hotez, talk to me about this battle. you're in texas.e me your reaction to this mandate from the governor, or lack thereof, i should say. and how private businesses, for instance, dr. hotez can conceivably get and this mandate if in fact they want to? >> yeah, it's a very tough situation, yasmin, we've only got half the state vaccinated. and an extremely high level of transmission. yes, it's coming down but there's so many unvaccinated people in the state it's most likely to start going back up, create a fifth wave starting around the holidays. and the only way we can halt that is to get everybody vaccinated. and the bar is high because of this delta variant. we're looking to have pretty much all of the adults and adolescents vaccinated. mandates are a tool help us get there. we have to look at the consequences. take a step back. we have lost close to 70,000 lives here in texas. and we're about, in the next few weeks, we're likely going to eclipse california as the worst affected state in the nation. we're probably looking at 80,000 deat

peter hotez. dr. hotez, we are technically at the start of fall. things are going to get colder.last wave of covid. give us a sense of where you think we are right now in this pandemic, and is this -- what kind of confidence level do you have that this is our last wave? >> yeah, i don't have a lot of confidence, chuck. and here's why. we could have had this discussion exactly a year ago at this time because we were coming out of that horrible second summer wave across the south and the numbers started going down precipitously and a lot of people were being very self congratulatory, saying, okay, i guess this is over. then around the time of halloween or a week afterward, it started going up and up and up. then our worst wave of all happened over november, december, and into january where we were hitting 3,000 american deaths and covid-19 was the leading cause of death in the united states on a daily basis. now, i don't think the next wave will be as bad, because as you point out, we do have about half the country vaccinated. but the bad news is we only have half the country vacci

peter hotez, for the center of vaccine development at texas children's hospital. dr. hotez, obviously when that fda advisory committee has their final vote, we'll bring the news to our viewers. meanwhile, pfizer says that its vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing any symptomatic infection in kids between ages 5 and 11. assuming that the fda panel recommend this and the fda and cdc follow suit and those are assumptions, but assuming that happens, what do parents need to know when they decide whether or not to vaccinate their kids? >> well, first of all, we're going to hear from the advisory committee on immunization practices, from the centers for disease control and then dr. walensky has to sign off on it. possibly as early as november 2nd, november 3rd we could have that option. the answer is, jake, you know, this -- the delta variant has taught us that kids can get very sick and lots of kids can get very sick with the delta variant. we've had 8300 hospital admissions of kids between the ages of 5 to 11, about half of them have had this very serious multis

hotez?you know, if you look at the way the antibody responses are going and other factors, t&b cells, to me it looks like both mrna vaccinations were always a three-dose vaccine, and the j&j vaccine was always a two-dose vaccine. in the case of the j&j, it's not really a booster, it's not like the antibody is waning after a single dose, it's staying up, it's just that it was never that high a level in the first place. this is more of an auto correction, it's probably really always been a two-dose vaccine. >> rochelle walensky talked about this mixing and matching of boosters this morning on the "today" show. is it okay to get pfizer or moderna if i had johnson & johnson originally? what do you think is most effective for folks, mix and match or not? >> i would be careful about giving the message that it's willy-nilly, you can do whatever you want. i don't think of it that way. i got two doses of the pfizer biontech vaccine, and i deliberately decided for my third immunization to get another

peter hotez, dr. leana wen, thank you.ternal facebook papers reveal about covid misinformation on the social media site and what it seems facebook officials were saying publicly was not the reality of what was happening behind the scenes. cary swisher joins us ahead. ♪ i had a dream that someday ♪ ♪ i would just fly, fly away ♪ i always protect my voice. it's how i make my living. and you and i make a country with our voices. your vote is your voice. but more than ever, our freedom to vote is under attack. so please: call congress. tell them to pass the freedom to vote act. to protect our ability to have our say on the issues that matter most. so, let's pass the freedom to vote act and protect all our voices. discover card i just got my cashback match is this for real? yup! we match all the cash back new card members earn at the end of their first year automatically woo! i got my mo-ney! it's hard to contain yourself isn't it? uh- huh! well let it go! woooo! get a dollar for dollar match at the end of your first year. only

