♪ announcer: building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc7 news. kristen: good afternoon. you are watching answers. the day, we get into the details of a new proposal that one city supervisor things could be a solution to the homelessness crisis. it will require the city to provide shelter to the house. you will want to work up your appetite for oakland restaurant week. we are talking to one of the participating chefs who opened a restaurant during the pandemic. we look forward to that conversation. also, the debate over whether or

not you need a fourth dose of the covid-19 vaccine. vaccine makers makers makers emergency use authorization for a second booster, but it is -- is it really necessary and who would benefit from this extra dose? we are waiting for one person, who is here, and she says it is complicated whether we need that fourth dose. thank you for joining us today. clear things up for us. will we get a fourth booster shot. if so, when? would you say about it? >> i have to take on take explain the immune system to answer this question. think of it in three different arms of the immune system, antibodies, the first line of defense, mostly here in your nasal area, then there is cellular immunity. you form a relationship to vaccines t cells.

they help make new antibodies if they see the virus again in the future. so what happened with omicron is the bodies we got from two doses did not work as well because there were so many mutations, 32 across the spike protein, and anyone who wanted r got a booster, that help to prevent infections pick the cdc showed the other day that there was good protection against severe disease, even with two doses, against omicron, and that is because your cells protect you. antibodies, if you get a boost, will go up, but come down again after four months, according to the cdc, so the question is who needs a fourth booster, there antibodies temporarily up, and usually most people who are in a compromise can wait a bit people who need antibodies hig areh

peoplen wait. they can't wait for the cells to make antibodies. they need them to be high, so people older over 75, according to a cdc study, showing people at risk of severe breakthroughs are over 75 and people who are immunocompetent my spirit -- immuno compromised. liz: we are seeing two different approaches from pfizer and moderna when it comes to this fourth booster. if you can talk about those approach is and is there one that makes the most sense? >> yes, pfizer is asking for a fourth dose for anybody above 65, and that goes along with what i said, that the people most at risk for severe breakthroughs are actually over 75. the u.k. is only putting it for over 75, but they are most at risk, older people. moderna wants everyone to get a fourth shot, 18 and above.

i do not believe that approach makes sense to it i believe the pfizer approach makes sense. you can get a fourth shot as a 20-year-old, your antibodies will go up temporarily, but they will come down after four, but you have a good immunity to protect yourself against severe disease. it is changing our understanding of what the vaccines were meant to do. they were never meant to prevent every single mild infection of covid. they were meant to protect us against severe disease. that is why we created vaccines. liz: this gets into what you already spoke about. i'm looking at questions from people on facebook as well. is there a chance to much booster ken hagan -- can have a negative effect or make us less immune, more immune to the vaccine? >> it is a good question. there are some immunologists who are concerned that if you keep seeing the old version of the spike protein, remember, it was

not developed against the other variants, that was another strain, there was a spike protein, the old spike protein, you keep training your t cells to respond to an old variant, some immunologists call that original antigenic sand, not allowing your cells to adapt. and so, that is a concern if you keep getting the same one again and again. on the other hand, i would say that what we have seen from the u.k. and israel is older people getting that fourth shot, no harm, and certainly has protected, especially older people against severe disease, so again the national health services of the u.k. just approve this week a fourth shot for those over 75, in sweden approved a fourth shot for those over 70 a month ago. liz: when do you expect a

decision on this in the u.s.? we just got a report that the fourth shot seniors, is that which you are understanding as well? >> yes, this is two wednesdays from now. i think, i can't imagine they will approve it for everybody. i think it will be what you said. the seniors need a fourth dose. it also depends on how rapidly the viruses circulating, and how high the viruses circulating in terms of being a fourth dose. for example, in the bay area, we have low rates of covid. we have not been affected by ba.2. we have not seen that surge. in the future, different variants, that is when older people needed, so it is different being in hong kong now than it is here in the bay area. liz: moderna

vaccine works in babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, so what does her vaccine for young children look like i do think that will be passed by the fda? >> that was a great question. this was six months to just under six-year-old trial. the reporter: durst --moderna was 25 micrograms once, then later. one dose of three micrograms is not work well. it did not raise the right antibody response, so wasn't approved by the fda so in this case, moderna showed between six months and six years, you have a nice antibody response that you want across the entire age range. that is good news. vaccine how well it works, it was done in the time of omicron, so it prevented mild infections at a

low rate. that is what two doses does for adults as well in terms of mild infections. there was no severe disease, even in the placebo group. so to put it all together, it does not do that, so that hopefully means your cells will be generated by the vaccines, and personally if i do young child, i would get the vaccine. liz: do you think you will be a vaccine by summer? >> sooner. they just said they will apply for those now. they just about the results today, so hopefully it is just the end of march and we will get it in one month. liz: ok. let's talk about the ba.2 variant. how concerned should we be about a big surge of covid in the coming months. >> ba.2 is now 35% of strains and we have still not seen a surge.

