>> brennan: welcome back to "face the nation." we want to take a look at the covid situation around the world. senior foreign correspondent elizabeth palmer reports from tel aviv. >> reporter: margaret, good morning from israel which leads the world with vaccinations. 80% of the people here have been immunized. the u.k. is doing well, too. nine out of 10 adults over 65 have now had a shot. at the hospital where he almost died of covid a year ago, prime minister boris johnson got his. >> i literally did not feel a thing. >> reporter: but in mainland europe, things are going from bad to worse. its covid death toll

passed the million mark on friday and infections are surging. parisans rushed to leave the city before a new lockdown stopped travel this weekend. those left behind will be able to meet outside for exercise, but not much else. the vaccine rollout in europe has been slow, plagued with supply problems and politics, and last week a shut down of astrazeneca vaccine because of an alleged connection to blood spots. this facility in germany shows the fallout, plenty of vaccines, just no costumers. scientists say this mess will cost thousands of lives. also struggling is brazil, where authorities closed copa cabana beach. oand finally in mexico, public health in action.

resistance was here. here in israel, the effect of the mask vaccinations is clear: deaths are down to under 10 a day, and the economy has pretty much fully reopened. margaret? >> brennan: liz, thank you. as part of our continuing efforts to learn from experience in terms of the coronavirus pandemic, we spoke saturday with dr. moncef slaoui, the former chief advisor of "operation warped speed," the vaccine development effort under the trump administration. president biden has said that the trump administration had not contracted for enough vaccines when he took office. he blamed the trump administration saying -- >> biden: america had no real plan to vaccinate much of the country. my predecessor failed to mobilize the effort to administer the shots, failed to set up vaccine

centers. that changed the moment we took office. >> brennan: is that fair? >> doctor: i think that is a very negative description of the reality. i do think we had plans. in fact, 90% of what is happening now is the plan that we had. of course, the first thing was to accelerate the development of the vaccine. we contracted specifically 100 million doses of vaccine, but also built into the contract options to acquire more vaccines once we knew they are affective. and the plan was to order more vaccines when we knew they are more affective. i think what is happening is right, but i think what is happening is, frankly, what was the plan, substantially what was the plan. >> brennan: you said 90% of what is happening now is what you put into place? >> doctor: i think in terms of manufacturing and supply and distribution, which is the physical shipment of vaccines to immunization sites, the

answer is yes because there is a ramp up in manufacturing that always happens, and that's what we're experiencing and seeing. i do think in terms of immunization and shots in arms, in particular the large vaccination sites in sports arenas and the likes and the participation of fema, those were not part of the plan. and they are participating to accelerate, i think to some extent, the immunization. but the bulk of vaccine distribution is helping in the health care centers and the pharmacies, that was all part of the plan. >> brennan: where do you think there were flaws in this strategy? certainly on the vaccine rollout, we hear from governors, we hear from those who have to do this last mile of administering it, that there were problems and there still are problems? >> doctor: i think we have failed to communicate the fact that vaccine doses availability is going to be, you know,

slow over time because we went so fast there is no stock of vaccine. it was impossible to have enough vaccine doses quickly enough compared to the expectations. so we were unable, and we communicated in the months of november and december and january to manage the expectations. the approach taken was a fis sfiphilosophical approach, which was part of the prior a administration, which is the federal government will be responsible for the vaccine, and the states will facilitate it. there was a need for the states to learn, which they did in reality, and that's how improvements are having now. and socialists fo>> brennan: one things that president biden did do is get merck

to step up and make up for their own shortfall. did "operation warped speed" have a manufacturing plan like that in place? >> the discussion with merck had started already prior to the new administration taking office, including discussions around making available their facilities for definitely in the short-term doing what is called the "fill finish," which is putting the vaccines into the sterile vial. and over a longer period of time, to manufacture the vaccine itself. and it has been completed in this administration. >> brennan: just to clarify, was president trump going to order merck to do this? >> doctor: no. no. but we had discussions -- the d.h.s. had discussions with merck to use merck facilities for this

