of derek chauvin's. and on our website, the senate armed nervous is that services committee. at 10:00 a.m., the senate and committee here's from officials and national housing alliance. racial to scrum nation and housing. >> c-span is your under certain you of government. created by able television these 19 md nine -- 1979.

202-748-8003. dr. mace rothenberg is joining us. thank you for being with us. explain your role in the development of the vaccine? guest: for the past two years i was chief medical officer for pfizer. i have since retired. our group was involved in making sure that information about vaccine was complete, accurate, and up to date, to make sure people who were either offering the vaccine or receiving the vaccine had the information they need to make the right decision. my group is also involved in making sure that the safety was monitored very carefully within the clinical crop -- trials and after. member, many more people will receive the clinical trials after the -- and before emergency authorization. it is called for michael

vigilance, and that was squarely in the responsibly of my organization. host: i want to ask about some news, this is a headline from cnbc, based on the study from israel, the covid variant, coming from loss -- south africa, it was able to break through the pfizer vaccine -- the story points out it was able to evade some of the protections in the vaccine. explain the story and the significance of this in terms of how we deal with these variants. guest: when we hear about a variant having resistance to the vaccine we have to understand where the information is coming from, because a lot of it to date has come from laboratory, and what that has shown is some of these variants require a higher concentration to be killed, but the level of antibody generated by the vaccine is so much higher than that it really has no clinical significance. recent reports 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 variant and the individual got sick, i think we have to be very careful not to blow this out of proportion, that these are very rare, individual cases, and the vast majority of individuals who are infected with the coronavirus and you have received a pfizer mnr -- mrna vaccine are radically protected. -- adequately protected. host: when did coronavirus first enter your radar screen --radar screen? guest: as everyone did in december, 2019, when we heard about the cases in a small town known as wuhan. just a coincidence it had special significance because i was scheduled to visit wuhan in march, 2020, because part of my organization is based in wuhan. we were following it carefully. as the story emerged, we

realized it was probably not safe for me to go there, so we canceled the trip. but actually what we were seeing also was the fact that this was not limited to wuhan. this was spreading. we were very concerned about making sure that our colleagues who are based in wuhan were safe and were able to be protected from this to the extent possible of what we knew at that time and then we had to understand the impact this had, not just in china, but on a worldwide basis, especially with regard to the ability for us to continue to produce our medicines insights around the world, and also to make sure we are 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 worldwide challenge we had to step up and meet. host: you have heard the argument from many americans, the vaccines are not safe -- i am not going to get one. address that?

guest: one of the things people are concerned about is the short period of time that it took to develop the vaccine. in the case of the pfizer mrna vaccine, it was 7.5 months from the time the first person received one of the vaccine candidates to the time it received emergency use authorization -- that is a short period of time, so people wonder what was sacrificed in trying to do that as quickly as possible. i had first-hand insight into that, and i can tell you that no corners were cut, no measures were abandoned or compromised, that would give us anything less than a full understanding of the safety and efficacy of this vaccine, and even though this happen in short period of time, and that happened in part because there were so many cases of covid in the population, we were able to get the trials

completed faster -- when we brought the application for emergency use authorization forward to regulatory agencies, they had all information with the complete level of confidence that we knew this vaccine had favorable benefit/risk relationships. we had good insights into the safety, and only we, but regulatory -- authorities around the world felt the benefits vastly outweighed the risks and it is something that was not only going to be useful but absolutely essential in helping us in the pandemic. host: the pfizer vaccine, the moderna vaccine is a two-step process and the vaccines need to be kept in cold temperature. johnson & johnson is one vaccine, it does not need to be in a cold temperature. why? explain the difference as we look at some of the vaccine in your distribution facilities. guest: right. so, for the mrna vaccines, they

are encapsulated in lipid nano particles which are unstable and have to be kept at a low temperature. when this was first being developed at pfizer and biontech the conditions used were also low temperatures, -80 degrees celsius. that is where we had the experience, and that is what, once we get the eua emergency authorization, that is what pfizer had to have all the sites it here too -- keep it at very low temperature until it was very -- ready to be administered . since that time, companies have had a chance -- more of a chance to test the vaccine for stability at less stringent conditions, and just recently, the fda and the european agency as well have now relaxed those requirements so, no longer does the pfizer biontech vaccine have to be kept at -80.

