nuzzo: a number of countries have alleged vaccines, which is really important.came up with a 2 billion vaccine pledge. that is important, i don't want to undersell what an incredible achievement that is, but the estimates are that we need 5.5 billion vaccines. we need to figure out how to make more and make more quickly. the other thing we need to do is make sure these pledges turn into actual vaccines shipped to where they need to be going. unfortunately, those efforts are falling behind schedule. we have a very narrow window of time to act. if i see a proposal for sharing vaccines or making vaccines that stretches beyond a year, i have to question how much of an infected will have, because we need vaccines now. this virus is moving across the planet really quickly so it is essential that we get back into arms as quickly as possible, and the next few months will be absolutely critical. judy: you are talking policy changes at the highest levels, in the united states and other countries. today we had the announcement from pfizer that it may be within a few weeks

jennifer nuzzo is an epidemiologist who watches this closely at johns hopkins university's center for global health security. dr. nuzzo welcome back, to the newshour, and as we say someone who watched this closely from the beginning, what is the significants to you of this 4 million milestone? >> it just an absolutely, staggering grim milestone to reach. and it's terrible just to think that we've lost four million human beings. but also knowing that that is probably an undercount because being able to diagnose infection and count deaths is frankly a luxury that a lot of places in the world don't have the ability to do. and you know, i reflect on covid in 2021 and i think about the fact that we now have in production aict vaccines, tools that can prevent these tetts. the fact that we have added more deaths since the invention of vaccines for covid than we had before hand, it's just an utter traged these deaths can be prevented if we are able to get vaccines where they are needed to go. >> woodruff: as we saw in th report from nick schifrin the picture in the rest of the world is utterl

jennifer nuzzo, johns hopkins senior scholar. white house officials and biden administration officials are debating whether they should urge vaccinated americans to wear masks in more settings as the delta variant causes spikes in infections across the country. this according to six people familiar with the discussion. tom: in new york, it is a different calculus. paul sweeney speaking to somebody in kentucky. they made it clear kentucky has reverted back to where it was many months ago. i do not have that feeling in new york city. jonathan: the return to work effort as well, kailey. apple reportedly pushing that back one month, maybe to october. we wonder who else is going to follow. kailey: especially on wall street. post-labor day in september when all of the banks are expected to have more workers returning to the office, my neighborhood in the financial district will be a lot more crowded. what does that conversation begin to change as we see the delta variant concerns? it also brings up the question of requiring employees t