>> it was kind of quick so the skeptic in me says man, it's kind of quick. go through the proper checks and channels and the second half of me is like yes, now we can finally begin to slowly reopen and have hope. >> history will record that this week was the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic. >> it's important with the enthusiasm about the vaccine, the vaccine is not going to bend the curve by itself for a couple months. we have a couple tough months ahead of us. >> thank you so much for joining us for this special edition of abc 7 news. i'm komassikomassikomassikoma we're engaging in a virtual town hall. today we're focused on the covid-19 vaccine. something kate and i really and our whole news team have dedicated months to covering as part of our efforts to build a better bay area. >> absolutely. this is an important one-hour

virtual town hall airing on abc7news.com, youtube and facebook. we'll have thorough conversation focused on questions from all of you. we have received hundreds of thoughtful questions this past week so thank you so much for participating in this town hall in advance. >> first, we want to give you an update on the developments with the moderna vaccine. we're expecting to hear whether the fda will grant emergency authorization. it's anticipate that will happen sometime today after the vaccine was given a thumbs up by an advisory committee. if it does move forward, the first doses could be delivered by monday. the fda authorized the pfizer vaccine last week. >> we'll get to the fantastic group of panelists answering the questions you've been submitting all week long. first off, dr. arlean brown who leads a statewide collision focused on how covid impacts disproportionately affected populations. next, dr. bernard low, an expert

on bio ethics research and a professor with uc berkeley school of public >> and a consulting business focused on prevention and care delivery and a face that is familiar to the abc 7 news viewers, dr. patel. abc 7 special correspondent and physician. now that we introduced you to them. i want to get straight to the first question. we've really gotten so many different versions of this question but this particular one comes from george. so he says, i work out in the public. he says i'm considered an essential worker as a driver for waste management. i would like to know how soon can i get vaccinated? we've gotten so many emails about this. people want to know where are they in line and doctor, i want to start with you. is there an answer to this

question? >> well, there is but it may not be very satisfactory. i actually checked for myself when i would be eligible for vaccination. i went online to the "new york times" and put in my figures and they said i was 120 millionth in line nationally. so the reality is that i think the person you described, assuming they don't have a lot of underlying health problems is probably a couple months away from having access to the vaccine. i'm apparently about three months away. but it's going to be slowly growing but it not going to immediately meet everyone's needs right away. >> i think the thing that has a lot of people confused is their underlying conditions, whether they're like george as an official worker. they wonder how do the factors play into when i'm able to get it and i'll ask you, do we know at that point the specific factors and how they play into when people will be able to get

the vaccine? >> not yet. but there is a committee that dr. brown and i serve on in california to make recommendations that really give a fine grained priorization and that we haven't made the final report but i know this is something that the governors are concerned about. i also want to say that it's really hard because so many people are essential workers. there isn't enough vaccine to go around at this point and so we really have to look at who is really at high risk and not just having been on the job but also the number of exposures to other people and whether a lot of those exposures are to covid positive people. >> one thing i'd say as we think about this person and the essential worker and the work he does. we as fellow human beings have an obligation to him to make sure we're doing what we're

supposed to do in terms of wearing our masks and providing physical distancing. as we talk to people that do this work every day, they often complain the selfishness of others puts their health in jeopardy and they have to go home to their families and their terrified when they go home they will bring let's treat them with fairness and not give them or spread the vaccine to them because of our inappropriate behavior. >> thank you for the answers. the other risk factor are people with compromised immune systems and co-morbidities that put them at risk for a worse covid o outcome should they get the virus. terry sent us this question. she says i'm 76 years old, a cancer survivor and have two plates in my back, my children believe i'm at risk and if so,

