james hildreth, who is the president of meharry medical college. and also a member of the fda's vaccines and related biological products advisory committee, who approved the pfizer covid-19 vaccine just earlier this week for use. dr. hildreth, good morning. guest: morning, how are you? host: doing great. the fda advisory panel where you sit voted to recommend authorizing emergency use of the pfizer vaccine. you voted yes. tell us why. guest: i voted yes because the preponderance of evidence suggested the benefits greatly outweighed the risks. there is a very large study involving what thousand people. half of those got the placebo -- involving 44,000 people. half of those got the placebo. wereisk to the vaccine limited to reactions at the injection site, fever -- all the things you normally expect when you first use the vaccine. even though the follow-up has been very short, we all thought that the safety profile was sufficient. voted no,e four who out of the 21 numbers of the panel, were concerned about the lower age limit set in the statement we

james hildreth. dr. sanjay gupta, our chief medical correspondent is still with us. doctor, you both voted to recommend the fda grant emergency use authorization for the moderna vaccine. i think the vote was 20-0, with one abstention. why did you vote yes? >> wolf, thank you for having me. i voted yes because the data that was presented to us was very strong. the efficacy was consistent across all the age groups. they included people with chronic conditions, which is really important. they also had data and people over 65. and i think the safety package that was put in front of us was acceptable. more than acceptable. so given where we are in the pandemic, i felt compelled to vote yes on this and this very strong result. >> dr. ganz, you also voted yes. explain your decision. >> yeah, thank you very much, wolf, for having me. i think this is a really exciting moment. i would agree with dr. hildreth that the data that was presented to us was striking in its efficacy and across the groups they did get to test. this was a fairly large study, and the safety was in mostly

james hildreth, president and ceo of meharry medical college.e was one of the experts who fdaally recommended the emergencies authorization last week. later, american enterprise institute's gary schmitt will join us to discuss president-elect joe biden's nomination of retired general lloyd austin to be the next defense secretary. we will be right back. ♪ monday night on "the communicators," journalist and author james baldus got his his book "the tangled web we weave." >> we don't look at these technologies that keep creating these monopolies. the biggest companies in the world are tech companies now. we don't go how come, on the internet, these things that we are told are you can either's and connectors, how come it keeps creating these really powerful needs that individuals? >> watch "the communicators" at monday night on 8:00 eastern -- act 8:00 eastern on c-span 2. >> american history tv on c-span 3, exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. tonight at 8:00 eastern on the presidency, historian douglas brinkl

hildreth back into this conversation. dr. hildreth, as you know, there is a lot of hesitancy among african-americans, other minority groups, they are worried, given the history of vaccines here in the united states, what has happened. how do all of us convince our african-american brothers and sisters this is a safe and effective vaccine, get the shot? >> so, wolf, i think the good news is that the vaccine proved to be efficacious in african-americans as it was in -- in whites. the numbers could have been a lot higher. but, i think they're adequate to make that conclusion. i think that what we have to do now is to make sure that we have trusted messengers who get well informed about the vaccine and safety profile and exactly what it is that we are going to be trying to achieve. i think, if we do that, provide enough information for people to make informed choices, they will make the choice to accept the vaccine because, of course, african-americans need the vaccine more than other populations, given the disproportionate burde

hildreth says in order to rally support in communities of color, it's also important to spotlight theem. >> messages are fine. you can have wonderful messages. but if the messenger is not trusted, it's not going to be very effective. >> reporter: one of the trusted messengers, reverend liz walker. >> how can you be so certain taking this vaccine is the right choice for you? >> from what i've seen of covid-19, the greater risk is to get sick. so for me, there's no hesitation. >> reporter: walker is an icon in boston. >> i'm list walker, i just joined this team, and i'm so glad to be here. >> reporter: she was the first black woman to anchor the evening news in the city. >> thank you all for being here. >> reporter: walker is now the senior pastor at roxbury presbyterian church, in neighbors she likens to the biblical story of the good samaritan. >> i call the neighborhood the jericho road. you never know who's going to stop by or who's in need right outside our front door. so we are a community church. social justice is our foundation. >> reporter: in order to get the good word to her

hildreth. dr. carilla: thank you, arnold. i abstained because i'm very uncomfortable with the language. i think in the midst of a pandemic and with limited vaccine supply available, a blanket statement for individuals 18 years and older is just too broad. i'm not convinced that for all of those age groups the benefits to actually outweigh the risks. i would prefer to see it more targeted with people of more high-risk, serious and life-threatening covid disease. they have that information, and we understand, to a certain extent, those high-risk groups. it could be targeted. lastly, i would have preferred to have seen rather than an emergency use authorization route, an expanded access program. i think it would have given us a lot more opportunities to continue to collect the data and my concern about future vaccines was other covid vaccine candidates that are in various stages of development. thank you. >> dr. hildreth. dr. hildreth: thank you, dr. monto. sorry about the train. i just want to ma

james hildreth, a member of the fda's advisory committee, reviews the vaccine approval process. later, gary schmitt with the american enterprise institute talks about president-elect joe bid'

