>> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. that is abc7 news. >> good afternoon, i'm julian glover. welcome to daily program called getting answers. asking experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get you answers in real time. we begin with covid-19. if you're watching on facebook live, if you have questions about vaccines or covid, post those in the chat and we'll try to get those answered live on air, also on facebook live. turn to the man answering the questions. special correspondent dr. patel. good afternoon. >> good afternoon to you, jul jl good to julian, good to be here. >> good to have you here.

johnson & johnson's single shot vaccine, fda approved it. where do we go from here? >> i don't want to give you all the answers, don't want to give away two truths and lie. but it was exciting for everyone to see that alert that independent review committee gave the green light to the johnson & johnson vaccine by 22-0 vote. which is unanimous. they said long story short this one-shot vaccine checks all the boxes it needs to get out and get into the arms of americans. >> such great news of the rollout and hopefully many more people can get vaccinated very soon. now what you just alluded to, dr. patel. this is my first time in two truths and a lie. watching on facebook, help me out, i might need it. dr. patel is going to read three statements, one not true. comment on which you think is false. take it away, doc.

>> we have to switch it up. i can't tell if you're nervous or not, but i have faith in you. >> little bit nervous right now. >> which is not true. a, fda suggested a single-dose vaccine may also reduce asymptomatic transmission. b, the cdc's acip committee will ultimately give dpiedance on who should get the vaccine and when. or c, johnson & johnson's vaccine is mrna-based which uses a synthetic virus to enter the cells. >> hearing that people on facebook live are voting b and c. saying one of the answers. two truths and a lie. i'm stalling to give myself time to think. i have a feeling that b might be the one that is false. that's a lie. viewers also agree with me.

leaning towards b as answer. part about acipacipacipacipacipp give guidance and when, but it's advised a strong efficacy rate in people 18 and older, that's the crutch i'm leaning on now, going with b. >> that's actually true but respect the analysis. a, really important, everyone understand this, there is enough early evidence to suggest that not only the johnson & johnson and moderna and pfizer will reduce symptomatic infections and also asymptomatic infections, prevent people from transmitting the virus, huge win. but b is true, now that the independent review board gave the green light to the fda,

cdc's committee will look at data and give final guidance who and when. and should hopefully see the full green light and distribution starting next week. c is wrong. i was tricky. johnson & johnson vaccine is a double-stranded dna virus, not rna like moderna and pfizer but does use a harmless virus to get vaccine in our cells. >> used to hearing about mrna with the you first two vaccines rolled out so i went with that. shout-out to chris on facebook, he knew c was the lie there. >> chris, you knew. >> dr. patel, let's talk about how this latest vaccine, johnson & johnson, j & j, compare? >> first what everyone is talking about, big difference in

efficacy. people saw the headlines of moderna and pfizer as 95% efficacious and johnson & johnson is less. but they were done in different geographical regions and different times. johnson & johnson was up against the variants from the south african lineage which might reduce some effectiveness. but johnson & johnson vaccine is greater than 80% effective at preventing severe illness and death and 100% effective of preventing death alone if you look at that. benefits of j&j is one shot, cheaper, can sit in normal refrigerator for months, that's a game changer getting the vaccine out to resource poor rural areas and improving the distribution in equitable way. >> how important is it that it's

one-shot vaccine? talked about people having to come back for second shot, how important is it this is one shot and can be stored in normal refrigerators to help poor and rural areas. >> it's really important with respect to distribution, making sure more people are getting the shot. when we say johnson & johnson announced 4 million shots next week, 100 million by summer, that's that many americans getting the vaccine. on global scale we're going to get that many more people protected. one thing important for people to understand, there is a trial going on now to look to see two doses of the johnson & johnson may be more protective. early data is showing triple the amount of antibodies, the protection, but we don't know if it's necessary. and also may be a booster or tweak to the vaccine depending on the variants.

right now one shot is easier. don't have to remember when to go back in. way easier for anyone who needs help getting to vaccination site. >> great point there. any concerns at all with this one-shot vaccine in johnson & johnson we should be worried about? >> as of right now, i don't think general public should be overall concerned. people should be trying to get whichever vaccine is available as soon as they can. one-shot vaccine, you have decent level of protection after 14 days, full after 28 days. like i alluded to earlier, scientists are looking to see if the one shot may have waxing immunity, antibodies going down. they're tracking people who got the shot and checking where they are several months later. may have evidence in july that people need a second shot or booster. >> but big news, any shot is

better than no shot at all. >> absolutely. >> where are we as a country now? on the downward trajectory, beginning to see things reopen in california? >> i want to say this carefully, we were on a downward trajectory. that is good and bad news. good news, according to institute for health metrics and evaluation, giving us brilliant math models throughout the pandemic, case level is 70% down compared to the holiday spike. can look at charts and seeing it go downwards but starting to plateau, and that's what public health advisers, including dr. fauci have said, keep eye on it. possible that downward because vaccinations, people following restrictions, mask compliance at all-time high. great things.

