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coronavirus vaccines of johns hs university center for health security. join the conversation with your calls, texts, and tweets. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: president biden is back in washington following the thanksgiving holiday. this morning, he will update the nation on how the federal government is responding to what appears to be a new strain of covid-19 first reported by south africa last week. the response by officials in the weeks ahead will most certainly be guided by science but influenced by how previous covid measures worked. and were received by citizens. good morning. it is monday, november 29, 2021.

we will start the program asking you about your thoughts and concerns over this new covid-19 variant. the lines to use, if you have had at least one shot of a covid vaccine, the line is (202) 748-8000. if you are not vaccinated, (202) 748-8001. we welcome your texts as well. (202) 748-8003. include your name and where you are texting from. we will look for your facebook posts and you can post your thoughts on instagram and twitter @cspanwj. the president is set to meet with his covid response team this morning. he will address the nation. look for live coverage on the c-span networks. we will bring you any update on that as soon as we solidify those plans. that should be at about 11:45 eastern. here is the reporting from the wall street journal.

restrictions return as europe combats rise in cases. nations tighten control to stem variant. countries around the world reported their first cases of the omicron variant over the weekend. some imposed new travel restrictions cannot racing to protect themselves against the potentially more contagious strain even as scientists caution they do not know how severe it will prove to be. australia, canada, and italy have detected the strain. it could be more transmissible than other variants. dr. anthony fauci of the covid-19 response team was on the program this week with george stephanopoulos and was asked if the strain had been detected in the u.s.. [video clip] >> have we detected the omicron

variant in the united states yet? >> we have not and we have a good surveillance system. as we know, when you have a virus that has already gone through multiple countries, it will be here. the question is will we be prepared for it? the preparation we have for what we are doing now with the delta variant needs to be wrapped up. that is the bottom line, getting more people vaccinated and getting the fully vaccinated boosted. that is what we can be doing. we are on the lookout for this. if and when it comes here, hopefully we will be ready for it by enhancing our capabilities , masking, all the things we do and should be doing. host: what are your concerns or thoughts on the new variant detected i south africa? last week?

-- by south africa last week? (202) 748-8000, the line for those of you who are vaccinated. (202) 748-8001 for on vaccinated viewers and listeners. this is from politico. omicron raises concerns about global vaccine equity and hesitancy. global health experts say the emergence of variant is a byproduct of unheeded warnings about vaccine and equity they have said could fuel public health crises in the developing world and prolong the covid-19 pandemic. africa remains the most under vaccinated region of the world with 7% of its people fully immunized. north america has vaccinated about 54% of its population. they write further in that article that, after waiting for supplies for months, south africa now has enough doses of pfizer and johnson & johnson vaccines but the number of

people getting the shot is about 120 thousand per day, less than half of the government target. immunizations are lagging, making the young adult cohort vulnerable to the very end. some african officials are annoyed that, instead of enabling access to vaccines, developed nations are slapping african nations with travel bans. let's hear from sandy -- cindy in connecticut. caller: i hope you all had a nice thanksgiving. i think we are panicking a little bit. it has been reported that cases are mild, no hospitalization or death. the symptoms are more like a cold. we need to take a deep breath

and stop panicking every second. i know this is a scary thing. i am due for a booster. do i wait until the vaccination is tweaked or just go ahead and get the booster? i am confused on what we should do now, especially if you do not want to get a bunch of shots in a short period. that is my concern. host: when are you supposed to get your booster? caller: i am due for it now. i am six months about since my first vaccination. i got the j&j. i think everybody -- it is just panic mode. i know it is a scary thing. as far as vaccination rates, i think we should do better at getting them supplies. i do not think they should be punished for this. they did the right thing.

they said they discovered a new variant. it seems like people just panic about this now. and for good reason. i am not going to -- but i am not going to panic about it. there are a couple doctors i have listened to who say there are more repeat cases of covid in vaccinated then people who have had covid and gotten the wild virus. i wish we would acknowledge that a little more here in this country. i think we are at herd immunity between the vaccinated and those who have gotten covid. host: we will talk more about that topic later in the program. reporting in this morning on the new york times on where they are in terms of vaccines and south africa.

they write that the mrna vaccines were built with technology that should prevent rapid modifications. pfizer's scientists can adapt the current vaccine within six weeks and ship initial batches within 100 days in the event of an escaped variant, said a spokeswoman. let's hear from oliver in virginia. good morning. you are on the air. caller: good morning to everyone on c-span. i listen to you guys religiously. it is one of the best programs in television where you give people a chance to speak up and speak out. i wanted to say i am vaccinated. i have gotten both of my shots. i will be looking forward to a booster next month. i want to say that the american people should be grateful that

joe biden is in the white house. the trump administration lied to the american people. they fudged the numbers. they did everything they could to cover it up for donald trump's narcissism. he was a dangerous president. the american people better be thankful that joe biden is in the white house. thank you for letting me speak. host: scott gottlieb, who was fda commissioner during the trump administration, was on face the nation yesterday and talked about the possibility that some reporting out of south africa about the prevalence of the variant may be over estimated at this point. [video clip] >> a lot of americans are getting back on a plane after celebrating thanksgiving and gathering with families. what do they need to know about airports and should they get tested when they get off the

plane? >> people should use the same precautions they were using before. this has been detected very early in south africa. we may be overestimating his prevalence because of recent cases in south africa. it may be the case that south africa is also exhibiting a surge of delta infections. this probably is not that prevalent around the world. i would exercise the same cautions as before. the biggest risk to travelers is that, given the uncertainty around the world and the fact that hundreds are reacting, if you do end up being positive oversees you could find yourself stuck in quarantine. i think countries are behaving with no-frills now and trying to control the spread of this variant and taking drastic measures in surge in cases.

host: reuters reporting this morning about how travelers are reacting to restrictions. as countries tighten rules due to omicron fears, they write some would-be travelers are considering canceling or delaying trip plans. a travel agent said monday, threatening an already fragile recovery for the tourism industry. (202) 748-8000, the line to call if you are vaccinated. if you are not vaccinated, (202) 748-8001. we are asking you about your thoughts and concerns over this reported newco variant. you can also send us a text. it is (202) 748-8003. on twitter, worldwide hysteria is getting old, she tweets. there is no way you can prevent this virus.

mark says caution proves not enough known yet. this one says viral mutations -- that means governments must take an interest in -- whenever case positivity unexpectedly explodes. and south africa has my gratitude for coming forth with their findings. let's hear from roger in alabama. caller: i appreciate you taking my call. i am not concerned at all. school is open, concerts, spring break, bike rallies, church. right now, florida has the lowest. i think it is 27 per 100,000 people, the lowest in the country. if everyone up north once to lock you back up in the house where you give the virus to everyone you are in the house with, you all need to tighten

up. i appreciate it. host: thanks for your call this morning. (202) 748-8000 for those of you who are vaccinated. on vaccinated line is -- unvaccinated line is (202) 748-8001. the washington post, their lead story on the issue, biden focuses on boosters to protect against omicron. the biden administration is focusing on booster shots as a key weapon to protect the nation against a potentially dangerous coronavirus variant. a group of health officials had a call with south african officials. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity. they write the world health

organization said it is too early to know whether the new variant is more transmissible than the delta variant. there remains little understanding about the severity of illness is caused by the variant and the rate of hospitalization. african scientists said they expected more breakthrough cases and people vaccinated against coronavirus. let's hear from janice in san diego. caller: the first comment i wanted to respond to was the gentleman who said we needed to be thankful for having biden in office. for what, inflation? it is ridiculous that people are still blaming trump for anything when biden is doing the exact opposite of everything trump has done. secondly, no. i find it amazing how, when

trump shut the border for the same reason, he was xenophobic and a racist. biden does the same thing and gets credit. as for me ever getting the vaccine, i do not trust it. there is something about the way they are pushing it. more people who have been vaccinated are put -- passing on the virus versus the ones who are not vaccinated. when trump was the one who came out with the vaccine, everybody on the left did not trust it. it is the exact same vaccine that trump put out that biden is now pushing. i do not understand the insidious and us behind the vaccine. i think it is all about control. i do not think it is about the

vaccine. how many shots do you have to get before it works? host: janice in california. more of your calls and comments on this topic in a moment. we are joined next by christina marcos, congressional reporter on the hill. the house and senate return. good morning to you. it is not a surprise they have wound up in this position. the first big item is the deadline for government spending. tell us how that will be addressed. >> at the top -- guest: that is at the top of lawmakers' to do list. current government funding is set to run out friday night, so they want to avoid a shut down. right now, it is not clear how

long another stopgap measure would last. in the house, the chairwoman of the appropriations committee is pushing for a stopgap measure that would go into mid-december or so and to keep pressure on republicans to reach a longer-term deal on federal spending. on the other hand, there is such a long to do list for congress particularly in the senate where legislation moves more slowly than in the house. there is discussion among congressional leaders about a potential stopgap measure so we do not go into january or february so lawmakers would have more time to negotiate. that is still under discussion. at this point, there is no expectation there would be a shutdown. lawmakers have to iron out the date first. >> you are reporting on another issue related to the spending deadline, the debt ceiling.

no deal insight as congress nears the debt limit deadline. what will they do their? >> -- guest: the two top leaders in the senate have been talking in recent weeks. they had meetings before thanksgiving break and both sides said it was a productive meeting. they are still not on the same page when it comes to how to raise the debt limit. they are still pushing for democrats to use the budget reconciliation process that would allow republicans to offer unlimited amounts of amendments and try to force democrats to take politically tricky votes and democrats would rather not go that route. there is still a question of how to avoid the default in the next couple weeks, but the fact that mcconnell and schumer are talking is more progress than we

saw the last time around, the last time we had this fight. >> the u.s. senate comes back today. they began by taking up the defense authorization measure and discussions continue on the president's social spending measure. will they complete action on the defense measure? another must pass measure. where do things stand on the $2 trillion measure, the build back better plan? guest: the defense bill is something that has to be passed on an annual basis to renew defense programs. that is something congress has managed to renew every year for the last several decades. lawmakers want to keep up that track record. senators try to reach a deal on some amendments to vote on

before the thanksgiving break but there were objections. they are trying to work out an agreement. the senate does plan to vote on a procedural vote to advance the bill forward. senators are hoping to pass the defense bill by the end of this week. with the build back better act, the house just passed it before thanksgiving break. now every senate democrat has to get on board to send this to president biden's desk. that means individuals have a ton of leeway over what is in the final bill. there are still lingering issues to iron out, including paid family leave. host: over the weekend, you wrote about looking ahead to

2022. the headline said, gop eyes democrat seats. is this a retaliatory measure by republicans? guest: it would be if they take over the house. the house voted to center and take away committee assignments from paul gosar, who posted an animated video that depicted him killing a congresswoman as well as swinging a sword at president biden. democrats have maintained in the case of paul gosar and earlier with a remove marjorie taylor greene from committees that they are establishing a precedent of not tolerating lawmakers who appear to promote political violence. they say that is a redline particularly after the violent attack on the capital on january 6. republicans are frustrated about being in the house minority, where they do not have a lot of ability to stop whatever the

majority wants to do. republicans who are frustrated about this are pushing kevin mccarthy to take retaliatory action in the event that they do take over the house in 2022. host: lots to read about and follow this week with cristina marcos. thanks for the update. our morning topic here, our first hours asking you about concerns you may have over the new variant of covid-19 reported out of south africa. (202) 748-8000 for those of you who have at least one vaccination shot and (202) 748-8001 for nonvaccinated. commons on social media, this one says there is no clear data on this variant other than it has shown mild symptoms in patients observed. we are told it may do undetermined things, so we need swift action. ?

