leana wen, it is so nice to see you again. thank you for spending some time with us. of course, dr. wen is here on the occasion of the publication of her new book. it's called "lifelines." as she goes i'm going to read one expense of it. we depended on medicaid and food stamps when i was a child. living from paycheck to paycheck, we went through times when we were homeless. my life is a testament to public health. the book is full of all sorts of wonky stuff and good personal stuff, and it's a pleasure to get to talk to you about it. nick compressore and donny deutsch, thank you for spending time with me today. >>> the assault on the white house, this man could get charged. what does that mean for others assaulting police officers? ean s assaulting police officers if you're 55 and up, t-mobile has plans built just for you. switch now and get 2 unlimited lines and 2 free smartphones. and now get netflix on us. it's all included with 2 lines for only $70 bucks! only at t-mobile. what happens when we welcome change? we can make emergency medicine possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burn

leana wen, always good to talk with you.nk you. >> thank you. >>> still to come, three defamation lawsuits against rudy giuliani, mypillow c.e.o. mike lindell and sidney powell will move forward to trial. what does this mean for them and what does it mean about what we could all learn in terms of former president trump's attempts to overturn the election? >>> senator rand paul's wife purchased stock in a drug to treat the virus well before it was front page news. >>> plus stark warnings afghanistan could fall to the taliban much sooner than expected. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ there's a world where every one of us is connected. everyone. everywhere. where everyone is included. where everyone has access to information, education, opportunity. ♪ ♪ ♪ when everyone and everything is connected. that's really beautiful. anything is possible. good morning. cisco. the bridge to possible. at philadelphia, we know what makes the perfect schmear of cream cheese. the recipe we invented over 145 years ago and me...the world's best, and possibly only, schme

leana wen, former baltimore health commissioner. always good to have you back. i wonder when you look in this news from moderna, it does show something that we've been hoping for, right, that the vaccines lasts and the protection lasts but the delta variant is posing a challenge to that. how much of a challenge? >> well, we always thought that the possibility of a booster is there. and that is for two reasons. one is if the immunity waned over time and two if we have variants that may somehow evade the protection of the vaccines. it does look at this point that the vaccines do last. however, it is a bit unclear what the combination of the delta variant exactly how long and how well protected people are. people are protected well against severe illness, less so against symptomatic illness and i think it is time for the fda and cdc to allow individuals who are severely immunocompromised or those with chronic medical problems, to allow them the opportunity of getting the booster. that is not saying that everybody should get the booster but through may be a sub grou

leana wen, thank you for your take.ight, so, look, you want to talk a little politics? it's friday, why not? pandemic, afghanistan, bad for biden's approval numbers. why? and what does it mean, how does it compare to where former presidents were when it comes to let's say a war exit? let's bring in the wizard of odds because this is a big moment in this administration. next. washed your hands a lot today? probably like 40 times. hands feel dry? like sandpaper. introducing new dove handwash, with 5 x moisturizer blend. removes germs in seconds, moisturizes for hours. soft, smooth. new dove handwash. [tv announcer] come on down to our appliance superstore where we've got the best deals on refrigerators, microwaves, gas ranges and grills. and if you're looking for... boost is the only mobile carrier to give you the power of free 24/7 access to live doctors from your phone. get a free samsung galaxy a32 5g when you switch to america's largest & fastest 5g network. more power to stay healthy. boost mobile ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ monitor

leana wen, thanks very much. should mention she has a new book, lifelines, doctor's fight in public health. >>> president trump threatening to invoke privilege and block investigation into the capitol riot. president biden has the final say. what does trump, the former president, have to hide by invoking such privilege? we'll take a look next. life is full of surprises when you least expect it. (woman laughs) and open. what happened to all your things? i know you needed a place to study, so... and other times, it pays off knowing what to expect. at university of phoenix, you can count on fixed, affordable tuition from the moment you enroll to the day you graduate from your program. learn more about our tuition guarantee at phoenix.edu with schizophrenia, i see progress differently. it's in the small things i look forward to. with the people i want to share it with. it's doing my best to follow through. it's the little signs that make me feel like things could be better. signs that make it feel like real progress.