purpose, yes. >> brennan: do you think that president trump's refusal to concede the election caused problems in the handoff to the biden administration when it comes to vaccines? >> doctor: things didn't start very quickly. i don't think there has been, in terms of execution and operation -- i don't think there was any changes or delays. maybe in terms of ownership and full understanding by the new administration of what was going on, it's possible that it was not as fast as normally it should have been. >> brennan: what we are seeing, dr, doctor, in our own cbs polling, is that republicans, particularly those under the ach age of 65, are concerned about taking the vaccine. what do you think of that. >> doctor: i'm very concerned. that the people will place themselves and people in

arm's way by refusing to be vaccinated. the vaccines have nothing to do with politics. they're safe, they're highly affective. they're going to help them protect themselves and the people around them from the spread of this virus, and, critically, from the potential appearance of new variants. >> brennan: why do you think republicans are now hesitant to take it? >> doctor: i don't know. it is beyond my rational thinking. i'm a scientist, not a politician. but i would hope that president trump and others in the republican party should really work hard to engage more republicans to accept it and be vaccinated. >> brennan: president trump has said he has chosen to take the vaccine, but he chose not to do so on camera. do you think that would have made a difference? >> doctor: i do think it would have made a

difference. people project images and can convey important messaging. >> brennan: the response to the virus continues to be a political issue. this week senator rand paul mocked dr. fauci for continuing the masks after he was vaccinated. >> we're not spreading the infection if you were vaccinated. you're wearing the mask, is that just theater? >> brennan: do you think people who are vaccinated need to still wear masks? >> doctor: i think that as long as the herd immunity has not been attained, people should continue wearing a mask when in public and in crowded areas. because what we don't know yet is whether the vaccine prevents replication of the virus. it is an act of civility for the people around us who have not yet been vaccinated. so, yes. >> brennan: do you feel like your stigmatized for

having worked with the trump administration? >> doctor: with time, the one thing i want to focus on is i feel extremely fortunate to have been able to help and participate to allow us to have vaccines and control this pandemic. that's the only thing that counts. there were moments, frankly, where i thought to myself, oh, my gosh, why did i get myself into this? but they never lasted long because the mission is way more important than those emotional moments. i do believe that it is a mistake to politicize a health issue. it is a big mistake. many people probably have died or suffered because the whole situation became so political that, you know, emotions overtook rationality. >> brennan: senator elizabeth warren took aim

at you because you worked for moderna and you sold your stock in the company. this came at a cost to you. but you're saying you think was worth it? >> doctor: it did come as a significant financial cost to me, to be honest. but it is worth it. i had major issues with senator elizabeth warren. as i told her in a video, i don't know you and therefore i don't judge your values. you don't know me and you can't decide that i'm a corrupt person and i'm doing this to make money because i know that is not the case. i worked for nine months day and night. wasn't paid. i didn't ask to be paid. i didn't want to be paid. i sold my shares in moderna. the one thing i decided was that i didn't want to do is selling my shares for smith-kline. i couldn't do more than that.

and, frankly, now it is behind me. the one thing that counts is we have vaccines, and i'm glad i was part of the time that helped deliver that. >> brennan: bottom line: do you think america is prepared for the next pandemic? and what do you think needs to be done differently now by the current administration? >> doctor: we have to be better prepared. the preparedness in my view should, in particular, include availability of manufacturing capabilities, which means manufacturing sites, manufacturing equipment, and manufacturing people that are running the manufacturing of vaccines on an ongoing basis. we should be having laboratories and manufacturing sites dedicated to discovering, developing, manufacturing, and stockpiling vaccines, even if they are not useful now, against known potential pathogens that can be pandemic agents. i think it is imperative. i think it is a matter that may cost $500 million

or a billion dollars a year. it is a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of the pandemic on a daily basis. >> brennan: dr. moncef slaoui, thank you for your time. >> doctor: thank you for having me. >> brennan: our full interview with dr. moncef slaoui is on our website at facethenation.com. we'll be right back. ♪ mom and dad left costa rica, 1971. dad was a bus driver at the chicago transit authority. mom expressed herself through her food.

