andy. mr. slavitt: thank you. ok, let's go to questions. >> thanks, andy. i know a lot of people have questions, so please keep it to one question. let's go to spectrum news. >> hi. thanks for taking my question. can you guys explain the guidance between the guidance change at this moment? is the understanding that there are enough americans fully vaccinated to sufficiently slow the spread that the likelihood of transmission is very low? and what about the pockets of the country that have not reached national levels of vaccination? should the guidance be different for areas of lower vaccination rates? >> dr. walensky. dr. walensky: there is increasing data that suggests most of the transition is happening indoors rather than outdoors. less than 10% of documented transmission in many studies have occurred outdoors. we also know that there is an overall 20 fold risk of transmission in the indoor setting compared to the outdoor setting. that coupled with the fact that we now have 37% of people over the age of 18 fully vaccinated and the fact that our case rate

white house senior adviser for covid response andy slavitt joins us tonight. it's good to see you. look, this is a nice step. first, what do you think about the idea of showing the road ahead to people? here's where we are now. if we get to this level, it will be this much better. and this level, it will be this -- so they can see where they're going if they do the right thing. >> good evening, chris. i think that's exactly what the president has been doing and is going to continue to do. i think a month and a half ago or so he said we have it in our sights that by the fourth of july, we could be having outdoor gatherings without masks. look where we are today, we are now having -- the cdc is in a place where i don't think anybody could have imagined, here we are still in april, and we're already at that place. and we're going to go further, because why? because we're beating everybody's assumptions about how quickly we would be vaccinating the country. california is down 90% from its peak in terms of deaths. we are much, much further along than we ever thought we would be. so i wo

white house covid response adviser andy slavitt telling cnn he expects the u.s.o hit a milestone 50% vaccination mark in the next few days. >> we're on track so by the weekend half the adults in the country will have had their first shot. let's take stock of where we've come from. when we got here january 20th we were at about 8%. it's getting easier, part of it's because there is more supply, part of it is because it's in more places and there's more vaccinators. >> right now the cdc says almost 42% of american adults have been partially vaccinated. slavitt says he expects that pace to pick up. president biden now moving up the deadline for states to make all adults in the u.s. eligible for a vaccine. >> by no later than april 19th in every part of this country every adult over the age of 18, 18 or older, will be eligible to be vaccinated. no more confusing rules. no more confusing restrictions. >> the president also urging senior citizens to get their shot now before younger americans rush to get an appointment. >> in advance of that new national full eligibili

. >> turning our discussion now, andy slavitt, white house senior adviser for covid, thank you for beingccording to what the president said, you're going to overdeliver once again on the 200 million shot target. at what point do you think we'll reach everyone eager to get the shot leaving however many are vaccine reluctant still there? >> we just announced we hit our 150 millionth shot, which translates roughly into about 60% of seniors have had their first shot, and i think right around this coming weekend, we'll have about half of all adults in the country that have had their first shot. that's good, that's obviously a lot of progress. when we came to office, only 8% of seniors had had their first shot, but that leaves lots of people who haven't had their first shot yet, and that means that we have still a lot of work to do. so it's going to be important for people to try to stay as patient as possible for the near term. but i expect, lawrence, that sometime over the course of april and may, we are going to be quickly reaching, particularly in some parts of the country, parts where we

white house covid response senior adviser andy slavitt announced a new 1.0. 7 billion dollar investment in the fight against covid variance to bolster the ability. >> of the cdc and state and local public health departments to monitor track in defeat merging threats. the white house covid response team says vaccinations around the country are on the right track 125 million americans have been vaccinated millions more each day. but cdc director doctor rochelle walensky says there are more new cases as some states loosen restrictions another reason for these increases is the continued spread of highly transmissible. lynskey says these variants put the progress made so far at risk, which makes the race to stop the transmission even more challenging and threatens to overwhelm our healthcare system again in parts of the country. >> white house chief medical advisor doctor anthony fauci says a global pandemic requires a global response to beat it as long as there's active dynamics of infection somewhere in the world. there always is somewhat of a threat. fauci says the country must be vigilan