leana wen, thank you for joining me, especially on a friday.of how it could drive acceptance of the vaccine among adults, kids, and for a booster? >> i think this is really huge news, chris. and it's a long time coming. i think a lot of us have been wondering why has it taken the fda so long? and i really hope this is true that on monday they are going to announce that the vaccine is, finally, officially, formally, fully approved. um, there are two main reasons why this would really help. one is that there are businesses, colleges, schools that are still a bit hesitant about requiring vaccinations. they are uncertain about the legal aspects. they keep on saying, well, when we have full approval, we'll go that step. so, it'll help them to increase vaccinations that way. and the other thing, too, is to your point, we do have a lot of polls showing that people are somehow this label of emergency use. they are uncertain about. and perhaps, if now we have a label, that full approval, we can say this vaccine should be treated no differently than any

leana wen.hat is undisputable is the biden plan is working and moving the country forward as he's talking about the economy. every president gets to tout the good that happens under his watch and is blamed for bad that happened under his watch. what is your reaction from what you heard from president biden on the economy? >> the most important is vaccines we are in a race with the delta variant and if we get a variant that goes around vaccines, that is something that we definitely did not want because that would set us back quite far in the u.s. economy. the last stimulus plan was more than enough to fill the hole and then some of the hole left by covid, the problem is covid has not disappeared and so that is one problem. and the other issue and is very important is how inefficient governments are in spending the money they've allocated and the president himself made the point about the rental money not getting out to people fast enough. we've already seen at the state and local level, it fell w

leana wen, former baltimore health commissioner. >>> so, sanjay, what do you make of what dr.ust said? >> well, even up until yesterday, there was a lot of back and forth on this. not a slam-dunk decision, so to speak. um, because, you know, the cdc was telling clinicians yesterday that there was no basis at least at this time for getting booster shots. the other thing that sort of strikes me is that, you know, you are hearing really sort of a rationale for anticipating what may come. and trying to get ahead of that. there is not the data showing a decrease, really, in the effectiveness of these vaccines for hospitalizations and people dying of this disease. there -- there may have been more people getting mild or moderate illness but what they are saying -- what he is saying and we are hearing all day long today is -- is there may be a connection there. if people are more likely to get mild or moderate illness now, that may mean people are more likely to be hospitalized or die later. so they want to get ahead of it. it's interesting but i think the vast majority of the proble

leana wen, thanks to you as well. >>> coming up, more on the breaking news.sing the possibility that u.s. forces will stay in afghanistan past their withdrawal deadline at the end of this month. hands feel dry? like sandpaper. introducing new dove handwash, with 5 x moisturizer blend. removes germs in seconds, moisturizes for hours. soft, smooth. new dove handwash. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. i was diagnosed with parkinson's. i had to retire from law enforcement. it was devastating. one of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we won't stop. that's why we're calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices. we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand-new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a fe

leana wen, thank you. sanjay, appreciate it, as always. thank you. >>> coming up next. one girl's struggle with covid. the support she got from her mom and medical professionals. >>> also, new word on how best to protect millions of kids like her. >>> and later, the implications of a judge's ruling today outing how lawmakers will be able to get a look at the former president's taxes and what they might learn. with pronamel repair toothpaste, we can help actively repair enamel in its weakened state. it's innovative. my go to toothpaste is going to be pronamel repair. new customers get our best deals on all smartphones. that's right. but what if i'm already a customer? oh, no problem. hey, cam...? ah, same deal! yeah, it's kind of our thing. huh, that's a great deal... what if i'm new to at&t? cam, can you...? hey...but what about for existing customers? same deal (breathless) it's the same deal is he ok? it's not complicated. with at&t, everyone can ace back to school with our best deals on every smartphone - like the samsung galaxy s21 5g for free. [relaxed summer theme

