walensky. dr. walensky: as you just heard from jeff, today is truly a monumental day, and one that many of us have been eager to see. nearly 12 months have passed the initial recommendation of covid vaccinations for those 15 and older. since that day, many of us have been asking when will we be able to expand this protection to our younger children? yesterday, the sisi advisory -- cdc advisory committee to review the latest data from pfizer on the safety and efficacy of the covid vaccine in children. they also discussed in detail the clinical needs in the center children. throughout the day, i listened intently to the committees open, transparent, and robust discussion. following their unanimous vote, i endorsed their strong recommendation that children five to 11 years old should be vaccinated with the pfizer pediatric covid-19 vexing. with this vote, we are now expanding actsing recommendations to more than 28 million children in the united states. distribution of pediatric vaccines across the co

walensky. dr. walensky: thank you, dr. fauci. and good afternoon, everyone. as i said before, this virus is unpredictable. we must remain ready to be proactive through data, science, and new variants evolve. one thing that has become clear, we can't predict the future but we can be prepared for it and we have been doing exactly that, preparing for this moment. today, i want to walk through with you what we've been doing at c.d.c. to prepare for emerging covid-19 variants and what we're doing currently to address the new threats of the omicron variant. to be crystal clear, we have far more tools to fight the variant today than we had at this time last year. today, we have increased our protection through vaccination for everyone 5 years and up, and we have vaccine booster doses for all adults to optimize that vaccine protection, as dr. fauci just said. compared to earlier this year, when we were sequencing about 8,000 samples per week, we have increased our genomic sequencing capability and we are now sequences approximately 80,000 samples per week. about one

walensky. dr. walensky. can i be unmuted? she's muted. dr. walensky: got it. >> start from the top, please. dr. walensky: thank you. i would like to start by walking you through the data. the current seven day daily average of cases is about -- cases per day. the 70 averages about 5300 per day and the seven day average debts are about 1000 per day. i present to you the current state of the pandemic on a national scale week by week. this data afflicts the entire country across all states, age groups and people. and -- as the cdc, we look at data more regularly to understand important -- granular early to understand important trends separated by subgroups. we do this understand who they be at greater risk for covid-19, who may be at risk for publications and to assess waning vaccine effectiveness and what interventions we can do to protect those who are vulnerable. studies show that those who are unvaccinated continue to be more likely to be infected, more likely to be in the hospital and more li

walensky? dr. walensky: thank you for that question. all of these questions are thoroughly vetted and reviewed and the data are thoroughly and publicly reviewed in the advisory hearings. we have a vaccine for our adolescents that is the age demographic under consideration with moderna and that's the pfizer vaccine that's undergone that review and so we anticipate there shouldn't be any challenges with regard to getting those adolescents vaccinated. jeff: next question, please. kevin: nate wexel at "the hill." reporter: hi. i'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about the mandate for federal employees. there's guidance out today on contractors. i'm wondering about religious exemptions for federal employees. who are the ones that decides that? is there a standard they have to go through to get a religious exemption? jeff: thanks. so religious exemptions are done through the agencies, through the h.r. departments of each agency following processes with guidance across the federal government. religious exemptions are not new. they have

walensky? dr. walensky: thank you for that question. all of these questions are thoroughly vetted and reviewed and reviewed in the advisory committee hearings. we have a vaccine for our adolescents that is the age demographic under consideration with madrona. the pfizer maxine has undergone that review -- vaccine has undergone that review. there shouldn't be any challenge in getting them vaccinated. >> next question, please. >> hi, i am wondering if you can talk a little bit about the mandate for federal employees. there is guidance out today. i am wondering about religious exemptions for federal employees. who is the one who decides that? is there a standard that they have to go through to get a religious exemption? thanks. >> religious exemptions are done through the agencies, the hr department of each agency, following processes with guidance across the federal government. religious exemptions are not new. they have been in place for other vaccines in the past and the agencies are following rigorous processes to evaluate religious an

