great questions and congratulations. you sound like you're doing great. so in terms of gathering together, this is something that i think as we go along or getting a little more experience with in terms of an epidemiological perspective. i think everyone knows are certain high-risk behaviors it still should be avoided. gathering in large crowds, indoor people not socially distance, people who are not wearing masks. those are things that should still be avoided. but if you are vaccinated and you can gather together with

other people who are also vaccinated and socially distance, i think that now we recognize is a lower risk situation.th i think that is something. this is something just to keep your eyes and ears open for. because as we get more experience and information, sometimes from real-world expense sometimes from clinical trials we will be able to get more specific guidance on this. so is kind big gray zone now. people are more willing to push that and others. i think just keep your eyes and ears open there will be more guidance onat this. with regard to the booster gets back to a point of his mate earlier. there is now data to suggest very strong levels of antibody persists. lease six months is found and 12 months as well. but we don'tt know yet, is that going to last a lifetime? or is that going to wane over time. and if it does, it doesn't

make someone more susceptible to catching and coming down with covid-19?nd and corollary's that with the emergence of some of these resistance mutations, is that going to also generate a need for a booster? ccwill that be the original vaccine it will be modified? i would so their their efforts underway now to evaluate and modified vaccine that would have greater activity against some of those resistant mutations process agent for this there's a lot at work going on to answer that very question breaks. let's go to chattanooga tennessee, marvin good morning thank you for waiting. >> good morning. i would like to ask a question, but i would like to make a comment first. i am a vietnam veteran. i was in vietnam 68 -- 69 when agent orange was spread. in my opinion the government allowed to come into our

bodies and two allowed to exist for all of these years. it has been 53 years. i am still dealing with what our country has allowed industries in pharmaceutical companies because of greed and for whatever to put into our bodies. now, i have to preface that because over the years i have become addicted to these things in my 70s. i have realized that i am addicted to all of these medications that i cannot throw away until the day thatas i die. as far as this covid is concerned as far as this particular vaccine is concerned, i hope that the general public will take it and decide whether or not we are going to live or we are going to die. unfortunately we've got information about the spanish

flu. now are the booster shots and the flu shots being taken t today a result of the vaccination of the spanish flu? that would be myofni question. we will get a response marvin thank you very much also in your response if you can explain what a booster shot does? select a booster shot is given after the initial vaccination, some. "after words". either shortly a month or two after or in this case three weeks "after words" in' order to enhance the body's immune response for their there are booster shots that may be given later on. and those can actually, once again increase the body's level of immunity against a particular disease in case the immunity from the first vaccinations is waned. so i think that is the important part of that. interestingly there is a report just recently of a

blood sample being obtained from somebody who was live during the spanish flu of 1918 -- 1819. there still be able to detect immune cells are antibodies against that original spanish flu. therede is evidence that bodies can actually retain memory against the infection for decades. that is very important to know. and i think this is something we have to recognize. and now we have much greater more advanced technologies. we can begin to say are the levels in an individual adequate to protect them? and to protect them against the variance that are over the next few months and years to mark or at one point is that the benefit of another vaccination really outweigh that risk? and we should proceed with that. sue went this is from one of

ourm viewers under twitter page how much did operation warp speed weigh-in on the development of the vaccine? switch i think it had different impact on different companies. pfizer did not take anyri research and development contributions from the federal government. i think that really needs to be made very clear. pfizer did have a contract and does have a contract with the federal government to purchase the vaccine if the vaccine was effective. the vaccine did not work, the one -- $2 billion pfizer invested in the research and development would be gone, would be a loss. so it was a decision that was made in order to maintain the speed of the program, the independence with adequate oversight. subprojectct warp speed was also in distribution once emergency use authorization. some received for the aspect

of that. some of those have actually made it through the process as well but. >> the head of operation warp speed addressing the issue of the emergency use authorization by pfizer, here's what he had to say. >> for seven months we realize the greatest public private partnership in modern times. doctors, scientists, researchers, factory workers, and hundreds more have all come together for a single purpose. that purpose saved lives and ends the pandemic. we checked our egos at the door. we worked collectively to solve the problem. and we have achieved success as identified last night by the fda when they approved eua of the pfizer vaccine. now we will begin distribution of safe and effective vaccines to the american people. you have heard me refer to