it can be kept at -20 four up to two weeks. there are more facilities around the world that have those resources and it can reach more places than it could before. host: you talk about the distribution -- it came up yesterday on nbc's "meet the press, with secretary of state tony blinken. he was asked by chuck todd about the u.s. role in the distribution globally here here's part of the interview. [video clip] secretary blinken: we have a significant response ability we will be the world leader. until the majority of the world is vaccinated will be a problem for us because as long as the virus is replicating it could be mutating, coming back to hit us, but similarly the world has a strong interest in making sure we are vaccinated because the same thing applies. if the virus is replicating here and mutating here, that will be a problem for the rest of the world.

we have taken a leadership role. we have rejoined the world health organization -- where the largest contributor to covax, the inis -- national facility to make vaccines more available to do we have an important relationship with india, japan, austria, to increase vaccine production around the world, and we have made some loans to our nearest neighbors, mexico and canada. as we get more comfortable with where we are and vaccinating every american, we are then looking at what more we can do around the world. host: can you elaborate on what the secretary of state was talking about, specifically pfizer's role in the global distribution? guest: i think secretary blinken described it very well. there is a responsibility that pfizer and large pharma companies that have vaccines have to the world, because unless this is something that is controlled on a worldwide basis, it is going to continue to have impact, not only in other countries, but in the united

states because we are so reliant upon one another for supplies, materials, and trade. i think this is very important. this could have been and was predicted, that when you have initial production, not everyone can get it at the same time. it has to be prioritized. we saw that in the united states, where the first groups to be vaccinated where those that were most vulnerable. the same kind of prioritization has to be considered in terms of saying who is going to be the next group to get this. pfizer, even though it is a u.s.-based company, it has international scope and responsibility and it recognizes this. as a result, even before pfizer knew the results of the clinical trial, 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

authorization, that as many doses could go out as quickly as possible. in addition, pfizer was upgrading its facilities, reaching out and using new facilities to produce new vaccines. in addition, one of the important steps that was actually prompted by the pandemic and this crisis was a willingness of competitor companies, other large pharma companies to band together, work together to cooperate to produce the vaccine. so, in fact, not only is the pfizer biontech vaccine being produced at those locations, but auction -- actually a virus and sanofi have offered their vaccine production facilities to upscale the production and make it more available on a worldwide basis. i think these are significant steps that have been taken to address this very problem of meeting the needs of not only americans, but people around the world in developed and in

developing countries, to make sure we are able to eradicate this pandemic, to and to this pandemic, and to allow economies to open, travel to reopen, and to us to get back to our lives. host: one final point and i want to bring in viewers and listeners -- moving forward, whether it is treatment for cancer in future vaccines, what are the lessons over the last 12 to 13 months in developing the covid vaccine? guest: one of the early decisions that was made at pfizer was to initiate something called project lightspeed. that looked at every step along the way of clinical development -- a process that takes years for medicines or vaccines and to see what can be done to shorten that -- processes done in sequence, could they be overlapped or done in parallel? what would be the risk, the benefits? a process that would normally take years with an truncated to

