quit hererbay ere, because we ct to run rightnow. so thank you so much. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers" on this friday. we're asking experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers for you in realtime. today we're focused on covid-19 and the vaccine. let's bring in our special correspondent dr. patel. make sure you check in on facebook live because we have a couple rounds of two truths and a lie and you can play along. good afternoon, dr. patel. good to see you. >> good to see you. i'm switching up my location right now. and i look like i'm in a random place. but i can hear you loud and clear. >> that's the important thing. i ate some blueberries any say it's smart food.

i'm ready to play two truths and a lie in an effort to learn. >> right on. should we dive in. >> let's dive in. viewers get your thinking caps on i'm going to need you. >> let's see if kristen's neurologically fueled blueberries will help her. the first anemia is just covid headlines throughout the week. you're going to tell me which one is not true. a. and kwent quentin state prison was fined more than $400,000 for covid-19 violations. b. scientisting in several countries are now training coronavirus sniffing dogs. or c. a new

came out this week showsere whi that. >> so dr. patel it is not a because i did read that san quentin state prison was fined for covid-19 violations and not really doing everything they can to mitigate that spread. and there were huge outbreaks thaeps it not. >> correct. >> i'm ruling out c because i read a new model shows young people were the major driver in covid-19 spread, even though not the main group that had a lot of deaths. i'm going to say b is is the answer. but i'm going to see what our viewers are saying. >> can i give you a hint? i'm giving you a hint and ask >> it's split between b and c. in rereading this, maybe it's not age 20 to 49. maybe it's -- yeah, maybe -- no,

no, no. we know they were the major driver. i think young people were the major driver. so -- oh -- duh. my gosh you got me on a double negative or something there. i think they were the major drivers. so i'm going to say. >> right. >> that is -- oh, my gosh. i don't know. we're halfway split between b and c. so which is it. >> so c is not correct. i think your instinct was spot on. this is actually an important point. >> yeah. >> these mathematical models show young people age 20 to 49 were responsible for up to 70% of covid-19 spread. because young people get more quarantine fatigue and, travel around and have more contacts. the underlying message is you can't protect the vulnerable population and let the rest of the population run around unchecked. that's a take home point. but there are coronavirus dogs

out there attempting to sniff out cases. >> okay. wow. that's interesting to me. what would they be -- what is the screen, if you will of coronavirus? >> we're not folatesly sure what the exact scent is. but it's possible there is the volatile organic compounds which our bodies can produce which we can't smell. if you look at studies throughout iran, israel, france, germany, there are several dogs out there being trained to smell skin swabs. the naught is they can put them in airports or sporting arenas. i think the miami heat are using them. we'll see. >> that was a good one. challenging and tricky. and clearly i needed more blueberries. but the really owe viewers got involved. i like that. hey, talk about where we were overall numbers in the u.s. and california. are we trending the right direction? >> we are trending the right direction. i think that's a little point of optimism that everyone can rally behind. we're seeing cases slowly

decline. again, i caution everyone it's possible that we are seeing a lag in cases or that we started from a really grim place in january and december as we saw record-breaking deaths. but still that's good news. and our icu capacity is slowly inchesing upwards. i saw in the bay area our icu capacity was about 25%. that was in the single digits when we first started reporting on that. definitely heading in the right direction. as we have the risk of variants popping up. so we still have to kind of just maintain our guard. >> okay. i want to dive into vaccines flou. lots of news there. johnson & johnson obviously yesterday applied for the emergency use authorization. so given that, what is the time line? when do you think it will be approved? and when do you think it will roll out and get to people. >> kristen we're talking about this. but you have no excuse now for missing any of the second round of two truths and a lie. >> okay. pressure. >> johnson & johnson, their early data, it was all over the place in terms of which country

they were providing the efficacy data but we saw 72% in united states. 85% at preventing the severe symptoms which is important news. we talked about the fact that it's one shot, cheaper and doesn't have the deep freeze requirement. now, according to the company they've already submitted an eua to the fd a, the emergency use authorization. >> um-hum. >> the fda is going to meet to talk about the data on february 26th. so if everything goes according to plan we may start to see a rollout of johnson & johnson vaccines in march. and the company said they're ready to produce hundreds of millions of doses by summer. so that could be a really big step forward in getting us to herd immunity. >> got it. okay. is the next two truths and a lie, the next round in the next block, vaccine related? because if so i'm jumping to other questions right now. >> it possibly will be. and i want to make one correction for the audience. >> yes. >> johnson & johnson said they were able to produce 100 million doses by june.