walensky. >> thank you so much. so we are working with states and jurisdictions to make sure we -- technical assistance to help us to utilize these tests important in the school districts as well, 10 billion dollars in school districts to utilize testing. we provide technical assistance as to how to utilize it and peer-to-peer, school to school advice how best to use utilize the testing program wells shiring of school nurses in order to use the program. >> dr. woodcock. >> we have stream lined recently our standards and approach for over-the-counter tests. as i said in my testimony, so that we hope they should get out more quickly. we prioritize testing where there is a public health need, which right now is the over-the-counter tests. and we also try to move very quickly those manufactures that can make large supply of tests. because there is still an unmet need there. and we think between that we have authorized 11 over-the-counter tests and expect more to come. what asper is doing that the s

walensky. >> thank imyou. technical assistance as to how to utilize it and peer to peer school to school advice on how best to utilize the testing program as well as the hiring f school nurses in order to use the testing program. >> thank you. dr. ndwoodcock? >> we have streamlined recently ourd standards and approach for overre the counter tests. so we -- as i said in my testimony, so, we hope they should get out more quickly. we prioritize testing that -- where there's a public health need whichy right now is the ovr the counter tests. and we also try to move very quickly those manufacturers that can make large supply of tests. because there is still an unmet need there. andes so we think between that,e have authorized 11 over the counter tests and expect more to comesp between that and what asr is doing that the supply should increasera rapidly. >> miss $ o'connell? >> thank you, chair. we have invested $3 billion in the last two months on increasing production and supply of rapid point of c

walensky? dr. walensky: as you noted, there is a bit of data delay.we are working actively with the states to have those come in with our children hospital and pediatric partners. jeffrey: thank you, everyone. >> today, they testify on veterans hunger. live coverage begins at 12 p.m. eastern. tonight, nasa launches a spacex crew to the international space station. live coverage begins at 8 p.m. on c-span. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies, including comcast. >> this is way more than a community center. >> comcast is partnering with more than 1000 community centers so students can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. >> comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other providers giving you a seat to democracy. is david wasserman. he's the senior editor focusing on the u.s. house for the cook political report. thank you for being with us. i just want to begin with the latest of how the odds are looking for the parties heading into 2022 from your analysis. there are 68

walensky. dr. walensky: first of all, we are really enthusiastic for people to be able together again for this holiday season. we would encourage that people do so safely. that means to get vaccinated if you are not yet vaccinated and ideally to practice safe prevention measures before heading in to gathering numerous households together. as you know, when extra layer of protection is to take a rapid test before you gather together -- one extra layer of protection is to take a rapid test before you gather together. jeff: we have more than enough testing capacity in this country to support current and potential testing increases including testing ahead of the holidays. we've made significant investment across the last few months -- $3 billion in rapid testing in order to quadruple the supply of at home tests from september to december. just today, in fact, we had our fifth new at home tests authorized the fda since october. that brings the total now to 13 on the market, authorized by the fda. increa

walensky, what an opportunity. when you or i get to talk to the head of the cdc. that's news. now these kids get that opportunity? >> it is. people like dr. walensky are excited when they get a chance. we've had dr. murphy on. had other celebrities on, but when they ask answer the kids' question, they come on, very engaged, want to answer the kids' questions. a lot of times kids are thinking of things we haven't and a lot basically, when can i play with my friends, and now got a better answer than we were able to give them before. >> a good point. lester, do you have you on live to talk about all of this. "nightly news" just ahead. and i know where to find you. lester holt, thank you. you'll see lester not just on "nightly" but special "kids edition" nbc news, more of that conversation with lester. many correspondents there and dr. rochelle walensky. >>> next up, inflation, at a 30 years high. what it means for your wallet. >>> heading live to a courthouse in georgia hearing from the owner of a construction site, t