the europe and u.k. did see a surge when they got around 25%, because it is more transmissible than ba.1. dr. fauci says he does not think we will see a surge here. i don't think we will see one. three reasons, if you have had ba.1, come up to 75%, it is hard to get ba.2. number two, we have higher rates of vaccinations and natural immunity. number three, denmark is like us. they have high rates of vaccination. cases went up, but hospitalization stayed low. liz: that is good news. we are hearing about quite a few people getting covid, hillary clinton, barack obama, and diapers that have friends and colleagues who have been sick, so it feels like it is out there and people are getting it. >> this is something that is really related to the fourth booster shot.

if the viruses circulating, people make it mild infections with covid did before, you never would have known it was covid. you never would have known because we don't test, but now we test. it is impossible to eradicate covid. that is something we have to accept. at some point, we probably won't tell each other if we have a mild case. liz: the interesting thing talking with some of my friends who have covid and they are vaccinated and boosted, they say, wow, it is much worse than i thought it would be. i am much sicker than i thought it would be. >> i think that is true. antibodies, and it depends on your age. that is why older people need that booster. liz: so is the ba.2 more transmissible? >> it does look like it's more transmissible by 25%.

it is apparently not more verlander. they did not see more hospitalizations with ba.2 versus ba.1, but it is more transmissible and that leads to cases going up in friends and family seeing covid, than hopefully comes back down and we won't see a variant for a while. liz: we really, really hope so, but you have given us positive, up ♪ optimistic news today, so k you so much, but w

a san francisco supervisor is spearheading an effort to end homelessness in the city. this week, it legislation was introduced that would require the city to provide shelter for anyone who needs it.

he says while the costs could run into the tens of means of dollars, the ultimate goal is to eliminate homeless and campus -- encampments and is worth it. supervisor, thanks for being here. it is cold a place for all. san francisco would be required to offer every person experiencing homelessness a place to sleep. talk about how that would be done under the program. >> yeah, so, actually,, proposal is very modest and reasonable. it establishes the policy to offer shelter to any unhoused person willing to accept it, then directs the relevant departments to come back to us with a plan and a budget to get that done. i think this is a reasonable and necessary thing, which is why i was surprised one year ago when we had such great opposition to much of this from homeless advocates. liz: i want to ask you about that, but first, some nuts and bolts. how many homeless people are

there in the city, and how many are being sheltered versus un-sheltered? >> yeah, our last count was back in 2019. we are in the process of completing one now, so we don't know what the latest data is, but back then, there were about 8000 homeless folks, and about 5000 were unsheltered. we know that not everyone who wo on the streets is interested or will except shelter, but we also know insofar as we want to address the encampment crisis, we need more shelter. compared to other cities, we are way under sheltered relative to our population. enormous you mentioned -- liz: you first mention the summer proposal and it was shutdown down, so what now? >> this time, we have the support of four colleagues on

the board. i think folks growing awareness there is a connection between our underinvestment in the proliferation of encampments around the city. san francisco spins a huge amount of money, 500 million dollars, north of $500 million a year now, on homelessness, but we are doing it by trying to solve it through housing. i believe in providing as much supportive housing as we can, but that is often years and years in the future. we need a way of getting folks off the street tonight. and that will not be housing for everyone, but we should be able to provide at least a safe sleep site, a tiny home, something that is safer for those folks then being in tents on the sidewalk, and will provide some relief in the neighborhoods in which those encampments have

proliferated. liz: where would these sites be located? have you identified specific locations, specific neighborhoods? >> no, this is a first appeared we need the department of real estate and housing to provide a plan for sites where they might go, how much they will cost. we are just starting this process, but it is important for san francisco to recognize that we need to do more to provide shelter, a lot more, and focus resources in that direction. liz: as you know very well, one big debate is should people be forced into accepting housing. how would that work with your proposal?what would you do if there are people who simply do not want housing? >> this is the nine states of america in san francisco and we cannot force people to take shelter. but if we want to end encampments, we are ethically and i think legally required to offer people a safe place to be

that is not the sidewalk. i want san francisco to be a place where we can offer any person willing to come off the streets a safe and better alternative and we can also say that encampment's cannot remain in these neighborhoods. liz: why are there so many people on the streets? are there not enough beds? or are there open beds and people who do not want to fill those beds? >> there are people on the streets who are not interested in shelter. there are a lot of people who would take it if it was offered, and we must make those offers and get those folks into shelter if we are going to interest -- address encampments. not everybody will take the offer, but if you don't make the offer, you can't take it. liz: mental health is a huge part of this. how will that challenge be addressed in your proposal? >> well, we can provide shelters with special services for people