when should i expect to receive the vaccine? this is another important part of the question. assuming she's getting it several months from now and moderna gets approved today, will she have a choice between pfizer and moderna? >> let me answer the last part first. i don't think we really know the answer to the last question, but i suspect that no, you will not have a choice. that is when you show up at a provider who has the vaccine, they're going to have one or the other and not say would you like a or b? i would point out there may be a third vaccine coming online perhaps by march. so it's going to be a complicated situation but i doubt that people are going to get to make a choice which vaccine they want unless somebody else on the call knows better than i do. >> dr. braown, since you're a general internest, are you hearing these corns from your own patients, people who are

older and have health risks? >> absolutely. this is a big concern for patients with particularly those with many chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease and obesity and immune compromised and what we -- what the doctor said is correct. you won't have a choice which vaccine you get. the evidence we have to date suggests that the vaccines, the ones, both pfizer and moderna that will be available both operate at very high -- have high good characteristics and equally effective. there is no evidence race ethnicity and other factors make a difference how effective those vaccines are and it does not appear that the types of chronic conditions you have make a difference howfecti tiveeffecti vaccines are. we do think even though there

are two separate vaccines, they seem to work well. that's actually really good news for my patients. >> that is good. we got a question from scott hutchinson who wanted to know if there are any studies how the vaccines interact. i'm glad you addressed that, dr. brown. i want to get to another question from laura and this is really coming down to the logistics of making sure people get both shots of these vaccines. laura asks how are hospitals, doctors, et cetera going to make sure people actually get the second vaccine shot? are the procedures in place to make sure that this actually happens and what if people don't get the second shot? >> you know, i'm curious to hear what the other panelists have experienced but regarding what i've heard from my colleagues and including the lists i'm on for the hospitals i work at, a lot is being set up through electronic medical record systems or the -- what we use in the hospital to kind of sign up

for the vaccine and then a reminder is sent out not only for when you're scheduled to get your shot but a reminder for four weeks later when your next dose is. it actually three weeks for pfizer and three for moderna if and when that goes through and i suspect it will. i'm curious with the public with a reminder system. will it be wide spread? will it be an app? will it be through a patient portal? at the end of the day awareness will be an important factor with people that may experience a response, immune response. i want to make sure i call it that, not an adverse side effect but a normal response to the vaccine they know that's okay and still need to go back and get the second shot because people need both to get the full effectiveness from it. >> dr. patel, i heard make followup calls and texts

and they need to get the shot within the days of the three to four weeks, what happens if they don't get the booster within the narrow four-day window. >> let me take a crack at that. the quick answer is it probably doesn't matter that much. getting a second dose at five weeks instead of four weeks or four weeks instead of three weeks is still really important. so if you miss by a few days or even a couple of weeks, it's still important to get the second dose. as far as we know, that won't really affect the level of protection you get from the second dose. but dr. patel is quite right. the second dose is important and i think different people in different health systems will be getting different types of reminders but there really will be a good system in place for tracking and encouraging people to come in for the second dose. >> that is definitely encouraging. so happy just with the first ten minutes of this conversation and we have so much more ahead

including more of your questions and then, we'll dive deep into any potential side effects of the vaccine. of course, we want you to continue to join our conversation. you're part of this abc 7 town hall, too. very important part. please go to facebook or youtube and weigh in and interact in today's virtual town hall and try nature's bounty sleep 3 a unique tri layer supplement, that calms you helps you fall a sleep faster and stay a sleep longer. great sleep comes naturally

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vaccine town hall. san jose started vaccinating the workers this morning. the first person to get immunized was a nursing team leader. this hospital in particular has been hit really hard by the pandemic with it's icu beds reaching capacity last week. santa clara county received 5800 doses of the pfizer vaccine this week and the state and county slotted for more tha we know what this first bach of doses that we've been seeing here around the bay area. we know that the focus is for our health care workers but a lot of people have been sending in questions to us wanting to know how do they get on a list or how can they make sure that they are, you know, in the lineup when it's time for them to get the vaccine and i want to pose that to our panel right now because is there even a list to get on or something people's doctors will reach out once they are available?