walensky.t i would like to do in the context of a recent announcement from the pfizer company about an antiviral drug, is to put this in some perspective and briefly outline where we are in our advances and our strategy in the development of antiviral therapies to covid-19. the underlying strategy is to identify vulnerable targets in what we call the replication cycle of the virus, then either screen or design drugs to inhibit those vulnerable targets. this is a slide that looks complicated, but it simply tells us the big circle is the cell in the body, such as a cell in your upper airway. at each point, you see the smaller circle is the virus. there are processes within the replication cycle that are vulnerable to inhibitors, such as those highlighted in yellow. entry inhibitors. let's take a look at one of these. that is the pulmonary inhibitor. a little while ago, the merck company together with rich back showed clinical data they announced a very impressive placebo-controlled trial of aroun

walensky we will begin with you. >> good morning. i'm honored to join you today to provide an update on the covid-19 pandemic. since i last testified before this committee on july 20th, we have witness ad steep increase in covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths around the nation largely fueled by the delta variant. the delta variant reminded us we need to be humble in our response to this virus and to follow -- as we modify guidance and address the pandemic. here are a few things we've learned the last four months. first, the delta variant is notably more contagious and spreads faster than previous variants. second, though breakthrough infections are infrequent. vaccinated individuals who are infected with delta are able to transmit the virus. and third, while we have seen waning vax induced immunity in certain populations leading up to recommend the rollout of booster shots, covid-19 vaccines are still highly effective and provide strong protection, particularly against severe disease, hospitalization and death. while we are on

walensky earlier today. >>> tonight former president trump is appealing a federal judge's ruling that he cannot block the release of white house records to the committee investigating the capitol riot hallie jackson is there. hallie, the committee could get those documents in days. >> maybe just a couple days, lester it looks like those key documents from the trump white house related to january 6th will not stay secret much longer. that's after a big legal setback for former president trump. a federal judge is now ruling against him, rejecting mr. trump's claim of executive privilege as he tries to keep hundreds of pages of these documents out of the hands of lawmakers investigating that capitol riot the judge writing presidents are not kings and the place is not president. the judge pointed to the position of the biden white house which supports sharing the information with congress mr. trump's team is now appealing, but they're running out of options and out of time with the national archives set to release those papers friday. lester >> hallie jackson in washington, thank you. >>>

rochelle walensky has given the go ahead for pfizer anticipated -- pfizer's pediatric vaccine in children 5 to 11. a panel voted late tuesday to recommend use of the low-dose shot. >> the clinical trial demonstrated that the pfizer/biontech covid-19 is safe, immunogenic, and efficacious in children 5 through 11. >> reporter: more than 67,000 american children under age 17 have been hospitalized for covid infections since august of 2020. while the cdc says the most severe covid outcomes are rare, there have been 94 deaths in kids 5 to 11. >> the risk is too high and too devastating to our children, and far higher than for many other diseases for which we vaccinate children. >> reporter: some parents say access to a pediatric vaccine will lift a heavy burden. >> it will make life that much easier to be able to take the kids places, to not feel so worried about do we have a mask, do we not have a mask, can we be aroundthese friends and their kids. >> reporter: a survey shows only 27% of parents say they'll vaccine their kids right away. a third says they'll see how it goes. >> i recognize th

rochelle walensky testified about the biden administration's covid response. live ed c-span3, or watch full coverage on c-span now, our new video app. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more. including comcast. >> comcast is partnering with community centers. so families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> president biden talked about efforts to get children ages five to 11 vaccinated. and to make sure there were enough doses for every child in the u.s. this is 15 minutes. pres. biden: good afternoon, folks. let me get my mask here. today is a great day for american parents, american families, and american children. we are taking a giant step forward to further accelerate our path out of this pandemic. after months of rigorous and independent scientific review, the food and drug administration authorized, and the centers for disease control and prev

rochelle walensky.please take us into your thought process as you considered all of the available data? >> good morning, robin. thanks for having me. this is really just a time for parents to celebrate. we now have vaccine that's eligible for 28 million children between the ages of 5 to 11 and we saw the deliberations yesterday at the advisory committee meeting demonstrating the risk of children to covid and the real efficacy and safety of these vaccines working in 91% of children, the efficacy of 91%. and importantly we've taken the time to get this right, to do the science to have a kid's dosing schedule. the dose is about a third of the adult dose and really, you know, it's taken us almost a year compared to when we had vaccine for adults. so really have done the due diligence, reviewed the science, made sure we had the appropriate doses for our children and really now we have parents who can have the peace of mind that when they get their kids vaccinated they will be protected. >> but you know that