andy and dr. walensky. mr. slavitt: let me add locations. before i do that, let me just say that we were all extremely encouraged, as i am sure parents around the country were, by the reporting of that information. to dr. fauci's point, of having this done by the fall is a very good sign. obviously, we are going to await the fda and their work, and in the cdc's follow-up recommendations. over the last few months, we have created many, many places for adults to get vaccinated, including, as we talked about earlier, what will end up being over 40,000 pharmacies. and as a result, 95% of americans will be living within -- i should say 95% of americans will be living within five miles of a place to get vaccinated. but as it relates to kids, there is a well-established route of vaccinations through the pediatrician's office. and dr. walensky may want to comment on that. you are welcome to comment on that. and that is important both for teens and for younger kids, because it is an important point of trust for parents and teens. and there is also a

this senior advisor to the white house anti-slapp it the senior to the white house andy slavitt saying,000 more vaccinations over the record. tom: and the people who have decided not to be vaccinated, when will we run out the limit? -- let us continue. on washington, martin schenker joins us, our editor-at-large. roger wicker down from the land of mississippi. it is -- i do not see many bipartisan people being bipartisan. martin: i do not, and it is interesting that some of the main people, susan collins, not attending. tom: why are they silent? martin: because they will not criticize their colleagues and have -- let them have their moment in the sun, but there are going nowhere near the infrastructure plan. jonathan: we thought china would be part of it, secretary blink en with strong words, why is this not affecting the republican party? martin: because it is a push on whether or not republicans can afford to show bipartisanship, even in the context of china, to support a close to $3 trillion unprecedented jobs recovery plan from biden. they just do not want to go there. jonathan: th

. >>> white house senior adviser for the covid response team andy slavitt joins us now.d morning. as we just heard from weija, we've got 22% in our poll saying they will not get the vaccine. another 18% saying maybe they won't. how do you address that? >> well, good morning. thanks for having me on. look, aca important decision to make, and i think as americans do their homework they're going to realize that it's really smart for them to do. they really have to do that homework themselves. if they look at the over 130 million americans that have been vaccinated, they look at how much safer they are, the things that they can do now, they compare that to the incredibly modest if almost nonexistent risk of taking a vaccine, i think that that's where they'll end up. all you have to do is look at what's happening in india, even michigan. if you're a younger person, see what the risk is from covid. i think people will do their homework. i encourage people to talk to their doctors. talk to people you trust. talk to yoursts. don't listen to politicians. don't listen to senators.

. >> yesterday a senior covid adviser to the white house andy slavitt told me the cdc is putting togetherlike you and me. how come i still have to wear a mask outdoors, for example? that's a question i asked. what does the science say about what the rules should be for people like us, who are vaccinated? >> well, let me go over some of the numbers. we have data around this now, how likely people who are becoming infected are getting infected outdoors? a small percent across the board. 18.7, that's a number i shared with you earlier, jake, the odds of transmission indoors versus outdoors, almost 19 times more likely to happen indoors versus outdoors. keep those in mind in the back of your mind.rxu lindsay marr writes a lot about this. if you have been vaccinated and you are not vulnerable, high risk, you probably don't need a mask outdoors. there is some common sense that comes into play as well. a crowded ourktsdoor setting where you'll be stationary for a long period of time and there's high viral transmission in your community, that's something you can check, then that's going to be mov

andy slavitt tells us vaccines are the only way for americans to get back to normal life. >> i think we're increasingly going to see a world where people who are vaccinated will enjoy a lot of freedoms. they can take a lot of activities with low risks, reunite with families, and cases are going to continue to be there for those who do v not gotten vaccinated again. vaccination's the key. >> we're all ready for some normal. >>> as of this morning, nearly 29% have been vaccinated. 42% have received at least one dose. but vaccinations are slowing after peak levels with the average of 3 million shots per day. and cdc data shows that 8% of people who got the first dose failed to get their second dose on time. melissa bell is joining us from paris with the developing news out of europe. melissa, tell us what's happening there. >> reporter: well, brianna, the hope is that europe will be able to offer americans the opportunity of returning to europe after a long year spent without all of that tourism revenue on which europe is so heavily dependent. the first thing they'll have to do is sort

senior white house pandemic advisor andy slavitt says on average more than 3 million shots were administeredy and one in 4 adults are now fully vaccinated. but those numbers need to keep going up. the worst thing. >> we could do right now. would be to mistake. progress for victory. >> cdc director rochelle walensky warns well, deaths are down for the 4th straight week infection rates are rising because of newer more contagious. variants. please continue to hang in there and to continue to do the things that we know spread we can meet this moment if we keep doing our part will. and he says a bulk of new infections come from 18 to 24 year-old involved in extracurricular activities. she says anyone participating should undergo regular testing. she and doctor anthony fauci also say there are no signs hotter slow the virus's spread. i don't think we should even think about relying on the weather. >> so they'll us out of anything we're in right now. what remains unclear is how recent easter travel may impact infection numbers. the tsa reported a record 6 million people traveled by air over the hol

