local public health officials, state public health officials, the epidemiologists, the public health workers that are working at all levels to protect our health. they deserve our thanks, our respect as well. frances: the biden administration put from the word go enormous emphasis on getting people vaccinated. it was clear early on there would be early adopters and then a slowing of this of the uptake. can you talk about the measures the biden administration is looking at or have adopted to reach the people who are sometimes hesitant and i think now hostile to the vaccine? secretary levine: i think it is important to recognize that we have seen progress over the last six or more months under president biden's leadership. there have been administered totally almost 350 million vaccinations. 160 million americans are fully vaccinated. including 80% of seniors. and approximately 69% of adults. but this delta variant is different and it requires a lot. one thing we are doing is we are -- the president has actually recommended and calling on state and local governments to use funding that

the authority to optimize public health as directed in the statute.y on application review and where to move on from a wild west on marketplace. we will complete thorough evaluations to ensure any products marketing orders meet a the statutory standard of appropriate protection of the public health as senator durbin said, a high bar. if data for product is not clearly supporting that standard, including evaluation of the impact on use initiation and youth, who will not issue marketing order for that product. at the end of the day, we are going to do everything we can to an epidemic and prevent another generation of kids from becoming addicted to tobacco products. currently, we are going beyond premarket review, 2020 national youth tobacco survey showed. an encouraging significant decline in e-cigarette use last year. there is 3.6 million middle and high schoolers who currently use these products. the epidemic abuse vaping threats to undermine progress and reducing impacts of tobacco on public health so we are focusing enforcement efforts against any p

our nation's youth are experiencing a public health crisis. according to data collected by fda and cdc more than 3 million high school students and half a million middle school students use e-cigarettes and according to the office of surgeon general, an estimated 5.6 million children in this country will die early from a smoking-related illness if cigarettes can continue to be used at this rate. that's one in every 13 young people alive today. these numbers are horrifying. they threaten years of progress in reducing youth tobacco use and the e-cigarette industry is to blame. companies like juul and puff bar knowingly and deliberately pushed tobacco products on to our nation's youth. they deployed deceptive dishonest tactics to get our young people hooked on these products. they even went so far as to promote their products directly in our nation's schools. e-cigarette manufacturers have acted with a complete disregard for the health of young people across this country. their actions are appalling and the federal government can no longer allow

do you agree that a nicotine product used by 41 percent of these vaping is hurting overall public healthcome. janet: most likely, it's hurting that generation, cannot comment on generations to come but it's definitely a health problem of significant. >> thank you doctor printed to trust that this tobacco product scientific advisory committee and their advice. janet: to which advice. >> tobacco product scientific committee. janet: the fda committee read likely i do. i'm not familiar with this committee, i am sorry. >> providing for the record, intervention in on that pretty known to be more that predispute if certainly pretty. >> and it jewel hooked children in the light of day but it's asking you to get the fda to approve the product in the darkness in this. [inaudible]. we've repeatedly asked jewel for its information and jewel has refused to provide it and they knows the joke science is bought and paid for would not withstand scrutiny and if there jewel was referred to the tobacco product scientific advisory, the application would be subject to public scrutiny and you have any comments

>> using the current criteria this is basically what were hearing from our public health leaders and reality we've got to recognize the risk and kids is exceptionally low and what were doing right now were looking outbreaks in a few pockets were vaccination rates are low and were imposing it restrictions where there is exceptionally high population immunity, i would love to see the data on masks and kids, please show it to me, doctor fact to show it to me, the cdc, dr. fauci, the fda, 50000 employees between the different agencies they've never once done this studying kids in the reality kids are very efficient transmitters and we know the cdc has never looked into the 335 deaths reported in kids under 18 during the entire pandemic, i would love to see the data. gerry: are weakening to the point where we may have to accept that were going to have to live with this and it was a terrible health emergency last year, a lot of people died and got very sick, with the levels of immunity that were seen an accommodation of immunity from infection or the vaccinations, we are basically on top o