but are there hidden surges from variants? quarantine fatigue and people causing outbreaks? that's important to pay attention. >> when can we see the vaccines kick in in way to counteract the masking fatigue and things you mentioned? >> talking about the race to herd immunity, in essence, and lot of it depends number one on the distribution of vaccines. supply, mass vaccination sites and people who get needle into people's arms. people being compliant to get the vaccines. right now 13% of americans have one shot, 6% both. i don't know if on a national scale that's made a huge difference in our caseload, likely has in high-risk communities like health care workers like myself or people in assisted living or long-term care facilities.

probably making a huge difference. if you look at distribution, 1.8 million vaccines a day. if we can get to 3 million, can get to 85% herd immunity sooner than imagined, probably by may. something to be excited about. >> great news there, and hopefully this joh

symptoms later, you can. >> we'll be back on air in just a moment. we're back now with special correspondent dr. patel giving us a lot of information on covid-19 and where we stand with vaccines. another round of two truths and lie. hopefully made this easier than

first round. you stumped me there. >> no promises, julian, butian,t me which is not true. a, data from israel among the first real-world proof of the pfizer vaccine's effectiveness. or b, a new variant, new jersey varpt was discovered and spreading rapidly. or c, according to ihme, covid-19 deaths are down 70%. you have a hint in one. >> relying on friends on facebook live, drop comments, which you think is the lie. couple are saying b. perhaps haven't heard of the b.1526 strain yet. almost all saying b. 70% drop in five weeks sounds

like a huge drop. it's a landslide b. i'm going to take help from our friends on facebook right now. call it who wants to be a millionaire phoning a fred, asking the audience, b. >> correct. that's not true. what is concerning is that there is a new variant b.1526, that's concerning but it's new york, not new jersey. >> they're so close together i thought -- red herring there. >> i had to give you a red herring. a is important. when we saw the dataaa and moderna, saw in clinical setting how effective they were. now data out of israel showing it in real time. over 600,000 were followed and vaccine is effective at preventing those cases.

this is awesome, can create a clinical trial but in real world things can change. that's good news for anyone hesitant about the vaccine, guess, what is it's safe and works. b, what is important to understand about variants, as long as we let viruses replicate, they'll do everything they can to stick around and spread. includes making mutations to make it easier to cause infections. new york variant is one to keep eye on. same mutation as the south african lineage one. see i said that earlier. >> i promise i'm actively listening. great question from rocky on face-off. can you elaborate more between the difference of mrna and j&j shots? >> definitely can. bird's eye view. johnson & johnson vaccine uses a small piece of dna that encodes

blueprint for the spike protein, the balls around the coronavirus, what it uses to latch on to our cells. dna blueprint, put into the human body cell. way the scientists do that is using a dummy virus, almost a vehicle. adeno virus which causes the common cold is the delivery device. cells make the spike protein, cells see it, it's like a wanted poster, that's our criminal. and others are mrna, another form of blueprint but downstream of dna. delivery device is a little bit different than johnson & johnson, but they accomplish the same thing. >> just spoke about variants, what do we know how the vaccines are protecting us against new

variants popping up? as you mentioned, virus is going to do whatever it can to survive. how are the vaccines handling it? >> i'm glad you asked that. just talked about that study in israel showing pfizer was extremely effective protecting people. around the time of the data collection, the uk variant was the dominant strain. we know pfizer is great against b.1.1.7. it may make the vaccine a little less effective, might explain why johnson & johnson trial showed 64% of activity in south africa and less around the world. to combat this, vaccine manufacturers are looking to make vaccine tweaks for that variant. pfizer and moderna are going to

start trials with new vaccine, could be a booster shot we need to get. what everyone needs to know, do your part to prevent the sprerkspread, you already know what to do, i don't have to tell you thousandth time. >> all told the news to mask up, wash hands and social distance as much as possible. now in california, up to 8 million vaccine doses administered so far. are we at good pace for 40 million-plus residents here? >> good pace, could be better. one thing that's interesting about california, i don't think it's fair to compare california to other parts of the country. we have a very diverse population, not only geographically but ethnically, racially, some of the counties have different resources. so focusing on ramping up the supply and making sure goes to over one of the 58 counties and people have equitable access to