walensky and dr.an emotion in protection against serious illness. we need to know who those groups are and make sure we target those groups because that's the most important group. keep people out of the hospital, out of the morgue, and i -- and, again, i just want to make the point that dr. walensky has made, we're not going to boost our way out of pandemic. we need to vaccinate the unvaccinate, they are the ones most likely to transmit the virus and become sick and be hospitalized and die. i feel like the booster story has been somewhat of a detour. >> let me bring you back to that. it's in the news and we have to cover it. the question is what does it to do this and i'm showing our viewers a map. new cases compared, if you look at a state and you're red or orange, that means more new infections than last week. 36 states are trending in the wrong direction and a good number are the deeper red which means 50% new infections this week compared to last week. if we went back a month ago, a month ago it

rochelle walensky has just signed off on this. this will be two shots, each shot about one-third the adult dose. 15 million doses have already shipped out and columbus, ohio, for one, 1,800 doses arriving right here at nationwide children's hospital, packed in dry ice and immediately stored in freezers. vaccinations could begin as early as tomorrow. the government also shipping doses to doctor's offices, drugstores, clinics and schools, where parents already go for other vaccinations for their children. abc's steve osunsami leads us off tonight from the cdc. >> reporter: the cdc's panel of experts voted unanimously tonight in favor of the new pediatric covid vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old. and the cdc's drk or the has come in right behind them, agreeing with the new shots. >> the motion passes. >> reporter: while the scientists were debating, the federal government was shipping boxes of the vaccine today. >> right there, 1,000 doses of the pediatric vaccine. >> reporter: this children's hospital in columbus, ohio, is stori

walensky that they would like to add. covid has had a real impact on the workplace and a significant increase in absenteeism, sick days, people getting infected at work. there are many people who are not in the labor force because of covid, childcare needs or health concerns. so it's really important people feel like they have a safe and healthy work environment and people being vaccinated along the lines of the osha rule, being tested at a minimum once a week. it's important for safety and our economy and for us meeting this pandemic. anything to add there? >> it truly is all of the above. obviously we want to keep people out of the hospital and prevent them from going on to the severe outcome of death, but you will also diminish infections in individuals. obviously no vaccine is 100% protective against infection but you do go a long way. as we have all said, the biggest disruption of the workplace is when people get covid and that's the reason why we want to do everything we can to keep the workplace flow at its normal

rochelle walensky. i want to bring in dr. sanjay gupta. great to see you as always, sanjay.s off on the recommendation, as we expect, how soon could all adults be eligible to get their shots? >> right away. that's the thing. at the beginning of this vaccine rollout there was often supply issues. there's enough supply in most places so people who qualify, which is -- we'll see what dr. walensky says, but really should be all adults. they should be able to get the boosters right away. it's six months after you finished your second shot. and, you know, people always ask, what if i'm three months or four months out. there's benefit to waiting six months because they think that the -- you want some time between your prime shots, those first two shots and the boost shot. that should give you longer durability. but this was data that's been out there for some time. let me show you what drove this decision today. if you looked at vaccinated and unvaccinated, for most of the time what we've been seeing if people were to get sick they were far more likely to be unvaccinated. that's th

walensky: not to my knowledge.ost: getting asked about a possible mandate for kids to get vaccinated for covid-19 to go to school. you heard her say that there is no change in the law. this is a local issue. in the wall street journal's op-ed pages, he believes that the forced covid vaccination for kids is unlawful. he is at the new civil liberties alliances and writes, "patients, in this case children, it may not be forced, coerced, or pressured into taking emergency use authorization products and are entitled by law to refuse them. another statute authorizes the president to require members of the armed forces to take eua products and president biden invoked this power to require covid vaccination. no law authorizes such mandates outside the military. conditioning, access to education, and participation in public life on treatment with an unimproved vaccine is the antithesis of free and informed consent and is therefore unlawful. private institutions who force an eua drug on children could face lawsuits." he note

