>> thank you for being here tonight, i've got to tell you, i'm going to scoot right now to make way for my colleagues, lawrence o'donnell. because it is time for his exclusive interview with president joe biden. that starts right now. >> help is on the way, it means heaven and earth to get more people vaccinated or 100 million shots in our first hundred days in office. >> i can say that we're going to beat that goal. >> it is a race between the vaccine and the virus. >> 200 million shots, the goal on that in the world, this is an american achievement. the exponential growth and vaccinations, it actually seems to be stopping. >> to millions of americans, they just need a bit of encouragement to get the shot. >> i don't know if i'm going to get it. >> i feel like i'm pretty healthy. >> you hear so many stories and side effects, i don't need a

side effect. >> we really need to do whatever we can to win over people who are hesitance. >> our goal by july 4th is to have 70% of adult americans at least with one shot. only way to get our lives back, to get our common ground, back is to beat the virus. >> this is an msnbc town hall, vaccinating america. >> good evening, and welcome to vaccinating america. and msnbc town hall. i'mlawrence alon joined tonight by my colleague, vanessa talk from telemundo. >> we are here with a live studio audience, in northern virginia community college in alexandria, which counts among its 40,000 students and faculty members job i'd. and >> joe biden says that

beating the coronavirus is the only way to fully reopen the economy, and get our lives back. the vaccine has been available for months now, and as of tonight more than 150 million people in america have received at least one shot. some people still have concerns about getting the vaccine for themselves, or their children. >> our audience, in the theater room tonight, will be able to put their questions directly to three members of the biden health team. doctor anthony fauci, chief medical adviser to being president, u.s. surgeon general, murphy, and health and human services secretary of -- heavier but. sarah >> throughout the, hour we will be joined by one of the leaders of the pandemic. doctor kizzmekia corvette, member of the national institute of health for the pro health creating the moderna. vaccine >> job one for the biden administration is to get

lifesaving vaccines into his many arms as possible to stop the raging coronavirus that has killed 580,000 people in this country as of tonight. i spoke with president biden about this earlier today at the white house, and full disclosure, i worked in the united states senate with senator joe biden in the 1990s when i served on the staff of new york democratic senator daniel patrick mana ham. >> mister president, you met and exceeded your first hundred days goal of shots in arms. i have it here, thank you, thank you for executing that delivery. what about the next hundred days? can vaccination still be a number one priority in the next hundred? days >> yes. but there are close seconds. we will have a big announcement in a couple of days. we have another 50 million to put in arms, should be 250

million. and, one of the things i focused on when i got elected, overwhelming needs. one, to get the american public vaccinated and we had to go out and get vaccinate tours as well as vaccine to get 600 million doses of it. we got that down. and to get people back to work. because, you know, we lost millions of jobs, 22 million -- i think it's 22 million jobs. and they are directly related to vaccines, or to covid-19. so, what i'm continuing to do is making sure that we get people back to work. and change and circumstance where we get to the far point where we have at least 70% of the american public vaccinated. my goal is that by july 4th. i think we can do. that we are close to 59% in one shot, so i think we're getting very close. >> you are coming up against something that we have ever seen before, and any

vaccination program, or any public health program, which is a partisan resistance to vaccination. this is in addition to other hesitancy's, is that other populations have but there is a partisan resistance. and that is among people, many of whom fail what is a basic mental competency tense, who is the president of the united states? they actually get that question wrong. how are you going to convince them to get the vaccine? >> just showing up. all the stuff about vaccine hesitancy, the truth of the matter is, more and more people are getting the vaccine. and so, i have never believed that the there will be a large percentage of americans who are not get the vaccine. we used to do local politics 100 years ago, what happens when you never get this vaccine, you're an extra never gets. it you say, well, maybe i should get it. and no matter what your position was, when you see people in a position where you can easily get the vaccine, you

don't have to go way out of your way. that is why you see, i was on doing some meetings with folks who are providing for example the governor of maine, a republican, he's saying, if you want to get a free hunting license, come get a vaccine. people are showing up. people are showing up across the board with the idea -- i have never believed at the end of the day that there would be any large percentage of americans who would not get the vaccine. >> i have a question for my telemundo colleague, vanessa hawk, who wonders what do you say to people who are worried about immigration status, that that's a reason for them not to get the vaccine? >> well, i say that they shouldn't worry. they should get the vaccine. they should get the vaccine. >> and there will not be any interactions with governments because they get the vaccine? >> what i have said is that it is one thing for people who are in country here to have --