we've been hearing about people being able to go to walgreens, just different things. what should people know about making sure that they are ready when the vaccine is available for them? >> i think the answer is stay tuned. there will be a lot of different channels to inform people. if you are part of a health care system that has a good electronic records communication program, they will probably try to take the lead in informing you when your turn comes up but a lot of this may be based on what kind of job you have, and it will be public announcements as to is it schoolteachers? is it farm workers? is it grocery clerks? i think you'll just have to look and see what the current information is. there won't be -- it will be really impractical to verify what people say so we have to depend on everybody to be honest

about whether they really belong in that group, but we're still working this out but there will be lots of different ways you can get informed. >> and susan send in a question, she said who is administering vaccines at walgreens and cvs and are they prepared to recognize and manage a vaccine reaction? i think to our panelists a lot of these are questions coming after there have been health care workers who have had allergic reactions. in the health care setting they are being monitored for 15 to 30 minutes after the vaccine. how will that happen at a walgreens or a cvs when these vaccines get rolled out to the public? >> i would say that all the sites that are administering this vaccine are well premared to handle emergencies orred a v -- adverse effects so individuals should rest assured there are people that are

very rare. the issue in this question is who is administering this vaccine. places like cvs and walgreens, they administer flu shots to many of my patients because it's more convenient for them to have this done in the community and a way to ensure equity because if you go to a local pharmacy to get the vaccine it's easier for patients. >> one thing patients should remember they will be required to wait 15 minutes so staff can monitor and watch and any site administering these vaccines will have and must have on hand the appropriate equipment and drugs in case of the very rare

allergic reaction that we're seeing and so the system will be well prepared for those kinds of contingencies. >> i want to quickly add to what dr. brown was saying, if you look at the vaccines we currently administer, the chance of getting a severe reaction is about 1.4 million per -- 1.4 per 1 million doses. extremely rare. a lot of people were concerned about the headline about the health care worker in alaska that had a severe reaction. the one silver lining of the headline is the system worked. the health care worker was taken care of. symptoms were recognized within ten minutes and after, i shalre, i don't remember the health care worker she was. she said i feel great. i got the shot. and the system designed to catch the rare reactions worked. >> we have this question from sherry howl from facebook, and it's about people who have had some, i guess, on going symptoms

of covid even after testing negative. she says do you have any thoughts on individuals with long covid symptoms being vaccinated. would it exacerbate their on going symptoms and think about this dr. brown or anyone else? >> we know patients who have had covid and recovered from it may or may not have antibodies. in those cases we don't recommend you wait on getting the vaccine. we recommend you get the vaccine because we don't know how effective that immunity is. patients who have symptoms but have never tested positive, that's a harder question and i think it really important for individuals to work with their primary care doctors and/or infectious disease doctors to determine whether or not they should get the vaccine. but i think that should be dealt with on the case by case basis. >> the other part of this question that we've heard from a lot of people is the issue of

can you actually get covid from the vaccines? there is no live virus in any of the vaccines. >> that is correct. you cannot categorically, you cannot get covid from the vaccine. it is a straightforward and as simple as that. >> if i can just add to that a lot of people are concerned about it and i've even heard people say is this a plot to make people sick, people like me, are they trying to make me sick? i think we have to address that concern, the whole context of what is going on in this country but the answer is n-o in capitol letters. >> i want to ask another question. i have an auto immune disease. my son has severe asthma. is the vaccine okay for us? do you tell patients that are

concerned? >> speak regarding generally her and her child. we still need to wait before we have more data. i don't know how old her child is right now. this child obviously put forth by pediatricians lick and we ne younger children to get vaccinated for the next school year. and dr. low or brown can weigh in on it given create severe illness. >> that's absolutely right. you're susceptible for medical conditions that put you at risk and i would say when the turn comes for those for this woman

and her children and ped dri pediatrician says it's safe, they should get the vaccine because they're at higher risk for getting complications because of their underlying conditions. >> dr. low, i don't envy you -- go ahead. >> so i agree with that but i want to point out that for the woman herself who is an adult, the moment the only recommendation not to be vaccinated would be in somebody who clearly is having an llergi response in the past. it's not currently believed those would be an indication to receiving the vaccine and as dr. low said, these may be people at greater risk to get sick if infected so we do want them vaccinated. >> think of it like the flu shot. people at high risk, we push them to get the shoott early. same thing i anticipate with the covid-19 shot. >> so we've also been getting a lot of questions about the cost.