rochelle walensky talked yesterday about address the question that parents have, which is, you know, typically as severely as it affects adults. why should i give a vaccine to my child? the answer really is that covid can affect children quite terribly. thousands and thousands of children have gotten very, very sick with covid. been hospitalized, many of them were perfectly healthy to begin with, why would you want to roll the dice with your child? let's listen to dr. walensky. >> the chance that a child will have severe covid, require hospitalization or develop a long-term complication remains low. but still, the risk is too high and too devastating to our children and far higher than for many other diseases for which we vaccinate children. >> now, polling has shown that some parents are hesitant about getting this vaccine for their children. hopefully in the coming weeks as they see other children get it, they see how well they're doing, hopefully some of that hesitation will go away. jim, erica? >> well, if getting an appointment is a sign of interest, clearly some demand. brynn,

rochelle walensky, and other health officials testify under biden's administration coronavirus responsesenate health committee. later president biden talks about passage of the infrastructure bill. announcer: robert abrams, former new york attorney general, discussed the current state of politics and role of the attorney general. letitia james, the current attorney general moderated this 55 minute conversation. [applause]

rachoche walensky will give the green light maybe this evening.k at the data they're looking at. they're looking at data from pfizer that shows the vaccine is about 91% effective at keeping children from getting sick with covid. what they did is they gave the vaccine to about 1,300 children, and three of them became sick over time with covid. then they give it to 663 children, a placebo, a shot of saline that does nothing, to about half that number, and 16 of them became sick with covid. those numbers show you what the vaccine does. it really does, according to this data, protect children against covid-19. you mentioned this is a child-sized dose of the vaccine, kate. that's right. it's one-third the dose that's been give on the adolescents and adults. and so that's what's being reviewed right now. again, it is possible that we could see rochelle walensky, the head of the cdc, signing off on this today or tomorrow, certainly very soon. kate? >> sticking close to you, elizabeth. i really appreciate it. joining me is a professor of emergency medicin

rochelle walensky signing off on the extra dose friday afternoon after the fda authorized a third shotf either moderna or pfizer's vaccine for everyone 18 years and older. >> we should point out u.s. vaccinations were already on the rise. more than 33 million people have received the boosters. and cdc data shows in the past week there's been a 36% boost in vaccinations. that's due in large part, they say, to young children receiving their shots. and we should point out that's more than double the rate from just a month ago. >> let's go straight to cnn national correspondent nadia romero, live in atlanta at a covid booster clinic this morning. nadia, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, boris and christi, this is valley a day that so many people, health experts and americans are waiting for to get that seal of approval from rochelle walensky, and the booster shot, if you had moderna or pfizer within the past six months. and the clinic just got under way, right, at the top of the hour, 8:00. behind me, you can see that people have lined up through a drive-through. it's all things covid-

after that the head of the cdc rochelle walensky will weigh in and then it will be final. let's take a look at what a clinical trial showed when they tried the vaccine out on small children. >>> pfizer says that its clinical trial shows the vaccine is 91% effective against symptomatic covid-19. in other words, 91% effective at protecting children ages 5 to 11 from getting sick with covid-19. what pfizer did is they gave about 1300 children the vaccine and three of them over time became sick with covid-19. now, they gave a smaller number of children 663 of them a placebo, a shot of saline that does nothing, and 16 of them became sick with covid-19. so you can see they gave the placebo to a smaller number of children, but a larger number, 16 of them, became sick with the virus. >>> now, the vaccine advisers and if dr. walensky give a green light to pfizer's vaccine for children, it could be a matter of days before children start getting shots, and it's interesting to note children won't be getting the full dose that adolescents and adults have been getting. instead they'll b