if they show up for a doctor's appointments, they show up to drop a child off at school, etc. we should lay off of those people. that's why i introduced a conference an immigration poll. there is 1 million -- overstayed their visas. we should move about getting that and taking care of it. making sure there is a pathway to earn citizenship, and to get it underway. it should not be a position where if they are trying to save their lives, or their health, and if they do what needed to be done to make people around them safe as well, they shouldn't be penalized for that. >> you just had a meeting with the speaker of the house, and minority leader of the house, minority leader of the senate and i had that external signal which is always a good sign which is that it went into overtime, he won much longer

than people outside the room we're expecting. kevin mccarthy said it was a productive meeting. mitch mcconnell said it was a productive meeting, but they do seem to be conjuring a red line as mitch mcconnell called it on any taxes. any taxes to pay for an infrastructure bill, and you have some serious tax increases for your infrastructure. bill >> well, look, there was a red line of saying that they would do anything on anything quite frankly. >> that was last week, mitch mcconnell said last week, he had 100% of republican senators lined up against your infrastructure bill. >> i understand that. but i think that we have a deal. and there are ways in which we can pay for this without just putting an entire burden on working class and middle class people. for example, this is a situation where there's an estimation of somewhere between 700 billion and a trillion 300 million billion dollars. if we hire more -- and if we go after those folks

avoiding taxes at the top and. and that is, i mean these are serious, these are high in the sky, these are serious experts, liberal conservatives, etc. so let's say somewhere in between, that's a trillion dollars, i'm confident they would go for. that uncounted infinite for example something that is not in the 200, two trillion dollar tax cut from which nothing was paid for. and it ended up being an increase in debt. that there's a thing called stepped up basis. that is not in it, stepped up basis complicated, i don't know what it was, and ever had any money so i don't know what it was. but for example, if you have a capital gain, you are wealthy person, you are about to cash in. you got 1 million dollars with the stock, now it's worth 1, 500, 000, we are going to catch it in and god forbid when you catch it in, you'll figure you'll be hitting electrocuted. i think it's left to your son or daughter, they pay on the capital gains that you would have to pay. it is not inherited, it's ten seconds before it happened. eliminate that.

that raises billions and billions of dollars. there are ways to do. this >> mitch mcconnell said that he is not willing to open anything that was within the trump tax cut. >> neither of those on the tax cut. >> so, is that where you're exploring -- did you have an exploration of the possible revenue with them actually pay forwards? >> no. i did not do -- what constitutes infrastructure? i want to make it clear, i want to get a bipartisan deal on as much as we get a bipartisan deal. on that means roads, bridges, broadband, infrastructure. but i am not giving up on the fact that we have 2 million women not able to go back to work because all the daycare centers being closed, they're out of business. so, they can go back to work. i'm not going to give up on a whole range of things that go to the question of productivity, of increasing jobs. increasing employment, increasing revenues. i'm not really gonna give up on. that so, we are going to fight

those out. so i want to know, what can we agree on? and let's see if we can get an agreement if we kickstart this. and then fight over what is left and see if i can get it done without republicans if need be. >> you are trying to make a deal today in a room with kevin mccarthy where what he was doing before he came up here was expelling, liz cheney, from his leadership group for saying things like, the election is over. and she said last night on the house floor, and kevin mccarthy is the same person who supported liz cheney just weeks ago -- how can you accept whatever sum was located bigger the thumping milieu actually going to legislate a few weeks from now, or months of now. >> the man looks mania and gives me his word to something that is going to happen, i take it unless he breaks it. he may have broken his word to somebody else, but to me because he made that deal, has he made -- we are nowhere near having made a deal, we are agreeing that we

should try to get a bipartisan agreements. but, the liz cheney mccarthy thing is above my pay grade. i have enough trouble figuring out my own party all the time, let alone republicans. >> are you shocked that at this point there is one member on the republican side of the house who is willing to stand up last night and say things like, the election is over, and if you don't believe in the outcomes in our courts, your anti-constitutionalist on the republican side. that is what her fight is on the republican side of the house of representatives. >> i think i heard kevin mccarthy say today, biden is our duly elected president. >> this is the experience i had working with you in the senate. i have to let the audience in in on this, we've known each other 25 years. when we are working together in the senate, what i always thought is you take the most positive thing someone says in