today as d-day. some people assume i meant day of distribution. in fact, it d-day's military designates the date the missionbe begins. d-day was a pivotal turning point in world war ii. it was the beginning of the end. d-day was the beginning of the end. and that is where we are today. split that's her last december when that leading individuals behind the development of the vaccine the chief -- former chief medical officer for pfizer paid back to your phone calls. next is greg joining us from alexandria, virginia, good morning thank you for waitingan basement good morning thank you for taking my calls. i have taken the vaccine, had good reaction to its.ha i think the only reaction i had was a headache after my second dose knows the pfizer vaccine. my question is related to vaccine related deaths. what has been reported?d?

and what is been basically been confirmed? they collect the information and basically i think back in february they reported maybe a little over 100 confirmed deaths with the vaccine. correct me if i'm wrong. my question really is, has there been any evidence or data to suggest there may be some underlying conditions with her lb at health conditions that would otherwise make people not a good candidate for the vaccine question expect greg thank you bill get a response. let me make it clear. more talk about the pfizer vaccine have been no deaths have been reported to have occurred directly as a result of the vaccine and the vaccine alone. there have been deaths reported withal other vaccineser and they are now beginning to look into the reasons for this. i think that really needs to

be clarified. in the second part of the question was? >> the long-term effects. >> guest: the long-term effects most of the effects are seenfe after vaccination after 24 -- 48 hours it could be fever, headache, chills, fatigue and those will have varying levels of severity. sometimes people do find they interfere with their activities off daily living because they usually resolve the cubit higher risk for that. it really is not been a pattern. it seems that younger people some have postulated that is due to their strong immune systems and stronger immune reaction to thehe vaccine. and then there have been some reports of individuals who

have had allergic reactions a few nuts after receiving the vaccinations. they've had shortness of breath, some low blood pressure but all those have been able to be managed very effectively and those resolved within a matter of hours as well. : : : children between six and 12 is underway right now with the visor vaccine. actually pfizer has submitted a supplemental emergency

authorization for the vaccine to be used in children 12 to 15 years old. so when you think about those children who are 12 to 15 as well as a 16 and 17-year-old included in the original trial, that's nine percent of the us population . when we talk about herd immunity we have to talk about not just adults but the entire population so now having data on younger individuals will really help us achieve that level of herd immunity throughout the population of all ages. >> we will go to the next in austin texas, good morning. >> caller: i had my first visor vaccine and i had just here side effects and today i go for my secondone . when i thought about it, i'm 63. i thought i should have had stronger side effects. that would have been correlated with having a stronger immune system and reaction.

once at the time i was taking daily ibuprofen and lorantadine for my allergies and arthritis. this last couple of days i've been all those in case they interfered. my question is does interfere with your immune response and efficacy of the vaccine and so should the public be more nd aware? >> i got good news that the side effects that you experienced do not correlate with the immune response your money may have so you may have had a substantial immune response not anything. with regard to the medication , before the vaccine there are some theoretical concerns that might blunt the immune response but there's really no hard data. the recommendation has been for individuals to continue the medicines they're taking. they're absolutely necessary not necessarily to start medicine like tylenol,

ibuprofen in anticipation of having sideeffects . that shouldn't be one. >> but if you do have the side effects, chills or fever then should you take medicine west and mark. , >> yes you can next call her in marion iowa, good morning. >> nice to have you back. i wanted to call in to follow up on a couple of the calls i made and my decision to get the vaccine . not just for myself but for my family, my father has cancer, etc. what i found is ah i think i thank c-span for the abundance of information and people representing the information like the gentleman here and to gather my fax and determine whether or not i think it's safe to get the vaccine and what i've determined is that the pfizer, for myself and my family is the best and i'm hoping to receive that in a