7.5 months in the case of the covid-19 vaccine. in addition, communication across organizations within the company was essential. everyone recognized from what the ceo laid out early on -- this was the highest priority for the company, so whenever anyone called up to address an issue related to the vaccine, people stopped what they are doing. they took the call. they 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. what was also learned is that in dire situations like this, that others beyond just the company are willing to interact 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 a question that it had, rather than having to submit it in writing, prepare a briefing document, get it scheduled, a process that could take four to eight weeks, the call was responded to immediately or later on that day. you can see when you have everyone recognized this is such a high priority, has such meaning no matter where you sit in the ecosystem, you can really band together and get things done quickly and at a high quality without sacrificing any element of quality or safety. host: we are talking with dr. mace rothenberg, joining us from nashville, tennessee, the former chief medical officer for pfizer and also was on the faculty of the vanderbilt medical center and for that the university of texas health center in san antonio. rochester, michigan. good morning. caller: good morning can 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 for it, and 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 headed. now that we are not, almost 14 days, we are doing well -- what do we do now? do we need to go get vaccinated? do we have antibodies? i don't know what the protocol is. host: thank you, caller. guest: get vaccinated. your body, when exposed to the virus will generate an antibiotic response that will help the body fight off the infection and retell it in the future, but what has been found is the level of antibodies

produced with a vaccination, especially in people who have had prior infections is many fold higher, 10, 100 fold higher than what your body had generated to the natural infection. that is one reason to get the vaccine. the second is we don't know how long-lasting the immunity might be from the natural infection. so if it was not a very strong reaction, that antibiotic response could wane over time. what we believe is that with the vaccinations, it is not only the anti-bodies, the short-term way your body manages and fights off a viral infection, but other elements, memory b cells, memory t cells, upper t cells, better able to be trained, and even after the infection is gone, they stay around, and they stay around for a long time. how long, we don't know, but now data are coming out that they are around six months, or

probably longer. i think for those reasons, even in people who have had the virus, and had covid-19, is still important for you to get the vaccination as well. host: this from sheila -- tell me these vaccine producers can predict adverse reactions 5, 10 years down the road. guest: the answer is obvious and no one has 5, 10 years experience with the vaccine because we don't have five or 10 years of this variant of the coronavirus but we can draw on prior experiences -- understanding there are only side effects that have been characterized very well for this and other vaccines in the future, and in rare cases will you see late-occurring side effects, but every individual has to make up their own mind to weigh what we know about the disease of covid-19 -- what that

can do to you, it cannot only make you sick, he could land you in the intensive care unit, it could cause not only short-term but long-term disability, we are learning, and it can kill you. it is about a 1% to 2% fatality rate in the short-term, versus what we know about the vaccines, and when it comes to the mrna vaccines, the side effects are very well-characterized. the vast majority of cases are mild to moderate, some rare cases, less than 10% might be more severe but they are transient, usually gone within 24 to 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 the uncertainty of what may happen five to 10 years from now with a

very real and present danger of dying from covid-19 pit the choice is yours. host: fully visor pfizer -- fully vaccinated. no side effects. finally holding my one-year-old nephew. when my hopes for him, he grows up and becomes a scientist. did you want to comment? guest: i think that is great. i think we cannot underestimate that impact of that vaccination as well -- it is not just simply saying ok, you have got the vaccination, now continued to do everything you were doing before you got the vaccination and keep yourself separated and isolated, it really is beginning to allow us to get our lives back, to allow us to travel, as the cdc has indicated now, with a little more comfortable -- comfort. still with precautions, but it is still an important step in allowing people to get their lives back.

it is interacting with friends and family, having expenses that have been denied for the past year. let's not underestimate the value of that, the importance of that, and the role of the vaccine in allowing people to regain that. host: william from connecticut says thank you -- the first pfizer dose is in, waiting for the second on april 19. bless those who work, technology and expedited the final research and production. linda, minneapolis, you are on the air with dr. mace rothenberg . caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i have a comment and a question. i will make the comment -- you just spoke about people being able to get together -- by the way, i am over 80 and i have had two of the pfizer, and thank you very, very much, but i have noticed my friends, my contemporaries have really come in my view, opened up to doing

things since they have been vaccinated, and i am still, kind of, cautious. i wonder specifically about the gathering together in small group to have dinner in somebody's home. of that kind of worries me. i know that that kind of worries me. i know friends that are doing that, they are eager to get together. it is understandable. i would like your opinion on that. the next question is what about a booster? do we need one thank you. guest: great question. congratulations. it sounds like you are doing great. in terms of gathering together, as we are going alone, we are getting more experience in terms of an epidemiologic perspective. i think everyone knows there are certain high risk behaviors that still should be avoided, gathering with large crowds indoors, people not socially distanced, people who are not wearing masks -- those are