peter hotez, dr. leana wen, thank you. reveal about covid misinformation on the social media site and what it seems facebook officials were saying publicly was not the reality of what was happening behind the scenes. kara swisher joins us ahead. from the very first touch, pampers, the #1 pediatrician recommended brand, helps keep baby's skin drier and healthier. so every touch will protect like the first. pampers and there you have it- woah. wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow. -big deal! ...we get unlimited for just 30 bucks. sweet, i get that too and mine has 5g included. that's cool, but ours save us serious clam-aroonies. relax people, my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. >>> there is more to tell you about covid tonight. new details from the so-called facebook papers. whistle-blower frances haugen gave federal authorities. they reveal the company was seemingly having a tougher time managing vaccin

peter hotez from texas children's hospital. great to see you, dr. hotez. let's zero in on this new covid pill from merck. it's to prevent severe illness for people who contract the virus. how does this new pill stack up against other covid treatments out there right now? >> so, of course, the advantage relative to monoclonal antibodies, with the monoclonal antibody you need to go to an infusion center and get it administered intravenously. these are quite a number of pills but still an oral treatment that goes on for five days. the key, though, this is for individuals who start to get sick who become positive for covid-19, as -- by pcr, and if you get it early enough in the illness, it seems to decrease the likelihood that you'll get severe illness or lose your life. and it's not magic. it will reduce the severity of illness. the most important message i've been trying to get out there is it's not a substitute for vaccination. i don't want this to become ivermectin version 2.0, although this one actually works whereas ivermectin doesn't. it's not nearly as

peter hotez, from texas. coming, up if your kids don't get what they are hoping for this holiday season, try telling them it's a supply chain issue, that should go over well. chain issue, that should g over well. let me get this straight. you've got an a.i. strategy to deliver a better customer experience, that will help us retain our customers and even grow our business? how much is this going to cost? here's the figure. 59. 59 million? no, five9. as in five9 intelligent cloud contact center. they won't just power our transformation. they'll fund our transformation. yes, yes! exactly! what are you waiting for? ♪ ♪ as we mentioned earlier, the president is hoping to take the kinks out of the supply chain in time for holiday gift giving. to which the supply chain responded, good luck with that. the port of los angeles will now run 24/7. presidents calling on the private sector to pitch in and help out as well. but there are real questions about whether it's enough to make a difference. we get our report tonigh

peter hotez, always great to have you on.ive and analysis on this. >> thank you. >>> and when we come back, kate bennett joins me with the five things revealed about melania trump in her former chief of staff's new book. stay with us. we are the next. the next generation of visionaries. rule breakers. game changers. and world beaters. we certainly aren't here to do what's been done before. and neither are we. at palo alto networks, we are ready to secure our digital future. we innovate to outpace cyberthreats. so you can make the next day safer than the one before. we've got next. dayquil severe for you... and daily vicks super c for me. introducing new vicks super c and dayquil severe convenience pack. vicks super c is a daily supplement to help energize and replenish your body with vitamin c and b vitamins. dayquil severe is a max strength medicine for cold and flu relief. someone is feeling better. get your shoes. alright! try the new vicks convenience pack. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. th

peter hotez from baylor college of medicine. dr. hotez, as i said, this is not better than a vaccine. the vaccines are still the most important thing here. but this is what has been missing. explain what's going on here. >> yeah. so, john, you're absolutely right. so what happens is if you -- the pill is given twice a day for five days and seems to cut the risk of dying or hospitalization by half. it's not a huge study. i think it was under 1,000 patients, 1,000 individuals. but it was impressive enough that the advisory committee said let's stop this. this is promising enough. and then apply for emergency use authorization. so the way it would work is if you start having symptoms and you have -- and you're identified as having covid, then you could take the pill and it will reduce your risk of hospitalization and potentially death. as i say, it's reduced. this is nothing nearly as powerful as getting a vaccine. what we don't want for this to happen is to become ivermectin 2.0, that people use it to not get vaccinated. secondly, we