with behavioral health issues, and we do, and just getting somebody into a home or safe sleep site and offering services, i think, is the path forward. there are people who will need way more intensive intervention. some folks need conservatorships. some folks need a lot of behavioral health support, but the first step is to get folks off the sidewalk, and to do that, we have to provide a range of different shelter options. liz: what is the cost of your proposal? how do you anticipate it would be funded? >> we need to get cost estimates, and that will start with hsh telling us how many people they think might need shelter. i would think it is at least 1000 additional placements, may be more, and we know that shelter is not cheap. the cheapest shelter is a safe sleep site or tiny home, and those are, the cost of setting

those up or far less than some of the navigation centers. if were going to keep those places safe, we need to adequately staff those places, and that does add costs. i don't think this is cheap. this is tens of millions of dollars at least, but we spend, as i said, more than $500 million a year on homelessness, and that's not accounting police response, paramedics, all the other costs to the city, and i think spending tens of millions of dollars to provide the shelter that would allow us to address those encampments and provide safe exits for those willing to take those exits, is money well worth spending. liz: absolutely. something needs to change. thank you for joining us to talk about this proposal. we appreciate it. >> thank you for the opportunity. liz: coming up,

liz: welcome back. falafel, hummus, you can f can f

one of the nearly 90 restaurants participating in oakland restaurant week and indulge on food and drinks with delicious deals through march 27, so here to talk oakland restaurant week is the chef and owner of one restaurant. i hope i'm saying your name right. are you there? >> thank you. liz: oakland restaurant week includes food trucks, michelin star restaurants, and everything between. tell us about the event and what it entails. >> we are offering a special dinner, four courses, with sangria. some of our favorites and some things off the menu. we are having hummus with eggplant, which we don't always offer. we put walnuts on top with fresh herbs and a little pepper. we have salads, rice dish, and a special dessert, then sangria, so dinner for two.

that's what we are offering. liz: that sounds delicious. what type of pricing d.c. with oakland restaurant week? -- pricing do you see with open trestle -- restaurant week? >> there is quite a lot of variety. there are a lot of restaurants. some chefs are bringing new items that have just come at desk back after these two years, so there's a lot going on, a lot of variety. there are 90 restaurants. liz: wow. so do people need reservations? >> some restaurants do take reservations. i suggest you visit the restaurant website and take a look at the restaurants and what they're offering and look at all the restaurants and see all of us with a lot of information. liz: restaurants, as we all know, were hit tickly her by the pandemic. how important is this given that many places are still recovering financially? >> this is so important.

of course it is important financially, but it is also so heartwarming. our patio has been packed. it is great to see people in welcome them into our space. we have been doing a lot of take-out for the last two. this event is bringing people out. it just feels celebratory. it feels so nice to be out. liz: obsolete. how is your -- absolutely. how is your restaurant doing now? does it feel back to normal? >> we did not have a normal because we opened in march 2020, at the end of march 2020. with the way things happen, i was building this location and we got our permits just before shelter-in-place, so we don't really have a normal. i can state that our first year we were just surviving day to day. it was just like him are we going to make it? and now, especially this last

couple of months, especially this month, it just feels like we are winning. it feels like we are on. that is really heartwarming. liz: that is heartwarming to see. we are showing incredible images of your food. this is one of my favorite types of food, israeli, mediterranean food. we are seeing falafel, hummus. talk about your style of cooking. >> so, we offer is really food, which is a combination of middle eastern, mediterranean, north african. we do a lot of north african dishes. some european, eastern european. it is a mix of all of the above that makes us us. you can see our special dinner for restaurant week in the picture. so you can find here very good hummus. if i may say so myself. it we have naturally fermented pickles. we have a salad on the menu at

any given time, pulling from different ethnicities, influences, and seasonal produce, of course. all produce is organic. most everything we use is organic and locally sourced, especially -- except for some special stuff that is brought here for us from israel. we also have some hot dishes. some of these are really popular, moroccan-style dishes. liz: i'm getting

bye. liz: all right, thank you for joining us on this interactive show. we will be here every weekday at 3:00 on air and on livestream answering your questions. world news tonight is next.

we will see you at 4:00. have a great night. tonight, on a special edition of "world news tonight" near the ukraine/poland border, president biden has now landed here in europe. the emergency nato summit. and tonight, the u.s. now formally accusing russia of committing war crimes in ukraine. president biden touching down in brussels just a short time ago. harrowing new images posted online of the devastation in mariupol. bombed-out apartment buildings. 100,000 people with little access to food and water. and major news coming in from outside the capital of kyiv. the pentagon now says ukrainian forces are pushing russian troops back from the capital. and tonight, president biden warning the possibility of vladimir putin using chemical weapons in ukraine is a, quote, real threat. james longman in ukraine. cecilia vega traveling with the president.