residents. a thorough review of the available data indicated that these deaths were not related to the covid-19 vaccine. and the death rate in this population, though truly sad and unfortunate, was consistent with the expected background death rate in this demographic. i want to emphasize that we have implemented the most comprehensive vaccine safety monitoring system program in our history. and the data released from the cdc today are reflective of this effort. we will continue to closely monitor these events and report back as further data emerge. i want to be sure that you know the facts and not the myths about vaccine safety. the fact is they are safe and they will save lives. that is why we are committed to working with state and local public health partners as well as partners in the private sector to support getting people vaccinated as quickly and as

safely as possible. to help advance our collective efforts to scale up vaccines in communities, on monday cdc is convening a three-day national forum on covid-19 vaccine. the forum will bring together a broad range of governmental and nongovernmental partners to share information and best practices on how to build trust and confidence in covid-19 vaccines, how to use data to optimize vaccine implementation, and how to provide premarket activity -- practical real-world information for those increased risk of covid-19 and for those who may face barriers to vaccination. i'm excited about this forum and the rich dialogue it will stimulate, and i vine those involved in vaccine efforts to register and attend this important meeting. thank you. as always, i look forward to your questions. before that, i'll turn it over to dr. fauci. dr. fauci? >> thank you very much, dr. walensky. what i'd like to do is take a

couple minutes, briefly reviewing the status of the vaccines and vaccine trials, but then, too, pick out a question i believe is being asked more frequently to try and pre-emptively address it and perhaps generate some discussion. with regard to the trials that we have, as you know, the u.s. government had been involved in the development of and/or facilitation of the testing of three separate platforms represented by six different companies. you're all aware of the data of the moderna and the pfizer/biontech, which have their eua now showing a 94% to 95% efficacy. right now as we speak, the data from biontech's study showed a 72% efficacy in the united states but was also done in south and latin america and showed a diminished efficacy against the variant but very

good against severe disease. that is being reviewed at the fda for the u.s. data, and on february the 26th the fda will consult with their independent advisory committee, and we should be hearing from them soon. with regard to the astrazeneca and the novavax, those trials are both fully enrolled. these are event-driven decisions, so when they reach a certain amount of events they will then look at the data and make decisions as to whether or not to go ahead with a request for an eua. so having said that, let me now just very briefly address a question that is a very relevant question that we are now more commonly being asked. if you look at the existing trials, those have already gotten an eua, and those that we anticipate and hope will get an eua, when will we be able to say

we can vaccinate children? children in the high school range and children in the elementary school range. you know from pfizer that they startled off with the trial of 44,000 individuals down to 16-year-olds and then progressed it down to 12-year-olds. so what they're going to be doing in april, starting in april, they are going to be studying 12-year-olds down to 5- to 6-year-olds. that will take likely one year to get the information on that, likely not until the first quarter. however, we anticipate data on high school-age individuals, namely individuals 12 years old to 17 years old, by the beginning of the fall, maybe not exactly coinciding with the first day of school, but sometime in the fall we will have that. moderna, as you know, started off with already 18-year-olds.

they are now currently enrolling 12- to 17-year-olds. so let me take a moment to explain the process of how you get relevant information regarding these younger individuals. this is a representative trial which very likely will reflect other trials. it's a 3,000-person trial, so right off, you're not dealing with the 30,000 and 44,000-person trial that gave the efficacy signal in the original moderna and pfizer study. what the trial is, is the trial is what's called a non-inferiority, big words to mean what they're asking, is it safe in the children? and does it induce an immune response that's comparable or not inferior to the immune response that we know is

associated with efficacy in the other trials? and that's the way that trial will go. and then we're start big the end of march, they will do what's called an age de-escalation study. we're already enrolling under 12 to 17. they will go to the 6 to 12, then 2 to 6, then 6 months to 2 years. again, we will likely get information for high schoolers at some time in the fall, but it is i would say more than unlikely we will not have data on elementary school children until at least the first quarter of 2022. similar types of approaches are being taken by the other candidates, the other companies, namely j&j, novavax, and az. so the bottom line of all of this is as follows -- it is