walensky and myself and other medical leaders within the administration including fda commissioner and nih director and others all signed a letter saying that we believe that protection was starting to wane and boosters would be needed sometime later in the year across the age spectrum 18 and above. what we also said in the letter that we wanted the cdc in the fda to weigh in on the efficacy and the safety of booster shots. all that remains true. while we have millions of people eligible for booster shots we are going during fda process and will go through cdc process to see if eligibility should be widened. the bottom line all of us are on the same page about the strong protection and we know where boosters are indicated that they will be helpful to extend the protection against covid-19. chris: on friday the fifth circuit court of appeals in new orleans for the second time continue to block the biden administration mandate that all businesses with more than 100 employees vaccinate their workers or they get a test. here's what the judges wrote, rather than a delicately handled scalpel

fauci, cdc director rochelle walensky and other officials take part in this briefing.

so here's cdc director rochelle walensky just a few minutes ago. >> for the 45 million unvaccinated adults, now is the time to get vaccinated. we also know that vaccination helps protect you, your loved ones and your community from covid-19, and we fully anticipate this protection at least in part will be beneficial against omicron. >> meanwhile, here is some of that uncertainty i was talking about. fed chair jerome powell was on capitol hill today testifying about a heavy dose of economic uncertainty facing the country with omicron. moderna's ceo talked to the financial times about vaccine uncertainty, predicting that there will be a, quote, material drop in vaccine effectiveness. the question is how much. nevertheless, medical experts agree that the best way to go ahead -- to get ahead of omicron right now or any of the variants is getting every person possible vaccinated and/or boosted which puts white house messaging in the spotlight. ron klain responded on twitter to nbc's first read, disputing the notion that the white house was losing the messaging war on the vaccine mandate. even t

walensky says. there's a final signoff necessary. recommendation, so expected she'll sign off on this. and alisyn, even before today, the vast majority of adults were eligible for boosters because it was people over the age of 65 but also any adult who had some sort of medical condition that put them at risk, and when we added up all the medical conditions, that was, you know, close to 80, 90% of the adult population, so this will make it clearer, i think it's just been a little muddled. now they're basically saying two things, everyone who's an adult can now, it's recommended they get a booster. they did a second vote, alisyn wrrks where everyone over the age of 50 should get a booster. a little different semantics, but strengthening the language for people specifically over the age of 50. one other thing i'll point out, alisyn, there was a lot of discussion about adverse effects and one of the things that came out here, the side effects that they saw with the third shot were actually less in terms of severity and number as compared

anthony fauci and rochelle walensky testified in the cdc.they set the vaccine for thor sector early january. you're watching "meet the press daily." voltaren, the joy of movement. we're making the fagioli! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ this looks great. awesome. alright. thank you! what... what recipe did you use? oh. my nonna's! she a good cook? -no. ♪ say it's all right ♪ ♪ say it's all right, it's all right ♪ ♪ have a good time 'cause it's all right ♪ ♪ now listen to the beat ♪ ♪ kinda pat your feet ♪ ♪ it's all right ♪ ♪ have a good time 'cause it's all right ♪ ♪ oh, it's all right ♪ - i'm norm. - i'm szasz. [norm] and we live in columbia, missouri. we do consulting, but we also write. [szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; it's important. we walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. - we've both been taking prevagen for a little more than 11 years now. after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didn't notice before. - it's still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. subway®

today during a senate hearing, the cdc director rochelle walensky and anthony fauci defended the response. >> we know that mandates work. if you look at, for example, the percentage of people at united airlines or the houston medical association or other organizations that have mandated, it works 99% plus. >> reporter: but mandates remain a flash point across the country. from los angeles today -- >> no one should lose their job over a vaccine mandate. >> reporter: to lynchburg, virginia this week where dozens of workers walked off the job. >> we would like to have a company actually sit down and talk and come with clear, open and honest communications. >> reporter: tonight some states are planning to sue after this latest mandate after already doing so after a previous requirement for federal contractors. in houston, brian is a ceo of a supply chain logistics company who is concerned about employees leaving in a tight labor market. >> i have real mixed emotions because on the one hand i know that the vaccine is our one-way ticket out of the pandemic. on the other, there is a certain real