i said hundreds of millions. >> got it. thank you so much. we'll talk more about vaccines in the next bloc. i want to cover vaccinations. today we heard federal troops will be used at vaccination sites to get shots into arms. talk about the difference that will make. and of course we have the piloted site at the coliseum coming. >> i do. one important difference this is going to make is a consistent approach. and spo rather than leading all the responsibility to state and local governments and saying make sure you have the supplies and trained individuals. there is now a little bit of a concerted unified method to get the vaks ace sites out. i think this aligns with president biden's plan of having 100 mass vaccination siting available in 100 days. one big gap we heard about a lot of vaccine sites was a lack of personnel. we had health care personnel responsible for working other jobs. and then were going to get trained to give the vaccines. and some places were saying in the future we may have to call upon other people.

firefighters, emts, dentists, pharmacies, anyone who could give the injections. a cigarette relief to see the federal support in the doses and funding and human factor. >> just the people to get the shots in the arms. that's an obstacle. isn't the bigger obstacle still the availability of the vaccine? so you can have all the vaccination sites you want but if you're not getting the doses, how is that going to help? ? is that getting better the supply? >> you're right. you obviously need space, stuff and staff in order to get a mass vaccination campaign off the ground. and there is a lot of talk right now, not only with making sure that different vaccine manufacturers have the funding they need, but that the federal government is funding enough of these doses to get out there. and i would imagine that the hundred mass vaccination sites in 100 days would be aligned with supply. and, you know, there are long lines forming all over the place. >> right. >> and different states seem to have different shortage issues. i'm hoping this is all quickly addressed. >> as you know, california is

now working with blue shield as the third party vendor to take hold of this and centralize things with kaiser as another partner. talk about how that the will work here in the state. how would that make things faster, better, more organized? and do they work in conjunction also with the federal vaccination sites? >> those are all great questions. and, you know, these are questions i myself was also pondering. when i first saw the announcement, you know, i was looking -- looking and researching and trying to figure out how is it exactly that blue cross is going to be able to -- i'm sorry. blue shield. >> blue shield, yeah. >> blue shield is going to be to have this coordinated response better than local and state governments? one positive of in i can fathom is the insurance companies cover a vast network of health care providers threw throughout the state. they know the landscape of the state, know neighborhoods and barriers. it's possible there would be a benefit in having them as a

major partner in the coordinated response. but the unanswered questions so far is how do they incorporate vaccine equity. and medi-caly resources. and places where there isn't the insurance coverage can any coordinate with them? one other important thing. i hope it doesn't undermine the expertise of local officials in california. i want to personally know they're working with all the epidemiologists and state and local leaders alongside the major insurance provider. making sure we have an kwvtable, efficient, a and fair rollout. >> we're taking a short break. when we come back we're doing the two truths and a lie on the vaccines. get the latest on the astrazenica. i know there are developments on the variants as

news now it's time to learn more about vaccines. put your thinking caps back on. two truths and a lie. let's go. >> let's go. audience, kristen, may need your or help. >> always. >> vaccine update, tell me which one is false. a. early data suggests the astrazenica vaccine may reduce transmission of the coronavirus. b. johnsonen john submitted an eu achlt for the vaccine but the fda has not scheduled a meeting to review it. or c, as of this week 25o 24 states and washington, d.c. are providing shots to teacher. which is not true. >> audience while you think about that on facebook live, i think c is definitely true. so i will rule it out because i did hear about half the states are providing shots to teachers.

