>> building a better bay area -- bay area, moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. kristen: i'm kristen sze. you are watching getting answers live on abc seven, hulu live and wherever you stream. we asked experts your questions to get answers for you in real time. we're going to get a preview of this weekend's susan g. komen walk in san francisco, which returns in person after a year off due to the pandemic. we will talk to a breast cancer survivor who has a warning for women putting of health care due to covid. also in a stunning break from norms, the cdc director has overruled a cdc advisory panel and issued recommendations for the pfizer booster that goes beyond what the panel voted for.

there is a lot of confusion over who is now eligible and who is not. let's bring in special correspondent dr. a low patel to answer all of your questions which you can post on our facebook live feed. good to see you. >> good to see you as well. your hair looks great today, by the way. happy friday. kristen: thank you so much. what do you want? money, more gaming time? wait, that is what i say to my kiddo when he says sunny -- says something nice to me. i know there's a lot to get to with the booster. we will start with two trues and -- truths and ally? >> let's do the best way to get the topics out there and the viewers can chime in. they are pretty smart. this is the way it works. dr. patel will present us with three options and one will be the light. you try to pick it up. dr. patel: round one, a, as

-- as defined by cdc director rochelle walensky, some at risk roots -- groups should get a booster. others may get a booster. getting tricky with the wording there. b, underlying conditions for the booster consideration includes asthma, obesity, and being a former smoker. or is it c, the j&j vaccine vace booster increases after two months rather than longer. it should say increases the amount of antibodies. the j&j vaccine booster increases antibodies after two months or so then after longer, say six months. which one is not true? kristen: first avoca, my eyes -- first of all, my eyes are too old to read this at all. sorry, folks the fund is different today. -- sorry, folks. the font is different. dr. patel: you've got the viewers. it's all good. kristen: can i get confirmation from our director and producer that our facebook live feed is up?

because i'm not seeing it. so obviously this may mean our viewers are not seeing it and cannot help me. that is one of my concerns. also i wanted to see because i was sending people there to ask questions for you. ok. so it is delayed and it is not up right now. i will have to do this without help. dr. patel: ok. kristen: i know. viewers at home, you can shout at me, but i will not be able to hear you. which one is the line? -- lie? i'm good to say b is true. as in people who have conditions for which they can talk to their doctor and see, should i get it even though i'm between 18 and 64 and not technically in that 65 and up category? i'm going to say it is not b. j&j vaccine booster, increases the antibodies after two months. no, i want to say that is the live.

some at risk groups should get a booster. i think they did say if you are immunocompromised, you should get a booster. but -- i don't know. i'm going to say c, even though i don't really know. it is kind of a gas. dr. patel: this is why you are a brilliant anchor. c is the live. kristen: i am a lucky anchor. dr. patel: i apologize for the tricky wording on c. what i meant to say is the j&j trials came out earlier this week. some results from a. it shows antibody levels did increase after two months and six months. it was more so after six months. kisses for a second shot, a booster from the j&j vaccine. that is something for anyone out there who got the j&j shop, that is something to think about. a is tricky. but yes, those groups above the age of 65 and those older with an underlying medical conditions are those who should get the booster, but may get the booster

is referring to those who hard younger, and those who work and essential services such as in a nursing home or hospital. the reason i had to bring up b, and we can get into this, but there is a whole list of underlying medical conditions that qualify for people who are eligible for the booster. i've not seen any evidence that pharmacies will be verifying this. it will be at the station. it is up in the air to see if people are following this or people checking in with their doctors before seeking a booster. kristen: right. that was really helpful. that is a great start. by the way, a couple of our viewers, we did get that facebook feed started. everybody who responded said c is the false one. our viewers know what they are talking about. they have been paying attention. that's great. i'm going to need your help again in round two which comes up during our segment coming up after the commercial break. can we up -- our producer made a graphic to try to show people