your direction and try to work with that tomorrow. and then you try to ignore anything that is in part of what you are trying to work with tomorrow. is that the way that you are doing this? job >> as pat moynahan once said, joe i'm not sure you're irish, you don't hold grudges. >> that's right. i don't. it's too important to the american people. >> i don't want to sound, i'll just do what i believe. it's too important for the american people, and for me not to continue to reach out. to get things done with people i agree and disagree with. i ended up making a deal with jesse helms, for lords sake on funding the united nations. i didn't have to give up anything, but i worked on, it worked on if he finally came around. but if i said, because of jesse helms, he done all these other things, i never get a deal with him, it's just not the way it works. i don't -- look, i believe, how can i say this? my mother used to give me -- i believe in redemption. for myself as well, but look,

-- lawrence, i have once had a doctor who had worked on me because i had an aneurysm 20 something years ago he said, joe, you know your problem? as you are a congenital optimist. i am because i know the american people. the american people are optimistic, the american people never ever ever ever give up. never. not once in our history did we give up. and i just have faith, i have faith. we have to keep pushing it. >> let me ask you about the second most powerful joe in washington, joe manchin who has become a visitor to this white house. and he is not there with the democrats, even on everything that's been posted, he's not there 100 percent on your infrastructure bill. he is trying to work with republicans to bring republicans along it is something that can be a compromise. what about fs1, the voting

rights voting access bill that the senate rules committee considered yesterday? so important that the majority and minority leader goes to the rules committee and to testify about and talk about that bill that bill looks like there will be zero republican votes in the senate for that bill. that bill also doesn't fit any reconciliation bill. that bill cannot get through without 60 votes or without an adjustments to the cultural which joe manchin would have to agree to. does joe manchin see this road in front of him? and what that means for voting rights in america? >> i don't know. i have not had a discussion with joe. i have been meeting with a lot of republicans on a lot of bipartisan groups that are coming to see me. on everything from my, the overall bill, the families bill that i have and caregivers

bill. as well as the infrastructure bill. we were at the same place -- i don't know -- i can't say as you ask me, other serious folks in our business ask me the same kind of questions when we are trying to do the american rescue plan. how can you possibly get it passed? well, if asked by one vote even though we're up to the time that it took place there were number of people saying, i'm not going to do it. but, look, lawrence, i have -- this is going to sound naive. i have faith in the american people. the american people overwhelmingly support when i'm doing. the polling numbers are overwhelming. democrat, republican, dependence. the average is that we have 70% of the american people in the last major poll done showing that they support when i'm talking about. this gigantic effort to try to put a bill back and build back better. you had enormous number of

american people supporting the last bill that passed, and look what has happened. 1.5 million new jobs, one for 5 million new jobs. you had all that money in there for covid, and now you've got 250 million people who have gunshots. the death rate is the lowest it is ever, bennett is down 80%. hospitalizations are down and so, i just think, but i have to do is just keep moving forward. to just keep moving forward. and, the more we move, the more i demonstrate what we have done is working, and his rights. the more likelihood i will have to get in -- for example, you know, we used to be, back in the old days when i first got to the senate. we used to invest in research and developments. the things of the future. we invested more money than any

-- higher percent of the gdp than any nation in the world. and china was number, i think nine, or something. we are now number eight. china's number one. what do you think is going to happen if we stand still? for god sake. what do you think is going to happen if in corporate america, we don't invest in r&d? instead of buying back their own stock. i mean -- so, i think this is a matter, it's a bit of a, my grandfather might say, this is a bit of an epiphany. that is going on here, where people are beginning to say, whoa, whoa. and i have met with -- on the telephone, or on skype. with i think now 40 something world leaders, and they want to know, is america really? back i we really back in the game? are we going to be engaged? so i just think, i know this sounds -- well i don't know what it

sounds like. you know, it is never ever have been a good bet against america. it has never occurred. it is never been a good bet to bet against the american people. and i am betting that they are going to come around. >> one more question for you and that is, you are 113 days into the presidency, this is the top of the mountain you are climbing this career mountain for many many years. and the most prepared president in history. eight years as vice president the one thing that you don't have an is 113th in the presidency is your advice and warning when you would say if people called you today and said, hey pop, how is it going? >> i'd say, bill, our member would you say to me every single time. let's talk about a political issue. , they look at me, look at me,