of public health.n we go to the front page of — terms of public health. can we go to the front page of the _ terms of public health. can we go to the front page of the times - terms of public health. can we go to the front page of the times because j the front page of the times because it's the front page of the times because its main story is the other end of the argument? fears over a health risk from amber travellers. and they have a quote that this move to open up have a quote that this move to open up the border to foreign travellers, some foreign travellers poses a clear public health risk i cannot quite see he was making the claim. i quite see he was making the claim. i said that ministers on the cover 19 operations— said that ministers on the cover 19 operations were told that this move posed _ operations were told that this move posed a _ operations were told that this move posed a clear public health risk and honestly _ posed a clear public health risk and honestly that's quite a start quote

it is time to re-evaluate the public health threats that to revalley the public health threats that are entirely within our ability to control. there was a youth vaping epidemic in this country before the coronavirus, before this subcommittee was even created, and before acting commissioner woodcock took the helm at fda. and the youth vaping epidemic unfortunately continues today. more than 20% of high schoolers vape, and 5% of middle schoolers vape. those are the same levels that compelled the surgeon general to first declare a youth vaping epidemic three years ago in 2018. for as long as this subcommittee has existed, we have been investigating this epidemic. this is our fourth hearing on the matter, and i sincerely hope it's our last, because the problems are solvable. our first in 2019 involved putting joule on trial and exposing the disturbing scope of the company's behavior, its marketing to children, its attempted use of native americans as experimental guinea pigs and its responsibility for fuelling the youth vaping epidemic. we presented our investigation to the fda, and fda ag

gorgeous-- georgia benjamin, public health, the nation's largest organization of public health professionals, he previously served as the secretary of health for the state of maryland. he is a board certified internal medicine-- in internal medicine, a master of the american college of physicians, a fellow of the national academy of public administration, a fellow emeritus of the american college of emergency physicians and a member of the national academy of medicine. welcome back, dr. benjamin. dr. katie-- i hope i'm pronouncing that correctly, is professor of economics at the wharton school in pennsylvania. the professor is an award winning scholar who has applied her research to assist states and vaccine providers, create incentives to increase vaccinations. dr. jerome adams, served as our nation's 20th surgeon general. you also served on the coronavirus task force during the previous administration. prior to becoming united states surgeon general dr. adams served as health commissioner of the state of indiana and as the vice admiral in the united states public health services commission

the health action alliance works to accelerate the community's response to covid-19 to rebuild public health. we provide companies large and small with free resources, training and events that help them deliver trusted, fact-based health communications to their employees and encourage their consumers to make informed decisions about covid-19 vaccines. the health action alliance was founded by the ad council, the business round table, the c.d.c. foundation, the beaumont foundation and the robert wood johnson foundation and partner with our team at meteorite. thank you for their leadership. today kicks off a national effort to support working parents who want to get their eligible children vaccinated for covid-19 and other routine immunizations that may have been missed for delayed because of the pandemic. in may, nearly 23 million adolescent children, ages 12 and up, became eligible for covid-19 vaccine. yes, as of today, only three in 10 eligible adolescents are fully vaccinated. with a new school year, just weeks away, the delta variant surging across the nation and many companies strugglin

nation and many companies struggling to hire and bring working parents back, if there is a strong public health and business case for vaccinating eligible children as soon as possible. vaccines protect the health of children, support safer reopening of schools, and help parents reliably get back to work. in partnership with the american academy of pediatrics and two dozen other national is this an public health organizations are encouraging employers to provide working parents who choose to vaccinate their children the support they need to do so. by providing pto, flexible scheduling to attend vaccine appointments with the kids, and hosting clinics at work. employers can remove barriers and make it easier for working parents to protect their children and prevent the spread of covid-19 to others. together, all of us can take action to support working parents as we get back to work and get back to health. today, we will hear from our keynote speaker about our national flight to end the pandemic and why it is so urgent for employers to support working parents by removing barriers for eligible chil