we heard from andy slavitt yesterday, senior advise or the white house's coronavirus task force, talking about just that. the fact that still, even as we have so many americans vaccinated, there still are 100 million adults who haven't yet been. listen. >> we do have to remember that there are 100 million-plus adults that still haven't been vaccinated. they're not there yet. and, you know, you don't win the war until you bring everybody over with you. and that's the spirit of this country. when we're at our best, chris, i like to think we're the country that says we're going to bring everybody there with us. even if that means we've got to slow down a little bit or we've got to prolong some of the things we're really eager for a little bit. >> and now the white house is projecting that half of adults in the u.s. will have received at least one shot of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of this weekend. but as that eligibility opens up to all adults within the next couple of weeks, president biden yesterday making an appeal to those seniors 65 and older who haven't been vaccinated to do s

white house senior adviser andy slavitt explained to cnn's pam brown how that would happen much faster for those who are fully vaccinated. >> so far is rehave more than half of adult americans that have done their vaccine shots. that's great. but that also means that we have near half of americans still haven't done that yet. so i think we're increasingly going to see a world where people who are vaccinated are going to enjoy a lot of freedoms. they're going to feel like they can take on a lot of activities, a little risk. they can reunite with families, and the cases are going to continue to be there for people who haven't been vaccinated yet. whether it's traveling to europe or just seeing your family and friends without having to worry, vaccination is the key. >> but the global epicenter of the pandemic right now is in india, which has seen some really mind-blowing covid numbers amid a second surge. we know that hospitals are overwhelmed and the indian government is planning to set up more than 550 oxygen generation plants to ensure adequate supply. for the past few days, the countr

white house covid response adviser andy slavitt telling cnn he expects the u.s.milestone 50% vaccination mark in the next few days. >> we're on track so by the weekend half the adults in the country will have had their first

white house senior adviser andy slavitt explained to cnn's pam brown how that would happen much fasteror those who are fully vaccinated. take a listen. >> the key to getting back to life that we used to know is vaccination, and so far we have more than half of adult americans that have done their vaccine shots. that's great, but that also means that we have near half of americans that still haven't done that yet. so i think we're increasingly going to see a world where people who have been vaccinated are going to enjoy a lot of freedoms. they're going to feel like they can take on a lot of activities with low risk. they can reunite with families and the cases are going to continue to be there for people who haven't been vaccinated yet. whether it's traveling to europe or seeing your family and friends without having to worry, vaccination's the key. >> according to the centers for disease control and prevention, nearly 95 million people in the u.s. are now fully vaccinated. that's more than a quarter of the population and nearly 140 million people have had at least one dose. but thet st

that's what senior white house covid adviser andy slavitt told me tonight.e able to get one beginning tomorrow, slavitt also told me this. 90% of americans live within five miles of a vaccination site. dr. abdul el saad joins me now. he is a former health commissioner and a cnn contributor. doctor, great to have you on as always. it's an interesting contrast, right? you have cases on the rise in several states. but at the same time, the white house senior covid adviser told me there are more than 50 million vaccines just sitting there waiting to be used. do you think we have hit the vaccine hesitancy wall and are now seeing some of its impact? >> that's right, pam lap. first off, always great to see you. i worry that we're starting to get to that point which we always knew existed somewhere on the horizon where the level of supply would outstrip the demand. and the real work gets started to have that conversation with the american public who is still hesitant the give this vaccine about why it is safe, effective, and absolutely necessary. and as we slow down

last hour i spoke with white house senior adviser for covid response andy slavitt, and i pressed him people are basically trying to figure out what do i do on sidewalks if i go out on a walk? i'm just going to go ahead because i'm vaccinated and wear a mask. there are cdc guidelines we keep hearing that are going to be updates to that. but can you give us a specific time line of when we will know more about travel? you had told cnn's dr. sanjay gupta that the guidance would change once the u.s. is vaccinated 20 to 30% of its population. as of today we're nearly 30% vaccinated. what can you tell us about this, andy? >> well, look. our jobs in the white house is to let the cdc make the decisions based on the data, the science, and their judgments. sometimes there's not always perfect data. and the cdc i think has begun the process of being able to define how to loosen those restrictions up for americans. there's no question that they plan to do that. i think if you pay attention this week, you will continue to see more and more of those come into play and begin to talk about them. you