highly likely that sometime in the fall we will have data that will give us the capability of saying the safety and comparable efficacy in children 12 to 17, 18 years old. again, the final decisions we always leave to the fda. i'm trying to give you a roadmap of what likely will happen. but then also with the studies that i just mentioned, to getting the information to make the decision in elementary school children almost certainly will not be firmed down until the first quarter of 2022. i will stop there and hand it back to andy. >> thank you, dr. fauci. okay. we can take some questions. >> good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where the white house covid response team just said there is a weather backlog because of obviously weather across the united states of 6

million vaccines, affecting all 50 states, with three days of delayed shipping. andy vit said vaccination sites should be ready for extra volume and if everyone works together he believes they can catch up. you heard anthony fauci saying that trials on children are going to begin going downward from the 18- and 17-year-olds and working down to 6- to 12-year-olds that will not begin to show results until the beginning of 2022. this is the big story today, president biden making his debut on the world stage, speaking to europe's key security summit in munich but this time as president, ditching donald trump's hostile rhetoric by embracing friends and putting adversaries on notice. >> i speak to you as president of the united states. at the very start of my administration. i'm sending a clear message to the world -- america is back. the transatlantic alliance is

back. and we are not looking backward. let me erase any lingering doubt. the united states will work closely with our european union partners, capitals across the continent, from rome to riga, to meet the shared challenges we face. >> the first move, the state department's willingness to restart talks with iran if iran agrees and officially rejoin the paris climate agreement, that's effective today, also contributing to the global vaccine fund run by the u.n. joining me now, nbc chief white house correspondent and "weekend today" co-host kristen welker, nick burns, also and professor of diplomacy at the harvard kennedy school, former u.s. also to nato, and ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser to president obama who helped negotiate the original iran deal. kristen, first to you. this was a wide-ranging speech. i was in munich in 2019 when joe

biden went as a private citizen, he says as a professor, and he said america will be back. today he said america is back and i'm the president. >> reporter: andrea, you're right. this was a part of president biden's reset as it relates to reaffirming and re-establishing the united states' relationship with, alliances with some of its closest and most traditional allies. that theme was front and center in president biden's remarks. this is the direct opposite of the foreign policy of his predecessor, former president trump, who engaged in the america-first foreign policy, so president biden has been very clear and he campaigned on a promise to really reaffirm those key alliances. now, it comes, as you laid out, andrea, against the backdrop of all of these critical issues. the u.s. officially rejoining the paris climate agreement. the global fight against covid with the united states

announcing new commitments today to the global vaccine fund. and, yes, that news overnight that the biden administration is now willing to restart negotiations with iran if iran agrees to do so. that's the big question mark around this. so far we've only heard from the foreign minister on twitter. not clear that iran is going to get back to the negotiating table, but president biden mentioning that in his remarks right now, saying that it is critical to address the destabilizing actions that iran is engaging in right now. so making it very clear that that is going to be a key part of this foreign policy moving forward, trying to address that critical issue in what the administration sees as critical threat but doing so with its key partners, andrea. >> and picking up on, that ben rhodes, you were part of the negotiations with iran that started in secret and then of course the major negotiations which lasted for quite some time. you covered that, what they call the p5+1, the european union and

the five permanent members of the security council. here's what joe biden said about it today. >> we're prepared to reengage in negotiations with the p5+1 on iran's nuclear program. we must also address iran's destabilizing activities across the middle east, and we're going to work in close cooperation with our european and other partners as we proceed. >> ben, tony blinken said in his interview with me and what they've been stressing is these are just talks to talk about how to get engaged. they wouldn't just be the u.s. and iran. it's not to redo the nuclear agreement or rejoin it as it was but certainly in response to criticism, address iran's missiles and behavior like the attacks this past monday. >> yeah, andrea. i think there's two questions