we covered this during the facebook segment a few minutes ago but becky asked how much will the vaccine cost for someone uninsured and paula asked will the fee becoming out-of-pocket, cash? she wants to know before hand. health care workers now are not sharing insurance information, everything is covered but what about three, four, five, six months from now? will the government cover it? >> insurance will also cover it and people will not be paying out-of-pocket for this to be vaccinated. there may be on rare, rare occasions someone with a very peculiar insurance policy could possibly not cover this but it is so us unusual for the overwhelming majority of people who have insurance will not have to pay for the cost of the drug nor will they have to pay for the cost of the administration

and not have to be paying co-pays, either. >> i'm sure that's very reassuring to hear. >> yeah, i completely agree and the one thing i would add to that as well a uninsured patients, there are federal programs that will cover the cost of the administration of the vaccine. so that should not deter individuals from going into the vaccine. the out-of-pocket cost should be nothing for most people as the doctor said. >> thank you so much for answering those questions. we have so much more ahead. a lot more questions from you our audience including more on whether or not your employer can force you to get the vaccine. >> absolutely. we have much more to come. you're part of this abc 7 listens town hall, too. go ahead to our facebook page or youtube to weigh in and hi, i'm mike. jack hired me to tell you about his bagel breakfast sandwiches with bacon or sausage. jack i thought you hired me to be the spokesperson!

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bagel breakfast sandwiches with bacon or sausage. whoa, mark. jack hired me! i got a contract. you mean like this one? why choose one when you can have two? my 2 for $5 bagel breakfast sandwiches. here is a scene being played out around the bay area. front line health care workers receiving the covid-19 vaccine. abc 7 news was in santa clara county when doctors and others got share shots at 6:30 this morning. they say the vaccine gives them and their families peace of mind. we've seen thousands of health care workers across the country successfully get the vaccine this week and kumasi it's an important part of course c-- ou

conversation. we know that certain communities, the latino community, the black community have been harder hit than others during this pandemic and a viewer chris sent in a great question. he said will this initial distribution have an inconsequential effect on surging infection rates, infections of specific age and race groups are causing a spike. wouldn't vaccinating them make rates go down? doctor, i'm curious what you think about that. >> african american communities and communities of color that suffered so much disproportionate impact from this disease and have such high rates of underlying preexisting illness that makes them predisposed to having bad outcomes when infected by this virus have the chance to be early in the line for vaccinations. i was on a committee by the national academy of medicine that made the allocation frame

work recommendations that went to the federal government and passed down to the states and we made a very clear point that people with one, with two or more chronic illnesses need very much to be near the top of the line and that includes a lot of people of color. very quickly, the other side of the coin, though, is that there are a lot of people of color who are predisposed not to take the vaccine as they do not quite yet have the level of confidence feeling that people of color are being guinea pigs and others understanding that fair equatable access and we'll see the trend towards fair equatable access early on. >> dr. tuxon, i wanted to ask you that because i did a story why so many in the african american black community are hesitant to get the covid vaccine and i wanted to ask you what impact do you think that hesitation can have and what do

you see being done to address it specifically with the black community but also we see hesitation within the latino community too and all of it is important. >> very important and legitimate reasons. people of color have a reasonable concern about the way they have been treated by the american research enterprise going back to the 1930s with the famous or infamous tuskegee syphilis study. we're seeing as people take to the streets to proclaim their lives actually matter in this society, those elements bleed over into the health care system. so there are real reasons why there are concerns, however, if those concerns are not addressed by the actions of our officials in the public health departments, by elected officials. if we're not addressing the african american community and latino communities from a position that says we're tru trustworthy people that respect and care about you, consequences