leana wen. ealth saying, this is not a snow day, this is a pandemic. and now she has a new book out, "lifelines: a doctor's journey in the fight for public health." dr. leana wen, thank you. it's always good to see you. thanks very much for being on this morning. >>> and a few other stories making headlines now. secretary of state anthony brinken says there will be, quote, a collective response to iran for its expected attack on an israeli tanker. speaking to reporters yesterday, blinken said the u.s. was confident that iran was to blame for the drone attack that killed two crew members off the gulf of oman last week. they said they would work with allies to respond to the strike on the liberian-flagged tanker which was being managed by an israeli owned company. iran has denied any involvement in the attack. >>> the state department also announced yesterday expanded efforts to aid afghan allies who are at risk of violence from the taliban. thousands more afghans will now have the chance to resett

leana wen. is dr.right, in your view, among at least a decent slice of the vaccine hesitant we hearing this is no longer emergency use authorization but a formal full good housekeeping stamp of approval, would that make a difference? >> i definitely agree having full fda approval will make a big difference. there are some people who don't really understand emergency use authorization. there's this incorrect narrative out there that somehow this is a, kyquote, experimental drug, which is not true. this vaccine has been tested in tens of thousands of people and now there are hundreds of millions of people around the world who have received this. i think some people would fieel better knowing this is fully approved. also there are lots of employers waiting for full approval before mandating the vaccine for employees. i really don't understand what's taking the fda so long. what could possibly be more important than getting approval of the vaccines? what other priority in the fda is more important? i hope

leana wen is the author of "lifelines, a doctor's journey in the fight for public health." you're reaction to the data and the timing of this decision on boosters, given it was just over the weekend members of the administration were still saying no need for boosters. >> i agree with the administration laying out a booster plan and i appreciate how they did that, because they're not saying run out and get a booster tomorrow. they're saying we anticipate that given the data that we're seeing, that there are enough signals that we need to let the american people know boosters are coming. this is going to start next month. there will be enough time to layout this plan in the meantime. we need to let people have a choice. there are some people who are going to say i am well protected because these vaccines are protecting me against severe illness, i may not want a booster. there are others that say, but it looks like there's waning immunity to symptomatic disease. >> the world health organization said just today they believe the data, quote, unquote, clearly does not indicate t

leana wen, cnn medical analyst and former city of baltimore health commissioner.ant to get your reaction to the number of parents who say they will definitely not vaccinate their children who are currently eleligible. it's 1 in 5, 20%. >> it's a lot and disappointing, but at the same time not surprising. a lot of adults are saying no way, i'm not going to get vaccinated myself. those are the same people that are saying there's no way i want my children to be vaccinated. of course this is extremely frustrating because we need to see the covid vaccine as we do other childhood immunimmunizati. it's time to start seeing coronavirus out of this political light and as the pandemic and life threatening disease that it is. >> we have heard this argument now from some of the unvaccinated, that those who are vaccinated are still getting covid, so what point is getting the shot? what do you tell those people? >> i would say you don't stop wearing a seat belt just because you could still be in a car accident. the problem is reckless drivers. i would also use the example of ot

cnn's wolf blitzer spoke with cnn medical analyst, leana wen, who hopes this will encourage more peoplet. >>> i expect that we will see a rapid acceleration in the rate of vaccinations following the news of a full approval. and that's mainly because there are so many companies, universities, schools that haven't been making this vaccine a requirement. they have been waiting for that full approval. so this will open the door for them to all mandate vaccines. i think, also, we -- we have to remember that drug companies are not allowed to market their -- um -- their -- the -- something under emergency-use authorization. so having full approval means they can use their entire marketing heft to do promotional marketing activities, as well. >> now, the state of florida, of course, is the covid hot spot in the u.s. right now with more than 150,000 new cases for a second-straight week. but its governor touting sights like this as part of the solution. governor ron desantis opening new places where people can receive monoclonal antibody treatment, such as regeneron. he blames the covid surge on

