building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. hi, there, i am kristen sze. we are watching answers. we ask experts your questions every day at 3:00 to answers for you in real time. today we will speak with state senator scott weiner who is angry that they're not requiring vaccines for staff and students. so we will hear what the lawmaker has to say. but first, delta danger as covid continues the search. lots of new headlines on the vaccine as well. let's bring in dr. alok patel. let's test our knowledge and make sure that we understand

the major moments. let's start with two truths and a live. so folks, if you have your live stream up on the abc7 facebook page, post your answers here. ready to roll. >> you are pretty good at this. we will see today how this one pans out. tell me which one of these is not true. is it among people who had covid-19, those who did not get vaccinated are two times more likely to be ransacked it. this is in comparison to those who had covid and vaccinated. even with the delta search, children team cases have held stevie at about a 50,000 per week. and w.h.o. covid-19 variants of interest include a tech, kappa, iota, and lambda. >> i think you have topped us in terms of coming up with these questions that are a little tricky. and and facebook says b is

false and i need more people to help me out here because i think that c is true. so, i am going tototo is either a or b. i'm going to say b. >> and he is so confident about this and ray and daniel and colette support her, so i'm going to go with b, because we think the cases are higher. let's go. >> they are all correct. i will be honest, i wish you were not correct, because that number is more than 70,000 cases according to the american academy of pediatrics. so these are rising in children and while the average person other might see this and say that is okay, children do crew great against is, the more children

infected, the more hospitalizations we are seeing. we are seeing more hospitalizations of kids in a state like florida not even mentioning that kids can have long hauler symptoms. we go through a and c,, a is true. people that i've had covid in the past and i have natural immunity and am okay. natural immunity plus vaccine acquired immunity keeps you safer. and the variance of interest r because it could turn into concern like alpha, beta, and delta. there plenty out there and covid-19 wants nothing more than to replicate and try to create more dangerous mutations. >> my fear is that we will run out of the alphabet letters soon. we will have to go with the japanese alphabet or something different. let's hope that doesn't happen. i learned so much from the last round. let's another one. >> i like coming off the top of two rounds of this. now everybody knows the drill. tried to stop us. try to stump me. which one is not true, six

states have enacted nine laws with probations on vaccine mandates. or is it b, the fda will review hundreds of thousands of documents during the full approval process for the covid- 19 vaccine. or is it microsoft, google, walmart, uber, netflix, and tyson foods have some sort of vaccine mandate. >> i think i know this. 99% sure but i would give the viewers a chance to respond. which one do you think is the lie? >> 99%. >> i'm feeling pretty good. wait until i answer incorrectly then my hopes are dashed and then i will crawl into a hole but i know that c is true. more and more company's, including disney, for whom i work have a vaccine mandate. so then it is between

states have enacted laws on prohibitions. i was tempted to say that is true but i think it is actually more states than that. more laws than that. sad as it is and i do know that b, they are reviewing hundreds of thousands of documents. so clearly, it is a that is the lie. >> kristen is coming with it today. a is in fact the lie. it is nine states and 11 laws which have a did some form of legislation. some, at least 12, that are trying to enact mandates, laws prohibiting schools from mandating vaccines. this tells you a little bit about the uphills struggle will try to get more states to take it seriously. this is not to say that they haven't been encouraging the vaccine. it is important and i have to make a special note on b. plenty of people out there have said that once the fda has fully approved the vaccine, they are more likely to go out and get it. businesses will be better able

to mandate this. and for anyone out there who still thinks this vaccine is experimental, even though we have 20 of data to prove that we are not. hopefully a full vaccine approval from the fda where they have reviewed 10 times as much data as they did during the emergency use authorization, will convince you. and c, that is growing. >> united just became the first airline to come out and say they're requiring vaccinations of employees. that is growing. i want to get a shout out to eden, colette, nikki, all of you who said a. you been paying attention. that is why we play this game. >> it is an all-star cast. >> it's so interesting. some people are passing laws, some states, to say no vaccine mandates and no masks or anything, here, a lot of people