peter hotez, thank you so much. thank you for the fair warning.eye-catching occurrence, and i think everyone is now wondering, you know, is this bacteria or could it potentially be in other products that we were unaware of until now. thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> all right. still to come, more legal trouble for billionaire robert durst, the murder charge he's now facing in the death of his former wife who died nearly 40 years ago. >>> and tonight on cnn, get the latest news from investigators on the gabby petito case. "gabby petito and the hunt for justice" tonight at 11:00 only on cnn. feel stuck with credit card debt? move to sofi and feel what it's like to get your money right. ♪ move your high-interest debt to a sofi personal loan. you could save with low rates and no fees. earn $10 just for viewing your rate and get your money right. ♪ this halloween, xfinity rewards is offering up some spooky-good perks. like the chance to win a universal parks & resorts trip to hollywood or orlando to attend halloween horror nights. or xfinity reward

peter hotez now. doctor, great to see you you heard meg there. what's your biggest concern about this possibility of a twindemic. is this real >> yeah, i think meg kind of put her finger on it i think what's happened is everyone is a bit spooked about what happened with rsv where we had this massive resurgence at a weird time of year we normally wouldn't see it in the summer. the thinking was the kids weren't interacting much and therefore they didn't build up much immunity to rsv and they all got exposed as they started getting together with devastating consequences so we even had a lot of combined rsv and covid coinfections in pediatric icus and pediatric hospitals in the summer here in the south. so they don't want to see that happen again with influenza. so the message is get your influenza vaccine in addition to your covid vaccine and you can get them at the same time. and so getting that word out i think is going to be really important. >> got it last month, don't wait now the covid vaccine news of the day. what do you tell parents who got

peter hotez of texas children's hospital, dr. hotez, the breaking news, the j&j booster and the timing, we know the fda voted to recommend it as early as two months after an initial dose, this is earlier than the other two. but the fda committee looked at two-month data and six-month booster data. why did they decide after two months? >> well, first of all, lindsey, you know, i've been saying since january, this is going to be a two-dose vaccine. and the reason for that, when you looked at the phase 1/phase 2 trials, the amount of virus neutralizing antibody and other immune responses clearly benefitted from that second dose. so i was actually surprised when it came out as a one-dose vaccine. so i think this is kind of an auto correction and a welcome one. the two-month concept is based on the fact that their large phase 3 clinical trial on the two doses was done 56 days apart and it looked really good. it increased vaccine effectiveness from 60 to 70% to over 90%. so i think that's probably where the two-dose idea comes from. th

peter hotez, a vaccine scientist working on a low-cost vaccine for global distribution.e of medicine. so a guy goes into a walgreens, he says, do you have moderna boosters. the woman says, no, just pfizer. the guy walks out. so the new guidance is going to be, no, go ahead, any brand is better than no booster. am i correct about that? >> that's probably the case. but the truth is, as you heard in the united states, anyway, there's no limit to the amount of vaccine we have available. they all should be available in abundance. all things being equal, i would err on the side of sticking with the same vaccine. but if you have no other choices, yes, sure, go ahead with what they call the heterologous boost, mixing and matching. one of the studies published today showed that if you got the j&j vaccine, the amount of virus neutralizing antibody with the second dose of j&j was lower than with either of the two mrna vaccines. i would push back on that a little bit. it was a small study, number one. and secondly, the way these vaccines like the j&j vaccine works, the amount of ant

peter hotez about these developments. >> it does look pretty exciting.ho were randomized to the placebo, to the control or getting the bill and i think for me the most impressive part is what tony fauci, dr. fauci points out there were eight deaths in the control and none in the treated group but it's still a relatively small study. i think merck and company will apply for emergency use authorization. the thing that gets me equally excited, though, is the fact it makes sense unlike i've ivermecr hydroxychloroquine, this is an anti viral drug against influenza and specifically to target rna viruses like the covid-19 virus, the sars 2. when you pull that information together, it looks pretty promising. add four individuals that have breakthrough infection or for some reason didn't get vaccinated, it will have some impact on mitigating the disease but as this really is important to point out, this is not a substitute for getting vaccinated. this is not nearly asfecti teff as getting vaccinated to prevent you from getting ill in the first place. i worry peop