home based. the who you are. one thing that i had hoped that he would say is dad, you are home base. you are sticking to it. some things are worth losing over, buddy. i haven't done this this long to do things that i don't believe. s this lon to do things t>> mister presideu very much for your time today, we really appreciate it. >> it always gets me off guard with beau. he should be sitting in this chair. anyway, thank you, thank you. >> thank you very much mister president. >> the day joe biden took office, only 22 million doses of the vaccine had been administered. tonight, that number is more than 263 million doses. 58% of adults have received one dose, and president biden has set a goal of getting that to 70% by july 4th.

we're joined tonight by members of the coronavirus team who are working together stare. the chief medical adviser to the president, doctor anthony fauci, the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. united states sergeant general vivek murphy, and the health and human as -- the xavier becerra, welcome. >> secretary sarah, let me start with a follow-up on what was vanessa's question to the president about immigration status and the vaccine in this country. can anyone get this vaccine in this country without regards to immigration status? >> lawrence i think the president has said it, and the previous president has said it, everyone should get vaccinated. everyone means anyone, anyone in this country whether you are citizen or not, you are eligible to get the vaccine. all right let's take a look to the audience can we get a show of hands out there from anyone

who has concerns about the vaccine or knows someone, maybe has a family member, who has concerns, doubt, hesitancy about the vaccine. okay, just about everybody in the room tonight house that. i think our panel is ready to deal with any questions about that vaccine. let's get started. let's get a question from the audience. we have someone approaching the microphone i think right over here. please, tell us your name and your question. >> but my name is nathaniel. my question is, can you guarantee the safety in the long term health of people who take the vaccine? >> doctor fauci. >> whenever you have an intervention, there is never a 100% guaranteed, but i can tell you that the overwhelming evidence of data that we have

now indicates that the vaccines, as we all know, are highly effective and really very, very safe. the chance of having a serious adverse event is miniscule-y small. so although there is no guarantee, there is a lot of confidence that it is safe. >> let's take another from this side of the theater. >> hello my name is carlos. in january i contracted covid. a week later, i got the monoclonal antibody therapy, and four days after that i tested negative. number one, is there any advantage to someone who has already gone through covid in getting the vaccination? and second, are there any pre-existing conditions that can have an adverse effect, as a result of getting any of the vaccinations? >> doctor murphy, do want to take? it >> sure, carlos, thank you

for your question. i'm sorry to hear that you had covid. i'm so glad that you've made it through and it sounds like you are doing much better now. >> thank you. >> you're asking a great question. it turns out, even if you've had covid, it is still important that you get vaccinated. the reason is because your body will build an immune response from having covid, but what we've learned is that the immune response, the protection that you get from the vaccine is actually even stronger, more robust than what you get from being naturally infected. that is why we are recommending that people get vaccinated, even if they've been sick before. finally, to your question about other conditions like diabetes, or high blood pressure, or other conditions that people may have. you're wondering cut that in any way lead to more side effects with the vaccine? in fact i would say it is the opposite, people who have other medical conditions are at greater risk of having bad outcomes with covid, of being hospitalized and potentially dying from covid. it is even more important that

they get vaccinated, and the fact that so many have is why we are seeing the number of cases, hospitalizations and death drop in our country. >> many people want to know also, how long will that immunity last? >> well, we don't know but we know it is at least several months. likely, considerably longer than that. that is the reason why we are following large number of people to see what the level of protection if it will stay like this -- it will likely start to come down over a period of time, which may be the reason why it is not surprising, if we would need a booster at sometime in the future. >> i'll ask a question that i've been getting from parents of small children, will they get the same dose that an adult, a 200 pound, six foot adult would get? >> the 12 to 15-year-olds will, when you get from 12 down, we

do a dose de-escalation and an age de-escalation. we go from 12 years, to nine 9 to 6, 6 to 2 and then six months to two years, as you get down to the lower ages, the dose will be diminished. >> thank you doctor fauci. we have another question over there. >> hi, my name is kareena. i have three children between the ages of ten and 15. ideally, we would like to get them vaccinated, but we'd prefer if it was fda approved. my question is do you know the timeline for fda approval for children, since it was authorized later for adults. will fda approval happen at the same time for both or later for children? >> who would like to respond? >> well, the 12 to 15 were there, so right now the recommendation of the acp, that