things that should still be avoided, but if you are vaccinated, you can gather together with other people who are also vaccinated and socially distanced, that, i think, now, we recognizes a lower risk situation. i think that is something -- this is something, just to keep your eyes and ears open. as we get more experience and information, sometimes from real-world expense, clinical trials, -- experience, clinical trials, we will give more guidance. it is a gray zone. some people are more willing to push that than others. keep your eyes and ears open that there will be more guidance on this. with regard to the booster, it gets back to a point made earlier. there is data to suggest that in people, very strong levels of antibody persist, at least six months. it is likely to be found at 12 months as well. we don't know yet is is that

going to last a lifetime or will lil wayne and if -- or will it wayne, and if it does will it make people more susceptible to catching and coming down with covid-19, and a corollary is with the resistance to some of these mutations, is that also going to generate the need for a booster and with the booster be the same original vaccine or could the vaccine be modified, and i can tell you there are efforts underway to evaluate a modified vaccine that could have greater activity against some of the resistance mutations. stay tuned for this. there is a lot of work going out to answer that very question. host: chattanooga, tennessee, marvin. good morning. thank you for waiting period -- waiting period caller: good morning -- waiting period --waiting. caller: good morning. i am a vietnam veteran.

i was in vietnam when agent orange was spread. this is something in my opinion the government allowed to come into our bodies and allowed to exist for all of these years. it has been 53 years and i am still dealing with what our country has allowed industries and pharmaceutical companies because of greed and 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 70's. i have realized that i am addicted to all of these medications that i cannot throw away until the day that i die. now as far as this covid is concerned, this 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 have information about this spanish flu. are the booster shots and the flu shots being taken today still a result of the vaccination of the spanish flu -- that would be my question. host: marvin, we will get a response. thank you very much. guest: and if you could also in your response explain what a booster shot does. a booster shot is given after the initial vaccination, some period afterwards to enhance the body's immune response. then there are booster shots that may be given later on, and those can actually, once again, increase the body's level of immunity against particular disease in case immunity from the first vaccination swing. that is the important part of

that. interestingly, there is a report just recently of a blood sample being obtained from somebody who is alive during the spanish flu of 1918, 19 19, and they are able to detect antibodies from that original spanish flu pick there is evidence bodies can retain memory against an infection for decades, so that is very important to know. i think this is something we have to recognize, and now we have much greater, more advanced technology, so we can begin to say are the levels in an individual adequate to protect them and to protect them against the variants that might be evolving over the next few months and years, or at one point -- what point does the

benefit of another vaccination outweigh the risk, and that we should proceed with that. host: just a follow from our twitter page, how much did operation warp speed weigh in on the development of the vaccine? guest: i think it had different impact on different companies. pfizer did not take any research and development contributions from the federal government. i think that 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. if the vaccine didn't work, the $1 billion to $2 billion pfizer invested in the research and develop it would be gone, would be a loss. it was a decision made to maintain the speed of the program, the independence with adequate oversight. project warp speed was also involved in distribution of the vaccine once emergency use

authorization was administered. some companies did receive assistance and accept assistance for the research and development aspect of that, and some of those have actually made it through the process. host: the head of operation warp speed addressing the issue of emergency use authorization by pfizer. here is what he had to say. >> for seven months we realize the greatest public/private partnership in modern times -- doctors, scientists, researchers , factory workers, hundreds more have all come together for a singular purpose -- that purpose, save lives and end the pandemic appeared 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 assumed i meant day of distribution. in fact, d-day in military designates the day the mission 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. host: that from last today -- last december and one of the leading individuals in the developing of the vaccine is our guest, dr. mace rothenberg, former chief medical officer for pfizer. back to your phone calls. greg. alexandria, virginia. thank you for waiting period -- waiting. caller: thank you. i have had the vaccine and my

