hi there. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers." we're asking your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers for you in real time. today we'll talk about president trump's phone call with georgia's second of state. let's begin with covid-19 and the state's plan on who is next. we're in phase 1 a. that includes health care workers and long term care residents. phase 1 b, tier 1 is patient aged 75 and older as well as people who work in education, childcare, emergency services

and food and agriculture. then there's phase 1 b to 2. those are people age 65 to 75, people who work in transportation and logistics, industrial, commercial, refusal and sheltering facilities and services, critical manufacturing, along with people living in congregate settings like homeless populations and incarcerated individuals. phase 1 c, this is people and i 50ed to 64 plus people 16 to 64 with an underlying health condition or disability that puts them at risk of having a more severe case of covid-19, defense, energy, chemical and hazardous material, communication services, financial services, government operations, communities-based essential functions. so with that as a backdrop we've invited o the show infectious

disease specialist monica gandhi. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> we just went through the list and the tiers. do these phases and who is included in them in terms of vaccine priorities make sense to you? >> yeah, they do make sense to me, actually. i think the cdc -- they're mostly following the cdc directions and the one thing about what the cdc did is they balanced both age and essential functions because their point was we need to get the vulnerable vaccinated but we need to get society functioning again. so i think one of the biggest things we haven't seen is putting teachers and educators first in 1 b made a lot of sense to me because of all the implications of not having schools. they moved down what the cdc said. the cdc would have said put more essential workers like public transit workers up higher.

they moved them down a little bit in favor of teachers. >> speaking of teachers, the governor also floated out there -- and i know it's not firmed up yet -- the idea that for a teacher who's willing toe go back in the classroom and teach, they may be prioritized and get theirs sooner than those who do not. does that seem like a practical and logical step? >> yes. i do think that these vaccines are amazing and they will protect you as an individual, even if others around you have not been vaccinated. so going back into a classroom where all the children have not been vaccinated is very safe for them. going back into the class room and putting that first, i think is a great incentive to going and teaching a purpose. >> speaking of the vaccine, i know you got your long-awaited

shot today. how did it go, which version and how do you feel? >> it was the pfizer shot and it felt incredible. it didn't hurt. it didn't hurt going in. if i get any side effect, it will be later tonight. most likely would be a site reaction. everybody armed me is grinning. this is the only way to get through this pandemic and we have to get these vaccines out. >> yeah. definitely. you got the pfizer one but the uk began giving shots for the first time the new oxford astrazeneca vaccine. some are calling this the most globally important. can you explain to our viewers why? it seemed to have had a lower efficacy rate. >> it did have a lower rate. astrazeneca vaccine different.

a virus, it the adenovirus is introspective and inside is dna and the virus and you produce immune response again. it was 70% effective. mixed trial results. in one trial it was 90% effective. a half dose, then they gave two full doses. all together it came up to 70%. however, there was something in that trial, if you look cleanly at the data, it's probably going to be more effective than 70%, a marker for how long between doses. it's totally cheap and i mean that matters. that matters so much. two to $4, maybe $3, what they're saying a dose, so $6 per

individual to get it as opposed to more than a hundred for these others. >> wow. >> also, you can totally, like disseminate it at room -- not at room temple but at routine temp. it's not room temp but being in a refrigerator for a long, long time. neither the sizer moderna can be in the refrigerator for a long time. you think about getting it to rural areas. india also authorized it as well as britain. >> yeah. all right. so sounds like it would be less likely to spoil, too. >> yeah. >> in the transport. ok. dr. gandhi, it's been a slow rollout of the vaccine, only 4.2 million people so far, far short. the state has received 1.7 million. look, some leading researchers are saying -- looking at this

and saying given this, maybe we should give people just one shot instead of the normal course of two so we can hit more people. what do you think of that? >> i actually agree with that concept. they are not -- it's not giving one shot only. it's like giving one shot now and giving the second dose whenever you can, when you can get to the next shot. it's three good reasoned to do this. one, actually, in any vaccine, other vaccines, the longer you delay between shots, actually, the better. the design was three to four weeks for the pfizer, four weeks for the moderna but the astrazeneca looked like the longer you went before giving the second dose you got a better immune response.

number one. number two, both pfizer and moderna showed after one dose you had between 80 to 90% efficacy in preventing symptomatic covid. that was pretty good. number three, we've got to get this out. this is not a good time. surges, hospitalizations, it's a terrible time. we have to get immunized. >> i want to fold in a couple of questions. phillip wants to know does the weather affect the transmission, like fog, maybe the particles stay in the air longer or travel farther, what do you think? >> it's not -- i don't think fog affects it but i think weather affects transmission. what i mean by that is wind. when i think of san francisco i keep thinking of the way it's constantly windy between the bay and the ocean, and that ventilation may be partially responsible for why we have not

just lower transmission but lower severity. so it's a good thing. >> here's another question. when it's our turn -- we talked about the 1 a, b, and c. when it's our turn, how will we find out? how does that work? >> yeah. i'm just thinking to myself we should have fuel sites in big parks and everybody goes to get it. the way to find out, if you have a regular doctor, call the doctor's office now and say when are you expecting to get it in, when are you expecting to get it in for my bracket. if not, for those who don't have insurance, there will be city sites that will administer the vaccine and that will be communicated to people like the media telling us what to do. so p newspaper, media and the department of public health will put out notices. you will be told. but i would be aggressive.