steve says, having had covid-19, get vax and boosted. it is a tricky virus. why take the chance? 85% needs to be reached for herd immunity. this will never happen. get ready to live with this from now on. let's go to our call from maryland. go ahead. caller: good morning. let me tell you a little about my experience. my experience with history and philosophy and studying it for a long time -- let me tell you one thing that you may not know. the virus was created in

maryland but they said it came from monkeys in africa. host: laurie is next in modesto, california. caller: i got the pfizer vaccine. i am going to get my booster tuesday. i really -- this variant -- we know it is more contagious and it can spread more. it is going to continue to be that way. i'm asking everybody to stop being like teenagers. you cannot tell me what to do -- i'm grateful my parents told me what to do. i did not like it at the time. it was for my own good. it is for other people's good. i'm asking everyone to please do this together.

let's get control of this. let's care for each other. let's stop this fighting and craziness. i hope everybody stops and thinks and works together. then we can finally become the greatest country in the world ever -- become the greatest country in the world ever. everybody deserves to be treated -- there is no greater feeling than to do something for someone else. host: dr. anthony fauci yesterday on abc was asked about the new variant and whether it could be more virulent than previous strains. [video clip] >> let's go through what we know and do not know about the omicron variant. is it more transmissible than other variants? >> it appears to be. it has black clear -- molecular characteristics that would suggest it would be more trans

miscible. it has a disturbing number of mutations in the spike protein, which binds particularly to the receptors in your body, in your nose and your lungs. the mutations would suggest it would be more transmissible and might evade some protections of monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma and perhaps even antibodies induced by vaccines. if you look at the pattern of what is going on now in southern africa, when you have a spike of infections they are heavily weighted toward this new variant. you have to presume it has a good degree of transmissibility advantage, which is likely what is going on now in southern africa and will likely be going on in other countries as it spreads. >> do we know it causes more severe disease?

host: -- >> great question. we do not know that. we were on the phone with our south african colleagues who have been so transparent about what is going on there. i have a meeting with them to try to find out if the cases they have identified that clearly are caused by the variant -- what is the level of severity and that? hopefully it will be light. south africa has a relatively small portion of the population that is vaccinated, so you have to take that into the equation when you try to figure out where the virus is going and what the impact is going to be. we do not know yet what the level of severity will be. host: and more of your calls on your concerns on the new variant out of south africa. we will hear from president biden this morning.

lisa in texas, go ahead with your comment. caller: good morning. at first i was very skeptical about the vaccination because we did not know very much about it. i have a couple members, seven people in my family, that have passed from covid, not in the same state or town. i got covid last year between november and december. i was flat on my back. i decided to go ahead and take the vaccination. i do not regret it at all. i do not worry about going out and contracting it again or

anything. i am glad i was vaccinated. host: even with the vaccination, has it changed your lifestyle? caller: yes. i go in once a week and volunteer at a food bank. we wear masks because it is required, but i see people i know and give them a hug. i am back to giving hugs again. i am not afraid at all. i am confident. for almost a year, i was very skeptical about the shot. i got a magnet in front of my arm to see if it stuck. i listened to all of the silliness. i'm just telling everyone when you start watching all your loved ones. and when it hits you you will know how real it is -- loved ones buried and when it hits you

you will know how real it is. caller: good morning. i am probably not going to change my behavior. this is so predictable. we are going to see variants. it is like the flu. every year the flu is different. you get a flu shot, you are getting a flu shot from the flu virus from the year before. i have never gotten a flu shot. i never get the flu. that is anecdotal evidence. that does not prove anything. it is not scientific, but it works for me. i have bounced back and forth on whether to get the vaccine, especially considering i am immuno compromised. i have been fighting cancer. i got cancer almost at the same time covid landed. host: clearly covid is more of a threat to you than the flu would be. what other precautions do you take because you are a cancer

victim? caller: i honor any -- i have been in almost 100% lockdown for two years. cancer forced me into early retirement. i do not go many places. i go to my chemo sessions every two weeks. my doctor visits. diagnostic procedures to monitor cancer. and i go to the grocery store. i did go to a small thanksgiving gathering with friends on thanksgiving. even last year in the middle of covid, after i thought i had be the cancer, i took a small road trip and went and saw friends and family. i wear masks and distances that require it -- businesses that require it because i believe the business has a right to run their business. i see people going around in cars or walking outside in the

fresh air and sunshine wearing masks and i have to laugh. one thing i would like to make a comment on, it is what i consider unholy and wrong status that dr. fauci has been given by the media. the national institute of health proved him to be a lawyer with regards to gain of function and that the national institute of health had funded a project at the wuhan lab. he is in denial over the fact that the virus more than likely at this point, which is contradictory to the initial media reports that it came out of a wet market, it did not. it came out of a lab. he and the current administration are negligent in holding the chinese communist party's feet to the 40 on -- to

the fire and where this came from. how are we going to protect against the next one when we do not know where this one came from? i love watching the battles between senator rand paul and dr. fauci. every other network on tv, including yours, and -- hold him up to be some kind of -- when he comes out and says "i am science, that should cause people distress and concern. he is not science. science is always to be questioned. that is what makes science science. host: thanks for your call this morning. vero beach, florida, donna, go ahead. caller: i have had my third vaccine. i had moderna and moderna does not have a booster shot. i talked to my doctor. because i am very susceptible to

different things, it was suggested i take a third regular sized shot, which i did. i had no ill effects from 1, 2, or three. people are so disillusioned that it is going to make me sick or it is a myth. it is not a myth. it is real. host: getting that booster shot, did that make you feel more confident when you hear reports of additional variants which may come out? caller: i think so. i have not requested a test to see how good my immunity is, but that might be an unnecessary expense. i believe it pays to cover all bases.

i know this is real. i have had family and friends die from covid. i wish i could -- i do not know what it is going to take to get people to get their shots. host: yesterday on cnn's state of the union, arkansas's governor was asked about the state's response to covid and his thoughts on the new variant. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> more than half of your residence in arkansas remain unvaccinated. is your stay prepared to deal with this variant -- state prepared to deal with this variant? >> delta has been tough on us. we do not welcome a new variant. it is a concern. the message as governor is steady as you go. let's take this window to get better prepared by increasing our vaccination rates. we are making great progress in arkansas and continue to go up

in our vaccination rate. we continue to encourage that. we have a window here to seal it off. you compare where we are now to last year when we were spiking. we are less. our vaccination rates are up. i am optimistic about getting through this winter, but a new variant is a concern. let's get vaccinated. that is our best protection. host: -- >> you have been using your platform to beg people to get vaccinated but will not impose a vaccine mandate. arkansas might be doing better but still has the eighth lowest vaccination rate in the country. is it time to acknowledge that your approach is not working? >> not at all. we have seen through education, through information, vaccination rates go up. that is more productive than a

mandate that comes down that people instinctively resist. you have to know the culture. you have to know how people respond to it. in arkansas, information based education is working and will be effective. the mandates are not something people of arkansas are going to respond well to. host: headline from the u.k.'s daily mail. unusual symptoms of mutant covid strain. the south african doctor who first raised alarm about omicron warned patients do not lose their sense of smell. the south african doctor who raised the alarm has written that patients are presenting with unusual symptoms. the doctor who runs a private practice says she first noticed earlier this month that covid patients were presenting with a host of odd symptoms. the doctor, who has practiced for over 30 years and shares the

south african medical association, says none of the patients suffered from a loss of taste or smell typically associated with covid but presented with unusual markers like intense fatigue and a high pulse rate. comments on social media, on facebook. chris said, i am not vaccinated. i wash my hands and take standard precautions. what happens happens. it is time to get back to life. dorothy on facebook, concerned archer kony and government will lock us down not concerned about our by -- about the virus. steve on twitter says let's be careful of anecdotes about omicron for the time being. let's wait for data and statistics. let's hear from jim in tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning. it is jeff. host: i apologize.

caller: that is ok. i am vaccinated. i do not understand the divisiveness that we have with this administration. before they came in, joe biden and all of them, we would not get the shot. why is there any surprise where we are at? i do not think you can force someone to get the shot. i have had mine and i respect people that do not want to get it. you do not start out by saying that and dividing everyone and trying to fear everyone into getting it. it is not going to work. we are designed naturally. you are not going to force people to do it. from what i understand from reporting they are doing on the covid shot data, they are not even going to release that for 50 years. there you go.

they are not going to tell us the truth. that is where you start. you do not come into an administration and start dividing people. i am so sick of this. let's just come together and try to figure this out. i have neighbors and family that will knock at the shot because they have been told to get it. that is where we are at. i hope people come around and do get it, but we cannot force people to do this. we have to come together and hope everyone will get it. we are going to have another strain and another. it is going to keep going. you cannot fear us into doing this. maybe if they brought us together instead of trying to divide us we might get somewhere. host: william in arkansas, go ahead. you are on the air. caller: good morning.

this ain't william. host: go ahead. i apologize. caller: i am unvaccinated. i do not believe in the vaccination. if you want control put on this covid -- anthony fauci's feet need to be put to the fire for what he has done. he is the cause of this. he knows how it was produced. he can give you warning 10 or 15 days ahead of time that something is going to happen but cannot be honest about his part in doing it and this communist government we got eight holding him responsible for what he is doing. also, these jokers that killed these people and nursing homes are not being held accountable. they ought to be in prison for murder. i do not care if you got a thousand vaccines. host: let's go to mike in

massachusetts. caller: as far as omicron goes, i guess we have to wait and see once the data comes out. i am really -- i called in because i am listening to all these other people call in and it is sad how misinformed people are. the job of communicating this data is difficult to begin with, but we have had one political party flat out lie about the factual reality of this from the get go. that is the conservative party. it is sad to hear these conservatives call in and basically hold their hands up and be willing to sacrifice themselves for what i think are some of the most vile,

disgusting human beings on this planet who are pushing lies about public health. if you have any contact with hospitals, you know what is going on. i do not know how to get through to these people. this is -- i really don't know. i see these people dropping dead. i don't know what to do about it when you have one political party that is just lying. it is obvious. i do not know what to do about it, but i guess they are willing to sacrifice themselves when there is a safe and effective vaccine available. i thought we were a country that band together -- bands together to fight a common enemy, which is the virus.