that was her passion. and on august 20th, 1990, they opened lrazu. last year business was great. and then the pandemic hit. we had to reset. the city had said that pick up and delivery was still viable. that kept us afloat. in the summer, we were so excited to have our customers back on our patio. safely of course. and keeping our diners informed was so important. last year was so hard, but the support from our customers, it honestly kept us going. serving the community, serving the neighborhood. this is the dream that mom wanted. ♪ tasha, did you know geico could save you hundreds on car insurance and a whole lot more? hmm. so what are you waiting for? hip hop group tag team to help you plan dessert? ♪ french vanilla! rocky road! ♪ ♪ chocolate, peanut butter, cookie dough! ♪ ♪ scoop! there it is! ♪ ♪ scoop! there it is! ♪

♪ scoop! there it is! ♪ ♪ scoop! there it is! scoop! ♪ ♪ shaka-laka! shaka-laka! ♪ ♪ shaka-laka! shaka! scoop!. ♪ ♪ choco-laka! choco-laka!...♪ geico. switch today and see all the ways you could save. ♪ sprinkles! ♪ >> brennan: we go to former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb, he sits on the board of pfizer swel as well as alumina. good morning to you. >> doctor: good morning. >> brennan: when we spoke last sunday, you were very concerned about new york city and this new variant 1526, that has been circumstance circulating au said you would be very cautious. what do we know now? >> doctor: i'm still concerned about it. we're seeing cases and hospitalizations go down across new york, and that is a good sign, although testing has also plummetted. when you look at certain

parts of new york, brooklyn, parts of queens, the positivity rate is approaching 15%. so you're seeing a lot of infection surging in pockets of new york city. what we don't understand is whether or not people are being reinfected with it or whether or not people who are vaccinated are getting it. one of the things that we have with that variant is that we know in certain cases is causing people who already had coronavirus to get reinfected with it. the question is whether 1526 is responsible for some of the increases that we're seeing in new york right now, and whether this is the beginning of a new outbreak inside the city. we're not very good right now at collecting the cases and linking it back to the clinical experience. we need to start sequencing cases, especially people who reported they either were previously vaccinated or already had covid. >> brennan: when you say "we," you mean the c.d.c.? hugh newho needs to do that?

>> doctor: the c.d.c. they need to work with the new york city health department. i think they're going to step in and start to do that. but they need to be aggressively marketing to doctors, asking doctors to come forward and report cases where they're seeing cases of people previously infected with covid getting reinfected. we don't know that that is happening, but some doctors are reporting that now. it could just be that 1526 and b117 is becoming more relevent, but you want to make sure it is not reinfecting people. right now 50% of the infections in new york is with variants. and b1525 26 is the most prevalent. we're probably missing cases of " of b1526. >> brennan: when it comes to b117, dr. fauci

said it is about 30% of u.s. infections. it is, what, 50% more transmissible and also potentially more lethal. when you see these pictures of these spring break gatherings in florida and elsewhere, does that make you rethink your projections here and worry about a fourth wave? >> doctor: well, i don't think we're going to have a fourth wave. i think what we're seeing around the country is parts of the country that are plateauing, and uptakes in certain parts of the country. i think the fact that 120 million americans have been infected with this virus, and we've vaccinated and gotten one shot in at least 70 million americans, and maybe 30% of the people being vaccinated previously had covid, we're talking about some form of protective immunity in about '0 50% of the population, so i don't think you'll see a fourth surge. but you'll see a plateauing.

in a large part because b117 is becoming more prevalent and we're pulling back on the restrictions, but i think it is not going to be enough to create a true fourth wave. if you look at in europe where they're having a true fourth wave, they've only vaccinate one in nine adults, here in the u.s., we've vaccinated one in four. we're continuing to vaccinate about three million people a day right now. >> brennan: mayor gars garcetti of los angeles is taig that. but his hunch is that these variants of concern have already ripped through the population, and that's what they saw with the pandemic in january. what do you think of his thesis? >> doctor: it is probably right. the two variants we're tracking in california probably have already become epidemic in that part of the country. they probably have a level of immunity in the population that you won't