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peter hotez, thank you very much. >>> thanks so much, jim. >> steve bannon is in serious legal trouble this morning after failing to comply with the congressional subpoena it appear before the house committee investigating january 6th. the committee is now moving forward to hold bannon in criminal contempt. >> if he refuses the subpoena like we expect him to continue to do, then we're left with no other choice than to ask the justice department, lock him up, and hold him in contempt, and clearly that might send enough of a message that he will agree to talk to us. >> bannon's attorney said bannon will not cooperate until the committee reaches an agreement with former president trump over trump's claims of executive privilege or until a court in effect forces him. cnn law enforcement correspondent whitney wild joins me now. the committee chose to delay deadlines to respond for meadows, scavino and patel as it pursues bannon. how long are those delayed and would they face the same, the same potential charges if they refuse? >> if in the end they decide they're going to completely defy th

peter hotez. a professor and dean of tropical medicine at baylor college of medicine.appreciate you spending part of your day with us and sharing your expertise. looking at the larger picture, have we seen the high point in cases and rates? is this the beginning of the end, or the end of a current surge? >> well, i wish it have the former but, you know, in my heart i feel we're still in for a pretty rough ride for the rest of the year. here is why, boris. if you look at this time last year, when we also had a terrible surge across the southern part of the united states, icncluding here in texa, we started going down precipitously around this time. after halloween, it started going up. into november and december, it really shot up. i'm looking at the northern border of the u.s. with canada and seeing lots of cases in minnesota, wisconsin, north dakota, across the north-northwest part of the country, before we get to seattle. everything in between. eastern washington and wisconsin, minnesota. really gives me pause for concern. looks like the beginning of the fall surge w

peter hotez from baylor university.d for people over 65, people with underlying health conditions, and people with high-risk jobs. that is not the case for j&j. why is that? >> well, part of it is because for the j&j vaccine, even though we're calling it a booster, it's not really a booster. it turns out this was always a two-dose vaccine. something that we've talked about all year. you know, when we looked at the early phase one, phase-two trial data, it really needed two doses to get consistently high levels of virus neutralizing antibody for everyone. and at that point it was a really, really good vaccine. so there is a subtle difference. with the pfizer vaccine, for instance, there's clear waning, munts, and you need a booster to restore the immunity. with the j&j, the vaccine immunity is staying constant. it's just not at a high enough level. it's around 68% in terms of preventing hospitalization, according to amanda cohn at the cdc. ill think that was the number she said at the committee meeting. so the point is i

peter hotez. he's the co-director of the center for vaccine development at texas children's hospital. it's great to have you back with us. so i think the question a lot of parents is, you know, realistically, how soon could we see these vaccines for younger kids now that the emergency use authorization has been submitted? >> assuming that the fda and the fda vrbpac committee and the cdc advisory committee on immunization practices agrees and all the stars align, potentially around halloween or early november, that could happen, that we could start being able to vaccinate young children. and then what the uptake will be and whether parents will accept vaccinating younger kids will once again vary by geography. for instance, if you look at the adolescent vaccination rates, if that's any indicator, there's a huge disparity. we're looking at one-third of the adolescents or the 12 to 17-year-olds are vaccinated in some of the southern states whereas almost 80% up in the northeast. and i would imagine t

hotez, good to see you.or being with us during the entire pandemic. >> and he is the dean of the national school of tropical medicine at baylor college of medicine. >>> abortion is health care. simple as that. it's a safe, common medical procedure that nearly one in four women will undergo by the time they reach their mid-40s and this week during a congressional hearing, several members of congress underscored this fact by sharing their own personal abortion story. so this morning as protesters gear up for hundreds of rallies across the country in protest of texas republicans abortion ban and the supreme court's decision to let it take effect, let's take a moment to listen to these women's stories and stories like theirs are incredibly common. >> i answered the door, and quietly told him he could come in imagining that we would talk and laugh like we had done over the phone, but the next thing i knew he was on top of me, messing with my clothes and not saying anything at all. i knew it was a decision i had t