you, my fellow citizens, do not have the right to shut down my access to health care, so you can sit home if you do not want to cooperate or act like an adult but the other big issue is information. i do not know how to get to these people because they are in their own bubble. social media has exaggerated that effect. host: a question for you about the new variant first reported in south africa causing travel shutdowns around the world. the president will speak to the nation this morning at 11:00 -- 11:45 about it. (202) 748-8000 is the line to call if you are vaccinated, have had a least one of the covid vaccine. (202) 748-8001 if you have not. some news from the florida delegation, a former member of

congress dies at 95. the grandchild of a slave and a sharecropper's daughter who became one of the first black floridians elected to congress since reconstruction died sunday. she died at her home in miami after a long illness. let's hear from huntington, west virginia. go ahead. >> thanks for taking my call. i am just a guy from massachusetts. everyone is free to die and -- afraid to die and afraid of everything. i am afraid of out you, that lying creep. i do not worry about the virus. it is in china. it is not going to get here. he is supposed to be a top scientist. he is an 80 it -- idiot. i have been vaccinated.

i have to take the mask off because from my nose in my mouth what is coming out makes it start to smell. host: let's hear from christian in phoenix, arizona. caller: i want to see a couple things and read a quote from a man who left a message in his obituary after he died from taking the vaccine. the first thing -- i hear a lot of people talking about how this party or this other half of the country just does not want to -- i will say it in so many words, go along with the program. while we all have different views or values and philosophies, remember in the reconstruction era our country was divided.

we had half the country who wanted to keep slavery going and wanted to keep oppression going during the 1860's and you had this crazy president and these crazy ohio republicans who had the crazy idea of ending slavery. it caused division in our country. i give real pasta people who say everybody should go along and get along -- pause to people who say everybody should go along and get along. our country was designed to have disagreements. joe biden stood in front of the podium in front of the nation and said -- and slammed his hand on the podium and said, i am frustrated with people who will not get vaccinated. this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. for people on the other side who

want everyone else to give up their liberty and their freedom and their individual personal rights, you are going to have some friction. you are going to have some strife. just deal with it. that is part of the united states. there was a man who left a message in his obituary. his nine -- name was mike. he left a message and his wife included it in his obituary. he said, many nurses and nonnursing staff begged me and my wife to get the truth out to the public about the covid-19 vaccine because the truth about the vaccine was being hidden in the medical profession. i promised i would get the message out so here is my message. i was afraid of getting the vaccine for fear i might die. at the insistence of my doctor,

i gave into pressure to get the vaccine. on august 17, i received the vaccine and started feeling ill. three days later, i never recovered but continue to get worse. i developed multisystem inflammation and multisystem failure that medical professionals could not stop. my muscles disappeared and began to disintegrate. i am in the icu for several weeks and stepped -- stabbed with needles. host: this was included in an obituary? thanks for your call this morning. this is from the washington post, reporting on the data on covid-19. as of 8:00 p.m. last night, the total number of cases since february of 2020 is 48 million -- 48,004,000 -- the number of vaccine doses administered in

the united states since early this year, almost 455 million doses. dr. francis collins heads the national institutes of health and yesterday was on state of the union. he talked about the research ahead on this new variant. [video clip] >> in a statement friday, moderna said the combination of mutations represents a potential risk to accelerate the waning of natural and vaccine-induced immunity. can you explain what that means? is it possible that the omicron variant is what scientists like you call an escape variant? >> it is possible. based on what we have learned so far, the vaccines, which are generated against the original virus, still work. the boosters work well. people who are listening who have not gotten boosted but did

get the original vaccine and who are eligible now, this is another reason to do that now because the booster enlarges the capacity of your immune system to recognize all kinds of different spike proteins it has never seen. this is a great day to get boosted or find out how to do so. we worry that, in the worst case, you might have a virus that is so different the vaccines do not enable you to have protection. that is the kind of thing we need to check out as quickly as possible. we get some sense of that from what is happening in south africa. 37% of south africans are not vaccinated. we should be able to find out in the next two or three weeks if the protection they are having is better than unvaccinated people. that data will start to emerge and we will be able to ask, if you took serum from someone vaccinated, does it neutralize virus in the lab? that will take two or three weeks, so stay tuned.

we will get better information. there is a great reason to go get boosted. host: this week says the majority of people dying are unvaccinated and the majority of infections are in the unvaccinated. why should they be? allowed to infect others? she tweets, i am glad dr. fauci has had enough and is speaking out. he pointed out those who question science are attacking facts and reality and this behavior is corrosive to every aspect of society. john in north carolina says early reports indicate omicron is a mild disease. in maine, we hear from jean. >> -- caller: hello. i wanted to talk about treatment versus vaccination. this virus, the basis of this

virus is the cold virus. coronavirus is the common cold. all the variants are the mutations that come into it, which has happened since the beginning of time. people have gotten cold and sometimes people have gotten really sick and died. the ideal way to treat it would be to have a vaccination, but we can see that has not happened. i believe the statistics are skewed about problems with the vaccination because i know of a nursing home where at least three out of 30 people died from the vaccine. i have inside information. so we are not hearing what really happens with the vaccine. in israel at one point there

were more vaccinated people in the hospital with covid than unvaccinated. i will not say what i think the vaccine is all about, but you have to ask yourself, why won't -- why can we not use ivermectin, which they know cures if it is used early? host: to mark in omaha, nebraska, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have had the vaccine and the boosters. i am against mandates. i feel it is a personal decision and that is a decision i made. blaming others for not taking the vaccine -- i am not for that. i want to say that in nine months trump's administration

did make the vaccines. biden has been in office almost 12 months. where is he at on improving them or the therapeutics? there is no breakthrough research. you do not even hear about it. also, a few things about the south african variant. i do not think it is causing death or hospitalizations. i read an article that a lot of things are mild but different symptoms. and then one last thing and i will wrap it up and listen to other comments. i remember when covid first came to america biden and the democrats were all blaming trump. why didn't he protect us? no one is blaming biden. he should have got blamed for the delta killing so many more

people this year than when trump was president, same with south africa. what is he? doing to protect you? i know he probably cannot, but you have to cover both sides. they were blaming trump after being in office and he cut down travel and stuff like that. right didn't biden protect us? -- why didn't biden protect us? host: we will hear more from president biden today. he is supposed to speak to the nation about this new variant of covid-19. how the business sector is responding. virus variant gets response from companies but it is important not to catastrophize and jump to the worst. you have to take it as a real threat said the chief executive of a houston trucking company and logistics company.

it is a risk and? how severe is the risk? we do not know. he said he would watch for guidance from u.s. health authorities and planned to discuss the variant with a team later this week. with information limited, executives said they want to be careful not to make rash decisions. a pandemic response team lengths to learn more about the variant and then discuss it said the chief people officer. let's hear from alexis in wilmington, north carolina. caller: happy thanksgiving. i am pushing 74, african-american, and when i saw on tv that they did not have enough people like me with underlying conditions in

research studies, i volunteered. i was told it was a two year study. i agreed. i got paid for visits and keeping up. i have not had the booster, and i am over 12 months out. my second shot was in -- september 22 of 2020. and -- host: why haven't you gotten the booster? caller: i wish i could tell you. i am hoping somebody here's associated with the pfizer study that will contact you to contact me because i am concerned. i just had a valve replaced in

july. they know this. and yet i have been put off and now my app does not work. i am supposed to check in every tuesday. it concerns me. host: there is no email or phone line? caller: i am going over there today. this has been in the last week that i have put on the pressure to say what is going on. they said they had to talk to the team leader but never got back to me. host: are you still in the program or has that program ended? host: -- caller: you tell me. the app does not work. we just had the holiday, so people are taking off. i went in there tuesday and this

is when a woman told me somebody has to talk to the team leader. host: i hope you can get some answers. one more quick final comment from text. eric in virginia, vaccinated says not really happy about how they were oversold. vaccines are unlikely -- are not effective against delta, unlikely against omicron. there is more ahead here on "washington journal." next we are joined by the washington examiner's david drucker. we will talk to him about his new book, "in trump's shadow: the battle for 2024 & the future of the gop." later, dr. amesh adalja will join us. he is from johns hopkins university and we will talk about this latest omicron variant and also what therapeutics hold for the future of the disease as well. ♪

>> this week on the c-span networks, congress returns today at 3:00 with the senate continuing work on the 2022 defense authorization bill. watch the senate live on c-span2. tuesday live on c-span3, the d.c. circuit court of up here is oral arguments in trump versus thompson, a case regarding the january 6 investing in of committee's request for the national archives to release information. we will have live hearings on cspan.org and the c-span now mobile app. a congress subcommittee will hear from safety advocates on holiday product safety concerns such as counterfeit toys and malfunctioning decorations. janet yellen and jerome powell testify before the senate and can committee on their use of covid-19 relief funds.

they return wednesday at 10:00 a.m. eastern before the house financial services committee. that will also stream live at cspan.org and on the c-span now mobile app. wednesday at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three, the u.s. supreme court hears oral arguments in a case on the constitutionality of the mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. watch this week on the c-span networks or our full coverage on c-span now, our mobile video app. also had to cspan.org -- also head to cspan.org for more scheduling information. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> sunday on in-depth, a historian and conservative commentator joins us live to talk about war, politics and citizenship in the united

states. his book titles include the father of us all, the case for trump and his latest, the dying citizen in which he says the idea of american citizenship in the ideals associated with it are disappearing. join in the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. and before the program, visit c-spanshop.org to get your copies of his books. >> download c-span's new mobile app for live coverage of the latest events. key congressional hearings, the white house events and supreme court oral arguments. we will hear your voices every day. c-span now has you covered. download the app for free today. >> "washington journal"

continues. host: david drucker is senior correspondent with the washington examiner and a long washington reporter, and the author of the brand-new book, "in trump's shadow: the battle for 2024 & the future of the gop ." david drucker, welcome back. guest: good to be here. host: what was your original inspiration for writing this book? guest: it started out as a collection of stories about republicans planning for 2024 long before president trump at even run for reelection. we knew he was going to run, he was preparing to run and normally when your party controls the white house, uri and the next presidential bid that is available to you and you at least wait for the incumbent to win or lose and the next day, win or lose, it is like a free-for-all and it is understood that the reelected president or the defeated president is no longer in the picture, and you plan from

there. what i saw in 2017 to 2019 but really crystallized for me was that i had written a number of stories and a number of colleagues of mine had written a number of stories about mike pence or nikki haley, tom cotton and others that were actively very aggressively preparing for 2024 and i thought it would make a very interesting longform story about this shadow campaign and all the rivalries that were developing. that is how it started. it evolved into a story about that, but a story about former -- the former president's impact on the publican party. what i believe donald trump represents for republicans is a generational break with the reagan era in gop politics. host: he would have cast a

shadow either way, had he won in 2020. there would have been a shadow cast on the party after that, but that changed with his loss in 2020. guest: he was going to cast a shadow even if he didn't lose. a lot of reporting happened after he lost to joe biden but as i began the reporting in the beginning of the pandemic, i was talking to republican strategists across the party and i was talking to republican politicians across the party and i mean establishment based, populist movements. everybody agreed that even if trump were to lose, although it would impact whether or not the party moved away from him, that given where republican primary voters were, which was very

supportive and they appreciated his approach to politicking, even though it rubbed so many swing voters the wrong way, that it was going to have an influence over how the next class of president shall candidates conducted themselves -- presidential candidates conducted themselves. trump losing a not going away, as past good losers had done an remaining this seminal figure in the party has obviously had an impact on things, but i don't think the party based on my reporting would have reversed back to the pre-trump reagan era consensus, even if trump had been completely -- even if republicans in the house had lost seats and even if republican voters concluded that it was a failed experiment. i think trump brought about changes that were going to stick around regardless. host: a potential problem or