here. the first question is do you get back into the original nuke lash agreement? do they return to the terms of the agreement that donald trump left a couple years ago after the united states left, then iran started violating the terms of that agreement as well. the biden team of course i think does want to get back into that agreement, does want the limitations on iran's nuclear program in that agreement. they may also want to discuss other aspects of what iran has been doing, like a proxy tax on troops in iraq. the europeans will want to get back into that agreement, make that foundation for the discussions with iran going forward. i think the biden team has to make a judgment about whether they go back into the agreement or try to bring these issues into the present negotiations that will be commencing in the days ahead. that's tricky because the iranians are not going to want to agree to address things beyond the existing agreement that they rightly feel the united states violated. a lot of diplomacy to come, but

the good news for everybody, at least, is there is diplomacy. >> there is diplomacy, and if iran agrees to engage, and there is a pressing deadline. they've already, because of trump's withdrawal from it in 2018, they've already in the past year violated limits on fuel production and uranium enrichment production. but what they're about to can do if they carry out this threat is after this weekend stop inspectors from making spot inspections and seeing where suspicious sites might be. that would be a critical breakout moment. so they have to agree to back down to that or something has to happen in the next couple of days. nick burns, in addition to iran, which you know so well, russia. president biden really addressing the critical relationship between the european allies and russia. let's watch this. >> criminals attack our democracies an weaponizes corruption to try to undermine our system of governance.

putin seeks to weaken the european project and our nato alliance. he wants to undermine the transatlantic unity and our resolve because it's so much easier for the kremlin to bully and threaten individual states than it is to negotiate with a strong and closely united transatlantic community. >> nick, in the last four years, the allies have been upset because we have, you know, not consulted them withdrawing from syria, timetable from afghanistan, which trump put which now has been frozen by biden. but russia and china have not been doing nothing. they have been wooing other markets and wooing europe and germany is dependent on the natural gas pipeline. so how easy is it going to be for joe biden to re-establish america's leadership in the world? >> zra, i think it's going to be difficult, but you have to say, president biden has had a very

strong week. everything you reported, back in the paris climate change agreement, back in the fight against the pandemic globally at the world health organization. and this speech today at the conference has put the united states squarely back on center stage globally in a way that we have to. you heard what president biden said. he said the biggest competition of our time is the struggle between the democratic countries of the world and the authoritarian countries like china and russia. he was tough on russia in a way that president trump of course never was in decrying this major cyberattack just over the last couple of months in the united states and also making sure that the united states was not going to withdraw troops from germany. so a very good speech by president biden. >> and, kristen, when we talk about climate, which is of course the other big thing that happened today, john kerry is now going to be speaking to munich very shortly and then doing something later today as

well. gina mccarthy. it's a full-court press. how realistic are those goals given the political climate on the hill? >> reporter: well, it's going to be very difficult, andrea. when you think about president biden's climate legislative agenda that he wants to push forward, which is another nearly $2 trillion package, it is going to face opposition. and there's going to be difficult. this is undoubtedly, though, again, talking about this reset, a reset when it comes to how the united states is approaching the issue of climate change. of course former president trump questioned whether it was real, questioned how impactful it actually was, and so this is a very different way of addressing climate change. but when you think about trying to actually get his plan through congress, it looks very difficult, particularly given the fact that right now he's focused on getting his covid relief package passed. he's going to be in michigan later today touring the plant at

pfizer, touting the need for that covid package, which is a $1.9 trillion package, which republicans already say the price tag is too steep. this is something he and democrats are likely going to do without broad republican support. and again, that raises questions about how much support he's going to get moving forward, in terms of reach across the aisle in terms of other legislative priorities, andrea. >> kristen welker, also nick burns, ben rhodes, thank you all. coming up next, feeling the heat? as his constituents suffer in frigid conditions without heat or water, new details emerging about texas senator's ted cruz's last-minute getaway to a luxury resort in mexico. the only one from america's most reliable network. we designed our 5g to make the things you do every day better. with 5g nationwide, millions of people can now work, listen, and stream in verizon 5g quality.