here with us with more is doctor hotez from baylor college of medicine.lly vaccinated, understands he has this cancer and is being very careful and yet this can happen. walk us through it. >> yeah. that's a sad day for me as well, john, because in the decade i was microbiology chair at gw, secretary powell, general powell was a pretty frequent visitor to george washington university. the president then used to invite him quite a bit and i got to know him somewhat so this is tough for a number of us. you know, with multiple myeloma, it's -- it's a blood cancer, it's a cancer of a type of white blood cells called the plasma cell that's involved in producing antibodies so people don't produce the antibodies that they don't need to in order to fight infection because that's a major means that we need to fight covid infections so people with multiple myeloma number one are susceptible to infections in general, both viral and interior infections and infectious diseases are the leading causes of death in multiple myeloma as in secretary powell and not only do th

peter hotez, a co-director of the center for vaccine development at texas children's hospital.a lot of this is going to be caught and lost in the weeds for a lot of people. but exactly what does this mean right now, as far as what did the advisory panel approve? >> so, actually, the -- there's actually a difference between the two. so for the moderna vaccine, actually, the decline in effectiveness is not as dramatic right now as it is for the pfizer vaccine. but they decided to move forward on the assumption that that will likely be the case, so that i would expect the fda would move forward on this and then bring it to the centers for disease control, the advisory committee and immunization practices and the cdc director will sign off on it. so i would imagine within a week, m maybe two weeks. with the j&j vaccine, it's a little bit different. it's not so much that immunity is waning or declining, it's that the level of effectiveness is not as high as the two mrna vaccines. it's in the 60 to 70% range, instead of when it was originally released. the 90% range for the mrna vacc

peter hotez from texas children's hospital. great to have you with us.l from merck. how does this treatment work and how is it different from existing treatments like, say, regeneron or remdesivir? >> it's certainly similar, geoff, to how you would use the monoclonal antibody. in other words you would get the monoclonal antibodies if you start having symptoms, it seems to work very early in the course of illness when the virus are replicating. it's the same for this drug. the important game changer is this drug, the new pill from merck, is just that, it's a pill. you take it twice a day for five days as opposed to having to go to -- find an infusion center where you would have to get an intravenous administration of the monoclonal antibodies. so it will be much more accessible. and so i think that's really important. i think the key, geoff, is to not try to pitch this as a replacement for vaccination. that's going to be the key message, because yes, it is decreasing hospitalization by 50%. so it is a benefit. but in comparison to a vaccine, it's a modest

peter hotez from the center for vaccine development at texas children's hospital.di, great to have you with us. this announcement from the biden administration that they'll make these tests cheaper and more widely available, i thought they had already made that announcement. how is this different? >> this is actually getting more money for the $1 billion that biden has put aside, because what he's doing now is streamlining the fda approval process. you mentioned the ten kits. the fewer companies that you have competing, the more expensive the tests. the goal here is to streamline the process and to also pick those manufacturers, geoff, who have the greatest potential to bring high quality testimonials and manufacture a lot of them quickly to give them an expedited pathway for approval. this couldn't come at a more important time because you and i all know we're waiting for the president's osha rule, the rule that's going to mandate testing or vaccines. there's a lot of companies that will mandate the vaccine but those that don't are going to have to test and they'r

peter hotez. can you explain how this is not an experiment on children?arch and development for over a decade went into this current generation of covid vaccines, so these are as well vied and tested as just about any vaccines we've ever used. >> reporter: today is the deadline in washington state for public employees, healthcare workers and school employees to be fully vaccinated or risk losing their jobs. governor inslee says he will not delay the deadline. >> this is the last time you will hear me in a state patrol car and inslee can kiss my ( bleep ). >> reporter: more than a third of the officers have not reported they're vaccinated and the union leader is urging hem to hold the line. >> i hope the men and women to have the chicago police department are not going to ruin their careers over going on a web site and saying yes or no. >> reporter: 18 states and the district of columbia have vaccine mandates for at least some state workers but washington, oregon and massachusetts are the only one that won't allow opting out of the vaccine with a weekly te