challenge to a future gop candidate if it is not donald trump, and that he completely changed the calculus and fate -- and type of candidate. i'm thinking about your conversation with the former president. he spent time talking him about that very first speech, the s leader speech where he announced his presidency -- the escalator speech, where he announced his presidency. he basically throughout the script and it could be a metaphor for his all campaign -- for his whole campaign. guest: it really was. what i was trying to do with this book was get into donald trump's head to the extent that i could and map out why it is he conducted himself the way he did and trying to use that information to extrapolate in a way that we could understand what republicans that are going to come after him are going to do. one of the things that he told me in the conversation and a lot of us forget is he had put out a

prewritten speech that was embargoed. he ended up basically using none of it and he said a lot of things that were controversial, some were borderline racist to a degree, and yet the way republican primary voters responded, here is somebody who is finally saying what he said and isn't feeling pressured to dial it back and i think -- i asked trump if he knew all of that would work and what he told me was that he actually didn't know if it would. i thought he would say of course i did, i'm smarter than everybody but he said a lot of the things he said in that speech were things he believed for years and nobody had paid him much attention. he didn't have a large following for saying those things and it wasn't very republican, just

what he believed. lo and behold, it worked. what that means to republican voters is you can criticize the president all day long for what he -- it cost republicans control the house in 2018 and the white house in 2020 but republican voters saw him win in 2016 and saw republicans come close to winning back the house in 2020 and they think this kind of politicking can work, so it is hard to make the case that this was a failed experiment when there are so many pieces of evidence politically that it worked in so many ways, even though it had negative repercussions for republicans in other ways that is why i think it when he 24, whether trump runs or not, but especially if he does, you will see every candidate in some fashion or another try and tell trump --

tell republican primary voters they will be the next trump. host: you say a lot, in your book -- influence over his four years in office. you write in particular that even after trump engineered a hostile takeover of the gop, he was suspicious of the party that he led and did not have a very high opinion of it and that is why after leaving the white house in 2021, he sent cease-and-desist letters to the nrsc, now under the chairmanship of 2024 contender in florida senator rick scott, demanding excessive permission to use his image and likeness in political messaging. was that strictly a business move on his part? why doesn't he just claim ownership of the republican party? guest: he does when it is

convenient for him. everything for him as a business move. i don't think that is ever far from his mind. the national republican senate -- senatorial committee top staff reached out to the trump campaign top staff and they said let's have a get together and make sure we are all on the same page. they meet together in arlington at trump campaign headquarters and the one big requested trump campaign had was you can't use the boss's image or likeness without our permission and they thought the request was bizarre and did not know how to react to that. here you have the president of the united states, a public figure and the leader of the party. clearly they are not going to write some fundraiser script, but image and likeness? they ignored him then, and he said the nrs he is ignoring him now, but when i asked trump

about this conversation, he said i don't like all republicans. i don't think a lot of them are good at their job. what is important to understand, and it was so politically bizarre to some of us who covered him, that he could be elected president of the united states and then continue to beat up on the government he was leading and was a part of, as though he were some sort of barstool commentator. one of the things that this does for him is solidified his relationship with so many republican primary voters who share his contempt for the party they affiliate with. there are a lot of republican voters out there who think the republican party is completely mismanaged, completely filled with people who are not concerned about them. every time trump does this, as weird as it can be for some of us watching, and as hypocritical as it is because now you are in charge, so maybe if you have a

problem with the government, you should do some big about it. as weird as it is, republican voters look at him and say exactly, he gets what a messed up place this is. he gets what a messed up party we are all voting for, so he is going to do something about it. i think trump recognizes the positive feedback. so much of what he does is about getting a reaction. if the reaction is negative, he moves on. when it works, he keeps it up. host: david drucker's book is "in trump's shadow: the battle for 2024 & the future of the gop ." we welcome your calls, comments and questions. (202)-748-8000 is the line for democrats. for republicans, (202)-748-8001. for independents and all others, (202)-748-8002. you can also send a text at (202)-748-8003. david drucker, who are his closest political advisors and are any of them potential

presidential candidates in 2024? guest: i don't think anybody that is elected to office as republican is necessarily close, versus just within his circle of supporters. we know that he's a big fan of jim jordan and devin nunes. there are some senators he likes. at the end of the day, i think donald trump what donald trump wants to do, and i don't think he is keen on taking advice. most of the politicians that he has surrounded himself with don't necessarily give him constructive criticism, versus just giving him the kind of affirmation he seeks. he commented to me on this, that a lot of republicans make the program image -- make the pilgrimage to mar-a-lago,

repeatedly, month after month and week after week to pay homage to him and be close to him and the within his orbit. he told me that mar-a-lago was like the grand central station of republican politics. he said republicans come to see him more than when he was the president of the united states. i tend to agree with that in that i think, given his solid relationship with the base of the republican party, there are a lot of republicans who want it to be known that they are still affiliated with him and that they support him. it is one of the reasons why you don't see more republicans stand up to his claims, which don't have any evidence that the election was stolen. there is no reason to believe that the fraud would have changed the election but the reason republicans don't stand up to that is because they know the voters don't believe that and it is not so much that they

worry about getting crossed with trump, they worry about getting crossed with the voters. it is that connection that he has that keeps republicans flowing down to mar-a-lago or up to new jersey in the summer months. this is something you will continue to see as the months move forward, even though you would think that the continued focus on 2020 might be a problem for some republicans, because when you look backward, tends to be a political problem. as long as the polling looks good heading into the 2022 midterm elections, you won't see many publicans in washington overly concerned with that. it is only when it starts to cause a problem that they might change their tune. host: how has his relationship with -- how is his relationship with kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell? guest: we know he doesn't like mitch mcconnell, in that he wants mitch mcconnell to step down as the top republican in the u.s. senate.

donald trump complained unprompted about several republicans, and i write about this in "in trump's shadow." he complained about mitch mcconnell more than any other republican or democrat, for that matter. once for every 20 minutes, on average. mitch mcconnell could care less. he juts -- he just wants to win back the majority and does not give donald trump much thought. for donald trump, it is clearly an issue that mitch mcconnell refused to recognize his unfounded claims that the election was stolen, but he recognized joe biden and kamala harris, he helped defeat the president's bid to have the election overturned, very openly. i don't think you can ever solve those issues. with kevin mccarthy, they are clearly in a different place. a majority of house republicans voted to overturn the election

during the certification process and kevin mccarthy regularly consults with donald trump on political matters, both because he believes that the president has very astute feedback to give him. this is part of what they did together in 2020. he believes by keeping the former president in the fold, he can keep him as a constructive force in the party, rather than throwing stones from the outside. the interesting thing is that donald trump never likes or appreciates anybody. he likes republicans as long as they do what he says. i don't know if republicans understand that there is no assuaging donald trump. there is no making him feel ok. there is no, look, everything is fine. he's never going to like anybody. he has a lot of contempt for republicans who constantly bend the knee. he realizes they are bending the knee, and none of it ever works. what kevin mccarthy is trying to do is manage a very fractious caucus that includes a pragmatic

wing, a trump wing, a centrist wing. he is trying to keep everybody on the same page and keep donald trump from being openly hostile. sometimes i think it causes mccarthy problems with some republicans think he is being -- that he acquiesces too much, that he bends the knee far too much. but he is in a very difficult spot, and anybody can criticize any part of his strategy, but it is a different matter to be in his position. the one thing that might have helped him is that he had some things to say about the former president during the postelection process, throughout the riot at the u.s. capitol on january 6. i think he would have been better off sticking to his position and then simply saying, he is being -- i think the

backpedaling in trump's mind, something he can use to his advantage and has tried to use to his advantage. host: you touched on the end of the reagan era and you write in the book, for the first time in more than 40 years, there will not be a reagan or self-proclaimed reaganaire contending for the candidacy. every candidate with a chance to win, if trump does not run himself will be running as the next trump. some will be understated, others obvious, almost to a man or woman will make assurances that the former president is there northstar. how do you explain chris christie, who has seemingly tried to distance himself somewhat talking about the party looking not back but ahead? guest: what i would say about chris christie is in part, he follows the trump again -- the trumpian model of criticizing anybody and not being afraid of

anybody. he has been very specific that he believes that trump j claims of the election was stolen are false and the party should stop parroting those claims, that looking backward to the 2020 election is less politically advantageous than looking forward to 2022 and 2024. i think that when you look at christie's conduct and behavior and style it in fact follows the trump model of being very blunt. one of the things the republicans did wrong in 2016's they kept dancing around trump, going after others, hoping to clear the field, hoping to end up one on one with trump like that would solve the problem. they didn't want to offend trump's voters so they constantly treated him with kid gloves. trump did not do any of that. he punched up, punch down, criticized former and current

presidents, he belittled them, treated them like it was a no holds barred converse competition, criticizing them politically and otherwise. that is the lesson you need to take away from pretty 16 if you are running in the republican primary. if you want to be the big dog, you go after the big dog and don't hold anything back. christie seems to have learned that lesson. when i talk about this generational break with the reagan era republican politics, for most of my lifetime, every four years, republicans would climb all over themselves to tell republican voters they would be the next ronald reagan, that they were a more pure version of ronald reagan than their competitors in a primary. all of that is going to happen all over again in 2024, but it will be about trump. some of them will be subtle about it and promise the trump agenda without his behavior. some will be very overt about it and say i'm going to give you

the best of trump with the best of trump because there is no worst. it will all revolve around this conservative populist agenda that trump ran on and that he governed on, and i don't think there is going to be a reset, even with christie if he runs for president and he gets far in that primary. we will keep an eye on him, but he is not going to try and promise a return to reagan aaron policy -- reagan era policy agendas. -- policies on trade in particular, but i think you will see them all try and say that all of those policy things that trump did, i'm going to give you. i don't think christie will be different. host: david drucker is our guest with his new book, "in trump's shadow: the battle for 2024 & the future of the gop." for democrats, the line is (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001.

independents, (202)-748-8002. first call is rudy in bowling green, ohio, democrats line. caller: good morning. i just want to say that i appreciate the comments you are making and your reporting. it seems very thorough. i suggest -- i was wondering the first section of washington journal this morning had a lot of callers calling in with false claims about the vaccine, and i'm curious to know, some people say trump created the vaccine. why isn't there a dichotomy of thought behind the vaccine if it was trump's vaccine? why didn't people take it? where is that propaganda coming from? guest: it is a good question, and thanks for your comments.