it. we need to get to 34 million people for herd immunity. 1.5 million a week, do the math, 32 million to go, hopefully do it faster than 28 or 30 weeks. i think we can get with johnson & johnson approval and bigger supply of vaccines. >> speaking of opening back up, governor newsom said kids returning to school is top priority. reserving 10% of the vaccine supplies for teachers and school staff. is there a downside to this move? >> you know, one downside, if you will, to reserving 10% to everyone working in educational facility is inadvertently saying you can't open any schools unless all faculty are vaccinated. we should be looking at science here. we know we can safely open schools if they're take right

mitigation measures, teachers are protected without every member of the faculty getting the doses. i think it's important for teachers, health care workers, cafeteria workers and bus drivers to get vaccinated. but should be trying to prioritize getting the schools open fast as possible. in georgia, lot of the outbreak was teacher to teacher in schools. another layer to mitigation is preventing those teacher to teacher interactions, staff workrooms or virtual meetings, protect the teachers as well. >> few more seconds. it's on everyone's mind now. when do you think vaccines will be available to point everyone in california can get one? >> short answer, early summer. gambling right now, all chips in early summer. going to see widespread

distribution of people with high-risk medical conditions, i think by summertime can go a pharmacy or health care provider and get a shot. that's where we want to be and think we can get there. >> reassuring for our viewers. dr. patel, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, happy friday. >> indeed. next up, conversation i never should would have on air

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welcome back to our live interactive show, getting answers. many of you are watching on facebook live and on air at abc7 news. thanks for being with us. stigmas are real and some conversations can be uncomfortable, one way to destigmatize is have those

conversations. joining me now, author, entrepreneur and founder of black moms blog and creator of the period party. which is happening tomorrow. good afternoon and thanks for being with us. >> thank you for having me. it's actually happening sunday. >> actually sunday, okay. that's why we have you live with us to give us the details. as you i'm sure are well aware, kristen sze is usually in this seat, i'm filling in. let's talk about periods and why it's important to have uncomfortable conversations for some, but destigmatize it, what we can do to help. >> periods are something every woman goes through regardless of race, financial wealth, anything. i started period party three years ago to destigmatize our menstrual cycles. also collect tampons,

p pads to give to homeless shelters. >> why is this conversation so important for all of us to have, not just women? >> feel like periods are taboo thing we don't discuss. when women buy menstrual items still hide they under whatever else we have in cart, act like they don't exist. but it's something we all experience and not just a conversation for women, but something that men and boys need to be part of. because they become allies when they know what is going on with our bodies. period is a beautiful thing, it gives life for a woman. finding healthy ways to talk about it and normalize it, it's not going anywhere. women watching are going yeah, i'm on my period right now, taboo topic, want to bring light to it. >> should not be taboo topic.

talk about one of the issues from not talking about it. some women and students have to skip work or school because of period poverty. what is that and why is it important to work to change that? >> women make up about 39% of the homeless population in the united states. and tampons, pads and menstrual cups range from $8 to $50. women are literally having to choose between whether or not to buy food, pay to get into a homeless shelter or get menstrual items. using things like paper bags, plastic bags, t-shirts to combat the period. lot of times giving to homeless shelters, giving food and clothing, really good, but don't think about the fact that women are having menstrual cycles without the supplies they need to get through their time of the month. >> and just a few more seconds

left, tell everyone about the period party happening this sunday. >> we have period party this sunday, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., register on www.blackmomsblog.com/period party. we have 11-year-old entrepreneur joining us to talk to children about menstrual cycles, and conversation not just for adults. tune in bring daughters,

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3:00 on air, on live, tonight, breakig news as we come on the air. just a short time ago, a fda panel now recommending emergency use authorization for the one-shot johnson & johnson vaccine. the newest weapon against covid here in the u.s., johnson & johnson's vaccine 85% effective against severe cases of covid. 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths. it could be stored in normal refrigeration. how many doses will be shipped right away. how many next month and what you need to know about this one-shot vaccine that many are calling a game changer. sothid ministration declasse report on the murder of u.s. based journalist jamal khashoggi, pointing the finger at saudi arabia's crown prince, accusing him of the brutal