was just recently done is that children at that age can get vaccinated. the approval for the younger will depend on the clinical trials that we are doing right now. so as soon as the trials are finished, but the companies will do is submit to the fda to try and expand the approval, the same way that we just did with the 12 to 15 year olds. >> for your children who are 12 or older, you don't have to wait now. now you can go ahead and get those children vaccinated. >> kareena, as a parent i also relate, i have two kids as well, they're not as old as your kids, they are three and forts so i have to wait for a vaccine to be available for them. but i can understand why you consider the full approval, but here is something that i would say, one reason why i would encourage people to have kids that are 12 enough to get vaccinated now especially now that the fda in the cdc have

waited and said that kids should get this. we now have really good data that is telling us that these vaccines work in kids to protect them, and the adverse effects are extraordinarily low. the most common side effects in children is temporary muscle aches, fatigue and fever that last a couple of days and then went away. what they were left with was protection. the other thing i want to emphasize is that we hear a lot of the risk of covid in kids, in terms of bad outcome, is low, and that is true. kids do much better than older folks do. but if overall we look at our experience, we've had a lot of kids who have gotten sick, we have gone 1300 kids who have gotten six, we add had we many who have died, this is not harmless and children, when we compare the risks and the benefit. the risks are low and the benefits are very very high,

and this vaccine turns out is a way that our kids can go back to seeing their grandparents, having sleep overs, dinners and other things with their friends and getting back to their way of life. >> doctor fauci, could you explain the difference between the emergency use approval of a vaccine, and the final use approval of that vaccine? i've been hearing some hesitancy based on what is a perceived distinction in that -- i'm not sure the distinction is? >> there is a distinction but it is very nuanced and that is, the emergency use authorization looks both at the efficacy and the safety. the safety is a pretty good cage because you will not get an emergency use authorization until you wait 60 days following, a time where half of the people have gone their last dose. we know from experience that the overwhelming majority of the long term effects are

within 15 to 45 days following the dose. so if you wait 60 days on the emergency use authorization alone, you are in really good shape for safety. the pla, or the biological license application, or the full approval usually wait several more months, just to make sure, extra shore, with regards to the safety. while we feel very comfortable now about the safety of those vaccines that have received emergency use authorization. so really it is a matter of waiting a few more months to really mellow down, but we shouldn't hesitate because i know there are people in the audience i'm sure who are saying, just that pain, why don't i wait till it is fully approved, so hefty in the efficacy now is very very firm. which is the reason why all of us, strongly recommend that if you are within the age group that can be vaccinated, that you get vaccinated.

it is safe and it is highly effective. >> some members of our audience has been attending virtually tonight, you want to take twinge one from one of those viral audience members attending. doctor rodriguez in florida, go ahead. >> i, i'm doctor melissa rodriguez, i'm a pediatric emergency physician at john hopkins -- st. petersburg florida over the last months i've seen an increase in the number of covid positive teenagers, severe respiratory symptoms, icu admissions. which is something i hadn't seen before. i'm hopeful that an increase in vaccination accessibility to this will reduce this, but is one of the only primary positions in my group, my biggest concern, among english speakers. what are we doing to improve vaccine accessibility and vaccine appointment process for non english speakers many of whom already struggled to navigate our complex systems? >> i can try to tackle that

one. doctor rodriguez, one of the first things make sure we can reach out to that population, we will take a contact number. >> i'd love to. >> secondly, first thing will tell you that president biden is instructed all of us to make sure that we go where you are. where the people who need to be vaccinated. are not for you to come to us. because some folks are having a hard time getting to, us and they work long hours. they have responsibilities at work and at home that make it very difficult they can figure out how to navigate the system. they may not speak english very well, all of those things, we're not gonna wait. later this, week i'm gonna be going to a site,, a small site, in the central valley of california where it's mostly agricultural families and we are going to reach out to them because we know that many of them would love to get vaccinated, they just haven't had the opportunity to go to the site. so, we are gonna go to you. and before this town hall is