leana wen. you saw the parents questioning whether masks work.night i spoke to a researcher from duke university who studied more than a million students and staff in north carolina. according to him, the bottom line is there's less than a 1% chance of in school covid-19 transmission when universal masking is in place. logically that's hard to push back on. >> right. at this point we have so many data points, so many studies that show that masks are one of the few tools, actually, that we have to protect our unvaccinated young kids. for older kids, for adults, we have the vaccine, which is a very powerful tool. but for younger kids, we don't have that much. and so it's so frustrating to see that we as a society are failing in our basic duty to protect our kids. in fact, we failed them all along this pandemic. last summer we opened bars instead of schools. we as adults didn't get vaccinated in large enough numbers, and that's why we're having the surge of the delta variant. now we're taking away one of the few tools available to protect our childr

leana wen is a cnn medical expert for whom i have a lot of respect. i shared with her your essay. screen. she said it's true those with private infection from covid-19 have some immune protection, however, studies have shown that this protection is not as durable, strong or consistent as immunity from vaccination. a recent cdc study found those that recovered remained unvaccinated twice as much. the presence of antibodies is not a reliable indicator of immune response. there's more to it. but quickly responsibility to that. >> well, first, if you have antibody response, you they give you a booster shot. in the cdc study, they intentionally misrepresent the findings. it's two-fold likelihood. if you look at it, what it says, if you do get vaccinated -- this is a very flawed study. if you look at it, you have 0.02 risk of infection if vaccinated. and 0.05 risk if you're not. they're, that's two-fold. 0.05 is twice as much more likely than 0.02. but we're talking very small margins. they couldn't determine whether one shot would be enough or two shots, 246 people, 52,000-person study

leana wen about covid-19 and protecting kids in school. that's on our website, pbs.org/newshour.t's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the "pbs newshour," thank you, and see you soon. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's go has been offering a variety of no contact plans and we can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. financial services firm raymond james. the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> this program was made possible by the corporation for publicroadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. this is "pbs newshour" west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite sch

joining us is leana wen, author of the new book "lifelines."rom pfizer? initial data is one thing, getting the data authorized is another. do you think they will? >> well, i don't know. but here's what i think based on the data, that it's good news, but actually it's not really surprising because what they found is that a third dose increases your antibody levels and the antibodies appear to be effective against the delta variant. all of that is commonsense. we know that the two doses of the pfizer vaccine are effective against delta, why wouldn't a third dose be better? that's not answering the key questioning we have right now. the key question is, how quickly does immunity wane after the first two doses? how soon to the rates of hospitalizations begin to increase and i think not only that, even if you don't have severe illness, is it more likely that immunity to symptomatic disease also begins to wane? that's the question that i think will really determine when a booster is going to be needed. >> how do you square this data with the fact tha

leana wen. doctor, so good to see you. sadly, i feel like you and so many others made a forecast that this just might be the corner we would be turning yet one more time. so talk to me about what you think the prospect is for particularly the immunocompromised for getting a third shot. >> well, where we are in the country right now, fred, is very, very concerning. i mean we're clearly seeing an additional surge that is much sooner than we might have anticipated. some of us thought we might see a surge come via wintertime but now we're having a surge in the summer when this was supposed to be the quiet period. of course that's due to the delta variant. but so many people are at risk, including those who are unvaccinated and not by choice, like our young kids. i do think that the cdc made the right decision and the fda as well in allowing for those who are immunocompromised to get the additional dose of the vaccine because we know that these are individuals who did not mount enough of an immune response the first time. these

leana wen. sanjay, i'm wondering what you made of what dr. fauci said? >> well, you know, it's better spring of 2022 versus fall, so that was the first thing because i had heard his comments earlier and obviously no one likes to think about an extended timeline like that. the winter, cooler, drier months are always worse in terms of transmitting these viruses, so i think that's probably what's informing his predictions as well and they are just that, predictions. when you have the benefit of both lower viral transmission and enough immunity, maybe we can sort of put this into a position where it's not causing the tremendous impact that we see now. we'll probably see waves, anderson. a few weeks from now if you look at what's happened in other countries around the world, they have had some rapid decelerations as well of viral transmission, which is good. maybe that will happen here as well, we're not sure. schools may add some fuel to this transmission. but it may sort of go up and down. i think people have to be prepared for that. you know, leana and i h