peter hotez. can you explain how this is not an experiment on children? >> research and development for over a decade went into this current generation of covid vaccines. testboutny e as w a ays wnng state for public employees, health care workers and school employees to be fully vaccinated or risk losing their jobs. governor inslee says he will not delay the deadline. >> this is the last time you'll hear me in a state patrol car. and jay inslee can kiss my [ bleep ]. >> reporter:in chicago, the police union says more than a third of officers still have not reported they're vaccinated, and their union leader is urging them to hold the line. >> i really hope the men and women of the chicago police department are not going to ruin their careers over going to a website and saying yes or. no. >> reporter: nationwide, 18 states and the district of columbia have vaccine mandates for at least some state workers, but washington, oregon, and massachusetts are the only states that won't allow opting out of the vaccine with a weekly test. do you think we can get to

peter hotez. he's at the texas children's hospital for vaccine development.reciate you joining us. we have a lot to talk about. we have a sobering milestone. 700,000 deaths from covid. more than any other country. so many deaths were preventable. what is your thoughts? >> don, i'm especially thinking about the last 100,000 deaths, which occurred during this delta wave over the summer despite the wide spread availability of safe and effective vaccines. so almost all of those 100,000 deaths were among the unvaccinated despite the fact they could have gotten vaccinated. almost all of them were preventable and necessary. i don't call this misinformation or disinformation anymore. i call it death by anti science aggression and this has become one of the leading killers in the united states, far more than global terrorism or cyber attacks and yet, we don't do anything to combat it. i've been calling this death by anti science and writing and speaking about it for a few years and it's just gotten so out of control and it's just completely heartbreaking. >> yeah. you

hotez. elizabeth lays it out well what moderna is asking. i find moderna an interesting case here as they are asking about a half dose for people 65 and older, younger adults with underlying conditions, or people at high risk of exposure. the pfizer booster already authorized. how do you see moderna being different here than pfizer if at all? >> yeah, i mean, there are few differences. first of all, with the pfizer/biontech vaccine you started to see declines in vaccine effectiveness. it went down over 90% down to 40% to 50%. that was a trigger for the need for a booster. that's how the immune system works. we give a series of rapid immunizationings for kids and it goes up and down and as it declines, a booster becomes more effective. for the moderna vaccine, we're not seeing the same decline in immune response yet for from the first two doses, so there's a possibility that the committee might decide it's premature to give a booser at this point. wait for a further decline in immunity and th

. >> yeah, it seems like that is pretty clear now and some of my colleagues like peter hotez have been saying this for a very long time. this is a two-shot vaccine. and the fda advisory committee today said basically is in contrast to the pfizer and moderna vaccine, that all people 18 and above who are vaccinated with the johnson & johnson shot more than two months ago should get a booster and i think that makes great sense. now, it will be interesting to see what the fda does going forward with this concept of mixing and matching. because particularly with the johnson & johnson shot, you could get a much greater augmentation in the production of antibodies if you boost with a vaccine other than the j&j. so it is an intriguing concept. the fda has yet to discuss that. >> so for people who are under 65, because we've heard about how boosters will work well for people over 65. for people under 65, when should we think that our protection from our original moderna or pfizer will wear off? >> well, i think it is reasonable to understand that the efficacy for symptomatic infection drops for

peter hotez, always good to see you.well. >> thank you, you too. >>> coming up, president biden is expected to meet with world leaders to discuss iran's nuclear program. we'll go back live to rome for the g20 summit right after this. with vitamin c, d and zinc* season after season. ace your immune support with centrum. now with a new look! exclusive ticket access to unmissable events. that's the real music to your ears. one of the many reasons you're with amex platinum. the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now. it helps keep you effortlessly comfortable by sensing your movements and automatically responding to both of you. and, it's temperature balancing to help you stay comfortable all night. it even tracks your circadian rhythm, so you know when you're at your best. in other words, it's the most energy-building, wellness-boosting, parent-powering, proven quality night's sleep we've ever made. save up to $1,200 on select sleep number 360 smart beds and adjustable bases. plus, 0% interest for 36 months on all smart