, we certainly saw how public health and the health department free pandemic which left us in a challenging place to address the pandemic when it hit. now throwing billions of dollars cap public health department and vaccination efforts and etc. from let's build public health from department and infrastructure that we deserve and community based issued by other diseases, vaccinations, clean water and etc., those are measures usually important that can have real impact so as we expend this, let's also be strategic coming up telehealth for structure in america. >> specifically on the delivery side and outside public health emergencies when we back to normal healthcare needs, telehealth is one thing everybody wants, there's obviously a lot of gaps that can be filled out your countries will just have more people being providers. some of the obstacles some are local as we've seen up close, some are usually structural so i wonder, is that a shift that congress can generate or are you more on the edges? >> i think we can still take some of that shift and how we do that is we are appropriating fund

my idol in public health, dr.hony fauci, the great man himself, has received a lot more vile abuse directed his way. and so i count myself fortunate in that i'm able to work in public health and serve people. it is highly regrettable that it's come to this situation, and the fact that i have had to request dcialg security for myself. i'm not the least bit worried, nor am i going to walk away from the mission of public health. dr. fauci inspires me every day with his example. >> dr. khan, we hope and you your family stay safe. and we thank you for making the time to be with us tonight. that's dr. faisal khan, acting director of st. louis county department of public health. thank you again. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. economy is now larger than it was before the pandemic. the commerce department reports growth reached an annual rate of 6.5% in the year's second quarter. separately, first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell to 400,000 last week. the biden administration will al

in fact, the july 9th public health foundation of england just posted today showed again, 88% protection with two doses against symptomatic disease, 96% protection against hospitalization. so really effect vaccine, even with the delta variant. i know that was specific for delta. unless they're looking at something that we are not understanding, i think the reason the cdc and the fda quickly yesterday put out a statement saying we don't see that a booster is necessary, is because they are looking at the same data that everyone else is, and we don't see it. immunocompromised and very elderly patients, we have to study of a booster is necessary, and i think those are going to be the populations that end up needing this, but not the general population. >> i guess a booster shot would work away booster shots usually work, that you get another shot and theoretically it would increase immunity. >> this is an interesting thing. it increases antibodies, but what's being lost in this conversation is that vaccines trigger t cells, which are actually the immune system that give you durable protectio

>> not in the 25 years that i've spent in public health or the 10 years that i worked in the missourith. this was truly unprecedented and it wasn't the entire crowd. i think most of the people there are good and decent people. they would never even think about offering a vile word to anyone, no matter how much we might disagree with wearing masks, et cetera. but once the collective temper and emotions of the entire audience had been dialed up all the way to 100 by provocations and what i would call dog whistle words, it's very difficult to returning it to normal as soon as the conversation moves on to something else. it was ripe for spilling over and crossing boundaries, and that is exactly what happened. some people in the audience took out their anger on me as i was leaving, and it was a very jarring and unpleasant experience. >> have you ever been in a room like that before? >> i've been in plenty of heated conversations and tense meetings with the public. that's part of the nature of the work that we do as public officials. our job is to explain facts and just stick to the truth a

been. opened for public health wells and public— opened for public health wells and public health _dations had been action, a report by the local— recommendations had been action, a report by the local health _ recommendations had been action, a report by the local health board i report by the local health board that in— report by the local health board that in late _ report by the local health board that in late november- report by the local health board that in late november 2020 i report by the local health board i that in late november 2020 they have not received _ that in late november 2020 they have not received guidance _ that in late november 2020 they have not received guidance from _ that in late november 2020 they have not received guidance from the - that in late november 2020 they have not received guidance from the home| not received guidance from the home office _ not received guidance from the home office that _ not received guidance from the home office that covid—19 _ not received guidance from the home office that covid—19 security- not received guidance from the