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president biden said today he wants to visit texas next week where power has been restored to millions following the week's storms. he said he did not want to be a burden on first responders because the state is dealing with the serious border disruption. millions of people who have lost water supply with frozen pipes and frozen wells. ted cruz returned back to his home state following his last-minute getaway to mexico to a resort. cruz admitting the trip was a mistake after photos of him at the airport and on the plane

went viral. cruz originally said he planned to come back just a day later on thursday after dropping his daughters there, but leaked texts from his wife said it would last a lot longer into the weekend. he spoke outside his home saying it was his daughters' idea. >> look, it was obviously a mistake in hindsight, and i wouldn't have done it. i was trying to be a dad and all of us have made decisions when you got two girls who have been cold for two days and haven't had heat or power and saying, look, we don't have school, why don't we go -- let's get out of here. >> cruz's office has not responded to requests for comment about political criticism because texas democrats like the houston mayor are calling for his resignation. >> as leaders, we stay on the ship. we don't leave the ship when the ship is in trouble. >> joining me now nbc news

correspondent gabe gutierrez in houston and michael steele, former republican national committee chairman and the assistant dean of the lbj school of public affairs. gabe, you've been down there. you were at the airport when senator cruz came back, and he ducked out a become way, i guess. didn't talk to you guys there. blistering criticism. >> reporter: yeah, exactly right, andrea. you're right. senator ted cruz avoided reporters at the airport, did grant a few local news interviews as well as to fox new late last night. he did say he regretted his decision to go on the trip as soon as he got on the airplane. of course many folks here in houston and in texas, millions of whom were without power on wednesday, are outraged, and the outrage is growing. "the houston chronicle" with a blistering editorial basically saying that the anger in texas right now over cruz's trip could

power an electric grid. we did speak with several people waiting for propane yesterday. they were extremely frustrated by the senator's trip. take a listen. what would you tell senator cruz if you could? >> to get his butt back over here and help us out. help these people out. a lot of people out here still don't have electricity. a lot of people out here with no water, no money, no food. >> reporter: and a source familiar with cruz's travel arrangements tells nbc news that he was originally scheduled to return on saturday but actually rebooked his flight at 6:00 a.m. thursday morning after the controversy had already erupted and those pictures of him at the airport had gone viral. now, andrea, something else new this morning, overnight, "the new york times" reporting that a series of text messages from senator cruz's wife, heidi, was sent to friends and neighbors and that she had invited them

essentially showing that the trip was hastily planned according to "the new york times", the paper says the text chain was provided to them and confirmed by an unidentified second person on the chain. and according to "the times," that group text chat including an invitation to head to cancun and to join the cruzs at the ritsz carlton hotel. cruz's office has not commented on the texts despite repeated requests from nbc news, but andrea, again, as you can see, the outrage in texas over the controversial trip is mounting. >> thanks so much, gabe. now to michael and victoria. victoria, you were in austin, you live in austin, your kids, you your family didn't have water for days, didn't have heat. first of all, how are you now? >> we're doing well, thankfully. we're very lucky, andrea.

we only lost power for 36 hours. and we have a fireplace and we're healthy. but it just -- it hurts me to think about the rest of my fellow austin people, texans without power for days. i talked to a colleague of mine. she was without power for five days. folks don't have water. those who do have water have to boil it. and that's just the tip of the iceberg because the next several days we're going to be seeing crises of food shortages because of supply chain disruptions, folks having to deal with repair to their homes. several folks i know, pipes have burst. they're dealing with flooding. they can't get plumbers. it is a disaster after disaster and what texans need right now is to come together, having unity, having empathy. and one of our foremost national leaders, ted cruz, we didn't only see empathy, but we saw an

insult to us. those of us who are suffering, our community and really think this speaks volumes because actions speak louder than words. it's very hurtful. as a community, the repairing has to happen in terms of resources, but it also has to happen in terms of a community spirit where everyone is in it together. >> his words are hurtful compared to his previous words because the hypocrisy meter. look at this compilation of a few of the things he's said about others who took such trips. >> it's crazy that we'd be taking a vesz. let's not take any recesses. let's work every day. let's work weekends. let's work till we get the job done. we have a job to do and we have a short window of time. so we ought to stop taking recesses, stop taking time off and just keep going till we get it done.