only reaction was a headache after the second those. my question is related to vaccine-related death -- what has been reported and confirmed. i know they collect information and i think in february they reported maybe a little over 100 confirmed deaths related to the vaccine, and you can correct me if i am wrong -- my question really is has there been any evidence or data to suggest that there may be underlying conditions, health problems or maybe genes that would otherwise make people not a good candidate for the vaccine? host: we will get a response. guest: let me make it clear when we are talking about the pfizer biontech vaccine there have been no deaths that have occurred directly as a result of the vaccine alone. there have been deaths reported

with other vaccines and they are beginning to look into the reasons for this, but i think that needs to be clarified. the second part of the question was? guest: in terms of the long-term effects. --host: in terms of the long-term effects. guest: most of the effects are within the first 24, 48 hours, they can be fever, headache, chills, fatigue, and they will have varying levels of severity -- sometimes people do find they interfere with daily living, but they usually resolve within 48 hours. in terms of individuals who may be at higher risk for that, it really has not been a pattern -- it seems younger people may have a higher incident -- incidence of those effects than older

people and some have postulated that is due to stronger immune reactions to the vaccine, and there been some reports of individuals that have had other cheek reactions a few minutes after receiving the vaccinations. they have had some shortness of wrath, blood pressure, but -- shortness of breath, brad -- blood pressure, but those resolve in a matter of hours as well. it is very difficult to it and if i individuals who are at increased risk for side effects, but there are warnings and precautions about individuals who should be monitored and considered. host: is the vaccine different for an adult then it would be for a child? guest: it is the same vaccine,

but it would be a different dose. the trial is underway right now for the pfizer biontech vaccine. pfizer has submitted supplemental emergency use authorization for the vaccine to be used in children 12 to 15 years old. when you think about those children who are 12 to 15 as well as the 16 and 17-year-olds in the trial, that is about 9% of the u.s. population. when we talk about heard immunity -- herd immunity, we are not talking about just adults, but the entire population. having data on younger individuals will help us achieve the level of herd immunity throughout the population at all ages. host: austin, texas. good morning. caller: good morning. i had my first pfizer vaccine and i had a zero side effects. today i go for my second one. when i thought about it -- i am

63. i thought i should have had stronger side effects that would have correlated with having a stronger immune system and reaction, but at the time i was taking daily ibuprofen and the ranting for allergies and arthritis. so, the last couple of days i have been off of those in case they interfere. my question is do these interfere with your immune response and efficacy of the vaccine, and if so, should the public be more aware? to what -- thank you. guest: it is good news that the side effects do not correlate the site -- the immune response. you may have had a good immune response and not felt anything. there are some theoretical concerns it might blunt the immune response, but there is no hard data.

the recommendation is for new visuals to continue the medicines they are taking, but not to necessarily start a medicine, tylenol, ibuprofen, unit dissipation of having side effects. host: but if you do have the side effects, chills, or a fever, then can you take medicine? guest: yes, you can. host: i will. geordie --jodey, good morning. caller: kai, steve. nice to have you back. i want to call in and follow up on a couple of the calls i made in my decision to get the vaccine, not just for myself, my family -- my father has cancer, it sarah what i found -- etc.. what i found is -- i think c-span for an abundance of information and people representing information, let the gentleman here, to gather my facts and determine whether or not it is safe to get the vaccine, and what i have

determined is that the pfizer, for myself and my family is the best -- i am hoping to receive that may 1. i did and do have concerns over the moderna vaccine, from which i believe my 91-year-old grandmother was affected greatly from. she had underlying factors, and had long covid side effects when she was mild or symptomatic are your go, i truly believe it is the right thing to do, if not for yourself come in the world -- words of rachel maddow, who got her shot, do it for everyone else. host: thank you. guest: if i could comment on that -- when i have been asked by others which vaccine you should take my my response has been the that is offered, because we could have our favorite based on one piece of data or another, but the most important thing is to get vaccinated.