if you have a primary care doctor, call them and say when are you going to get it.

we are back with dr. monica gandhi. lots of questions from viewers. this one from alex. why are some of the testing sites doing self-testing now? is it aniless accurate? >> actually, self-testing for a while now, if you do your own swab or your own saliva collection has shown to be just as good as somebody doing it for you. in a way people are vigorous with their own self-testing, so

it is not less accurate. there is rapid antigen testing but i don't think that's what you're asking about, maybe, but if that comes up, i'd be happy to talk about that, too. >> i've got to know about this. governor newsom says the new inventor has been identified here in california, southern california, san bernardino coup. do we know if this inventor makes you sicker or is it simply that it's more transmissible so that more people will get sick? >> yeah. we don't think it makes you sicker, so that's a good thing. we have enough cases that it's not virulent. if you got it, you're not more likely to be hospitalized. that's a good thing. what does that mean? between 30 and 0% may be more transmissible. it means three things for me personally. i think that we should -- the max could not be anymore important right now.

i would suggest wearing two masks, seriously. it's a time that we got to stop four transmission. hygiene, distancing, ventilation, all of those steps are more important than ever. >> i want to ask you to about that christmas tree inflatable costume after kaiser permanente. as you know that kind of costume spits out air from within the costume. they're pushing that air out to everybody, which is what happened because 44 people ended up getting sick and one death, which is just tragic. what does that teach us? what should we know about that and what's the take away? i'm thinking, is that something like the masks that have valves? >> yes. the take-away, don't do anything that exerts pressure on your mouth to bring air out.

don't yell, don't expel air from the filtration that has the valve to get the smoke out. i guess now don't wear a big costume. >> yeah. and that employee was asymptomatic and that leads me to the question of how can there be in a hospital setting an asymptomatic employee? because when we don't work this the hospital setting we assume you get tested all the time. is that not this case? >> we do not. so, you know, this is the interesting thing. grocery store workers and hospital workers have been out since march. they go to work but they don't get routinely tested. we get tested if there's been exposure. it's easier for people to get tested in the health care setting. there's been some movements in

some places to get routine testing, but we do not get routine testing. we go to work with the intervention it is and wear our masks and nevada stop wearing our masks. i think that's a fair point that this bizarre part about this virus is you can be asymptomatic and still have it. that's what happened with this health care worker. >> all right. i want to talk about schools. you've been an advocate of weighing the pros and cons, the benefits versus the risks in terms of kids, their health, their mental health, all that. the governor has become more aggressive in the past few weeks in terms of getting kids back in school. his timeline is february. what do you think about the framework he has set up? are you confident that it can be done by february? >> unfortunately, i don't think it can happen by february. think that's a little ambitious. i really admire his administration for putting out that $2 million finalized to

give to districts. i along with other health care professionals believe children need to be in school. masks can be done. they're easy. distancing, you need more space. ventilation, you need the windows to open. that's what's good in the bay area. that's what his money is going towards. and i think it's a great idea to prioritize education. other places have cone it. it's great california is doing it. >> as a parent i have my own feeling about the need for kids to be back in school. however, i did read today there's that sage study out of the uk in which they said kids are more likely to bring the household into the household than adults. more than twice as likely to pass on the virus. shouldn't that be reason for worry and to kind of pause? >> you know, this is how --

absolutely. we have to think about children, they're not as likely to get sick but they can be carriers, no doubt. if they're out, they can be carriers. if there is anyone vulnerable in the household, we've been pushing for masks in the household. i know it's sort of weird but it's being pushed by the cdc for anyone with, a vulnerable person in the house and someone is out. even the vulnerable person or the child wears it. we're going to get the vaccine. we're going to open more fully but right now we need kids in school. >> i want to fold in a few more questions. daniel wants to know if you got covid and recovered, how long will you have the antibodies? >> so at least six months. this is a new journal paper from health care workers just last week, at least six months. there are other modelling studies that have shown much, much longer. one model went up to five years. not antibodies but other immune

responses and the other immune responses, you can even go out longer, for like ten years. but for the anti-boys, at least six months. >> she wants to know i have a shellfish allergy. is there anything i should be concerned about? >> no. no shellfish component. wait 15 minutes. for someone who's had any major allergy, you'll be asked to wait 30 minutes. >> ok. wants to necessity is there a chance people can get the virus more than once, even if they've gotten the vaccine? >> extremely rare to get it more than once. there have been six really well documented cases of reinfection. there's been many, many infections world with wide. chicken pox and other diseases where you can get it twice, so

an unlucky few can get it, but it's very rare. >> i'm going to end with a quick question about, look, if it were up to you, i know you've been advocating a more surgical approach to controlling the virus and the transmission. what are the immediate tweaks that you would make? >> these are the immediate tweaks. they're simple lu mean a lot. outside activities, i go back to the zoo thick, open. i do 20% open for everything. right now, why not museums if we do good spacing and 20%? then the third thing i would do is provide the data on outdoor dining. if there's no data allow 20% outdoor dining. let people be outside. i think all those chiselsles may make us a little more compliant. >> all right, thank you so much for the insight. take care. >> thank you. >> we'll take a short break.