over, we need to make sure that we can get your number to have you help us get to those people who trust you. they may not know us, but trust you. >> definitely. >> thank you, secretary sarah, precisely one and five essential workers are afraid to get the vaccine because they are concerned about the side effects and missing a day at work. what would you say to them? >> well i will say to you that president biden has already asked a lot of these employers to give some of the workers a day off so they can actually go get vaccinated. and if they can't take the day off, as i say, we are going to go to them. we want to know where you are we will go to you were doing pop-up vaccination sites so on any given day if we have a pastor says, my church is available, i can have my parishioners coming in. let's do something. we will do it. farmer -- there is a news reporter about a former saying i can get a

whole bunch of my community folks to come on in and he is able to vaccinate several hundred people just by sitting up a sites around his farm. we are going to go where you are because we know that at this stage it is up to us to help you. you're not getting a sense. so, help us find you because we want to get you vaccinated. >> thank you very, much we have another question from the audience. >> i, good evening. i am melissa, i am interested in knowing more about the concept of herd immunity and this idea that vaccine not only protects me but also others. could you tell me more about how the portion of the population that is choosing not to be vaccinating is harming others? >> doctor fauci? >> she is asking about -- i've been here. >> the people who are choosing not to get vaccinated, would you describe them as being a harm to other people? >> melissa, we don't ever want

to accuse people or make them feel guilty. we want to embrace them and try and convince them if there are recalcitrant and do not want to get vaccinated. try and find out what's the reason for that is reach out to them even if it takes a trusted messenger. maybe not, maybe someone who they trust in the community. i clergy person, or their family physician, to get to ask them, why it is that you don't want to get vaccinated? rather than making them feel guilty because you will never win them over if you do that. our tack is to try to reach out and try to give of why it's necessary for your own protection, for that of your family and really as your societal responsibility to keep the entire community safe. >> thank you so much, doctor fauci. we have many more questions to get to. but first, we want you to know,

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[applause] >> welcome back to vaccinating american, msnbc town hall. >> doctor anthony fauci, doctor vivek murphy, and health and human services secretary have the airbus era, are answering audience questions about vaccination. we have many more, questions before dr. fauci would like to take that question about herd immunity because maybe people are concerned about getting herd immunity here in the

united states. >> yes, melissa you asked that question about herd immunity let me explain the concept of herd immunity is when you get enough people who are vaccinated plus people who have been infected recovered and have immunity when you have them together if you get enough people to have a blanket of protection over the community that is called herd immunity. the herd immunity threshold is what that number is and what that percentage is we don't know yet what that is for covid-19. we know what it is for measles, because we have decades of experience with measles. so, it isn't that we are not going to reach it, but we don't know what that exact number is, when you don't know with the number is, the thing that we do is say, get as many people vaccinated as quickly as you possibly can. and whatever the number is, sooner or later you are going to reach it. so, that is the reason why we are saying, just go and get vaccinated and don't worry

about this number that ordinarily we're not quite sure what it is. yet that is the answer to your question. >> thank you. we have another question, there? >> hi, good evening everyone, hi doctor fauci. i'm a big fan. my question is, what research is available about the side effects of the vaccine on pregnant women and their unborn children? >> did you hear that, doctor fauci? >> tell us your name. >> my name is nisreen. >> nisreen thank you for that question. it wasn't so long ago my wife was pregnant, and i remember a time when i was so preoccupied in the health of our child so i think it is good to ask these questions because we want to bring them, and pregnant women, and our kids to be. safe i think the news that we have a vaccine is that at this point, we have a large number of people in america who are pregnant and have have received

the vaccine. it has continued to have a very strong safety profile. the cdc has been tracking this data and in fact, they released periodic reports on what they're finding, and most recently their report, when they look to people who receive the vaccine in their third trimester, was that both the moms did well and the babies did well, and they are continuing to look at more and more data. but keep in mind that the first wave of people who got this vaccine where health care workers. nurses, doctors, others in health professionals, and many of them were pregnant, and they chose to receive it because they knew one final thing here, which is that the risk of getting covid if you are pregnant is serious. because then, people who are pregnant, women have worse outcomes and the babies actually have adverse outcomes when covid, you know, when it hits. that's why we want to protect pregnant women against covid at all costs, that's why it is such good news that the benefits of this vaccine are high in the risks very low in women who are pregnant. >> we have another question from this side.