i think a lot of what goes on in the united states has become politicized because our politics have become so triable. if you recall, before trump lost to joe biden, in that campaign there was a lot of suspicion and caution about operation warp speed and the forthcoming vaccine, that was coming from democrats and the left. once the vaccines were available, the fda gave them the emergency approval and all of this happened more or less after trump lost. all of we saw more suspicion coming from the right, less suspicion from the left. it reversed itself. if i could pinpoint human psychology on every issue, i could probably write a lot more books a lot quicker. i think part of human nature these days is to be suspicious of the government, depending on who is in charge of the government and with the pandemic, it has been very

unsettling for a lot of people and they've had to deal with a lot of financial, physical and psychological trauma related to the pandemic, and i think part of this is going to be people getting used to the fact that the coronavirus is never going away and that vaccines are a way for us to get through this and live a very normal life. i think from time to time, we are going to see different groups from different sides of the aisle sort of flipping and interchanging their opinions on policy. i think that will have a lot to do with who is in charge. ironically it was donald trump who was pushing republicans at the end of his term to spend even more government money in direct checks to americans as a part of the coronavirus relief package. republicans in congress were resisting him. republican voters were with trump another joe biden is trying to spend all kinds of money even beyond coronavirus relief, you once again have

republican voters suspicious of democrat -- of government spending and democrats in favor of government spending. this goes back and forth. i understand why people sometimes can't figure out what is going on. host: let's hear from kathleen on the republican line in michigan. caller: yes, this is kathleen jackson. the author mentioned trying to get into president trump's head. [inaudible] you can't afford to be predictable. when it came to trump and his initial campaign, he did not come out with all of that rhetoric.

the democrats have been trying to eradicate the republican party and blame us for exactly what trump was projecting himself as. the republican party not have any numbers until he started conducting this new campaign with this rhetoric about bias and all the other stuff he was coming out with. i just found it interesting how that came to be, and when it was pinpointed, a lot of it was the racism. i have no words for that. it was revolting. host: we appreciate your call. on rhetoric, draped -- david drucker, he seemed to run on rhetoric to a point where the republican party in 2016 was a very minimalist document. guest: i would not make much of

the minimal platform. the republican national committee with all due respect to the hard work they do every year, that platform is not really a template anyone follows. the party leader is the presidential nominee every four years and everything filters down from there. sometimes if you have a majority in congress without the white house, you will drive the agenda that way. what the caller pointed out, i think was part and parcel of why donald trump continues to enjoy such a strong relationship with so many republican voters. they believe the party was weak and ineffective until he became its central figure. that the way he conducts himself, the way he talks, the fact that he won't back down even when it would make perfect political sense to back down is why the party in their eyes had a resurgence. it is the only reason in their eyes that he defeated hillary clinton in 2016. this is why for him, the

political incentives never amounted to a reason why he should change his tune. we know that the former president created a -- that caused him problems in 2020 but for a lot of republican voters, they believed that this was the first time the party had shown some real strength. when i asked trump about his lasting impact on the party, he could have mentioned any number of policy issues that were legitimate republican or conservative accomplishments. what he told me is, i taught the party how to fight. host: let's hear from new jersey, ron on the independent line. caller: good morning. it seems to me that the american economic system is failing. we are paying more than any other nation for education and

we ranked 23rd, 35th in math. in medicine, we are paying more than any other country and we rank 38th. in the military, the official figure is $700 billion, but it is more like $1 trillion every year, and the russians are only paying about $60 billion and they have equally, the same number of nuclear bombs and probably just as many capable people to fight a war. our economy is built basically on consumerism, where other western economies are built on manufacturing. i don't know if you have any comments or suggestions or any ideas on these issues.

host: any response, david drucker? any relation to your book? guest: i think part of what drives the debate in the united states is this perennial concern over our place in the world and whether we are being surpassed or we are keeping ahead of our adversaries and competitors. the concerns of gentleman is expressing -- are expressing a part of what i hear in every campaign. of course donald trump like any other politician that runs for president or seek higher office was promising and is still promising a return to glory and promises to fix all the problems that we have, and it is just one of those things that is going to be a part of every campaign. one thing that is interesting to know is as a measure of our gross domestic product, it is a large dollar on the u.s. military, but relative to our

gdp it has shrunk over the years. one of the debates we have in this country constantly is how much we want to spend on what. there are competing needs, whether it is health care or education, social spending programs, social safety nets, new aspects of the social safety net being debated. i think americans have to decide what it is they believe is a priority, because there is never enough money to -- never enough money for everything. no other country around the world is the units -- is like the unit -- is like the united states in terms of the power it has and the responsibility it has taken on, geopolitically and the economy we have and its importance to the rest of the world. i think these are things we will continue to debate. host: let's go to michigan. timothy on the republican line. caller: good morning. i was just wondering when people are really going to understand why there was fraud in the

election, because i voted democrat for 10 years. then i went and voted republican for the last election, and they told me i had already voted democrat. they did the same thing to my mom. guest: there is fraud in every election. there has always been fraud in every election. the question is whether or not there was enough, such that if you were able to dig it up in document it, it would have changed the outcome of the election. when i interviewed trump for "in trump's shadow," i asked him, that he actually think that the results of the election could be undone? his answer was early interesting. what i would say to you is i don't think the argument, at least not enough -- not among people who cover and understand elections is that there was zero fraud, but whether or not you would have changed the election. in order to find enough fraud to

change the outcome of an election, you would have to find it across multiple states in huge numbers. the president went to court about 60 times. he went to state court and all sorts of federal courts. he petitioned the u.s. supreme court or at least allies of his did, and none of this was found to be sufficient or legally viable. the only way we can have a system in the united states that works is if at the end of the day, the loser accepts the outcome. the winter honors the outcome. we all say to ourselves, there is another election in two years and two years after that and two years after that and there are some off years where we can register our discontent as we saw this year in virginia and pennsylvania and other important local elections. host: from your conversation with the former president, does he still feel the election was stolen from him? guest: yes. donald trump told me the election was stolen and he

thought the outcome could be undone and something made right, somehow. he looked at me pointblank and said yes. when i asked him about those two special senate elections in georgia on january 5. i said mr. president, if you had gone to georgia and told georgia republicans that were upset about the outcome of the election, we think things should have turned out to fully but the system works, it is basically trustworthy and so it is really important that all of you go out and vote january 5 so we can retain control of the senate, don't you think that might have made a difference? he said yeah, i probably would have, but i was angry. i didn't like the way things went and republican voters were angry. i didn't say it as strongly as you suggest. my point in that is that he was very aware of the impact he was having on political discourse and on republican voting habits

at the time and is still aware of that, but i don't think this is something he will ever ever let go of. host: as we have about 25 minutes remaining, i want to make sure we touch on the other candidates that make potential 24 -- 124 candidates. you write in your book that there is more depth and while ines to the former vice president -- wilyness to the former vice president. the civil question is whether republican primary voters will forgive this staunch conservative for placing loyalty to the constitution above all else when he bought the 44th president and supported certification of the election it made him a former veep. trump certainly hasn't. guest: correct. the thing to understand about pence is that most of the time, you would see publicly with mike

pence, somebody who would ignore, apologize for, or try and recast everything trump did, that is something pence would never have done or stood for in his personal or political life, but it was all ok, and mike pence went out of his way to be trump's defender and explainer and translator. donald trump would say that is not what i was doing it all but we would see mike pence translate for him and he would lay on the praise so thick that it made you cringe but what mike pence was doing behind the scenes was using all of that to accrue a lot of power in the west wing. he probably had more independence and influence in the west wing than possibly any recent vice president including dick cheney, in that because of his relationship that he had

developed with donald trump and the trust that trump had in him at the time, mike pence had his own political team, he was fielding calls from ceos and politicians that normally would go to the oval office. everybody knew that pence new the way government worked and he could get them an answer on some things. host: so for turning 24, for mike pence to be the candidate, does that mean that donald trump has to basically pardon him, forgive him, for mike pence to be the candidate? guest: a lot depends on whether or not trump runs. idle think donald trump is ever going to let this go with mike pence. the question is whether mike pence decides to lean into his story. what mike pence did, basically telling the president i'm not going to overturn the election, trying to grab power that does not exist for selfish political purposes. it's a way for him to tell republicans that you might not

appreciate that i broke with the president, at least i had the stones to stand up to the president when i felt it mattered most and do what i thought was right. theoretically, republican voters like that sort of thing, somebody that tells the establishment and the leadership, i'm not going to do what you want just because you are asking me to do it. i don't know if republican voters will ever respond to that favorably, but is a path he could take to show that while he was lawyers -- loyal to the trump agenda and remains so, as obvious in his post vice president remarks, that when push comes to shove, he couldn't be pushed around and in president of politics, use what you have and you hope it works. it may not work, the timing might be off, the rest of what mike pence has to offer may not work for people looking voters, but he does have a good story to tell. host: we hear from bill frommer's ore.

goa -- from missouri. go ahead. caller: there was talk a little earlier about people not wanting to take the vaccine. both my wife and i are vaccinated and i strongly suggest, urge people to get the vaccine. i want to point out that everybody looks at this and that. actually, there are reasons why certain groups are resisting the vaccine. blacks for instance because of things that you know happened in the past that the united states government has done and are guilty of doing. there are reasons why young women don't want to take the vaccine, that are in a certain age group, wanting to have a family. there are reasons why people in the medical industry don't want to take it, nurses, doctors,

paramedics. they don't want to take it because of certain things i have discovered. host: david drucker. on the political front, in terms of the response to covid, certainly governor rick scott in florida, a potential 2024 candidate has touted their success. his view of their success in florida infighting covid. is that a strong point for him and a potential -- in a potential 2024 run? guest: senator rick scott has pointed to florida and a lot of republicans point to florida saying what governor ron desantis has been able to do and local governments have been able to do was better balanced for financial and health concerns posed by the pandemic. a lot of people forget this, and i reference it briefly in "in trump's shadow," the fact that in many states that were run --

majority democrats states, they prioritized health concerns and a lot of their voters are extreme he happy with that, but there are other states like tennessee under governor bill lee, florida under governor ron desantis, that felt as though that state and local governments had to do a better job balancing the economic fallout from the pandemic that all of us saw, in addition to the fallout from a health perspective, and i think it is just a different point of view. there are policymakers that believe in edging the health risks -- managing the health risks came above everything else and there were other policymakers who believe you have to balance health and economic concerns. voters will make up their mind as to what they believe the most. i think what you have seen this year under president joe biden is that even for somebody who ran on shutting down the virus and has had trouble doing so,

because any president would have trouble doing so, he is taking an approach that is trying to better balance economic and health concerns because it was hard for the country to do what it did in those first year or two, much longer than it did without creating severe economic strain on the american people beyond what it already experienced. host: let's hear from jerry in kentucky, on the independent line. go ahead. caller: good morning everyone. 2016 election, roughly 56 percent of the republican voters were over 50 years old. in a country where life expert and see is only 77, you can imagine how many of those that passed away by 2020. on the other hand, over 50% of the democrat voters were under

50 years old. is this a trend you see carrying on? how is this going to work out? these are the numbers i could find. they could be wrong. thank you for your time. guest: generally in my lifetime, the democrat party has done better with younger voters. when they can maximize turnout among younger voters, they tend to do better than when they don't. i think the observation is astute. i don't think it is anything different than what we have seen over the past 20 or 30 years. host: let's go to pennsylvania, republican line. this is pat. caller: good morning. in your conversation with president trump, do you see him as a politician or a businessman when he was running this country ? the reason i ask that question is because there was a movie called caddy shack with roddy dangerfield.