the legal implications behind the leaked phone call involving president trump and georgia how about poor fred wilson? what a shame. so soon after retiring. i hear his wife needed help with the funeral expenses. that's ridiculous! -he had social security. -when my brother died, his wife received a check from social security, all right-- for $255! the funeral costs were well over $8,000. how on earth did she pay for it? fortunately, my brother bought additional life insurance -before he retired. -whew! i bet that cost a pretty penny, huh? not with colonial penn. coverage options start at just $9.95 a month. less than 35 cents a day. i have it myself. we both do. -both of you? -that's right. neither of us had to answer any health questions or take a physical exam. in fact, no one our age can be turned down. for any health reason. -no one? -no one? nope. hm. is this a plan that offers

a lot of protection at first, and then reduces it little by little each year? no! i've had this coverage for years. my benefit never decreases as i get older. your rates go up every year, right? no, not at all. friends keep telling friends about guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance from colonial penn life insurance company. with this coverage, your premium never increases for any reason, and your benefit won't decrease simply because you grow older. options start at just $9.95 a month. if you're age 50 to 85, you cannot be turned down because of your health. colonial penn specializes in protection for mature men and women. to find out more, call now. (male announcer) call now and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner and this free prescription savings card that can help you save up to 80% on prescription drugs.

welcome back. president trump's entire phone call with georgia secretary of state brad laughens berger has been released. now what? joining us to talk about possible legal implications, ryan luck, a criminal defense attorney from atlanta, georgia. thanks for joining us. it comes down to i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. he says that on yood, you can listen to it. essentially that sounds like find me enough votes to overturn the election results in georgia. is that request or demand, if you will, in itself problematic? >> i think it is. here in georgia, it's a crime to solicit someone to committee lex fraud, and i agree with you,

telling someone, especially the secretary of state to find enough votes to swing the election in my favor after every vote has been counted and the results have been certified is certainly enough to launch an investigation. i think it's enough probable cause for an indictment. >> all right. he did bring up the debunked theories that ballots were shredded in fulton county and that voting machines operated by dominion were dirty. that's not true. the president said you know what they did and you're not reporting it. you know that's a criminal offense. is that part, can that be construeds a threat or not in that context? >> you know, i think that the president can float whatever conspiracy theory that he wants about the georgia election, but it doesn't change the fact that he was asking the secretary of state to change the results of

the election for his benefit. yes, i think it's certainly a threat. >> so, you know, given that's the case, in georgia, what do you think are the most likely, i guess, charges that he could be potentially prosecuted for and would there be any political will to even do that? >> well, the charges would likely be brought in fulton county, and he could certainly be charged with soliciting election fraud, probably soliciting an official to produce a false report, perhaps extorti extortion. the interesting thing is we have a new district attorney in fulton county who's be on the job a couple of days. she was instrumental in prg cheating in the atlanta public schools. that lasted for eight months. she ran on a platform of eliminating corruption. she's very experienced and strong in these public

corruption areas. as lawyers in georgia have really been coming out in support of her doing so. >> what about the fact that the secretary of state's people recorded that conversation? is that legal? georgia? >> it's both legal in georgia and in d.c. both georgia and d.c. are one party consent state, meaning that if you know you're being recorded, then it's legal. >> unlike california, for example. >> right. >> ok. all right. so i want to ask you, what about federal charges? what federal charges could there be? also how likely is it that they will pursue anything? first of all, president-elect biden has indicated he wants everything to be left behind in terms of distractions. he wants to govern what do you think? >> you know, i think you're looking at exactly the right area, because president-elect

biden is going to nominate the next federal official who will decide whether to bring federal charges against trump here in georgia. so i would look very carefully at who president-elect biden nominates and i think that will signal to you whether there's the political will for the top federal prosecutor here in atlanta to bring charges. >> all right. don't go away. we have

thank you so much for joining us today on this interactive show "getting answers." today we covered the vaccine distribution. phase 1 c in particular covering people age 50 to 64.

of course we'll be here every tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the first confirmed case of that highly contagious covid variant now detected here in new york. and news coming in tonight, the emergency lockdown now because of this variant in the uk. that highly transmissible arbitrary yant of the virus now discovered in at least four states here in the u.s. this time, the patient a 60-year-old man in saratoga springs, new york. no history of any travel, which suggests community transmission. three others where he works testing positive. it is unclear if they also have this newer strain. tonight, the race to vaccinate now even more urgent. why is the government so behind? after promising 20 million shots by the end of the year, they've done just 4.5 million. our cameras inside this boston lab tonight, where scientists are now conducting tests to see