are wondering about the booster. we have super cautious viewers here so the fda announced today that will speed up authorization to get a booster shot but it is to certain people. can you talk about that? >> absolutely. there have been some trickles about this in the science headlines for the past month. the people under consideration are those who have a weakened immune system and or people above the age of 65. one thing to differentiate is that it is not necessarily based on the fact that all of a sudden these vaccines are no longer working against the delta variant. they will it work extremely well in preventing hospitalizations and deaths. but it is possible that certain people have not had a robust immune response from the first round. that is what the data is looking at right now. the vaccine manufacturers are said to be submitting basically an addendum to the emergency use authorization that could take a couple weeks. i would recommend anyone out there to talk to the doctor if they have questions.

do not go out and try to do this yourself or lie to a pharmacy to get a booster shot. >> is the fda talking about people getting the same shot, or a different shot? i think they said the same one. so if you had two pfizer's, you would get another pfizer. if that is the case, would you expect fewer side effects because it would be your third exposure? >> i didn't see the same that we were talking about the same shot that there are trials underway about mixing and matching shots in that is happening in europe and manufacturers are talking about a variant specific booster and talk about people who had the johnson & johnson shot getting another mrna shot. there is no clear answer yet. as to whether people have side effects after the third one. it is tough to say. if i were to have an educated guess, i would say that it would be not. i think they would have a different, but it is tough to save. >> also to come i heard a fda researcher saying that covid-19

vaccine booster might be a one time shot and not something that will be needed yearly. that is interesting and different from others that i have heard from. >> i think third two different conversations happening right now. before, there was talk about it is possible that the virus may mutate so much that it will become like a seasonal influenza and we will need an annual shot. this is what we're talking about will this booster be enough to get us out of this wave and we will not need a seasonal shot anymore. there two different angles that are being viewed right now. we should focus on the now and focus on what we know in the moment. not tried to jump ahead. the world health organization came out and said, let's put a moratorium on booster shots until september and try to focus on just the ground roots effort of getting more vaccines out to more people where the u.s. said, including the surgeon general, we have enough doses to talk about boosters and also make sure that

everyone else in the world has one. i think it's important that we keep harping on global vaccine equity. >> we can do both at >>

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are we still exclusive? absolutely. after my car accident, and that's exactly why you should join. wondnder whahatmy c cas. so i called the barnes firm. i'm rich barnes. youour cidedentase e woh than insurance offered? call the barnes firm now to find out. yoyou ght t beurprpris johnson & johnson was no good because sf general is giving that. now we are back with abc7 special correspondent, dr. alok patel. i want to focus on kids because they're going back to school right now. if you have children related questions, ask them now on facebook. what is the incidence of myocarditis in teenagers? is it something for parents of teenage boys to be

about? >> the incidence is still very rare. i'm not up-to-date with what the latest numbers show, but it is something on the one or two out of several hundred thousand. it is very rare but it is fair to look at the data and say is this something i should be worried about. we see myocarditis on a regular basis anyway. from other causes, including viruses. with of the cases that have been specifically isolated to the covid-19 vaccine, they have been self-limiting in these gets it done really well. they have been discharged from the hospital without applications. people to remember that covid- 19 itself can cause organ damage, including heart damage, which is much worse than the extremely rare incidents from the vaccine. every major medical association including the american heart association, the heart is all they focus on, have come out to say that the benefits of the shot found far outweigh any theoretical risk of the

vaccine. >> dr. patel is a specialist in pediatrics. it is great to get his expertise. now the question. when will the kids under 12 get a vaccine? >> we are getting close. the projections that we would see data submitted for the emergency use authorization by the end of september and maybe early october. it is possible by the end of fall and early of order 4, we could see a vaccine authorized for kids age 5 to 11. in the meantime, you don't need me to tell you about it, let's get everyone above the age of 12 vaccinated and make sure those who can safely wear masks and wash their hands. >> michelle turner wants to know, what is the best mask to use for 11-year-old for in person school. double cloth was surgical? or something else? >> make sure that we are using the masks that we know work best. triple ply will be totally fine and even if you are buying a spider-man mask online, just