let's discuss with the white house senior adviser for covid response, andy slavitt.t's good to see you, hope you had a good pesach with the family. >> thanks, chris. i'm by myself here. but it was good to celebrate. >> good. got to get 'em vaccinated, not just in line. kaiser foundation says half the adults who try to make an appointment, fail. four in ten are still in wait and see mode. the harder it is to get an appointment, the more people won't get it. how do you fix it? >> let's look at where we are today. 76% of seniors have had their first shot. we're on track that by the weekend, half the adults in the country will have had their first shot. so let's take stock of where we've come from, when we got here on january 20, we were at about 8%. it's getting easier. part of it is because there's more supply. part of it is because it's in more places. part of it is because there's more vaccinators. what's going to happen in the next a couple of weeks is really need to make sure more seniors get their shots because starting on the 19th, we'll have more floodgates agai

andy slavitt announced $1.7 billion for that effort. >> today we are announcing a $1.7 billion investmentability of the cdc and state and local public health departments to monitor, track and defeat emerging threats. whether it's covid-19 variants today or other viruses in the future through a process known as genomic sequencing. >> here are the latest facts. the cdc says 80% of american seniors have gotten the first dose of the vaccine. more than 35% of adults are now fully vaccinated. we average 3.3 million shots in arms each day. the cdc is reporting 5,800 cases of, quote, breakthrough infections. positive covid cases in people already fully vaccinated. the agency says the majority of the infections were not hospitalized and 29% of the folks were asymptomatic. the ceo of pfizer says people will likely need a booster shot of their vaccine. he believes people will need a third dose within a year of getting fully vaccinated. we may need annual shots going forward. i want to turn to the founder and ceo of advancing health equity. good morning to you. let's start with the head of pfizer say

white house covid response senior adviser andy slavitt announced a new 1.0. 7 billion dollar investment in the fight against covid variance to bolster the ability. >> of the cdc and state and local public health departments to monitor track in defeat merging threats. the white house covid response team says vaccinations around the country are on the right track 125 mislion americans have been vaccinated. millions more each day. but cdc director doctor rochelle walensky says there are more new cases as some states loosen restrictions another reason for the increase is is the continued spread of highly transmissible. lynskey says these variants put the progress made so far at risk, which makes the race to stop the transmission even more challenging and threatens to overwhelm our healthcare system again in parts of this country. >> white house chief medical advisor doctor anthony fauci says a global pandemic requires a global response to beat it as long as there's active dynamics of infections somewhere in the world. there always is somewhat of a threat. fauci says the country must be vigi

on the weekly conference call the white house has been doing with governors, with covid adviser andy slavittt of all, this is a first-rate team. not only are they individuals in their own right who are exceptionally qualified in their professional capacities, but it is a deep bench and that's a real stark contrast we have with the biden team, and andy personally has been a great counselor to us both publicly and privately. i think the one thing is we're going to continue -- it sounds like we as a country are going to continue to find our way on the johnson & johnson vaccine production. we are very proud of the vaccine performance in new jersey. we're i think in the top five or ten consistently and one of the biggest states in terms of efficiency verse what's supplies we get versus what shots we get into arms, including a number of folks who have gotten a first dose and are completely vaccinated. the j&j vaccine is a real special weapon we would love to get more of because it allows us with only one shot and regular refrigeration to get into places that are hard to reach, homeless, homebound

this is andy slavitt saying think again, folks, crow need the second shot for your safety. >> 92% iswant that other 8% to realize, one thing, that the longevity of the vaccine is much stronger when you've had two doses. so you may find yourself with two doses being able to have an immunity for a quite a long time but with one dose we know that's not the case so it's very important, even though you get some response, that you keep -- you get your second dose and that will give you a long lasting response. >> let's bring into the conversation dr. kevin alt a member of the cdc's advisory committee on immunization practices. doctor, good to see you again, follow up on what mr. slavitt, 8% of americans are not showing up for the second appointment, hesitancy, people are busy, they just think the one shot is enough and how important is it to get that second shot? >> well, i'm sure it's a combination of a lot of the things you just mentioned, also, you get a very sore arm from these vaccines and so that probably deters people from coming. i agree with what mr. slavitt said, basically, and t