will be there will be a great level of vaccine hesitancy and that inevitably means people will become sick and die and not have access to businesses surviving in communities and workers will lose jobs and children will not go back to school. the consequences of acting on distrust really have horrific outcomes. >> if i could follow up on that. those are really important points the doctor made. on the california vaccine working group, we're spending a lot of time and thought on this very issue. and this will be a very essential part of the final policy and implantation. on that working group are several county directors of public health and they're doing exactly what dr. tuxon said. they're concerned about it and thinking of strategies about how to communicate a message that will make people more trusting of the vaccine but also, i think

there is real implantation problems. pharmacies are not equatablely distributed across neighborhoods. low income neighborhoods, there are a lot of people of color at high risk have fewer pharmacies. they are not necessarily open at a time that's convenient. if you're working a full day or a double shift and you can't take time off from work without losing pay, where are you going to get the vaccine at a time that's convenient for you? i mean, if you get these side effects, which are really the vaccine starting to work to build up your immunity and you have to take off work the next day, is that going to be feasible if you don't have sick leave, you don't have any control of your schedule and you can't afford to lose the income or even your job if you don't show up for work. so these are the practical details that make a difference for people whether if they want

to take the vaccine we can provide it to them in a very feasible way. >> dr. brown, i was sort of curious what you think the best way to reach at risk communities is with the vaccines. i'm wondering if you've seen the same thing in los angeles, here in san francisco. there has to be special testing events in the mission district and really a grass roots community effort to reach the latino community. i'm wondering if in los angeles you've seen the same and if you think that the vaccination push will sort of have to take a similar route. >> i completely agree. we have seen the exact same types of things in southern california and i want to build on what dr. tuxon and dr. low said, it's important to have both a clear trusted message but also be a trusted messenger. we have to make sure that the people bringing the information out to the community about the

vaccines are people who are respected and trusted in the community who do not have the same badge cage that maybe some of the health researchers and health systems have. so we want to make sure that we have these partnerships in place so that the public understands that the message is about their safety and the long term viability of their communities. i am a lead on the stop covid-19 initiative, which is an 11th site program across the state of california in which we have 11 academic health center whose are partnered with a huge network of community partners, and the goal is to make sure that the community partners understand what's real, what's not real, really try to clear away the misinformation about covid and vaccine and vaccine trials and provide messages that are clear

and give people the information that they need to make sure that they can talk to their health care professionals, talk to their communities about their questions about the vaccine. so i think it's really so important to be clear focused and work with the communities high at risk including the latino community and african american community, native american and pacific islanders at high risk from poor outcomes from covid. >> if i can sneak in in a similar vein. it's important who the messengers are. we've pulled together the four historically black medical schools including charles r. drew university of medicine and science in los angeles with the medical association and black nurses association working in common cause. we've been producing town halls for the black community all over the country now gathering thousands of -- hundreds of

thousands of people listening in to trusted voices that they can depend on who they know these o physicians and nurses start with a position of love and empathy and compassion combined with scientific expertise and trustworthy information. >> trustworthy information i think is one of the keys because i know you-all have seen it. we've seen it. so many myths going around about covid-19 and the vaccine. and it really is a big issue and i want to share this question that we got from di. is it true that the vaccine will change our dna? can you answer that question for us? >> not at all. i -- sorry. >> no, go ahead. >> i wanted to say first of all, i don't want to alienate di by any means or anyone who has heard these misconceptions and there is something for us to learn about what is spread around at the beginning of the pandemic. misinformation itself is probably more contagious than diseases we deal with.

people just need to understand the basics behind it. the mrna vaccine is literally like a genetic wanted poster. it's by no means going to stick around and alter any other properties of your cell or dna. nothing to worry about that. she raises a really important question because if you go online right now and people go look at unvalidated sources of information on facebook on instagram, on twitter, there is a lot of scary info out there. moving forward as the public rsearches more about the vaccine and people considers do i get the shot in my arm, they need to know where to get the right information from a trusted source. >> and just to make it really fine point on that, that the mrna does not have the ability to get inside of the nucleus of the cell where the dna is to give her more confidence. there is no way for it to get at the dna to actually do that.