and i'm going to say a is also true. because i think if you reduce -- and i don't know if that's an indirect reduction of transmission or direct but i'm saying that's true. and you did tell me there is no excuse to miss it because you kind of mention tds the date at the end of february for the fda meeting to review the johnson & johnson. i think for this one, and let's just check facebook live before i commit because you know how ami i am about tp everybody says b pretty much. b is the lie. >> b is the lie. the meeting date with the -- the b is -- you are correct. b is wrong. the fda's independent board wsh -- the vaccine and related biological advisory committee, meeting on february 26th. to review all the data regarding johnson & johnson. that is good news we will be tuning into. you know, a, the reason why a is so important is the previous tracksen trials we're looking at the prevention of symptoms. and the prechgs of people keeping out of the hospital or

dying. what researchers founded in astrazenica is after people got the doses of vaccine they were doing pcr samples looking for the virus and found the results were going down by up to 66%. that's really important. there is a big difference between effective immunity and sterilizing immunity. >> um-hum. >> sterilizing immunity is when you stop people from getting sick but also stop the virus from replicating. it's a preliminary non-peer reviewed but exciting news. >> because that's even better than just not letting people get really sick from it. speaking of astrazenica, i also read something about how it seems to be effective against the uk variant? >> it does. several of the vaccines, including astrazenica do have effectiveness against the uk variant which is important news. i think that's something everyone can just relax a little bit on. because our recommendations against the variants aren't changing. there is nothing you need to do differently. just keep doing what we are

doing. so far the vaccines have been shown to be protective against the variants. there are some early hail mary plan. in the event we find ut variants the vaccines aren't effective against. the fda is talking about tweaking vaccines. but right now they are effective. >> some think the uk variant could become the dominant strain in california. tom barton has a good question, one i wanted to ask. what's your opinion in mixing the vaccines as they are trying in the uk? >> tom, there are early studies now happening about people -- people -- i shouldn't say people about vaccine manufacturers mixing doses. there is a study right now with pfizer and astrazenica. another study with pfizer -- stra zinc and sputnik v, the the one from russia. this is a concept called hitterologious prime boosting

vaccination. the in her is when you give your immune system the same target with different strategies it may give you a more robust immune response. as of right now there is no recommendation for people to mix shots. we doesn't have the data to show that this is actually going to be more effective than what we are currently doing with giving the people the same shot with pfizer owner moderna or the johnson & johnson. but this may change in the future depending on the trials in europe and also what the situation looks like on the ground here. >> we have a couple of questions that are related here. laura says, hey, somebody who has recovered from covid-19? do they still need the vaccine. jenny asked the same question but referring to young people that she sees saying they don't want the vaccine. maybe thiel get if naturally, not get sick and have immunity that way. but what do you say to people who say i've had it or probably get it let's just do that instead of the getting the vaccine? >> you saw my reaction.

we'll quickly address both. >> yeah. >> people having covid is the in the past should get the vaccine. we don't know definitively what your level of protection is after getting covid-19, the natural infection. you could have a high level of antibodies. could be low level. but the vaccine is a consistent way to make sure you are protected. regarding everyone out there who says, hey, a natural infection is the way to go, here is why that is not the case. you'll see -- and kristen we debunked this a few weeks ago. you'll people see people saying hey there is a 99% survival rate. if you survive covid-19 that doesn't mean you're running around skiing in tahoe the following morning. there are people getting organ failure, who are getting are respiratory irlz afternoon debilitating conditions from catching and surviving covid-19. it's by no means a safe bet to rely on natural immunity. this is exactly what we say with a lot of other vaccine preventible illnesses.

>> andy laslavic who is the coronavirus adviser is telling states not to stockpile doses hold them for the second shot of moderna or pfizer. does that mean they expect more to become available soon, that they don't need to hold onto them? >> this is -- there is a thought that we'll have a lot higher of a supply. and it's really important we just start getting as many people vaccinated as we can. i want to make sure i understand, andy laslavic, are you asking he is saying the states shouldn't hold the supply. >> don't hold them as a second hot. give them as a first shot. you'll get more coming soon to give the second shots. >> there is two things on path there. we are expecting a greater supply of vaccines across the states. there shouldn't be dlis. but also as cdc director said there is wiggle room in terms of when people can get the second hot. ideally we want people to get it after four or three weeks. if you get moderna orr pfizer respectively.