peter hotez. he is co-director at the texas children's hospital center for vaccine development.d evening, sir. appreciate you joining us. we got a lot to talk about, actually. so, we have this sobering milestone, 700,000 deaths from covid. more than any other country. so many of these deaths were preventable. what's your thoughts? >> don, it's -- i'm especially thinking about the last 100,000 deaths which occurred during this delta wave over the summer despite the widespread availability of safe and effective vaccines. almost all of those 100,000 deaths are among the unvaccinated despite the fact that they could have gotten vaccinated, almost all of those 100,000 deaths were preventable, were unnecessary. this is what i am calling -- i don't even call it misinformation or disinformation, anymore. i call it death by anti-science aggression. and this is now become one of the leading killers in the united states, far more than global terrorism or nuclear proliferation or cyberattacks. and yet, we really don't do anything to combat it. um, i have been calling this death by anti-scie

peter hotez is the co-director for the center for vaccine development at children's hospital.ll good news? >> yeah. on the other hand, kate, what i would say is there are really not too many instance where is i think it would be necessary to make a switch. the reason i say that is an abundance of the three different types of vaccines available in the united states, and, you know, there may be some parts of the u.s. where one is limited and you can't get it, but generally speaking they're widely available. let's go through this one by one. the first two doses of the pfizer/biontech vaccine which i got, i stuck with pfizer, the reason being because there's always going to be more data on a vaccine coming from the same company. so we'll always have more data on safety and the effectiveness if we stick with the same vaccines. i stuck with pfizer. i would probably recommend doing the same with moderna, if you got two moderna doses. stick with moderna. the one gray zone may be those who got a single dose of the j&j vaccine. there's e merging data that a second dose looks really good

peter hotez, always terrific to get your expertise on this program. thank you all for being with us. msnbc's coverage continues right now with my friend geoff bennett. >>> it is great to be with you. i'm geoff bennett. new details this hour on a possible offer from mitch mcconnell to chuck schumer to suspend america's debt after weeks of playing a game of congressional chicken. to be clear, it's no game. failure to raise or suspend our debt limit could have devastating and immediate effects on your retirement funds and your ability to borrow money. it could bring a halt to social security benefits, medicare benefits. millions of jobs could be wiped out. why would washington even think of risking all of that not to mention the catastrophic impact on america's standing in the world? to be clear, raising the debt limit is to cover money already spent during the trump administration. raising the debt ceiling right now does not authorize any of president biden's future spending plans. and to start us off this hour, we have nbc news capitol hill reporter le

peter hotez says yes, things are getting better but even as younger children are advantages eligibleill say no. >> only 33% of the 12 to 17-year-olds were given the covid-19 vaccine here in the south. most of the southern states compared to 80% in the northeast, so once again you have this geographic divide where parents are holding back on vaccinating their adolescents and given all the defiance in the south and mountain west that will cause further problems. >> how are we ever going to get to a better place? >> as we've seen this summer, kids can and do get sick. they are less likely to get sick from covid than older folks, but it's not an impossible scenarios and we've seen our pediatric hospitals filled with children adolescents who have been really ill with covid. these vaccines prevent that. the kids and the teens also serve as vecters of this disease. you know, we've seen many of these surges pre-staged by bumps in the number of infections in these young adults and teenagers. it will help protect all of of us, not just kid. and the differences dr. hote zoo was talking about in

even if you go back and look at the original pfizer and moderna, what you hear from people like peter hotez there's always likely to be some boost at an interval. the first two shots together were just together to prime the immune system. you needed two together to prime the immune system. so the idea that you would need a boost later on was not that surprising to people who work on these vaccines. for johnson & johnson you're right, you could consider this a second shot. there's a difference in the terminology which most people don't use, but the boost is something to boost the immune system, whereas another shot like a third shot could be in people who did not respond to the vaccine well in the first place. like someone who has a weakened immune system, for example. but yes, two months at least for the johnson & johnson interval. >> there's one thing that i'm curious about when it comes to moderna and pfizer and their kind of vaccine regimen here. you know, the guidance is the booster can come at least six months later. >> six months. >> if the maudeoderna booster i half the dose of the i