every single one of the vaccines far exceeds the threshold set by the fda, the cdc for what they would consider an effective vaccine. the original threshold was 50% efficacy. when the vaccine was underdevelopment, those of us working at pfizer speculated -- what could we imagine, hope for, and we speculated maybe 65%, 70%, even as high as 75%, so on that day, november 8, when the independent data and safety monitoring committee met and reveal the data that the vaccine was 95% effective, that wildly exceeded our greatest expectations, but i think we have to recognize that all the vaccines that have been reported now have efficacy 70% and above, which is very substantial, can be very protective. please, if you are offered any vaccine, take it. host: to that point, pfizer is a

two-step process, johnson & johnson is one vaccine. what is the difference? guest: it is the basis that the pfizer and moderna vaccine's are encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles, so it is the preparation and the way the vaccine works. the ashes on it and johnson & johnson vaccines are -- astrazeneca and johnson & johnson vaccines are dna vaccines. they are different ways of achieving the same result. all the vaccines will cause your own body to produce little proteins that look exactly like the spike proteins we have seen in the picture of the coronavirus, and that is what infect cells and the body then recognizes those spike proteins, creates antibodies and prevents the bible spike proteins from infecting the cells. they are different ways of

achieving the same goals. host: les from morgan. caller: hello, doctor. guest: hello. caller: my concern is i have an immune deficiency that is called igg4, and i have to have fusions, and they are, like, $20,000 a fusion. so, my concern is, people that have igg4, mostly are hispanic and colored, and my concern is their life, and they sometimes don't know this is in their system, and it can cause death,

because what it does is it causes your lymph nodes to grow and it can cause tumors and stuff like that. my concern is their safety and mine in getting the shot. i am trying to appeal right now so i can get the shot, but the pills cause a stomach cramp instead of getting the fusion. host: thanks for the cop we will get a response. dr. rothenberg? guest: one of the things everyone realizes is there are a number of unanswered questions here in terms of people who might have an underlying condition, taking certain medicines, or may have had some particular history, and how that might impact the effectiveness of a vaccine, or whether that individual should maybe not take the vaccine. two date, there have been a

number of trials that have been set up. i would urge the caller to reach out to their local medical center or university medical center to find out if they are studying this very question, because that will help not only that individual, but others. it is really important that we learn about some of these populations, and whether they get the full benefit of the vaccine, whether they are at increased risk, whether they need a booster dose, etc.. i think it is important for people to come forward to be able to receive the vaccine, but also for physicians and researchers to take blood samples and see how well an immune response they mount. i think they could learn a lot, but we don't have all the answers yet -- this is an opportunity to contribute to the body of knowledge. host: for anyone interested, the cdc has information, including the ingredients of the pfizer

vaccine, a q&a session of what you should look out for, and an overview on the safety issues. the website is cdc.gov. paul in potomac, maryland. you next pretty good morning. caller: good morning. as a friend and colleague of mace rothenberg both in san antonio and at 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 at the v.a. in washington, my wife at johns hopkins and howard county. we have had no ill effects other than to be a sore arm for a couple of days. we have been feeling very good ever since. again, i want to reach out to mace and pfizer for creating a fantastic vaccine in short period of time.

i was also at the sabin vaccine institute, and i feel very fortunate for getting the vaccine, mace. host: thanks for calling on the friends and family line. [laughter] let me move on to maureen joining us from illinois. 2i-4 waiting period -- thank you for waiting period caller: hello, dr. rothenberg. on march 19 i had my first moderna shot, and after two days i was bragging how nothing happened, and after two days i got chills and i started feeling better. the problem is i had a ct scan done last week and it showed lumps under my armpits, and said i should hurry and get a mammogram and maybe have a biopsy combat then i found out

that this can possibly cause the lumps under my breasts from the injection -- i don't know which way to go, should i get the shot on friday, should i not, i am scheduled to get a mammogram, but i don't know what to do. host: maureen, thank you for the called kid good luck to you. guest: marine, thank you for calling. you raise an important issue and one that concerns many individuals. after people receive a vaccination, usually in the upper arm and deltoid muscle, in some individuals that has caused lymph nodes to swell and that is understandable because lymph nodes are where the immune cells track. for most people it is not noticeable. some people have very significant and somewhat uncomfortable lymph nodes under their arm, for individuals that have had a history of rest cancer, it is also a site where