james hildreth who is president of maharry medical college. good to have you, doctor, joining us.with the first -- i find this to be the most unnerving part of the vaccine -- a vaccinated person, can they spread the disease? i know we don't know the answer yet. how long in the trial process is it going to take for us to know for sure? >> well, chuck, first of all, thanks for having me. i'm pleased to be with you. it's really going to take some time to know the answer to that question. for one we know transmission can happen when people are asymptomatic and we don't know if the vaccine prevents infections that would yield an asymptomatic infection. until we know the answer to that question, we won't know the answer to the larger question of whether or not the vaccine prevents transmission of the virus. >> what are the concerns you want to address and what will be addressed tomorrow at this meeting when it comes to those allergic reactions we saw took place yesterday on day one of their vaccine injections? >> chuck, it's not unusual when you introduce a new vaccine or drug that some

hildreth joining us on a critical saturday morning, we really appreciate your time. just remarkable to hear him say they could have authorization by the end of next week. >> that means by the end of next week americans may be getting this vaccine for the first time. it's a good moment, doctor, thank you. >>> let's move on to other news. just 46 days until he takes the oath of office. president-elect joe biden calling on congress to pass a covid relief bill before he assumes the presidency. this while president trump is focused almost exclusively on last month's election and an upcoming senate runoff in georgia. we want to begin with ali vitali near president-elect biden's home in wilmington, delaware. ali, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, peter. president-elect joe biden is asking americans to wear a mask for the first 100 days of his term all to help slow the spread of the virus, while also discussing what he called a dire job situation. all of this paints a clearer picture of the multiple crises biden is set to inherit on january 20th. a grim economy and a

hildreth.u, arnold. i abstained because i'm very uncomfortable with the language. i think in the mist of a pandemic and with limited vaccine supply available, a blanket statement for individuals 18 years and older is just too broad. i'm not convinced that for all of those age groups the benefits to actually outweigh the risks. i would prefer to see it more targeted with people of more high-risk, serious and life-threatening covid disease. they have that information, and we understand, to a certain extent, those high-risk groups. it could be targeted. lastly, i would have preferred to have seen rather than an emergency use authorization route, an expanded access program. i think it would have given us a lot more opportunities to continue to collect the data and my concern about future veaccins was other covid vaccine candidates that are in various stages of development. thank you. >> dr. hildreth. >> thank you, dr. monto. sorry about the train. i just want to make the point what a remarkable --

hildreth voted yes. dr. kim voted no. dr. monto voted yes. dr. tripp voted yes. dr. warton voted yes. dr. offit voted yes. dr. mckin i.t. voted yes. dr. lee voted yes. mr. dallman voted yes. and that concludes the vote. so we do have a favorable vote. that concludes this portion of the meeting. so i will hand it back over to dr. monto. thank you, everybody. >> okay. marion, do you have anything you want to add at this point? [ muted ] >> we can't hear you, marion. >> i apologize. double muted. i just wanted to thank the committee for voting on this very complex topic. i wanted to thank the committee for their discussion and their suggestions. we very much appreciate their input on this very important topic. and we will take what we have heard today into consideration when deciding on not only the eua issue but also how to move on in their development. thank you so much. >> and therefore, our work for the day is done. i wanted to thank the committee, and i want especially to thank the fda, because they have been laboring long and hard. in doing the analysis, dealing w

hildreth voted yes. dr. kim voted no. voted yes. dr. wharton voted yes. dr. mcinnis voted yes. dr.ee voted yes. mr. tallman voted yes. and that concludes the vote. so we have the vote. that concludes this session of the meeting. host: that was the result of the vote. if you were keeping track, it favor, andd voting in one abstention from the vote yesterday. the new york times follow up on it can to the debate that took place at the meeting said this -- some members asked about the likelihood of serious allergic reactions given that it was recommended this week that people with allergic reactions to medicines and food not get the vaccine, while the investigate two cases of allergic reactions among workers.re pfizer officials said there were no cases of allergic reactions in the trial of 44,000 participants. to go with allergic reactions were excluded from the study. also one of the hotly contested issues was how the broad authorization of vaccines might affect the continuing clinical trials some experts have argued that volunteers who receive the vaccine should get offered the vacci

hildreth voted yes. dr. kim voted no. dr. monta voted yes. dr. tripp voted yes. dr. whorton voted yes. dr. ben flakka voted yes. dr. offutt voted yes. dr. mckennitt voted yes. dr. lee voted yes. mr. taman voted yes. and that concludes the vote. votee do have a favorable and that concludes this portion of the meeting, so i will now hand the meeting back over to dr. monto.thank you, everybody. >> ok. marion? do you have anything you want to add at this point? >> we can't hear you, marion. apologize, muted. i just want to thank the committee for voting on this very complex topic. i wanted to thank the committee further discussion and their suggestions. we very much appreciate their input on this very important topic. this intol take consideration when deciding on not only the poa insurance, but also how to move on the development of the licensure of this product. thank you so much. our work forore, the day is done. i wanted to thank the committee. and i want especially to thank the fda, because they have been laboring long and hard in doing the analysis, dealing with so