who is covered in the cdc's recommendation. it is confusing. we are going to throw that up there. people 65 and up, automatic. you got the pfizer, now you can get the pfizer booster. long-term care, automatic. if you are between 50 and 64, or if you are between 18 and 49, it is underlying conditions. i think that is where you get into the should and could, if you are 50 to 64. you should. 18 to 49, talk to your doctor. maybe you could. people with high risk jobs. talk about that the high-risk job part, that is where the cdc director rochelle walensky differed from her advisors yesterday that didn't think that category should be included in the booster. where do you stand on that? dr. patel: i have to say, even though i have reviewed every single phase of these guidelines, even hearing you read that back, i got confused again. but is what so many people are facing when they are hearing the eligibility for the boosters. your question is a great one

about who qualifies as essential or front facing or high risk of exposure. if i were to make a personal opinion or talk about what we were talking about in 2020, in terms of those who are most at risk, it is anyone who is interacting with the public on a regular basis. grocery store, a teacher in a crowded classroom in florida or a place where vaccines and masks are not mandated, or is it only people working in health care? that is up to the individual. if you have questions, talk to a health care professional. you have to look at your own situation and look at how often you are potentially running into people who could be positive. san francisco, we have about an 80% vaccination rate, which is incredible. this may not be the case for people living in other counties or in certain working conditions. i don't know if this is going to be verified at pharmacies. bottom line, if you are concerned enough because of your occupation and your health care professional gives you the go ahead, you are green lit to get the booster. kristen: can we dive deeper into

what are underlying medical conditions? those folks can now get a booster. what are we talking about? high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity? dr. patel: there are a lot. the big ones right now that we are talking about are things that can affect your immune systems. those are cancer patients, people who have received an organ transplant on certain medications. there are also pulmonary conditions, obesity, pregnancy is on their which is an important one to remember. that is a high-risk group. i'm looking on the website now, there are things like chronic kidney disease, dementia and other neurological conditions, type one into diabetes, down syndrome, heart conditions, liver disease. the one that got some attention in terms of looking at how crazy these recommendations were, before cdc director weighed in, after the advisory committee from the cdc made their recommendations yesterday, according to their

recommendations, a 25-year-old smoker who works from home should get a booster. but an er nurse who has no underlying medical conditions at all should not. i think that is why director well and ski stepped up and said, this needs to be broadened a little bit. kristen: sounds like you agree with her take on this. we will take a short break on the air. when we come back, we will get more into boosters with another round two truths and a lie. hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. -what, you mean-- -mhm. -just like that. -wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? -i am.

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and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, so call now. (soft music) ♪ ♪ hello, colonial penn? kristen: we are back with our correspondent dr. alok patel from an -- for another round two truths and ally -- and a lie. that is just for pfizer. moderna and j&j, not yet.

that's coming. in a few weeks. dr. patel: i'm glad you made that point. this is all for pfizer. there is promising data and they are expecting to submit the data in the upcoming weeks. this is all about pfizer about pfizer. if you are playing along, enter your question and try to spot the lie. getting tricky here. dr. patel: there is a lie and this will be all about schools, which we should pay attention to. this is very important. which one is not true. is it recent data from san francisco unified school districts shows a test positivity rate of less than .2% for students and staff? or is it according to the cdc, schools in arizona with and without a mask requirement had nearly the same rate of outbreaks? c, in florida, children exposed to sars-cov-2 who are a symptomatically no longer have

to quarantine at home? which one is false? this should give you a testament to how varied we are across the country in terms of mandates of kids going back to school. kristen: right. i'm going to give our facebook viewers a chance to answer this question. i'm going to rule out i think san francisco unified had an incredibly low test positivity rate. super low. that sounds right. i'm going to rule out c. from everything that has been in the headlines about florida, yes. they have very relaxed rules compared to california. i would not be surprised if that is the case. i'm want to go with and b. that sounds unlikely that schools in arizona with and without a mask for armand would have the same rate of outbreaks. that does not seem likely. it's possible. we know masks work. unless you got lucky in the community that don't have many cases, it is like close to zero,