leana wen. she is the recent author of "lifelines, a doctor's journey in the fight for public health." sanjay, i'm wondering what you made of what dr. fauci said? >> well, you know, he -- it's better spring of 2022, versus fall. so that was the first thing because i heard his comments earlier and obviously no one likes to think about an extended timeline like that. the winter, cooler, drier months are always worse in terms of transmitting these viruses so i think that's probably what's informing his -- his predictions, as well. and they are just that. predictions. but you go into the spring, the weather gets warmer. it's more humid. and viruses don't like that. so if, at that point, when you have the benefit of both lower-viral transmission and enough immunity. um, maybe, we can sort of put this into a position where it's not causing the tremendous impact that we see now. we'll probably see waves, anderson. i mean, a few weeks from now, if you look at what's happened in other countries around th

leana wen. she is the author of the new book "lifelines, a doctor's journey in the fight for public health." also, andy slavitt, former senior advise for the biden administration. dr. wen, stark words from the director of the cdc tonight. how does this surge get turned around? i mean, what's the most important thing people should be doing tonight? or tomorrow morning when they go to work? >> well, i think there are two things that are equally important, when it comes to turning around the surge. wh one, of course, the ultimate answer is vaccination. we know that what will stop the virus in its tracks, and really is our only and best way out of the pandemic is to increase our vaccination rates because if we have a high enough level of immunity in the u.s., then we're able to stop this virus from wreaking the type of havoc that it is. but the second thing is, it is going to take a while for people to get vaccinated. even if everybody went out tomorrow, who's unvaccinated, and got their first dose.

leana wen earlier today to answer questions about covid-19 and protecting kids in school.eir conversation on our website, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >>> hello, everyone. and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. >>> i am president of the united state

leana wen joins us also the author of the new book "lifelines" a doctor's journey in the fight for publicen, thank you so much for joining us. why right now are health officials in the u.s. so sure that people do not -- the general population doesn't need another booster since we are seeing places like israel say that everyone over 50 does need to get one? >> i don't think our health officials should be so sure at this point. the fda and cdc made the right decision but a lot of people may not be severely immuno compromised and may have some degree of immuno compromise and may be in high risk conditions for example they live with somebody unvaccinated. they are essential workers. maybe they should be getting a booster as well. we in the u.s. don't have the kind of data collection that others have. i hope there will be a concerted effort to look at other countries' data in addition to our own in making the decision for the rest of the population. >> a lot of people want to know if this is going to change, should they be prepared for this to change? there are a lot of unanswered questions wh

leana wen. dr. wen, congratulations on your best-seller. nice to see you again. you heard me say that last week we had an 11% gain in vacs nai vaccinations. that's good news. but there's some bad news as well. is your glass half full or half empty? >> it's a lot more than half empty. we are seeing surges once again in this country. our infection rates are worse than they were last summer at this time. and there is no end in sight. and you're right that we are at 50% of the country now fully vaccinated. that's great. we are seeing vaccination rates tick up again probably because people are seeing their neighbors, their family members get infected with the delta variant. but we also have the delta variant, which by the way also means that the amount of -- the number of people we need to get vaccinated actually is a lot higher. and that's because it's a lot more contagious. so i think we have a long way to go in this pandemic and i'm really worried about what's ahead. >> you heard me make reference to the biden administration giving consideration to withholding fund

leana wen and the author of the book a doctor's journey in the fight for public health. dr.e legal battles in texas and florida over masks, i mean, you have been very clear all along that wearing masks indoors is key to keeping children safe. from a public health standpoint, i'm wondering what does -- i don't know if it is confusion, but what does this confusion and the legal challenges do in terms of impacting the effort to keep people safe and keep the information accurate and truthful that people are getting. >> well here is the thing, kate, there is no confusion. as in the science, the public health evidence is totally clear at this point. we don't have a lot of tools to control this pandemic. but we have several that are really powerful. we have vaccination, medium to long term and in the short-term indoor masks is really essential. and while we are on track to 200,000 new infections every single day in the u.s., i don't understand why we would want to take away the few tools that we actually have. these are the tools to keep our children safe and we're now entering the