this week, i traveled to new mexico to live with -- to meet with public health leaders across the state. a common thread was their struggles to help their communities navigate information about covid-19. health misinformation has been a problem long before covid. what is different now is the speed and scale at which health misinformation is spreading. if we want to address health misinformation, we will need and all of society response. that is why the advisory has recommendations for everyone. we include recommendations for individuals and families. we are asking people to raise their bar for sharing health misinformation to ensure it is backed by credible, scientific sources. if you are not sure, don't share. we are asking other organizations to do their part in every sector from health and education to research and journalism to philanthropy and government. technology companies must act as well. technology companies have enabled this information to poison our information environment with little accountability to their users. it allowed people who intentionally spread misinformation,

that the food each of us eats everyday safe as well and foodborne illnesses remain significant public health challenge so we are still facing these illnesses. the availability of safe and nutritious foods across the population as a key element of ensuring equitable health outcomes and our budget seeks to address this challenge through requested increase of $45 million to further implement our new era of smarter food safety blueprints and finally, our third and last category relates to public health issues confronting the nation today. while covid pandemic has predominated these other health challenges have not vanished and we request an additional $61 million to further our effort, specifically requesting 38 billion to support the development of opioid overdose reversal treatments and better guidance for clinicians, advance the development authorization of digital health medical devices and treatments to address opioid use disorder to establish satellite laboratories at our international mail facility so we can better screen for illicit opioids through the mail and we are also committed to m

it was mostly propagating a public health message. it had nothing to do with the origins of the virus at all. that, and we have 190 million users in the u.s., and they are getting into the fray on so many things. and they are the classic example of where there's too much concentration in one entity. in years past, we've done something about that. not just let it run its course. and we've never had any of the big monopolies get involved with censuring or filtering speech too, boot. another question with regards the white house. have recently said they're wanting to flag problematic posts. and working for the president, would you be one that would try to come up with whatever posts that are out there that need to be flagged as misinformation? >> no, i have not been involved, even indirectly, with that. >> do you think there's a risk, even though you haven't been involved, to the white house wanting to flag stuff they think is problematic and then have that same type of communication with entities like facebook? is that your opinion on t

public health must be our number one priority because my nature public health requires us to work on behalf of the public. our doctors and researchers do and each of us can do the same by standing up for our communities and getting vaccinated to stop the spread. my fellow millennials watching in the innovative gen z-ers, you can reclaim your academic institutions and precious milestones in person by getting vaccinated to protect yourselves and your loved ones, so that you can write the stories of your futures. i genuinely believe we can do this. >> thank you, the. and the chair will now recognize. as a scientist i often day dream that we can simply, when there's an issue that has to be communicated to the public, here are the statistics and numbers and cost benefit analysis and every one of my constituents will analyze that and apply the statistics, decision is clear when do i get vaccinated for example, but it's not like that. this job is to get an often irrational primate behave rationally and inject an opposite and equal rationality with the passion of your testimony. it's importan

it will overwhelm epa's existing resources to tackle environmental and public health challenges beyond pfas. the pfas action act is not a measured approach. it prejudges outcomes, showing little regard for objective science, risk assessment, transparency, and public input. for example, the bill requires epa to make regulatory determinations within five years on 9250 pfas chemicals and without public participation. this impossible deadline is a lawsuit waiting to happen. it requires every manufacturer and processor to conduct comprehensive testing on all 9252 pfas. this will overwhelm existing domestic laboratory capacity to focus on any other scientific or public health matter. like it or not, some pfas chemicals have specific properties that are not easily addressed with other chemical types like stability in water, oil, stain, and heat resistance. it makes them crucial in making semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbine parts, medical devices and drugs, and protective gear for our military and law enforcement. this bill would create a host