make sure that there are multiple layers on the mask. it is not just one thin piece of fabric. the more layers the better. but make sure your kids are comfortable wearing the mask. i am not worried about kids not being able to breathe wearing a mask, even though it is something that we commonly hear thrown around on the internet. kid's oxygen levels will be fine. we just want to make sure that they are used to and will not mess with it and touch it. kids with certain sensory issues are being paid attention to as well for their ability to safely wear a mask. >> we think of young children often times as not necessarily immune, but less susceptible to severe cases of covid but today i heard that a baby girl with covid had to be airlifted 150 miles because of a hospital bed shortage in houston. is that right? that is right. there are two very alarming things about that. when is the fact that that is a case of a young child

been diagnosed with covid-19, a very severe case and it is not an isolated incident. i am hearing from neonatologists who deal with very sick young infants from all over the country, especially in southeastern states, about several cases like this. even cases of pregnant mothers getting covid-19 and going into premature labor. it is concerning that is trying to happen and it is also concerning that he had to be evacuated because the beds were full. we have a large percent of one diagnosis, and this is preventable. it this is absurd that this is the reality we live in. >> it is so sad. with school opening now, we recognize how important it is for kids to be in the classroom and we have taken mitigation measures but in arkansas, 900 students are in quarantine after the second week of school. there were four doesn't positive cases. >> should we -- say that we

don't need to worry about this in the bay area because we are requiring indoor masking and we are much higher terms of vaccination rates and lower transmission rates? >> that is correct. so, when people were looking back on these outbreaks in schools and in the two cases you mentioned, including one in florida, it was found that masks were not being properly used in other mitigation factors that are safe. there's also a lower vaccination rate in general. this is what the potential concern is when we reopen and get kids back to in person learning. is that if we have operates, we risk of shutting down the schools. we need to remember that this is one topic that everybody is on the same page. we want kids back to in person learning. that is the point that we start at in the work backwards to make sure that we cannot only get there but maintain it. >> we want to talk more about

that topic and whether there should be vaccine requirements for teachers and staff and even the kids with state senator scott wiener who will be joining us after

we are back. should vaccines be mandated in schools for everyone eligible? state senator scott wiener says yes and he tweeted this yesterday he says all teachers and staff, as well as eligible kids in school should be required to get vaccinated for covid, absent a medical region. it would protect children, staff, teachers, and families. dr. patel is sticking around for the conversation with his medical expertise. we are going to put aside kids as 12 and under because are not eligible and school districts are waiting for full approval before considering mandating it

for middle and high schoolers. but let's talk what teachers and staff. why are you adamant that not requiring the vaccine is making the wrong move? >> we know that these vaccines are very safe and effective. this is probably the most studied medical product maybe in history. we have enormous amounts of data, not just from the trials, but from real-world experience, that these vaccines keep people from getting very sick, overwhelmingly, it keeps people out of the hospitals and keep people from dying. our path to normalcy is getting everybody vaccinated and we know that the reason we are having the delta surge that we are having now in terms of hospitalizations and severe illness is that not enough people are getting vaccinated. in our schools, we want to protect our teachers and staff. we wanted to protect our kids

and we do that by having everyone vaccinated. there is no reason to have unvaccinated teachers and staff at our school. they should be required to be vaccinated. they are coming into settings with a lot of different people and although we can navigate it with masks and ventilation, the most effective way to keep our kids safe in the kids' families safe and other teachers and staff is to require everyone to be vaccinated. >> i'm sure that dr. patel would agree that that protects the children, especially gradeschool kids who cannot get vaccinated yet. but this is where i am confuse. the union is quoted as saying that we support the requirement so i don't know where the sticking point is, because from what we see, the teachers really want to the vaccine. they pushed to get early accent. they tied it to returning classroom last year even though they did not go back to the classroom. it seems like there should be an eagerness. >> i think teachers and support