that is the only way i can see that. let me confirm with our viewers, everybody is saying. it is unanimous. let's go with that. dr. patel: next week, i will make these harder. the answer is b. kristen: high-fiving my facebook viewers. dr. patel: sometimes i don't want to make things on proud of a lie. the positivity rate is 0.14. i'm so thrilled about that number but i was like, i can't make this a lie. i need this fact to be on screen. that goes to show you number one, what the testing data shows that kids are doing well, but also the power of when you back the adults around the kid, you reduce the amount of sars-cov-2 floating around in the community. kids are safe here. c has been a topic of controversy because of those lax rules in florida. vaccine mandate, it has brought up the conversation of what will we do in the future in terms of exposures to sars-cov-2? how often do we have to play these printing games for?

b is false. there are four times as many outbreaks in those schools without a mask mandate or mask requirement on the ones with. kristen: i will just say this, and this is getting into personal opinion. i usually don't want to wade their. i think we need to keep kids in school as much as possible. if you have been exposed but you are a symptomatically if you can truly get daily rapid antigen testing or something, and you are testing clear and free every day, i think it is ok to keep the kids in the classroom. testing is not there either. i've been though the funding is here in california, there are a lot of schools that don't do it. dr. patel: i agree. if you were to add all of the levels of protection, and you include testing, and there was a higher level of adults that the native, we need to revisit these quarantine rules. if we had more testing and more

screening, we would catch these cases ahead of time. if you were to say a kid is asymptomatic, what if the kid is pre-symptomatic. and develops symptoms two days later. then you have these other kids around and yes, the data shows kids by and large do well. what about the one kid who has an underlying medical conditions? kristen: absolutely. i would only entertain from what i saying i'm keeping the kids in school stand and there was low community spread. and daily testing. dr. patel: i agree. kristen: i want to go back to one point this part of the booster recommendation. this is a big deal not getting enough attention. they say people with weakened immune systems who got the pfizer or moderna are eligible for a third shot four weeks after their second dose. this is not considered a booster. this is the third shot becoming a regular schedule for those folks in that group. dr. patel: correct.

in some respects, the booster itself for any group could be considered a three dose series. that might be the most optimal way. are people who are immunocompromised, this is already done with other vaccines in cancer patients or those who are on certain medication that lower their immune system. that is not necessarily because over time, the antibody levels is waning. it is because certain individuals don't get the proper in an response from their first series of vaccination. this is something that people could expect in the future with this vaccine. kristen: are you still considered fully vaccinated after the two shots if you are eligible for a third but choose not to get it? dr. patel: as we define it right now, yes, that would be considered fully vaccinated. if we were to look at vaccine mandates, with the new booster recommendations, that will be an interesting one for state and local governments to look at.

according to the data, i would say yes, you are fully vaccinated. truth be told, and i think this is an important unifying thread, across all of the discussions from white house, fda, to today's talks with the cdc, is the fda -- is the vaccine protects against severe disease and hospitalizations. the data reflects that. there is only 20,000 breakthrough cases leading to hospitalizations and death out of 181 million. -- million vaccines administered. that is like .0001%. still very effective. kristen: to that point, cdc advisors said boosters should not be given to so many healthy people since the vaccines remain highly effective. but, we are hearing about more and more breakthroughs. san mateo county, 18% of total cases between mid july and mid august were people who are vaccinated. why not just give it to more people? throw open the gates to anyone

18 and older who felt they needed a booster? we don't seem to have a supply shortage in the u.s. there doesn't seem to be a downside from a health standpoint, like it could hurt you. the question is why not? why limit at the way the cdc did? dr. patel: i think this is twofold. the first thing i will address is the whole why not? the first thing is we know the optimal time. we think the optimal time to get a booster is after six months, closer to eight months. that is because that is the best time your immune system will ramp up and are -- ramp up antibody spirit people who got their vaccine recently, this may not be a good time for you to get a booster shot. i do still think it is important that we are following these broader decisions. these committees are looking at a lot of data, real-world data, safety data, to make the adequate recommendations. i would not jump out and get a third shot because of those main reasons.