he was treated not as a politician. guest: that is a good question. i think he's always been a little bit of both. he directed a lot of political business to his properties, and he was very unapologetic in doing so. he is still able to direct a lot of republican business to his properties. here in washington, d.c., now that he is out of the white house, his hotel is being sold and it will become a waldorf-astoria. i think he has always been a mixture. i don't think he ever transitioned to being just a politician and no longer a businessman. i would say he is clearly a politician in that he pushes political buttons, at least inside the republican party, and he does that to the effect, to accrue and maintain political

power. host: terry is next up in iowa. hello, independent line. caller: hello. i just got a question and a comment. you keep talking about the election being stolen. i don't think the election was stolen, but i think it was unconstitutional. when you look at the states that changed the way you can vote in everything, they did a the guise of covid -- they did it under the guise of covid and it is unconstitutional the way they did it. you had judges and other people changing the laws, and that is unconstitutional. the other thing i would like to ask you personally is where is your apology for your four years of slamming donald trump and believing the big lie, the russian collusion lie? you go around talking about people believing the election lie. how about all you people that believed in trump's live, the

dossier and all of that? host: a response? guest: he raises an interesting point about legislatures and how various states made changes to their election law and election regulations in ways that weren't always perfectly pure, according to the state constitutions but we are in a situation where these matters were taken to court and we've always seen courts make exceptions and change rules on the fly. i've talked to a lot of republicans in the states who believe that even though there were changes made, that the election was still held in a way that was secure and safe and produced an accurate outcome, and in fact fought with the trump campaign and other parts of their party to embrace malin and absentee voting -- mail-in and absentee voting that came about mostly because of the

coronavirus. the concerns of the gentleman raises is not without merit -- the concern the gentleman raises is not without merit and to the extent that this happens in the future, i would point out that the way our system works is that states get to run their own elections and in some cases, counties get to run their own elections and to the extent that they change these rules, it is a matter for states to work out. a lot of republican governors and republic and state officials did not come to the same conclusion that former president donald trump did. as far as the russia investigation, and issues with the dossier, i completely understand his concern. i think as reporters, this is something we have to learn from and understand that sometimes we need to be more skeptical, even when a story seems to present itself, that seems as though it might be an open and shut case. this thing worked its way

through the system. there was a special counsel that the president appointed, that the current president has not disbanded. the reason these matters are coming to light is because our system and the government is working. host: you talked about these conversations, the shadow conversations happening about potential 2024 republican candidates. during the trump administration, writing about tom cotton, you say, tom cotton had laid the cornerstone of his 2024 campaign back in 2016 when conventional wisdom suggested trump was a goner. in ways that matter to the gop electorate, the u.s. senator from arkansas was trump before trump. he is an immigration hawk, opposed to unfettered free trade. what he lacks in panache he makes up for indiscipline and strategic planning, but those were not big strong suits for donald trump and did not seem to matter and getting him elected. -- seem to matter in getting him elected. guest: that is a good passage you pulled.

presidential candidates can only use what they have. all of them have challenges. all of them have a potential fatal flaw. it's all about timing and who your competition is. i think that donald trump in 2016 against a competent and charismatic democratic nominee, somebody who would not destroy their resume with a problem the way hillary clinton's confidence and strength was shattered by having that secret server in her basement when she was secretary of state, donald trump would have ended up losing that election. for all of his strengths, and he has many political strengths in -- he did not minister win the national popular vote either time and even though that is not the way our system works, i have talked to many republicans that are concerned that republicans are having trouble winning a

majority of the vote in national elections, because it is a signal about how broad and lasting your political strength can be. right now, the way the two parties are fractured, democrats seem to have more available votes nationally, even though from an electoral college standpoint, they are often challenged. but of course just 10 years ago, we would have talked about this differently, where it seemed like democrats had a better shot at an electoral college victory, and that was before this realignment. somebody like tom cotton has a number of strengths and challenges. i tried to lay them all out. how this plays out in 2024 remains to be seen. host: mimi is on the democrats line in arizona. caller: yes, there is something that has really bothered me for quite some time, about trump and the republicans that are in

congress right now. i believe there is a handful of republicans that have not very high iqs, that really believe the election was stolen from trump, but i believe that the majority of them in congress and the senate are afraid, physically, of saying anything negative about trump, even if inside they don't believe in the trump platform right now. host: do you think they are afraid of political repercussions? afraid for their safety? caller: it is not set enough, but afraid for themselves, physically and for their family. guest: i don't think a majority of them are afraid physically, although i have talked to republicans over the past year

that have had some reason for concern. a majority of them are concerned that their voters are with trump -- a majority of republicans don't believe the election was stolen, although they don't have issues with the broader agenda that trump governed on. when it comes to the election being stolen, the majority of them believe it is hogwash. why won't they say so? they try to at least back up trump's claims in some fashion, because they think their voters are with trump and they want to keep their job. they don't want to cross their voters. the only point i like to make with this is this is not about trump's personal aura and personal power over them but it is about his relationship with their voters. they don't want to cross their voters. host: next up is william, republican line in pennsylvania. caller: i have two quick things.

one, no republican is going to get the ballot like liz cheney, chris christie or mike pence, without trump's support. second of all, pennsylvania was stolen. the election was stolen. there were ballots that came from new york city into pennsylvania. what happened to that? why aren't people arrested for that, or why wasn't the mailman in trouble for that? host: david drucker, what is the future for people like liz cheney? we know adam kinzinger, another republican who opposed the insurrection in the capital. what is the future of that wing of the republican party, at least on capitol hill? guest: they may not have much of a future. there is not a wing of trump opponents on capitol hill. there are less than a handful of republicans who are willing to openly defy and criticize the former president for his

postelection behavior, and his culpability in the january 6 riots. what you are going to see in 2024, and you are already seeing this in 2022, is a party that has -- that is broadly behind the trump legislative agenda, and i think what some people forget is liz cheney voted with trump when it came to legislation, more so than her successor. liz cheney had a 80's -- 80% something voting record with the trump agenda but this has never been about the legislative agenda. it's all -- it's always been about fealty or loyalty to trump the person. since last november, about this election. you will not see republicans trying to stick in needle in the eye of their own voters by going against the former president in a way that is overt like this.

what you will see and what we may see are republicans who try and welcome the trump wing of the republican base because when you have the trump wing of the party, and you have that suburban swing voter wing of the party that is available to you, you can put together a majority coalition, the same way glenn youngkin did in virginia. politics is about addition, not subtraction. you don't wage war against a wing of the party but you try and focus on issues that are unifying. that doesn't mean you have to agree with them. you can say look, the election wasn't stolen but look at what he did for the party. this is the sort of message you can try and use to bring every buddy together. i think you will see different republicans try that in 2024. you are seeing them try it in 2021 and 2022. i think that is the way you get to a majority coalition, if you are a republican candidate. host: the book is "in trump's shadow: the battle for 2024 & the future of the gop."

david drucker, the author and also senior correspondent at the washington examiner. pleasure to happy with us, and good luck with the new book. guest: thank you so much. host: more ahead in the program. up next, we will be joined by dr. amesh adalja of johns hopkins university. the center for health security, talking about the latest news on the covid vaccines and the variant that has broken out in south africa, and more. all of that ahead here on the program. ♪ >> this week on the c-span

the supreme court here is a case to release trumps call records. we will have live coverage of two hearings. eighth senate commerce subcommittee hears from consumer safety advocates on holiday product safety concerns. also, janet yellen and jerome powell testify before the senate on their agency's use of covid relief funds. they return wednesday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. that will stream live at c-span.org and on the app. also, on c-span three, the u.s. supreme court hears arguments in dobbs v jackson women's health

organization, a case on a mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy you can watch artful coverage on c-span now. headed to c-span.org for scheduling information. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> abraham lincoln and his wife were the parents of auto boys. only one lived the on his 18th birthday. jason emerson spent nearly a decade visiting numerous archives, museums, historic places. he was studying the 82+ years in the life of robert britton -- robert lincoln.

jason emerson is an independent historian who has been writing about the lincoln family for over 20 years. because plus is available on the c-span now apple or wherever you get your podcast. -- podcasts. host: dr. amesh adalja joins us next. he is a senior scholar at johns hopkins school of public health. he is draining us to talk about the latest news on the omicron variant. welcome to washington journal. guest: thanks for having me. host: what has been your reaction on the initial reporting of this variant? guest: my initial thought is that we have a lot of questions that need to be answered before

we are able to accurately understand the threat that omicron poses. it underscores the need to be adept at sequencing variants and seeing how well our vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and how much more contagious this might be. there is a lot of noise in the early data that is going to take time to sift through, but it is important that we answer these questions host: -- questions. host: is it possible that boosters would be modified to deal with this variant? guest: one of the elegant features of mrna vaccines is that they can be modified on the flight these late. all you have to do is change the sequence in the spike protein.

if there comes a time when you need to update the vaccine for a variant, this can be done easily, but we are not quite that threshold. while the omicron variant may contain some mutations that make it easier to get around some immunity, it is very unlikely that a variant can erase everything that a vaccine does for you, meaning maybe you will get breakthrough infections at a higher frequency, but it is unlikely that in a vaccinated, healthy person that you would see serious disease. but we have to run this down and do those experiments and marry that with conical and epidemiological data in countries where this variant is present, understand who is getting hospitalized. early data show that it tends to

beat unvaccinated individuals getting hospitalized, which is a win for the vaccine. host: this is news from gallup. yes adults, covid 19 vaccinations are steady. 74% of u.s. adults are vaccinated. that is more than the early current immunity thresholds. if that is the case, what would herd immunity do? guest: herd immunity was the holy grail, but it is not something we should be trying to pursue, especially with a virus that is able to you take. maybe if we were still dealing with the wuhan strain, wheat would be above that threshold. we saw dramatic drops with the also variant 40% fully vaccinated, but the delta variant raises the threshold for

what level of the population needs to be immune. the proper goat with covid is to make sure that high-risk people are fully vaccinated, boosted, have access to treatment. we cannot eradicate this virus. our goal is to make it more like other respiratory viruses. that means that we may not ever reach herd immunity, but we will have it become a more manageable infection -- one that does not threaten the hospital cassidy, one for which he have a toolbox of medication. host: have there been recent breakthroughs in treatments? guest: breakthroughs have been the antivirals from merck and pfizer. these are drugs you can take orally that prevent you from

getting serious illness and hospitalization. we will likely see them by the end of the year. in the u.k., the merck drug is already approved. these are pills that you can take like tamiflu for influenza. they can prevent you from being hospitalized or dying. if you can simplify treatment and have it at home, this is such an easy virus to treat compared to now, where we only have monoclonal antibodies which require infusions or injections, people having to wait after being given medication to be observed. this may have a major benefit. hopefully, this comes to fruition, because there is a window of time where this dish

these drugs are most effective. you want to make sure people get them early on. the fact that these are about to be available is going to change the way we deal with covid. host: dr. amesh adalja is a senior scholar at the bloomberg school of public health, center for health security. (202) 748-8000, the line for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific. you can also send us a text at (202) 748-8003. dr. amesh adalja, you are also an emergency medical physician at butler, pennsylvania memorial hospital. what has that experience been like? guest: i am primarily an infectious disease doctor, but i

did trained in emergency medicine. i try to keep up my skills and do two shifts per month. it is a very different experience when you are in a place that is a little bit rural , because hospitals that tend to not be in big cities get less capacity, have low vaccination rates in the population. i can be at hospital in pittsburgh and go a weekend without dealing with much covid, but at butler, i am inundated with kevin. there may be a 220 bed hospital. they can have 45 patients with covid -- not sustainable. there is maybe 30% of the staff that are not vaccinated. that is an eye-opening experience.