>> either, i am bailey. my question is, what would you say to someone who is on the fence about getting the vaccine, despite so many being vaccinated, and we still have to wear masks and social distance? >> so, doctor fauci, that brings up the question of, once you do have this vaccine in new two weeks after your second shot, where and why should you still be wearing masks and for how long? >> well, the cdc has come out with guidance and will continue in realtime to update those guidance. not only relaying it to the number of people who to get vaccinated but with the level of infection in the community is. so, i am vaccinated, but if i am in an area where there is a lot of infection, i still could get infected, it is very unlikely that i'm going to get seriously ill. but i still could get infected. and if i do, i have a virus in my name is ali ferrying's. i could inadvertently and

instantly spread it to someone else. that is one of the reasons why, as the level of community infection gets lower and lower, that likelihood comes less and less. and that is what the cdc means when they say, as we get lower and lower, we are going to pull back on the restrictions. right now, you don't need to wear a mask if you are together in the family or with friends and other vaccinated people. certainly, you don't need to, when you go outside, almost any circumstance, you don't need to wear masks except if you are in a very crowded place. so, we need to get vaccinated, and the more people to get vaccinated, interesting ali the closer and closer we will get to pulling back on all of those restrictions. because we all want to be in a situation where we don't have to wear a mask at all. indoor, outdoor and we will get there if we get enough people vaccinated. >> let's just double underline

before we leave that, the best news that you just said, clarity in that is that many are outside, you, if you are vaccinated, you do not need a mask at all outside. does that have anything to do with my proximity to another person outside who might not be vaccinated? . >> no. >> so a vaccinated person, outside, even in close proximity to unvaccinated people does not need a mask? >> the only time you need a mask, if you are vaccinated, is if you go into a very concentrated area where people are literally walking all over each other. >> okay. we have another question from the audience. >> good evening, my name is matthew. my question is, how do we know the vaccine is safe? and who to trust? >> that goes back to the testing process and how you developed a vaccine. doctor vivek murthy this is a basic question that has kept coming up. not everybody can read every detailed article that appears in the new york times and certainly not scientific

journals. what do you tell us about? that >> well, matthew, first of all it, is the right question. you should know that what you are taking, and what you put into your body is safe and effective, and the good news is that you've got a lot of information about this vaccine and want to take. it number one, the technology the foundation of this vaccine is not new. i know that there are some headlines in the news that say that these are brand new technologies that we are experimenting with. we have been spending decades building and developing this technology, that is number one. so, we understand the technology. but number two, the trials that were done before the vaccine was made available to the public, they involve tens of thousands of people who are followed for months. what we have found in those trials is that they were really effective at preventing infection. and they came a very low side effect rate. d even if you don't believe thoe trials, we have a real world data. we have more than 150 million people, matthew, who have received at least one shot of the vaccine in america and millions more around the world.

and rigorously tracking them, we have found that again, the vaccines are remarkably safe at reducing hospitalizations and deaths in infections. let the side effect is that it has remained remarkably low. so what we have in total is a vaccine that has very high benefits, and very low side effects which is why so many doctors, 90% of doctors actually either take the vaccine themselves are planning to get it, and why so many of us are recommending it to each other as well. >> matthew, can i ask you, does it give you confidence that dr. fauci who has been working in this area his entire life was one of the very first people to take the vaccine, the moderna vaccine? >> in a way, it does. i just still have eight hesitancy. >> can i try one last thing? >> let me ask you this, remember when covid started hitting -- all the news was coming about the deaths. most of the folks who are dying where our grandparents, our

parents, older folks, right? >> yes. >> if you have been watching the news, you are not watching news where the folks that are passing away are so much older americans. today would you finding is that with the vast majority of seniors and americans now vaccinated, they're able to go out and do things. a lot of us were able to hug our mothers or grandmothers on mother's day because they have been vaccinated. if you are not convinced by the experts, then the fact that today your grandmother, your mother may be alive, who got vaccinated, is a clear sign that not only is it safe, but it is something we should do for our family, if we really do love our family members, we have to keep everyone safe and keep them alive. >> and matthew, you are lucky because at the end of the hour, you are going to hear from doctor crazy core bits who is the woman who invented the vaccine that doctor fauci took, that i took. you are really going to want to listen to her. i think she is the one who might be able to convince you. the nasa? >> i think this is a very important subject. because families and friends