staff in our schools overwhelmingly, so many are getting vaccinated. they were correctly advocating to be in the early for vaccinations, which i supported and a lot of us support a. if you are a teacher going back to live in person teaching, and you're getting vaccinated, the last thing you want is to have a bunch of your colleagues and support staff st not to be vaccinated, which increases the risk of you getting infected. if you have a vulnerable family member at home, perhaps bringing it home. it is not surprising to me that teachers want to make sure that other teachers and staff are getting vaccinated. >> i totally agree. i made a jump ahead of you, kristen, but i completely agree with what senator weiner is saying. we are talked about the efficacy of the vaccine.

that has been established. the ability to protect against hospitalizations and deaths as well established. but the delta strain is so incredibly contagious that there's a reason that this is happening in outbreaks across the southeast. we are all on the same page to make sure the kids are coming back to in person learning. we've talked about th and teachers advocated for this. they quickly said that we are on the front line in terms of exposure. you want the vaccine before we go back to in person. so getting kids back to in person learning and keeping there is incumbent on making sure that everybody who is eligible is getting the vaccine. >> san francisco is just one school district. i know that it's a district that you care very much about because it is your hometown, but this is the piecemeal approach. oakland says they will not mandate like san francisco. san jose and los angeles say that they will ask their staff. is anything you can do as a state lawmaker to push it forward and make it a uniform

thing across the state? the state could mandate it. the state has been really trying to be more supportive of our school districts and helping the districts the open so our hope is that the districts will do the thing and not just cross their fingers that people will get vaccinated, but actually require it and one thing we should also add, we know that even though middle school and high school kids right now can get vaccinated and need to get vaccinated, we know that our elementary school kids cannot. that will hopefully change in the next couple of months and that will be great, but at least as we start school, our elementary school kids will not be vaccinated and again, we don't want to put them at risk for themselves because we know that the kids are are are likely to get seriously ill, they can get seriously ill as we have seen in the have family members at home who are vulnerable. it is and everyone's interest.

we need school districts to do the right thing. what we are seeing in the private sector is more and more companies doing the right thing. we want our school districts to do so as well. >> once all the kids are eligible for the vaccine and dr. patel and i have talked about this, hopefully in a month, you want the state to add the covid vaccine to the list of required child vaccines by the state for entry to school? >> i think that is something that we should seriously consider. this is so damaging and we see with other very harmful destructive viruses like the measles, where we said that in order to attend school, you need to the vaccine unless you have a specific medical reason that you cannot be vaccinated. it puts other people at risk like with measles, when you're not vaccinated. there very good good good good kids who are in school. >> the last 15 seconds, dr. patel, do you agree? >> i do agree. similar to measles, which is an

appropriate comparison, there is a long-term sequelae measles. so if someone says that my child was positive for covid- 19, remember that a lot of kids can develop long hauler symptoms. >> absolutely. do not go away. we are going to continue this conversation over on facebook live right now we can speak with senator

thank you so much for joining us today on this interacted show. we have 15 seconds left so i guess you give your one truth, not two truths and a lie. what is one truth? >> follow the science, stay

positive and we can through this. remember breaking tonight as we come on the air, the new milestone in the race to vaccinate. 50% of all americans now fully vaccinated the cdc reporting the highest single day covid total in exactly three months. the deadly surge of the delta variant overwhelming hospitals. florida reporting the most admissions. 60% of hospitals in the state expecting critical staffing shortages in the next week. doctors warn of more cases among children as school districts battle with state officials over masks. in texas, hospitals there also facing major staffing shortages. patients lining hallways. plus, what we're learning about a new mutation of the virus. marcus moore is at a hospital in dallas tonight.