when we talk about breakthrough infections, we have to keep reminding people there is a difference between infection and disease. i think we see these terms get confused a lot. people are saying these signals of breakthrough infections, and citing the vaccine doesn't work. they do work. . if you get an infection, it does not lead to disease. you test positive for sars-cov-2 and it does not turn into symptomatically for 19, that means the vaccine worked. that is something young people who are concerned have to remind themselves. kristen: great conversation. good information. so much more to talk about. we need to do an hour show every day. dr. patel: i'm game. tell the bosses. kristen: ok. i will do that. have a great weekend. thank you. dr. patel: happy friday thank you. kristen: we will take a short break on the air

kristen: we are back. this isn't an more than pink walk at the san francisco zoo is

happening. the annual fundraising event is back after a year off due to the pandemic, and it highlights an important issue made more dangerous by covid. joining us to talk about more than pink is breast cancer survivor kirsten fordyce wheeler and megan klink, the vice president of susan g. komen's west region. megan and kristen, thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much. >> pleasure to be here. kristen: the pleasure is ours. megan, you are forced to go virtual last year. now you are back in person. this is the 30th anniversary they congrats. what is different about the lock? megan: yes. thank you so much. we are thrilled to be back and celebrating 30 years in the bay area. if you be able to do it in person. if you have been to one of our walk events in the past, we will be doing it differently. we still need to be mindful of being safe and socially distant. it starts at 9:30, but it has a staggered start time.

there is no opening ceremony, no mass gathering of folks. you will be able to show up, and thank you to san francisco zoo and garden. they have 100 acres. you can self pace through this beautifully designed course. there is local chalk artists, musicians, ways you can engage in the mission, and feed animals. kristen: it all looks like so much fun and for a great cause. kristin, i know you will be walking. this is going to be your first time walking and there is a personal reason. you were diagnosed with breast cancer two days after the bay area went into lockdown over covid last year. >> yes, i was scared two days. and a day before my 52nd birthday. kristen: can you talk about what has happened since then? >> i spent most of 2020 going through treatment. i had a 40 millimeter tumor. and i had a wonderful team at sea bmc who managed to shrink the tumor via chemotherapy. by the time i had surgery in

september, the tumor had completely gone. the tissue was taken. i did to four weeks of radiation. and i'm 100% cancer free. kristen: we are so happy for you . you kicked cancers about. many women either voluntarily or were forced to postpone routine exams like mammograms during the pandemic. how do you feel about that in the wake of what you went through? >> i think it is the wrong thing to do. i think the bay area medical staff are per -- are prepared. you need to get your mammogram. i missed mine in 2019 because i flew to australia for a family emergency. it was the last. . thing on my mind. bingo, one year later. kristen: megan, i have to ask you too. two things. the impact of the pandemic on breast cancer, detection and screening, and also talk about what the pandemic has done to research funding and research? megan: yes p you hit on it.

for us, we have seen a significant decline in screenings as well as total cessation for a time of clinical trials and research. we are just beginning to see the emerging to stick of collateral damage that that has caused on dam it on breast cancer treatments and finding here's as well as what we know we are going to see. a higher rate of later staged diagnosis. that is not what we want. we know you have better chances of survival when you catch it early. no get screened. kristen: go get screened. for folks who are walking they are can tripping to fundraising for research like you talked about, which was. on hold last year you are having to play catch up. i want to mention our own kate larsen will be at the event. she will be emceeing the event the sunday. tell us, can people sign up?

do they sign-up alone or as a team? megan: you can do either. it is not too late. go to covid.org/sandfranciscowalk. you can either join us at the zoo on sunday or experience the entire event digitally. fundraising goes through breast cancer awareness month. if you are excited to still fund raise and help fuel our mission and earn will incentives, it is definitely not too late. kristen: fantastic. megan klink and kiersten fordyce wheeler, thank you for joining us. good luck this sunday with more than pink. megan: thank you. kristen: take care. we will take a short break.

kristen:kristen: thank you for joining us on this interactive