first . i did have concerns over the moderna vaccine which my 91-year-old grandmother was affected some. she had underlying factors and may have even had strong side effects when she was mild or asymptomatic a year ago, but i truly believe it's the best thing to do and is not for yourself in the words of rachel maddow who got her shot i believefriday , do it for everyone else so thank you very much. >> thank you class i could comment on that, when i've been asked which by others which vaccine should i take, my response is the one that's offered because we could have our favorite face on one piece of data or another but the most important thing is to get vaccinated. every single one of the vaccines for exceeds the threshold that was set by the fda, by the cdc for they would consider an effective

vaccine w. operational threshold is 50 percent efficacy and idwhen the team was still in the, those of us working at pfizer. what did we imagine, what can we hope for in terms of level of efficacy and we speculated maybe 65, 70 and 80 honest 75 percent on november 8 when the independent data and safety monitoring committee met and revealed the data that the vaccine was 95 percent effective, just wildly exceeded our greatest expectations. but i think we have to recognize that all the vaccines that are reporting now have efficacy of 70 percent or above which can be very protective so please, if you're offered any vaccine , taking. >> to that point, pfizer is a two-step process so is moderna and johnson and johnson is one vaccine.

>> it really is the basis of the pfizer and moderna vaccines are encapsulated in their mrna and isolated particles so it's the preparation and it's the way the vaccineworks . the astrazeneca and johnson and johnson vaccines are dna vaccines that infect cells and deliver the dna into those cells so there are different ways of achieving the same result . all the vaccines, we will call on your own body to du produce little proteins look exactly like the spike proteins using an picture of the coronavirus that infects ocells and the body recognizes those spike proteins and create antibiotics to those in defense of the vinyl spike proteins. so there are different ways of achieving the same goal. >> left his next joining us from sandy oregon. >> caller: good morning steve. hello, doctor my concern is i

have a disease, and immune disease called igg4 and they are like $20,000 infusions. you probably know what that is so anyhow, my concern is people that have igg4 mostly our also traumatic and colored and my concern is their lives, they sometimes don't know that this igg4 is in their system. and it can cause death, that's what it does is it causes your lymph nodes to grow . and can cause tumors and

stuff like that. my concern is their safety and mine in getting the shot. i'm trying to go right now so i can get that shot but sometimes those pills cause stomach cramps. instead of getting the infusion. >> we will get a response, doctor rothenberg. >> one of the things i think everybody realizes is that there are a number of unanswered questions here in terms of people who may have underlying conditions for taking a certain medicine or have some figure of history and how that may impact the effectiveness of a vaccine or whether that individual should maybe not take the vaccine. today, there have been a number of trials that have been set up and i would nurse the caller to reach out to their local medical center or university medical center,

find out if they're studying this question because that's going to help not only that individual others. so it's really important that we learn about him of these populations and whether they get the full benefit of the vaccine, whether there are any increased risks of the vaccine. whether they need a booster dose, etc. i think it's important for people to come forward, to be able to receive the vaccine but also for physicians and researchers to be able to take blood samples and see how well an immune response they mount. so i think that we can learn a lot but we don't have all the answers yet and this is an opportunity for us to contribute to that body of knowledge. >> if anyone is interested on the website, it has information including the ingredients of the pfizer vaccine. a q&a session on what you should look out for and an overview on the safety issues involving the vaccine.

the website is the cdc.gov. let's go to paul in potomac maryland, you arenext . >> as a friend and colleague of mason rothenberg in both san antonio and the national cancer institute, i hold a high regard for both mace and certainly pfizer. my wife and i were both extremely fortunate to get the pfizer vaccine. i the va in washington, my wife at johns hopkins in howard county and we had had no ill effects other than maybe a sore arm for a couple ofdays . we've been feeling very good ever since and again, i just want to reach out to mace and pfizer for creating a comprehensive vaccine in such a short period of time. i was also at the vaccine institute soagain , i feel very fortunate for getting the vaccine.