breast cancer could recur. that was a great concern to individuals and physicians. so, as this was seen, people began to recognize it is being seen more and more. the question was what did it represent -- the breast cancer coming back, simply the immune response to the vaccination? thankfully it was due to the immune response to the vaccination, and just waiting a few days, those lymph nodes went down, and then there is 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 a short while, may be weeks, maybe a month -- the delay is not going to endanger a light from getting a follow-up mammogram but will allow an accurate view of what is going on. thank you for raising that

important point. host: a quick follow-up -- if you get the pfizer vaccine you need to stay with pfizer, correct, you cannot mix up the two? guest: that is the recommendation. there have been some cases where people have gotten one and got the other by mistake and companies are following those individuals to see how they respond, how they do, but the recommendation is to stay with the one you started with. host: miguel joining us from maryland. good morning. are you with us? one more time. i think we lost you. i'm sorry. alisha -- andrea is next from connecticut. caller: yes i am so happy to talk to you. i have contacted the cdc, the board of health in our state, the nih and i cannot get this answer. i know everyone is particular and their body is different from everybody else. i got the shot on the 25th.

i have autoimmune issues. my doctor has always said to me your glass is half-full, and if you get stressed out, it overflows, so i had seven autoimmune diseases including severe allergies. i have been on allergy medication for 30 years nonstop. i did stop it because i did read dr. fauci's recommendation not to take any allergy medication. it is difficult when you are on it constantly. i stopped it about five days, i stopped my nsaids, prednisone, six weeks before i had booked the shot. so i got the shot, we drove home, and immediately i could not get out of the car. my whole body was hit, and i cap saying because i have a body that is attacking itself, was this the case that because something foreign came in and my

body is already hyperactive and i did not want to blunt the shot with taking anything, i suffered -- i suffered for four days, finally called my doctor, and said -- she said take nsaids. don't be ridiculous could i wanted to know, because it is not really out there that people shouldn't be taking their allergy medication at least two days before, and then he prednisone's. do you feel that is possibly what happened to me because i have so many autoimmune diseases that my body just went crazy because it is already crazy to begin with? host: andrea, thank you. guest: i'm so sorry to hear you had such difficult he with the vaccination. you raised two issues -- one is that everybody who gets the vaccine, any vaccine should login and register withv -- with vsafe -- a centralized

program sponsored by the centers for disease that asks you a very simple list of questions about side effects and it is only through this way that we will be able to get a much larger experience and insight into the range of side effects that the tens of millions of people who are getting that have gotten the vaccine are experiencing. so, please, everyone who is getting vaccinated, register with the safe. the second question is if i understand the recommendations correctly, it is not to stop any medicines you need to treat an underlying disease. i think the recommendation is don't start taking it to try and prevent a side effect, but if you needed for treating underlying disease, by all means continue taking it because the potential risk of that and suppressing or blunting the immune response is theoretical.

the risk of stopping a medicine you are taking to keep in autoimmune disease is very real. so, please be careful. worked closely with your doctor. hopefully your second shot will be easier than your first. host: sharon is joining us. good morning. you are on the air with dr. rothenberg. caller: yes. early on i checked on the cdc website about any people or categories that would be excluded from taking any of these vaccines, and i found six of them. most of them were autoimmune issues, and i am number six with lucas. now, i take infusions to suppress my immune system. it seems common sense to me and it seems like a huge lack of information coming from anyone having to do with vaccines. host: qip get a response.

cdc has this on its own page. your response? guest: the point you made early on, there is a lack of information -- i would urge university centers to look at that -- there are a number of. we are looking to see how they tolerate the vaccine, how they respond to the vaccine, what can be done to make sure they are able to keep the balance of controlling the immune disease, at the same time they are getting the immune protection from the vaccine. it is a balancing act. the caution 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 benefit in your particular situation. host: maria, atlanta, georgia.