. >> this one's a little wit more technical but i want you to listen to andy slavitt, they're taking and they're trying to ramp up the genome tracking of these variants to better understand these variants and why they're more -- why they tend to be more infectious, more nasty is the lay term i used. listen to this from earlier today. >> this funding will enable cdc and states to do more genomic sequencing as we activate the nation's great research capabilities to detect variants earlier and increase our visibility into emerging threats. this investment will give public health officials the chance to react more quickly to prevent and stop the spread. >> help to non-medical person out there listening to understand why this is so important and exactly what it is. >> well, i think that's great news for a couple of different reasons. reason number one is, how are we going to find out if these variants are -- cause problems in people who have already been vaccinated? really the only way to do that is to find people who get covid after they've been vaccinated, and then sequence, as you just

tweeted: shortly after that, a senior official in the white house tweeted this: that was from andy slavitte white house senior advisor for covid response. india has reported a fifth consecutive record high sharing american—made astrazeneca vaccine doses during the next few months. given the strong portfolio of vaccine that the united states is already authorised it is available in large quantities and is available, including to those vaccines in one does vaccine, and given astrazeneca is now authorised for use, we do not need to use astrazeneca over the next few months. gary 0'donoghue is in washington i think it is a a reflection of the tension that he has faced. making sure that all americans get offered a vaccine before the rest of the world gets help but also wanting to reach out and re—engage which is something that he wanted to do for the beginning of his administration. clearly, they found with the astrazeneca vaccine, the 60 million doses. i don't think they will all be available in one go because there were some problems at the factory in baltimore for the astrazeneca vaccine is b

anthony fauci and senior advisor andy slavitt is just over half an hour. mr. slavitt: good afternoon, everyone. thank you for joining us. we are going to be moving our press briefing calls from three days per week on monday,

we asked andy slavitt from the white house this morning at their covid briefing about what this means for astrazeneca here's what he said. >> this is not a decision that had in any way anything to do with any concerns about the astrazeneca vaccine. it is still scheduled to go through the fda's authorization process as soon as an application is submitted >> so, guys, they are expected to submit their application to the fda in the first half of this month so we'll see how that plays out and where they ending up but for now j&j taking over manufacturing at that plant. >> just a question on the rising case numbers that we're following and a little bit of a tick up in hospitalizations as well the death numbers, though, are still loecw. is that because there's a lag and we're waiting for that to happen or are we just in so much better shape not letting people die and are these antibody treatments finally being used? >> well, i don't know if it's the antibody treatments. it might be the vaccines having an impact that more older people are vaccinated and more older people usually account for

here is white house covid-19 adviser andy slavitt. >> we have a long way to go today to get the country to a place where each of our states has reached the number of vaccinations that the population can handle. so, by and large today, we are still not entirely, but by and large, we are still allocating vaccines based upon population, until we get to that point. >> meanwhile, authorities in the uk now recommend the astrazeneca vaccine not be given to adults under the age of 30 due to growing evidence the shot may be linked to rare blood clots. that's the astrazeneca vaccine. ongoing investigations through the european medicines agency have shown some reports of clots in astrazeneca recipients, most reported in women under 60, though they are described as very rare. regulators across the uk and europe continue to emphasize the benefit in receiving the vaccine far outweighs the risks. british officials recommended the age limit out of an abundance of caution, suggesting people under 30 get an alternative vaccine to the one provided by astrazeneca. mika? >>> president biden is expected to a

white house covid-19 adviser andy slavitt tweeted yesterday that 60 million doses of the vaccine would be sent, quote, as they become available. this includes india, this is dealing with a record number of new covid-19 cases and deaths. president biden spoke with indian prime minister narendra modi yesterday to directly discuss u.s. assistance. in a tweet, the u.s. said, india was there for us and we will be there for them. indian health officials reported more than 323,000 new covid-19 cases yesterday. joe, almost a million new cases in india over the last three days. and the united states is stepping up to help. >> you know, this is interesting, also, looking at the way that joe biden governs. this is the second example of him having a policy that some of his supporters have disagreed with. the first, of course, those refugee numbers that we were talking about. he got a lot of pushback, a lot of blowback, and they adjusted. they adjusted the numbers for refugees. the same thing here. over the weekend, you saw a lot of supporters, but a lot of public health officials saying we as a co