>> so, michael steele, what is the political damage? he's not up until 2024. >> he's not up till 2024, but this damage is deep. a lot of texans right now are mad, and rightly so, and the hypocrisy is coming back home to roost. look, i get the desire as a lot of parents have had to contend with this desire of their children to get away. and to the extent that parents have tried to accommodate that, they can and they have. but when you are in the middle of a crisis and you are a leading figure in the state who can help with that crisis and you check out the way he did, yeah, that's going to sting. and that's going to leave a welt for a long while. you don't just get to walk it back because as you've shown, there are so many other instances where ted was so quick to criticize others who mad a,

had a, quote, lapse in judgment. he took the high and mighty position to chastise them. well, guess what? welcome to the chastisement. and it is deservedly so. and i think right now, you know, the sort of -- the feel i've heard from folks i've spoken to who live in texas, blaming your daughter is not a good look. >> and, in fact, "the new york times" has the guidance from their private school, the girls go to a private school and the guidance is they would have to be quarantined next week once they get back. just briefly, michael, presidential hopes, ted cruz has clearly been pondering a second run. >> oh, yeah. yeah. everybody's pondering a second run until they don't have a second run. the reality of it is this landscape is not going to be shaped by ted cruz. it's going to be shaped by donald trump at least in the interim. we'll see who emerges and how

they emerge in response to a trumpian effort, but, you know, ted is going to have to stand in line like everybody else. >> okay. michael steele, victoria defrancesco soto, thanks very much to you. good luck to all of you with family in texas. attacks against asian-americans have spiked. racist rhetoric around the pandemic. now the new wave of violence, political leaders speaking out about how to stop these attacks. that's coming up.

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during the pandemic, there has been a surge in hate crimes against asian-americans. it's only gotten worse in recent weeks. some of the accounts are harrowing. one 83-year-old man in san francisco telling police he was pushed to the pavement in a racially motivated attack. and in new york, noelle cantana described the moment he was attacked on the subway. >> and when the door opened, he

stepped forward and slashed me. then i put my hand on my face and then i look at my hands, there's blood oozing. so i cried for help. i cried for help. but nobody helped. >> terrible account from mr. cantana. joining me now, jo ling kent and chris wu, co-chair of the initiative on asian-americans and pacific islanders. joe, talk to me about this. you've been reporting it out just how bad things have gotten. what was the response in i know nancy pelosi spoke about it today. you were on that. >> yes. we just wrapped up a press conference with speaker pelosi and members of the group trying to address this hate crime. speaker pelosi reiterates her

support for president joe biden's executive order for the doj to better document and take in complaints of anti-asian hate incidents. but of all the congressional members on the call, there is no specific plan just yet to move beyond the current resolution passed by the house. there has been very limited support by the republican side on this front. so what chairwoman judy chu mentioned in the press conference today is that they do want to have a meeting with the doj about the executive order put forth by president biden. they also want to get more gop support. and, andrea, they also mentioned they want to start a new bipartisan aapi caucus. but for so many people who are going through this violence right now in their own community, touched personally by this issue, there is a need for more action. and big stars in hollywood, actors and producers like daniel day kim, are looking

specifically at the pig rise in hate crimes and hate incidents against asian-americans. they are citing that former president trump has enabled this and allowed this to happen. this was what daniel day kim had to say to me a few days ago. >> we need to do more as asian-americans to voice our concerns and speak up, and we also cannot allow ourselves to be silenced. >> speaker pelosi also in the press conference today, i want to point out, said she encourages anyone who witnesses issues like this to, quote, take down the words, because as you know, andrea, a lot of these issues and incidents that have unfolded especially in the past couple months have not been classified as hate crimes. speaker pelosi saying if there is more documentation of what is being said then perhaps there's a better chance that these issues get classified as hate crimes or at least alleged as such. >> and chris, amid these attacks, nbc is reporting school