>> thank you for answering that question because there is so much misinformation out there. we appreciate that conversation about equity and myths and we want to include you more in this conversation so make sure you go to facebook, youtube, weigh in, interact with us. we'll ask questions that you post there. and follow up with our experts.

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we have breaking news about the moderna vaccine. the fda just released emergency use authorization for the vaccine. the second vaccine for covid-19, the first one is pfizer and we want to just check in with our panelists because this is news that we have been waiting for all day and now we have official word from the fda that they have issued this emergency use authorization. how big is this? >> huge. >> huge. >> it epic. >> it was expected ad -- advisory panel 20 out of 20 gave it the thumbs up in the fda discussion but means we have 5.9 million more vaccine doses coming to us next week so you guys were all grinning, thumbs up. dr. patel, it's expected but still a really exciting moment. >> it's a very exciting moment. i could go on and on about how exciting this is.

the fact there is a global collaboration among scientists to get this done in fast time without cutting any corners and safety. so it was done properly and you mentioned this quickly but i wanted to reiterate again for people out there the committee that actually reviews this is an independent review committee, the vaccine related advisory committee have no stake in the game. they are looking at the data objectively and they did and re. this is great news to know it safe and works and we're projected to get millions of the first shots in our arms by the end of the year. >> yes. >> i also want to add to dr. patel's two points that are critical. number one is this is a worldwide scientific achievement and so those who are into the conspiracy theories this is a vaccine designed by people to injure people of color for example or whatever, this is something that was done by the collaboration of scientists from

all over the world and secondly, what is particularly key there is in terms of the review committee that dr. patel talked about and i want to make sure all people of color understand that on that committee was the president of the medical college, african american man who is there specifically as a great scientist but who also understands his responsibility to evaluate this and report back to people of color from a trusted trustworthy source that says this is a safe vaccine and i think those two points are critical. >> dr. low, i think you wanted to jump in a moment ago. >> i just wanted to add that in california california, we have an added review. get to really know that this works. has it been rushed through? 11 western states said in addition to the reviews you

reported on, there will be yet another review by scientists in california and other western states. so this is looked at as carefully as any vaccine given the data we have and so i think people can take from comfort and there is a lot we still don't know but what the data show the is very, very carefully looked at. >> i want to ask you this question from larry. it is about the vaccine. now that we have two approved for emergency use authorization, let's get to this. does the vaccine prevent covid-19 or does it just decrease your chance of being hospitalized? let's start with you, dr. brown. what would you say to larry? >> the vaccine does reduce your risk of getting covid and being hospitalized and decreases your risk of death really. so there are -- the vaccine does a lot. the thing to remember though is

we don't know if the vaccine will prevent you if you get covid of transmitting to others. you have to do what we've said over and over again, good hand washing and sanitation. good -- you have to wear a mask. social distancing. all those things are still critically important because we're still in the early phases of understanding how the vaccine works. what we do know is it works and it's effective in preventing covid and preventing bad outcomes from covid. >> well, that sort of makes me curious. as t astrazeneca is effective. if you got covid and the vaccine, does that maybe your disease would be less severe? >> that's a great question and we don't know the answer to it. but we have evidence for other vaccines for example for influenza vaccine if you get influenza despite being