are divided about this. and some people have decided to stop talking about it. what do we do when we have loved ones or family members that are in that? place >> well, we have to, vanessa, do what we do with family. which is be kind, understanding, and give people time. look, all of us are trying to make the right decisions for ourselves. we are all trying to figure out a way forward, here. we have different questions, some people might take longer to get to the answers than others. but what doesn't work is when we judge people, when we make them feel bad about their positions. and that is what we have to keep an open dialog there for. one of the most powerful things that people say again and again in services they say that about half of the people actually want to talk to a family member to help the make their decision about getting vaccinated or not. and that means that even if you don't have an md, or an are and it behind your name even if you are not in health care. you can be a really powerful force in helping your family make that decision as long as

you are there for them when they have questions that need answering. and as long as you can help to make an appointment. do not underestimate that piece either, because a lot of people, they're sort of okay with getting the vaccine but they just don't know where to get it, how to make an appointment, and now it is easier than ever, you go to vaccines.gov, in english, spanish. you put in your zip code, you get locations by you, you either text get vaccines or text to use a code to that and you will get three places immediately that are close to you where you can get vaccinated. these are the kinds of tools that we have to give our family to support them. give them information, lead by example, getting vaccinated yourself, that's how we will protect our families move. forward >> i want to thank our expert guests for joining us tonight, this is the a-team fighting the coronavirus for you. their job is for you. [applause] doctor anthony fauci, secretary xavier becerra, we will meet with the creator of the moderna vaccine, doctor kasich orbit. she is next.

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[applause] >> welcome back to vaccinating america, an msnbc town hall. if, like me, you got the moderna vaccine, you have our next guest to thank. doctor kizzmekia corbett and her team at the national institutes of health spent years working on a vaccine for coronaviruses before covid-19 hit. so, kizzy corbett was ready when the sequence of covid-19 was revealed on a friday in

january of last year. >> when we got to sequences because we knew how to make that protein as a very good vaccine, we did that really quickly over the weekend. by the 13th, over the weekend -- [laughs] you know something about working on weekends, right? >> and, joining us now is doctor kizzy corbett, she is the scientific lead for the coronavirus vaccine team at the national institutes of health. we want to let our audience know that as we approached the 11th o'clock hour, that the 11th hour with brian williams will be coming up shortly. we are just going to trespass on his time a bit to hear from doctor kizzy corbett. doctor rick orbit, the very strangest thing in what i heard you just say was, over the weekend. over the weekend. i can't think of a single important thing i did over weekend except maybe study for exams in high school in college. the sequencing of the vaccine, it gets determined in january.

you go to work, sequence of the virus gets determined january, on a friday afternoon i think. and you just are working through the weekend by the end of the weekend you have your idea for what is going to work as a vaccine? >> absolutely. you know why that is? >> no, i don't. no one knows why that is! >> it is because we went into that weekend very prepared. we had worked on coronavirus vaccines for the previous six years, and we knew exactly what to do. we were actually waiting patiently for those sequences because we were so ready to start to make a vaccine in case that the virus did become a pandemic like we are seeing. now >> that is because you knew that this kind of pandemic was both likely and surely on the way at some point. you just don't know when, it's kind of like an earthquake. >> yes. coronavirus has given us a hint over and over in history before. there was sars, then -- you kind of new, that

coronavirus as a viral family had pandemic potential. and so, we prepared for it. >> dr. corbett, this is a concern that many people have raised, they think that the vaccine was developed a very very fast. could you explain this type of process of developments? it's been going on for? decades >> decades. both on what we were doing at the national institutes of health which was basically fundamentally understanding coronavirus so that we can make a really good vaccine for it and also the technologies that these vaccines are using. they have been in development for years, so, when you bring those two things together, you become really confident is the scientists that you know what you're doing. and the steps the vaccine development process embedded in all of those steps, are checkpoints where we as scientists and the fda say, can you go forward? is this vaccine safe. and does it illicit or make the type of immune response that

you would think? >> dr. corbett, you heard matthew earlier in the hour, doctor fauci, who's been working his whole life on this taking the vaccine -- gave him a certain amount of confidence, to go over the line and limit his hesitancy. do you have anything to say that might help matthew get all the way to the vaccine? >> where is matthew? >> there. his >> high matthew. i get it, i completely understand. from where i sit, i realize that i sit in a place of privilege where i have information on a day-to-day basis about this vaccine that the general person does not, but the one thing that reassures me constantly is seeing, overtime more and more people getting these vaccines, the data is so clear, and they are safe and effective. also, i would tell you not just to take my word for it or dr. fauci's but ask people around

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