>> thank you for callingon the friends and family line . let me move on to maureen joining us inillinois, thank you for waiting . >> hello doctor rothenberg. i have a question. on 19 march i had my first moderna shot and then do to get another one. after two days i was writing how nothing happened all of a sudden i had chills so bad i couldn't get to go to the bathroom and i got sick for about a day or two and i started feeling better so that was good of the problem is i have ct scan done last week and showed lumps under my nose under my armpits so the doctor was real started that i should hurry and get a mammogram. then maybe a biopsy right away then i found out that this can possibly cause these lumps under my breath. it's from the injection.

so i don't know which way to go. should i get the shop on friday or should i not for what should i do? i am scheduled to get a mammogram i don't know what to do. >> good luck to you, by the way. >> thanks so much for calling because you raise an important issue and one that llconcerns many individuals. after people receive the vaccination usually in the upper arm and daughter deltoid muscle in some individuals that has caused lymph nodes to swell and that's understandable because the lymph nodes are where the immune cells track so in those people ifnot noticeable . some individuals have against uncomfortable lymph nodes under their arm but individuals may have a history of breast cancer. the lymph nodes under the arm are also assigned that breast cancer couldrecur so that was a great concern to the individuals and their physicians . so as this was seen, people

began to recognize it's been seen more and more and the question was what it represents, was that breast cancer going back or was it simply immune response to the vaccination and thankfully it was the immune response to the vaccination and then just waiting a few days those lymph nodes went down there was nothing under the arm that was of concern so what the recommendations are right now is not to have a mammogram soon after the vaccine for that very reason but to wait for a short while, maybe a few weeks, maybe a month at the latest . not going to endanger your life from getting a follow-up mammogram that will allow them to have loan accurate view of what's going on the arms so thank you very much raising animportant point . >> if you get the pfizer vaccine you need to stay with pfizer, you cannot make something to. >> that the recommendations.

there have been some he situations where there have been people who have gotten one and gotten the other by mistake and the companies are following those individuals to see how they respond and how they do the recommendation is day with the one who started with. >> host: we will go to gail joining us from maryland, good morning. one more time from gail. i think we lost you. let's go to alicia, good morning. andrea is next. >> caller: yes, i am so happy to talk to you. i contacted the cdc, board of health in our state. i can't get this answer. i know everybody is particular and their body is different from everybody else . i got the shot on the 25th. i had autoimmune issues. my doctor always said the glass is half-full and if you

get stressed out, it overflows so i have had autoimmune issues including severe allergies. i have been on allergy medication for 30 years nonstop. i did stop it because i did read doctor fauci's recommendation not to take any allergy messagemedicine . it's difficult when you are on constantly i stopped at five days before. i stopped my prednisone, six weeks when i have booked the shop. i got a shot, we drove home and immediately i could not get out of the car. my whole body was it and i kept saying i have a body that's attacking itself. was this the case that because something foreign came in and my body is already hyperactive and i didn't want to once a shot with taking anything.

i suffered. i suffered for 4 days and i called my doctor and she said don't be. i want to know the cause it's not really out there that people shouldn't be taking allergy medication. at least two days before and any prednisone or any suppressing drugs. you feel that possibly what happened to me because i have so many autoimmune diseases but that my body went crazy because it's already crazy to begin with . >> andrea,thank you . >>. >> guest: you raise two issues. one is that everybody who gets vaccine, any vaccine should log in and register with v-safe. that's a centralized program offered by the centers for disease control that asks you very simple lists of

questions about side effects. and it really is only through this way we will be able to get a much larger experience h and insight into the range of side effects that the tens of millions of people getting them have gotten vaccines are experiencing please, everybody was getting g vaccinated, please register with v-safe and the second question is, and if i understand the recommendations correctly it's not to stop any medicines that you need to treat underlying disease. i think the recommendation is don't start taking it to try and prevent the side effects. if you need it for treating underlying disease by all means take it because the potential risk of that and suppressing or blunting the immune response to get to the vaccine is theoretical. the risk of stopping a medicine you're taking to keep an autoimmune diseaseis very real .