vaccinated, you're an average less sick and less likely to be on a ventilator and stuff like that. it is possible that the vaccine gives a certain amount of reduced risk of severe disease even if you get disease but i think we have a long way to go before we understand the astrazeneca for a variety of reasons. >> this is important we always as physicians and as scientists are able to admit when we don't know something and until we see the data, we probably should not try to speculate as i think we correctly just answered that we need to be able to go through that data with a fine tooth comb and right now, we don't have visibility to that and we probably need to take a very cautious position. >> i want to bring up this question from angelica surrounding an where we're probably looking for more data and information. if you can give her any insight. she's wondering about the details on the effects of vaccinations for pregnant or

nursing moms and we got questions about people wondering about the impact on kids. so what can you share with people about this based on the data that we have so far? >> i would just quickly say that the advisory committee on immunization practices with the cdc weighed in on the subject and i've personally dealt with it. i have a daughter who is a front line health care provider and has a 4 month old who is breastfeedi breastfeeding. this strikes close to home. at the moment, we have no reason to think that pregnant women who are substantial risk of covid should not be vaccinated and the same is true for lactating women. >> but. >> we have limited data but my daughter is going to get vaccinated next week and continue to breast feed. >> congratulations to your doctor. >> doctor, tell your daughter we said right on. if you look at the

college of on sta tribstetricia far exceeding the risk of getting a vaccine. in the actual studies and one of the other panelists may know this number, i off the top of my head don't. there were a number of women that became pregnant after enrolling in a trial and there were no adverse side effects reported in the group. that's reassuring. i think it comes down to an individual decision but right now, they are absolutely allowed to get the vaccine and there should be no reports of them being denied the vaccine if they're a front line provider. >> the issue of children has come up a couple times. one area where the committee really struggled both times has been around the ages of 16 or 17 years of age. and that's where you really do need to seek guidance from your physician and really look at this very carefully. that's an area, the only area

really there was any major kiss agreeme -- disagreement whetheror not to make a recommendation for children in the age range of 16 years old there abilities. so that's an area that's important and if you have kids that age, you might want to check in with your personal physician. >> dr. patel, we had extensive conservations about vaccinating children and we have a piece airing at 5:00 about that. there are studies being done now. pfizer, moderna with teenagers and you believe at some point they will start testing on younger children to ensure the safety but then also what doses they might get because it may be different than for adults. >> absolutely. everyone on here will agree with me, i can't stand the phrase kids are little adults or adults are big kids because our bodies react differently. there are examples of vaccines that have to be given in different doses for young children. it will be important to look at the age, especially the school

age children and doses will be great for them and their immune response and as i mentioned at the top of the hour, that trial needs to have happened yesterday if we get a long enough time for safety data and think about all the different communities out there where these kids are living and thriving and going to school. when we simply say things like keep your child at home and he or she will be safe there. that's a very insensitive and not a very cultural common daytive thing to say because people rely on their children going to school not only to get nutrition but safety so they can go to work. >> dr. patel, we have to jump in. thank you so much.

we want to thank our panel of experts for taking the time out of their schedul. you guys are busy to talk with us and you about the krush questions surrounding the vaccine. this is only the beginning of the important conversation because we have more vaccines in development and the pandemic is raging on. >> a huge debt of gratitude to doctors, scientists and medical professionals here in the bay area that spend countless hours on the phone and zoom here. the effort is tremendous and we feel like you were part of the extended abc 7 news family. thank you for your life saving work you do and then on top of that, taking the time to inform all of us. thank you.

all right. we're continuing to follow the important stories.

stanford workers walk out in a protest, over who is getting the vaccine first. vaccine makers turn their attention to children. you will hear from a young, vaccine volunteer about her experience. >> new car for her acts of kindness early in the pandemic. now, from abc 7. live, breaking news. the fda has just authorized a second, covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. the new, moderna vaccine is similar to pfizer's, which was authorized for use, last week. it also requires two doses but it does not need to be kept as cold as pfizer's. fda commissioner, steven hahn, says delivery could begin, nationwide, by monday. unlike the pfizer vaccine, moderna's is approved for use in only adults. good evening. i'mma