but even if people get it four, five, six weeks after they should be still well protected. it's important that we start getting some level of protection out to the most high risk individuals out there. >> okay. we'll take a short break on the air while continuing the conversation on facebook live. when we come back on air we want to talk about a

all right, we are back with abc 7 news special correspondent dr. patel, answering your questions on facebook live during the break and sneezing by the way. you had a couple people say bless you. >> i appreciate that. >> there you go. everybody loves you. today california has rescinded the hospital surge order, due to improving conditions. what does that mean? >> so, you know, this is more about allocated hospital resources. and what exactly we need to do when we see the surges and what has to be held back. i haven't looked at the details of what's happening with the order. what people can say is hey,

based on the fact that the icu capacity seems to be increasing they are letting off the brakes a little bit. >> okay. barry sweet eileen i like that name says is it safe for people with high blood pressure and weak pulse to get the vaccine. >> the first thing i want to know and check in with the health care provider about is the underlying reason for the hypertension and weak pulse. you are still safe more than likely to get the vaccine. but certain people who are high risk, i want to make sure they take the full 15 to 20 minutes after getting the the shot to stay at the site and make sure they are getting the medical care if they need it. and at least theres it a place should they have adverse reaction or anything like that. more than likely doelgtsly fine backup but but just take the extra precautions. >> dr. palletto patel i know every week when you come on you try to educate us as to misinformation on social oftentimes. with that i think you have a new

delete that tweet, is that what you call it for us. >> i'm calling it delete that tweet, pulling it up right now. you know, i just see so many things flying around on social media. ands in a tweet -- i've seen so many different iter rations of this. but this specific rhetorical questions why should we be forced to take an experimental vaccine? there are two elements to this that i want to just clear the air about. first of all, nobody is forced to take it. it's highly recommended. there may be some mandate some states that require it. but using the word forced alien 80s an entire segment of the population and that's not what we are trying to do. we are trying to encourage shared decision making and have people understand why it's safer than to take chances with yourself or family. also, this is no longer an experimental vaccine. you could have called it experimental last spring before it went through three phases of trials. and before we had scientists from around the world closely reviewing it.

it's actually a misnomer now to still call it an experimental vaccine. it adds an air of doubt about the fact that it works and it's safe. and we know it is. >> this is not covid related ppd but it's one of the biggest health stories today, the congressional hearing investigation, right, leading baby food manufacturers knowingly sold baby food containing high levels of toxic metals. talk about what they found and the danger. >> this is a really concerning headline, more so than what the actual findings show. a lot of people have been messaging saying i've been feeding my baby toxic heavy metals. what they were looking is several foods with higher than the recommended fut op such as led, cad me up and mercury and arsenic. i think the take-home message for parents is to be responsible when if comes down to what foods you're feeding your baby. if you have questions, do your research. call the company. chat with your pediatrician and

make sure you know what you're feeding your baby. and there are some very easy switches you can make to reduce the chances of toxic heavy metal exposure. for example, a lot of the preservatives used in baby foods are not healthy actually. substitute a way the rice serials, the rice puffs, try to alternate the types of grains you give your baby. fruit juice never a good option. opt for water. teething bisque its not great. and an important note the hearing also showed it doesn't necessarily matter if you buy expensive or cheap food. orinic doesn't matter. a lot of the organic. i wrote down a nurture happy baby broccoli puffs. it had a high level of arsenic. i encourage all parents to not freak out. the metals are all over the environment. no matter what you do your baby will get exposed to small safe amount. but when in any type of doubt,

do your research, talk to your health care provider and stay calm. >> sounds great. that was a truck load full of great information, dr. patel, we'll continue to fewer questions on facebook live right now. what i want to talk when we get on facebook live is talk about safe practices for the super bowl, lunar new year and valentine's day coming up. please join us on our fac

questions. >> mail the red envelopes too. >> after the show. after the show. >> all right. thank you so much for joining us on this interactive show "getting answers." we talked about with dr. patel about covid-19 and vaccines. headlines today include president biden deploying 1,100 military troops to help with vaccine distribution. dr. patel's message, stay home

for the super bowl, variants continuing to spread. so it's a race against tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the u.s. military active duty servicemen and women will now help in the race to vaccinate americans. and the new vaccine tonight -- johnson & johnson seeking emergency use authorization for its single shot vaccine. so tonight, how soon could we see those single shots? a decline in new cases in the u.s., but a reality check about the variant now in more than 30 states and what authorities warn we could soon see. with the super bowl here, authorities hope you mark the big game with those in your immediate household. dr. jha here tonight with your newest questions on this new vaccine, the single shot and what you need to know about the variants in the u.s. tonight, news on jobs and american families in economic pain.