so please be careful. work closely with your doctor and hopefully your second shot will be easier than the first. >> host: you're on the air with doctor rothenberg . ahead. >> caller: i checked on the cdc website about any people or categories would be excluded from taking any of these vaccines and i found six of them . most of them were autoimmune issues and i'm number six with memphis. i take infusions to suppress my immune system and it seems common sense to me and like a huge lack of information coming from anyone having to do with vaccines. >> host: we will get a response and the cdc has this on his website and its homepage at cdc.com . >> guest: there's a lack of

information so what i'd really urge is to look into whether any local medical centers, university centers are actually looking at that because there are a number of trials that are being done to dramatically evaluate people with autoimmune disease, with lupus to see how they tolerate vaccine, how did they respond to the vaccine, what can be done to make sure they are able to keep that balance and controlling their autoimmune disease at thesame time they're getting the immune protection from the vaccine . it's a balancing act and i think the cautions right now is that we don't have information on these and it should be a discussion with your individual physician about the risks and potential benefits in your situation. >> host: we will go to maria in atlanta georgia. >> caller: good morning

doctor, good morning steve. translate i want to get you on what she said about lupus. also includes all, i don't want to take the vaccine and i'm scared. i'm scared to put all this stuff in my system. i've got to make a decision but i feel like i don't want all this stuff mixed up in me with lupus with my seizures and off and on. maybe you can convince me because right now i'm scared. >> guest: thank you. i don't feel i need to convince you of anything but just how you have information you need to make a decision that's right for yourself. i understand the concern when you have an immune system that's already ripped up and it's not functioning the way it should and it'scausing some harm . one worries that giving

vaccine in that situation is going to makethings worse . but then we don't have clinical trials on this to address it specifically right now but theoretically this is something that's going to wrap up the immune system but in a way that's very different from the way it's wrapped up the immune disease that you have. this is focused on generating a particular protein that associated only with the virus it's not going to be something that's going to attack normal tissues in your body . it's going to provide you with a level of protection. what level of protection we don't know because you are on these immunosuppressive agents but this is something that if you do participate in the clinical trial we could find out and no more and give more specific guidance. two other people in your situation. >> deborah, last call, kalamazoo michigan for a quick question.

>> i have a question about the people that are not receiving axioms . at what point will that affect people that have received their vaccines? will the virus mutate to a point where we will have to start the process all over again and. >> thank you deborah, we will get response. >> that's a very important question because in a way it is a race. as more people are vaccinated usually the pool of people are still more susceptible to getting infected by the virus and therefore reduce the number of people in mutations could occur so that it's back to the point of the fact that this is not just an american issue getting all americans vaccinated but it's also a global issue because we are so connected. the pools of on vaccinated individuals who may be in the country today means we travel back and forth so i think it's important for us to get as many people vaccinated around the world as possible

to really put an end to this and. >> if i could follow up on one final point because drug companies are competing against each other and in the state partnership in the pharmaceutical companies and the federal government . moving forward, will this change the way we are seeing these partnerships operate in other potential pandemics ? >> absolutely. a five-point plan was issued soon after the pandemic was called laying out how companies would be willing to share their knowledge, share resources and expertise in order to band together against this and that but it was recognized that this would be shortsighted to just make it specific for covid-19 about how to use this level of cooperation to be prepared for the next challenge we may face in thefuture . it's not a questionof if but when . >> our conversation with doctor mace rothenberg, he is the chief medical officer for

pfizer . joining us from nashville thank you for beingwith us . >> thank you steve. >> washington journal every day we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and we discussed policy issues that impact you . coming up tuesday morning, stephen diamond of the washington times talks about his latest recording on border security and then corresponded ac houseman assesses the pds frontline documentary film american insurrection. all the events of january 6 and the rising front of violence in america. once washington journal live at seven eastern and be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments,text and tweets . class president biden needs with a group of bipartisan lawmakers at the white house to discuss his infrastructure proposal known as the american jobs plan. the president made brief remarks on sundays