see a true fourth wave. once you get 50%, 60% of the public with some form of immunity, there is not a lot of people to infect. again, we're vaccinating against that. so we're continuing to put protective immunity into the population. i think the fact that we've taken our foot off the brake a little too early -- march is always going to be a difficult month, but we really should have waited until april. it probably means we'll plateau. the only thing that can be a real game-changer is if we have a variant that pierces prior immunity, meaning it infects people who have had it or have been vaccinated. the variants are epidemic in the u.s., but 1526, the reason why people are concerned about it, including me, is it could be such a variant. we need to figure it out. we don't know right now. we need to get better at determining these things. >> brennan:

dr. gottlieb, thank you for your analysis. we'll be back in a moment. when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of god, in due time he will exalt you. hi, i'm joel osteen. i'm excited about being with you every week. i hope you'll tune in.

you'll be inspired, you'll be encouraged. i'm looking forward to seeing you right here. you are fully loaded and completely equipped for the race that's been designed for you. >> brennan: the number of unaccompanied minors at the u.s.-mexico border this spring is on track to be the highest ever.

cbs news correspondent mireya villarreal has been covering the story from both sides of the border. we asked her to share what she has been seeing. >> every day they see between 200 and 300 people every day. >> reporter: as a journalist, you're taught to just report the facts, but riding in the back of a pickup truck along the banks of the rio grande river provides perspective most people don't usually get. when you see a group of migrants -- are you scared? >> there is more? >> yeah, there are more coming. >> reporter: filled with children, babies, a 10-year-old boy traveling alone from honduras. he says god is watching over him, that is why he is not scared. it is hard to contain your emotions as a human. so he is 10 and he doesn't know where he dad is. his mom is in honduras.

fleeing violence, poor living conditions and corruption in their own countries, many travel for months to get here. they are hungry, welt, and desperate for a chance to request asylum, a right afforded to everyone, no matter how they get here, by a united nations treaty in 1951 and u.s. law in 1980. >> well, this is one of the main crossing areas. >> reporter: we embedded with local constables who are helping to respond to the latest surge of migrants in south texas because federal agencies won't allow media access to shelters or processing facilities. >> you cannot be here. >> reporter: for decades the border has been used as a pawn to push political agendas forward, but all efforts to find any kind of solution have failed. local leaders on the ground on both sides of the border are tired of the federal government's inability to fix the system. >> this is actually a

church school that has now been converted into a shelter from migrants. there are a lot of people from a lot of different areas. one thing they have in common is they want to be able to have their chance to go into the u.s. and ask for asylum. >> reporter: city governments and faith-based organizations are once again bearing the brunt of this humanitarian crisis. >> she is six years old. they crossed the river and they'll be asking for asylum. and he wasn't scared. >> it is not about whether they should be here or not. they are here. so what we need to do is work together to care for them correctly. >> reporter: the biden administration refuses to call this a crisis. instead, they see it as a very serious challenge. but the word "crisis" is defined as a situation that has reached a critical phase. is sentiment we clearly saw from the back of that pickup truck along the banks of the rio grande.

>> brennan: our mireya villarreal eporting from the u.s.-mexico border. we'll be right back. st as your , with access to tax-smart investing strategies that help you keep more of what you earn. and with brokerage accounts, you see what you'll pay before you trade. personalized advice. unmatched value. at fidelity, you can have both. ♪ more than this ♪ serena: it's my 9:12, no-days-off migraine medicine. it's ubrelvy. for anytime, anywhere migraine strikes without worrying if it's too late, or where i am. one dose can quickly stop migraine in its tracks within two hours. unlike older medicines, ubrelvy is a pill that directly blocks cgrp protein, believed to be a cause of migraine. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. most common side effects were nausea and tiredness. serena: ask about ubrelvy.

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>> brennan: that's it >> brennan: that's it for us today. thank you all for watching. until next week, for "face the nation," i'm margaret brennan. ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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watch cbs in bay area with the kpix 5 news app. the party is over in miami beach. state of emergency is imposed on crack down on rowdy spring break crowds. swat teams clear the streets. trouble at air ports, this brawl over a refusal to wear a mask. also border crisis, the government races to house thousands of unaccompanied migrant children and slow the flow. >> the message is clear, do not come. >> and the ncaa is blasted over inequality. >> as coaches, we need to really stick up for more than just dribbling