principals are concerned over asian-american children over student safety when they return to classroom. how did we get here? >> well, andrea, we can't say this often enough. words matter. and they especially matter when they come from the president of the united states. and we've just gone through an entire year where the former president consistently used terms like chinese virus and kung flu even though he was warned about the consequences of his words. he did so gleefully. we have about 2,800 hate incidents against asian-americans during a five-month period last year. but behind the statistics are these heartbreaking stories. it's asian-american doctors and nurses who are being harassed by the patients they're trying to treat. it's the young students who are being bullied on their way to school that you just mentioned. and now these harrowing stories about senior citizens in the asian-american community who are being attacked. and the cruel irony of all of

this is that the pandemic has hit this community especially hard. when you look at unemployed asian-americans, half of them are considered long-term unemployed. that means they've been out of weather for 27 weeks or longer. that's the most of any racial group. asian-american small businesses have been on the front lines of retail and restaurants so many of them are closed as well. look, i applaud what the biden white house has done in devoting one of their first executive orders to this issue, but a lot more needs to be done. when we're having these conversations about racial equity, it needs to include asian-americans as part of that conversation. >> and enfoce from the, justice department. thank you for your focus today. we appreciate it. the u.s. is back in the paris climate accord, but how will the biden administration make up for last time? more on that and the president's plan coming up next.

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as of today, the u.s. is officially back in the paris climate accord. the trump administration pulled out of the deal adopted by the rest of the world in 2015. president biden's special envoy for climate, john kerry, the former secretary of state, is going to be speaking shortly at the munich security offense to demonstrate the u.s.' solidarity with our partners and allies. joining me is democratic senator chris van hollen. thanks for being with us. big day on the world stage because the president says we're back, we're open to talks with iran, we are contributing $2 billion to the covid vaccine plan that the u.n. runs and now the paris climate accords. how difficult is it going to be to develop a plan to appreciably reduce emissions by 2030?

>> well, andrea, it's great to be with you. as president biden said america is back. we're back and standing with our democratic allies against authoritarian regimes. we're back to engage iran to prevent iran from developing a nuclear weapon. the trump reversal of that policy was a disaster and left us much worse now than we were four years ago. and we're back in terms of asserting american leadership on climate change, which is not only a threat to ourselves and the planet but also an opportunity, as president biden so often says, for more american homegrown jobs. and that is going to be the major focus of the president when it comes to the next round of legislation. right now we're dealing with the emergency relief to defeat the covid virus and keep the economy afloat. next is about building back better, and that includes a

modernizing of infrastructure and dealing with climate change. >> so what does the u.s. need to do to restore its diminished role? particularly on climate change. >> well, first of all, we have to rejoin the paris climate accords, because donald trump had isolated us by taking it out and really ceded leadership for other countries including china, which has invested huge sums of money in clean energy, energy efficiency, battery storage. so we have to get back on the world stage, and that was the first step with president biden. but then we need here at home to back up our words and that means making investments in modernizing our grid. look what's happening down in texas right now. not only are they seeing the ravages of climate change with these huge drops in temperature,

but the fact is that they were unprepared in terms of modernizing their electric grid. we need to do that in concert with putting more americans to work in good-paying jobs, when it comes to building out our clean energy infrastructure. and that is something that president biden laid out in great detail during the campaign, and we're now going to have to translate that into policy action. he's already taken some steps through executive action, using federal agencies and the purchasing power of the federal government to get us started in this area. >> you brought up texas and the horrible weather reactions, the problems that they've had with the electric power grid and with the water and everything else because of the weather. what's your reaction to senator cruz's little abbreviated trip to a resort in mexico? >> well, first, andrea, it was incredibly disappointing to see

the response of the texas political leadership not focus on trying to solve the problem in front of them, not recognizing that they had failed to heed previous federal warnings about what would happen if they didn't improve their grild but to try to actually blame the power outage on the issue of clean energy and green energy, when, in fact, it's all the reverse. look, senator cruz is somebody who's always the first to point the finger at others, but here he was abandoning his state of texas in an hour of great need while people were desperate for help, and instead of being part of the texas team to help those in need, he decided to head out of the country to a resort in cancun. that is not leadership.