good morning. caller: good morning, dr., good morning, steve. so glad to hear you -- see you back. it was what the lady -- what she said on lupus. i am a lupus patient. i don't want to take the vaccine. i am scared to put all of this stuff in my system. i go to the doctor friday and i have to make the decision, but i feel like i don't want all of the stuff mixed up in me with lucas, my seizures, maybe you can convince me, because right now i am scared. host: thank you. guest: yeah, i don't feel i need to convince you of anything, but have you feel you have the information you need to make a decision for your self.

i understand you have an immune system that is revved up and not functioning the way it should and is causing some harm, one worries that getting a vaccine in that situation is going to make things worse, but, again, we don't have clinical trials on this to address this specifically right now but theoretically, this is something that is going to rev up the immune system but in a way that is very different that has been revved up for the immune disease that you have. this is really focused on generating a particular protein that is associated only with the virus. it is not going to be something that will attack normal tissues in your body. it is going to provide you with a level of protection -- what level of protection, we don't know. this is something, if you do participate in clinical trial, we can find out, know more and

give more guidance to people in your situation. host: kalamazoo. quick question. caller: for people not receiving vaccines, at what point will that affect the people that have received their vaccine -- will the virus mutate to the point where we will have to start the process all over thank you, luta response. -- we will get a response. guest: as more people are vaccinated, you shrink the pool of people who are still more susceptible to getting infected by the virus. that gets back to the point of the fact that this is not just an american issue of getting all americans vaccinated, but it is also a global issue because we are so connected. the pools of unvaccinated individuals could easily travel

back and forth, so i think it is really important for us to get as many people vaccinated around the world as possible to really put an end to this pandemic. host: one final point because often, drug companies are competing against each other in this case, there has been a partnership between the pharmaceutical companies in the federal government. moving forward, with us change the way we are seeing these partnerships operate in another potential pandemic? guest: absolutely. a five-point plan was issued soon after the pandemic was called and it really rang out how companies would be willing to share their knowledge, share their resources, share their expertise in order to band together against this pandemic. but it was recognized that this would be shortsighted to make it specific for covid-19 but actually how to use this level of cooperation to be able to be prepared for the next challenge we may face in the future. it is not a question of if, but when.

host: the former chief medical officer for pfizer, joining us on >> sees bands washington journal, -- c-span's washington journal, everyday we discussed policy issues that impact you. tuesday morning, we talk about reporting on border security, and we discussed a new documentary film, american insurrection, about the events of january 6, and the rising threat of far-right violence in america. watch live tuesday morning, and going the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. >> coming up live on tuesday, the ceremonial arrival for u.s. capitol police officer billy

evans, who was killed last week while guarding the capital. a tribute to officer evans follows at 11:00 a.m. later, the house returns to take up legislation to suspend cuts to medicare. on c-span two at 10:00 a.m., the irs commissioner testifies in front of the senate's -- senate finance committee. at noon, the senate is back to work on the nomination for the deputy area depth -- deputy transportation secretary. and on c-span3, the trial of derek chauvin in the death of george floyd continues. and on c-span.org at 9:30, the 2022 defense budget. at 10:00 a.m., the senate banking committee hears from officials on racial discrimination in housing. at 2:00 p.m., senate

appropriations subcommittee oaks at the 2020 two budget request for the national science foundation. >> next, supreme court justice stephen breyer on the court and the state of politics. he delivered his remarks during a virtual lecture hosted by harvard law school. this is about two hours. lectury harvard law school. this is about two hours. justice breyer: i am delighted to introduce the power of the court by justice stephen g. breyer. before i say a few words about the lecture and the speaker, i want to welcome marine scalia, the justice and misses scalia's children and grandchildren anthony and megan scalia. we are delighted you are able to join us. i also want to thank joanna prior for being with us, and my thanks to the wonderful staff at harvard law