to me, vaccines are incontrovertibly what gets us through this pandemic. 85% or 90% of the people hospitalized there are not vaccinated. it should send a message that this is an important tool, it does not. we have got big city hospitals that have manageable covid loads, but you go into rural communities that are just 25 miles outside of the cities and it is a totally different world. that makes it difficult to put this pandemic behind us, because we still have hospitals getting threatened. it can be difficult when you have a population of high-risk individuals who continue to present at the emergency room with covid. it is vaccine-preventable. host: according to the centers of disease control and

prevention, only 35.3% of pregnant women were vaccinated as of november 6. as of november 8, 227 have died nationwide. the deadliest month for pregnant women during the pandemic was this past august during the delta variant search. -- surge. these numbers do not sway our patients. guest: we know that pregnant women are at higher risk for severe covid, more likely to have preterm labor, a c-section, a still earth. they have the lowest vaccination rates. getting vaccinated while pregnant protects your newborn, because those antibodies will protect the newborn. this is a public health

communication failure. the anti-vaccine movement got a front hold in people's minds by spreading lies which have been something that pregnant women have inadvertently taken in. it is hard to sway them off of it. this is something where we have to be proactive with calling misinformation out for what it is. it is dangerous. it kills people. we saw this with h1n1. pregnant women were overrepresented amongst the had the lowest vaccination rates. we have problems when it comes to educating pregnant women and ob/gyn's about the importance of vaccination. pregnant women should be getting boosted as well. host: you call it a failure in communication. have we seen areas where that has been effective? in populations or geographical

areas where the messaging have -- has worked? guest: nothing that i can bring up off the top of my head, but if you look at where vaccination rates are higher, sometimes you are preaching to the choir. many places have already accepted vaccines as an part of modern life. they do not need much detailing on the vaccine. whereas there are places where they are skeptical of vaccines. that makes it very difficult. what i think it is sometimes these top-down messages where it is one-size-fits-all do not work everywhere. what works the best is when individual peoples can talk to their doctors and get questions answered at the point of and make decisions then, rather than hearing it on television. that seems to work better when

you are trying to push people towards the right decision when it comes to vaccination. we have done less of that that we needed to. the rollout of the covid vaccine was not in primary care offices. it was in stadiums where people do not have time to ask questions. we should have enlisted more family edison doctors. with children, we are enlisting pediatricians, because we know that works. host: theodore, fort washington, new york. caller: i have a question. why did you not call this new variant with the letter from the greek alphabet that was next? caller: i was not --guest: my understanding is they had some issues with pronunciation with nu. that was confusing.

there is lots of rumors of why they skipped. i thought maybe they did want to use the word "nu" because they were confusing "nu" with "new." i do not know why they skipped the next letter. maybe it is a common name. it is not really matter what it is called. the mutation is more important. host: let us go to jane in illinois. caller: my question is early on, everywhere i went, it seemed like they were taking my temperature. mike -- if my guests take the temperature before they leave home, will it be safe? are you contagious when you have

a fever? guest: if you have a fever, you likely are contagious, but it is important to remember that only about 50% of people have fevers with covid. some may have taken tylenol or something that may have reduced their fever. it is not going to be ironclad. not a great way to screen people. someone could have a runny nose and cough and no fever and still be contagious. i do not think that fever screening is an effective tool, you should advise people that if they have a fever do not,. -- do not come. but it is also nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. why not use a rapid home test? that is a more robust way of doing it than fever or symptom

screening. host: politico is reporting on what may be ahead in terms of covid treatment the headline is stubborn covid surges signal a bleak winter. in addition to complications of the flu routing medical facilities, what other problems could the oncoming winter present in addition to a rise in covid cases? guest: we know that viruses tend to spread more when people start moving indoors. this is coupled with the fact that people are tired of this virus. what we know is that people have started to learn to risk calculate. they may not take the same precautions. influenza is up taking right now. influenza is probably not going to be as bad as it was two

seasons ago, but it will be worse than last season. hospitals the early days of covid were just doing covid, because other services were curtailed. that was a mistake. hospitals are now trying to do covid plus -- covid plus strokes , colon cancer screenings. hospitals have to manage capacity. they will have flu, covid, regular things. that becomes difficult. that is why vaccination is so important. it will protect your community hospital. if you get in a car accident, you might have hours of a weight because there are so many covid patients and no beds. this is important to emphasize, that to keep hospitals clear in the winter, it requires people

to get vaccinated. host: bill, pennsylvania. caller: we talked to somebody about the vaccine. i am vaccinated and booster. people tell me they have had it and it was not that bad. but the next variant may be worse. guest: this is true. people who have had prior infection had protection, but reinfection's were common. what is interesting about omicron is that it has many mutations. this is a reason to get vaccinated if you have had infection. it will make your immunity more robust. maybe only one dose is necessary for people who have recovered. if you can get the johnson and

johnson, your immunity will be topped off. this is a another reason why people who have had prior infection would benefit. host: michael, connecticut. caller: hello. i had taken the johns hopkins covid risk calculator back in february of 2021. i am 79. they said i was at 99.6% risk of not dieting. so i never got vaccinated. is that calculator in line with your thinking but i am low risk? guest: the fact that you have no comorbidities does put you at lower risk, but your age puts you at higher risk. most people who get covid

survive, but the vaccine is not just about preventing serious illness. if you could avoid covid with a safe and effective vaccine, why not? even if you had a mild case, it is still going to disrupt your life. you are going to have to get tested, tell your contacts. you will have to self-isolate. all of that is something you could avoid. and just because you may not get serious on this, you could spread it to somebody else who maybe not vaccinated or is immunocompromised. the vaccine has multiple benefits, but all of them improve your life. even if you are not at serious risk. host: the omicron variant has produced travel bans. sue in new jersey asks, are there circumstances which would

and should justify temporary travel bans? at what point do we consider instituting such bands? would it be the humanitarian thing to do? c-span.org i -- guest: i have never been a fan of travel bans. when you are talking about a respiratory virus, it is likely everywhere by the time you notice it. what ends up happening is you stigmatize countries. our goal with covid is to have transparency for variants to be rapidly reported and characterized. that is what south africa and botswana did. what are they getting? punishment. our travel ban does not take effect until monday. what about the three days before? what about other countries that

have omicron cases now? to me, it does not make sense. this is something politicians are pushed to do, but risks are greater then any minimal benefit you will get. this far in the pandemic went we have the ability to test, we know so much about transmissibility. going back to tools not recommended by the public health organizations makes no sense to me. host: benjamin, huntsville, alabama. caller: has this virus ever been scientifically isolated? if so, can you point me to the study or paper that describes the process of scientifically isolating a microbe or virus? guest: of course this verse has

been isolated. this is a talking point of conspiracy theorists. they have isolated this virus multiple times and grown it in cell culture. this is not in question. this is a talking point that arose from people who leave conspiracy theories that this virus has never been isolated. it has been done multiple types. -- multiple times. it is just a conspiracy theory that is arbitrary and should be dismissed. host: from the washington post, south african lab rushes to replicate moderna shot. it reported that just 6% of africa's 1.2 million people have been immunized against covid. does that surprise you, given

that africa has had success with vaccinations, smallpox is wiped out? guest: smallpox eradication was a worldwide issue. that was a concerted effort to get vaccine into people to eradicate a virus. but we know that africa legs in -- lags in other immunizations. it is in the place where vaccinations are plentiful. we still have major challenges with childhood vaccination. it is not surprising to me that this has happened. it is something we have been trying to correct with organizations like beeville and melinda gates foundation. the omicron variant is a great example of what happens when you

do not think about a pandemic in a global sense. it is not surprising to me that this varied first occurred in a country where only 25% of the population is fully vaccinated. when we think about infectious diseases, we have to think about a planetary solution, even though there are major incentives to think domestically if you are a politician. talk about boosters in the u.s., that it is first and second doses that will put the pandemic hanged us. host: william, illinois. caller: i have questions. one, i sent a picture of a scientist in poland that has the remedy of the coronavirus shot.

nor the symptoms, but the doctor has. the fda never checked the coke products -- the epidemic of the -- of the coca-cola plant. they have not revealed anything. host: dr. amesh adalja, do you have familiarity with what he is speaking about? guest: i am not following the question. host: melissa, iowa. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, -- caller: the doctor mentioned about pregnant women needing to get the vaccine. have they done studies on women that were pregnant getting the vaccine?

guest: yes. they have done multiple studies. people got pregnant during the clinical trials. there is a registry of pregnant women who have been vaccinated. we have seen no increased rate of complication, fetal abnormality, miscarriage. this is safe and effective for pregnant women. this is something pregnant women should do today. host: we lost that call. we will go to jenny in north carolina. caller: my question is at what to see a study on how many people have had the vaccine and help many are sick from it or have heart problems? i am wearing a heart monitor, because after my second vaccine, i was tired, blaming it on the

summer. my heart was racing. i am 74, but i was fine until i had that vaccine. i want to know how many people -- i look online, a lot of people are having problems after the vaccine. i am not getting the booster. guest: this is an important question. no vaccine has zero side effects. all have a risk-benefit calculation. there have been some cardiac abnormalities, particularly in younger people, that may be related to the vaccine. but when you look at the actual data, the number of people that have these abnormalities pales in comparison with the benefits. there are some side effects. they are rare, manageable.

we are on the lookout for them, but there is a scenario in the middle of a pandemic where 1000 people are dying a day in the u.s. and the vaccine is effective. we can handle these side effects. they are minor in comparison to the benefit. host: gabriel, silver spring, maryland. caller: how is it possible that in less than a week, we have this new. all over the world? could it be possible that it originated in asia or europe? my second question is do you know any major pandemic that ever started from africa? the spanish flu, the black

plague, over 50 million people -- killing over 50 million people started in europe. no pandemic originated in africa. guest: some important points. it is not clear where this variant originated. it was first discovered in south africa and botswana. that does not mean that those countries are aware this variant evolved. it likely was spreading since late october or early november. we do not know the origin of where this variant evolved. it may have come from someone else -- from somewhere else and only been recognized in botswana. that is why we do not name it after a country. pandemics that have originated from africa, there have been a

couple, that africa is not a place where we have seen major respiratory pandemics. but the hiv pandemic did originate probably in west africa. it did spread. it is not productive to try to stigmatize one part of the world . what happens in one part of the world happens elsewhere very quickly, especially with efficiently spreading viruses that traveled with the speed of a debt -- of a jet modesty minor. host: how difficult is it to do the genetic detective work to find out where the origin of this variant is? guest: it is difficult in the sense that we do not do much sequencing. we often diagnose, but in order to understand the evolutionary relationship of strains, you have to do sequencing.