. >> cdc director doctor rochelle walensky signed off on the company's kid sized dose just hours after a panel of health experts voted unanimously to recommend it. doctor walensky says today's pfizer approval will help get children safely back in the classroom after nearly 2 years of disrupted learning. >> their children. the second grade who have never experienced a normal school year. he entered vaccination has the power to help us change all of that. and to let us move for as one knew it and hope it can be safe and enriching environment for all of our children. >> so now the western states scientific safety review workgroup needs to give the final thumbs up and that is likely just a formality here in the bay area. children could start getting the shots as early as tomorrow. we have a team of reporters covering just how health authorities across the bay area are planning to get those doses to children. we begin with kron four's, also the money and she's live for us in the newsroom with what san francisco health officials announced at a town hall tonight l a. >> that town hall tonight

rochelle walensky, she could act pretty quickly. quite quickly once these recommendations are made. we may even get a signoff from her possibly as soon as this evening. so that means the shots could be going into arms, little arms, young arms, later this week. erica, jim? >> so, can you explain for folks watching what the white house plan is for rollout and how it will be different from the rollout that we saw for shots for adults? >> so the rollout that we saw back in january, december and january, for adults, was a bit chaotic. we have to do remember that was a different administration, so this administration, the biden administration is different. and they learned from what they saw the trump administration do, they have been planning this for quite some time, even though they haven't had the official signoff, they got to work planning it. their emphasis unlike with the adults you saw a lot of mass vaccination sites, for example in stadiums, instead, they're emphasizing more pediatricians offices, and schools, children's hospital

walensky commented, this still really continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.on. we're also seeing a lot of flu activity, much higher than last year of course. and i think to your point what we're hoping for is a decoupling of deaths and hospitalizations. so we see cases increasing but we're really watching those hospitalization and death rates because we hope that those hold stable or decrease, which really indicates that vaccines are working at preventing death and hospitalization. and what we're seeing are milder cases. but this is going to be kind of a nail-biting four to six weeks to see how the holidays affect caseloads and health systems around the country. >> and dr. patel, i want to play for you a bit of comments today from dr. fauci. this is a warning about immunity from vaccines. >> the effectiveness overall against infection declines from 87.9% to 48.1% as well as the vaccine against -- the vaccine efficacy against death. in people less than 65 and greater than 65. so we know we need boosters. >> so doctor, i was thrilled to hear you on one of our b

walensky from the cdc talking about the latest news as it relates to covid, that new strain, omicron.ng in dr. ashish jha. dr. jha, thank you for being with us this afternoon. >> thank you. >> can i start with the news we mentioned at the top of the broadcast, this w.h.o. warning that people who are having, for example, issues with being immunocompromised or people over the age of 60 should not travel, should be travel restricted because of this new strain. can you break down what that means for people thinking about holiday traveling coming up, for example. >> i think w.h.o. is really speaking out of an abundance of caution here. we don't know to what extent the vaccines we have currently are going to hold up. i suspect if you're fully boosted -- as a matter of fact people who are severely immunocompromised. let's say the average healthy 65-year-old, if you're fully boosted, my expectation is that the vaccines are going to hold up just fine. you may take a little bit of a hit but not a massive one. we don't know that for sure. and i think w.h.o. is saying out of abundance of caution

walensky will discuss, this week, the cdc will make its clinical recommendations on vaccinations this age group. as we await the cdc decision, we are not waiting on the operations and logistics. in fact, we have been preparing for weeks.

cdc director rochelle walensky just signing off on this and what parents should know tonight. >>> alszowdown in virginia. the polls have now closed. what it could say about the country, about the president's agenda. tonight, the exit polls and what we know about this governor's race already. between democrat terry mcauliffe and republican glenn youngkin. >>> tonight, new signs the house could be nearing a vote on the president's house infrastructure bill. the bipartisan one, repairing roads and bridges and broadband. the second bill, universal pre-k, affordable child care,