we've seen president biden step up and say fema is engaged to help texas. while president biden was there for texas, their own senator was not. >> you were there on january 6th. capitol police now investigating dozens of police officers for their aks on january 6th and six officers have been suspended without pay. we know of the heroics actions by many, many sacrificing being injured and officer sicknick dying as a result of his injuries. what's your reaction to this investigation to some others on the police force? >> i'm glad you underscored the bravery we saw from so many capitol hill police officers that day. we have all seen the tapes of their efforts, save members of congress in the house and senate

and protected other staff working at the capitol. of course, we need to do a thorough review of everything that led up to that awful attack on january 6th and what went wrong in terms of defending the capital and, obviously, we need to look at what resulted in president trump unleashing that violent mob on the capitol but also the defenses here and that includes looking into accountability of members of the capitol police force. this is manager that the leadership there has decided to take action on as they review the conduct of certain members. that's going to be important. we need an accounting of everything that happened but that doesn't take away from those capitol hill police officers who were on the front lines putting themselves at risk that day. >> indeed.

they are real heroes. thank you so much. thanks to you and have a great weekend. the president will be on his way this afternoon to pfizer to plant in michigan. pfizer is announcing beginning vaccine trials in pregnant women. first such trials to include expectant mothers here in the u.s. this comes amid the debate over vaccine safety for pregnant women with no clear guidance from the cdc on whether they should get vaccinated but the cdc does say that pregnant women who contract covid do have an increased risk of complications. that's very important. the covid infection rate is 70% higher in pregnant women and higher for pregnant women of color. joining me now dr. patel.

what are these trials going to teach us about the safety of vaccinating pregnant women? >> yeah, good to be with you. it's incredibly important that they do the trials because it's been a population. pregnant women breast-feeding, lactating women as well as women in general. we had a history of not including women in trial. i will applaud the manufacturers. they have done a really good job around gender as well as health care ethnicity and race. this is a population and it's the conversations we're having with women. not even those who are pregnant but they are hoping to get pregnant and asking very important questions like what if i do get pregnant and i get my first dose. will this cause any harm to the baby. so far, we have also had a number of people who have received the vaccine in real world time that have been pregnant. we have increasing data that

demonstrates that it is effective as well add safe but the inclusion in purposeful randomized control trial will also help put to rest the skepticism that i think is out there as well as answer important questions about when the optimal time to get the vaccine might be if your pregnancy. >> i know it's not scientifically controlled research study but what are you finding in your own practice? >> yeah, what i'm finding is that pregnant women are very concerned about passing anything if they did get covid on the their babies. they are concerned about causing any harm to their babies and to themselves. especially in communities that have been disproportionately hit and don't have a lot of trust in the government at this point.

we're seeing mothers coming forward or soon to be mothers coming forward and asking a lot of questions and asking when is it safe to get this vaccine. will i be able to get the vaccine. mr. states are not necessarily vaccinated younger people. ta are worried it's kind of two conversations. some who really desperately want it and not able to get it right now and another camp that is incredibly worried because they heard a lot of myths and not had a chance to ask questions. the bottom line is all of these questions are important. it takes time. it took me about 25 minutes the other day to just walk through what the vaccines do and what they don't do. that's not time that's necessarily easy to find in health care settings these days. >> not at all. thanks for helping us close the week out. we really appreciate it. if you need help figuring out when and where to get your covid vaccine, our interactive and

personalized state by state guide has everything you need to know. we're ending this week on a high note. nasa landing its fifth rover on mars. the rover made a precision landing in crater after a seven-month 300 million mile journey. it's sending back photos of the surface. it will collect soil and rock samples in sterile tubes which will be brought back to earth in the next decade. that does it for us. our thank to come costello for the information about mars. chuck todd is up next. have a great weekend. s up next. have a gatre weekend honey honey? new nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honey-licious taste. nyquil honey.

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