in south africa, the sequence of 1% of their cases, which is high it is not something that is done routinely. sometimes you cannot figure out where something occurred there is a strong propensity to believe it might be in a place where there is an increase in cases. there has been some epidemiological banks with south african countries, but it is difficult because we do not have full information on every case. it is not something you can easily figure out. you can reconstruct it using sophisticated genetics and mathematics, but it is hard to know definitively when we do not have sequencing at a high enough rate. host: jonathan, nashville. caller: i got the moderna vaccine this summer. i have heard of the delta

variant. i got kevin a couple of weeks ago. i think so. i had the symptoms, but when i went to the local store to get a vaccine test, a diagnostic test, it came out negative, but i am wondering about the seriousness. do i need another booster? guest: when it comes to booster shots, some people definitely should be getting it immediately. those are people above 65 or who have high risk conditions, including being overweight or pregnant, and those who got j&j. those are the people who definitely should be getting a booster right now. there is less priority in a healthy person below the age of 65 getting a booster. it will not hurt you, but the benefit is in preventing breakthrough infections from

being severe. people below 65 without high-risk conditions do not have a high-risk. if you want a booster, you can get it, but it is not a priority. host: chris, huntsville, alabama. caller: a comment about the omicron variant. i have heard many, many news outlets say things like the vaccine is safe and prevents hospitalizations. my question is this, if you are fully vaccinated from any the current vaccines, how is it possible that you catch covid and require hospitalizations? that would indicate that the

vaccine is not effective for that particular variant. however, that does not mean that in the future, we will not one that is not effective for everyone. i say this in relation to the polio vaccine. how many people got polio since they got vaccinated? guest: vaccines are not magic force fields, not going to prevent -- protect you from every infection. the vast majority of people who are fully vaccinated will be protected against serious illness. the fact that breakthrough infections are mild, outside of high-risk troops, that tells you that vaccines are working. there are going to be a better coronavirus vaccines in the future, maybe universal coronavirus vaccines.

those may change the way we deal with all coronaviruses. when it comes to polio, remember polio is a g.i. illness that causes nausea, vomiting and, diarrhea. the soft polio vaccine does not cause starlets and community. it prevents polio from causing neurologic problems. most people think of polio as paralysis, but that is a minor proportion of people who get polio. the inactivated polio vaccine, people did get infected. they just did not develop polio that paralyzed them. this is a myth that the anti-vaccine event has been propagating. it shows a basic misunderstanding of the biology of the polio virus. it is because people do not understand what vaccines are

meant to do. the polio vaccine does not prevent you from getting polio. if prevents you from getting poliomyelitis. the covid vaccine cannot prevent a break for infection, and prevents hospitalizations. host: when will a booster be available to 12-year-olds and above? guest: people between 12 and 18 are low risk for severe disease, outside of the immunocompromised population. you will need to see data. there is a lot of controversy about helping people need a booster. for the 12 to 17 group, it may not be something that they need, because they seem to do well with the two dose regimen. they are at such low risk for hospitalization. host: dr. amesh adalja at the

center for health security at johns hopkins louisburg school of about health. thank you for being with us. for the remainder of this morning's program, we will open our forms to hear from you on issues that you are following. if you want to talk about the variant, that is fine. the week ahead in congress and more. democrats, call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002.

host: until 10:00 eastern, it is our open forum allowing you to call in on any issue that you are following. democrats, (202) 748-8000.

republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. congress returns this week. the senate will be first. they return this afternoon at 3:00 eastern. note deal insight as congress nears debt limit deadline. he writes that congress is only a couple of weeks away from hitting the deadline to raise the debt limit. chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell do not appear to be close to a deal. writing that democrats insist that schumer will not learn about a week of senate floor time to use the budget reconciliation process. republicans say there is no way mcconnell will be able to round up 10 republican votes to quash an expected filibuster and allow democrats to pass the limit

extension with a simple majority. let us go to joe in leonard towne, maryland, independent line. caller: i will move on from that. i am cawing on the independent line. could have been democratic, could've been republican, but i believe we have to get to the middle. it will start with as being open-minded you might not like what the other person is saying. i have a 14-year-old daughter who has battled heart problems, cancer. went to get help hopkins. we are in a tricky position. we need people to be understanding. who does not want to be protected? we all do some of us cannot get protected.

we are in a holding pattern. you have to listen before you just ask somebody are you this? are you that? host: curtis, pennsylvania. caller: i am first going to say that jeff would be impressed your selection of jacket and tie. with so many republicans, this vaccine has been so publicized. how many are getting sick? are they not going to be able to vote because they are dying? or are they going to be happy to have the affordable care act because they are going to be long-haulers? i did not think many realize how much democrats are helping them. thank you. host: wilhelm in missouri.

caller: i wanted to let you know that the virus, how it started, trump in 2020, he started the virus. now that biden is in the white house, biden is doing everything he can to get the vaccine out. ask a republican, trump started the virus. it never should have come into the u.s. host: from the new york times, biden will give an update on omicron today. the president will give an update on monday this morning.

the white house said sunday evening, appearing on a talk shows, dr. francis collins questioned the americans on the emergence of omicron and a reminder that the pandemic is far from over. live coverage on the c-span networks this morning at 11:45 eastern. dr. fauci was asked yesterday about potential shutdowns and lockdowns. this is from abc's this week george: should we be expecting more mandates? dr. fauci i do not know. it is too early to say. we need to prepare for the worst. it may not be that we will have to go to the root that people are saying. we do not know a lot about this virus. we want to prepare, but it may

turn out that this preparation may not wish us to the next level -- people talking about lockdowns let us see what the information tells us. we will make decisions based on the science and evidence. but you want to be prepared to do anything and everything. that is the reason why we are paying such close attention. host: georgia, independent line. caller: how much do i love c-span? happy thanksgiving. omicron, i saw the news yesterday and saw it was making its way around the world. how long can this go on? can we live in fear?

those who are trading their the routines for security -- their liberties for security, experts told you if you comply with lockdowns, masking, vaccinations, life will return to normal. conspiracy theorist told you colored would never end and government would usher in a totalitarian world order. who do you believe? that tweet had me thinking. where are we going with this? are we going to lose our freedom and rights over health security? let us just live, love, praise god, be good people. host: albany, new york, crystal, democrats line. caller: i want to know that not

too long ago congress was talking about fettuccine should resign because he lied. does everybody know about that? host: this is a follow-up to our conversation yesterday with former fcc chairman tom wheeler arid we were talking about money and infrastructure -- in the infrastructure built to expand rod band. this is from politico, fcc could upend the broadband goldrush. washington is finally tackling one of the biggest obstacles to tackling the broadband divide, but it is becoming too late for the broadband goldrush. states and cities are already advocating pandemic relief to get broadband to underserved

communities. another $42 billion in broadband expansion money is due to come from the infrastructure lot that president biden signed this month, but the government will not start doling out that cash for at least another year. for now, though, many states do not know where to put that first round of cash. they have only a murky picture of where their internet does spots are. read more at politico.com. gettysburg, maryland, we hear from david on the independent line. caller: love c-span. i want to build on that first judgment national gentlemen. we do need to come together. democrat, republican it is getting to be the same at the federal level.

both of my friends are left. i am usually left politically. went to a liberal law school. i want to encourage people on the left to read the constitution and put the vain glory aside. everything does not need to be federal. the constitution says it only goes federal when needed. otherwise, you've got to roll up your sleeves and get involved at the state level. we need more romney care, less obamacare. passionate c-span coverage is all we need. celebrity politics, we have got to let that go and meet at the local level. host: matt, new york, republican line. caller: i missed the previous segment because i was dealing with lake effect snow, which we have been dealing with the last couple of days. looks like you have got nice

weather. host: we do. what is on your mind? caller: first of all, i would like to remind everybody that when donald trump put it travel ban been -- ban on, he was ripped by the media and leftist politicians as being racist. joe biden does the same thing. i guess he is not racist or xenophobic. a couple of people called in. that one guy said that trump is the one that brought the virus into this country. that is ridiculous. he's got to quit watching msnbc. it is ridiculous to say. trump was trying to stop it. also, hunter biden, harris, other left-wingers were saying -- joe biden, harris, other

left-wingers were saying they would not take the trump vaccine. i got the vaccine, will be getting the booster. on top of that, the largest percentage of people that are not vaccinated are people of color. the last time i checked, people of color do not vote republican. host: to tennessee, linda is on the independent line. caller: what i want to talk about is the field back to better plan. -- built back better plan. they have got for $5,000 a year -- $45,000 a year for illegal immigrants. we have old people who can barely make it.

thank you. host: we do not normally read from the hollywood reporter, but matthew mcconaughey decides not to run for texas governor it the actor has decided to not run for texas governor after all. the oscar winner announced on instagram on sunday that elected office is a path i am choosing not to take. he wants to focus on serving people of his home state in ways other than public office. we will hear from elise in california, democrats' line. caller: greetings from southern california. we have been having fabulous weather. americans currently living under this disease, this virus.

the world is under attack by it. when the world is under attack, americans are usually like soldiers. they go and get their guns, their bullets. we fight the enemy. the enemy is coronavirus. for people not to join in the fight against this disease that is at war with us is like a soldier not going to battle. this will not go away. to believe that it is going to disappear is nonsense. if you do not want the lockdowns, the quarantines, all of this, then get your shot. do you really think the government is trying to kill the world by vaccinating it?

it makes so much ridiculous sense to me. we are fighting a war and need to be soldiers. in all wars, there are casualties. host: supreme court oral arguments resume. the new york times on a key case -- abortion faces -- in 1973, in roe v. wade, the supreme court drew a line. the constitution did not allow the u.s. to ban abortions before the fetus could survive outside the womb. a central question will be whether the conservative majority is prepared to erase that light. the case concerns a mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks, long before fetal viability. crystal, birmingham, alabama.

caller: i am an african-american in birmingham, alabama. i got the vaccine and am in the hospital right now with corona. host: i am sorry to hear that. how long have you been there? caller: they diagnosed me two days ago. i was in a different unit when i acquired the virus. host: what are the prospects for you getting out? how are you feeling? caller: doctors are saying it is a 14 day protocol whether it is positive or negative i was told that regardless of whether it is positive or negative, they would release me. it is like a false negative or false positive.

host: what were the symptoms that first concerned you? caller: i had the sniffles and then explosive diarrhea. host: you said you have been vaccinated? caller: yeah. two months ago, in the summer, i got vaccinated. i cannot remember if it was pfizer or moderna, but even with the vaccine, i still acquired the virus. host: that news must have ticked you off when he realized you had been vaccinated but the iris. -- virus. caller: even with the regular flu virus, it happens. they need to work on your research, perfecting their vaccine system. host: we hope you get better. get healthy.

happy holidays. caller: you, too. host: one more call. jeffrey, brooklyn, independent line. caller: i was calling to find out that i have noticed that when you speak about viruses, we do not highlight accomplishments --. the way treated this patient actually killed them. i yielded the floor to that. host: do you think the conversation focuses too much on western medicine? is that your point? caller: the remedy is always in medicine, but nobody has been cured.

they do not speak about the natural process that the body does to find out what hewers it -- what cures it. host: appreciate the call, appreciate all the calls. washington journal here every day, seven days a week. we are back tomorrow and hope and we hope you join us as well. have a great day. ♪ ♪ announcer: c-span is your unfiltered view of government,

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