the nation's oldest and largest organization of public health professionals. he previously served as the secretary of health for the state of maryland. she a board certified internal medicine -- in internal medicine. a master of the american check of physicians, a fellow of the national academy of public administration. a fellow emritus of american physicians and member of national academy of medicine. welcome back dr. benjamin. dr. katy, i hope i'm pronouncing that correctly. is a professor at the wharton school. she's an award winning scholar. he served as health commissioner of the state of indiana and as the vice admiral of the united states public health services commission corps. welcome dr. adams. sofia bush is an actress, activist and entrepreneur. she's starred on "one tree hill" and "chicago pd" along with numerous films. her activism includes supporting empowerment of women and girls, fund raising for thoseaffected by deep water horizon and serving as founder and board member of i am a voter. a nonpartisan movement to increase voter participation. mo

pfas chemicals are an urgent threat to public health. this class of man-made chemicals are extremely persistent in the environment and have long been linked with adverse health effects, including cancer. these chemicals were birthed out of the manhattan project and now nearly every american, now almost every american has pfas coursing through their blood after generations of use of this drug in our modern society. the epa has understood the risk since 1998. the defense department has understood the risks since 1970s. the fda has understood the risk since the 1960s. and industry has known about the dangers for decades. but we still do not have a strong federal policy to combat these forever chemicals which are a crisis. we have yet to set a national drinking water standard for pfas that our water utilities need to meet. we have yet to designate as hazardous substances under superfund to jump start cleanup. we have yet to regulate industrial discharges of pfas into our water and our air. and we have yet to establish simple labeling that pfa

those are some of the steps we think could be constructive for public health, public information, and the right of the public to know. go ahead. reporter just to quickly follow-up. you said yesterday that 12 people were producing 65% of the misinformation on vaccines and on social media platforms. do you have a sense of who they are? are they bad actors like russia? facebook responded after the press briefing and they say they removed millions pieces of covid misinformation and they connected people to reliable information. does the white house find that sufficient? jen: clearly not, because we are talking about additional steps that should be taken and frankly information that media organizations could decide whether you are going to on or not. i am not just talking about the misinformation storyline, i am talking about these individuals and how prevalent the spreading of this information is. the public has the right to know. that is the point we are making. we are dealing with the life or death issue, so everybody has a role to play to make sure there is accurate information. obviou

public health must be our number-one priority because public health requires us to work on behalf of the public. our doctors and researchers do and each of us can do the same by standing up and getting vaccinated to stop the spread. innovative gen zers out there, we are looking to you. you can reclaim your academic institutions and milestones in person by getting vaccinated protect yourself and your loved ones so that you can write the stories of your future. together we can do this. thank you. chair clyburn: thank you, miss bush, and thanks to all of our witnesses. each member will have five minutes for question. the chair will recognize himself for five minutes. as a scientist, we often daydream, there is an issue that has to be presented to the public, here are the issues, here is a cost-benefit analysis, and by constituents will analyze that and say the position is clear and when do i get vaccinated? this job is to get an often irrational primate to behave rationally. very often, you have to inject equal and opposite irrationality into that primate with the passion you described.

>> public health depends on public trust.ed that i was the neficiary of public health early on in my life. i did not quite know that was what it was at the time, but we depended on medicaid, we depended on public housing, we depended on public education and many other elements that many other immigrants, many people, are fortunate to be able to help us to's work to our next stage in our lives. right now what is happeng in the u.s. is tha there is a serious messaging problem. the cdc continues to get the science right but the policy and communication wrong. when public health is not just about the science -- it is also about winning the hearts and minds. i hope the cc will embrace its role in that sense and i actually think there should be local and state officials around the country in the world who also see that. we need to be reminding people of the benefit of public health, not just when it comes to infection control, but all the other things it does in our lives. -- improving the air we breathe. that's the reason i wrote

it was mostly propagating a public health message.t had nothing to do with the origins of the virus at all. dr. fauci: do you consult with him -- >> do you consult with him on a very frequent basis? dr. fauci: i have exchanged a few emails. you probably know that because your -- you are asking me the question about 10,000 pages of my email that have been forwarded. there is an exchange or two between myself and mr. zuckerberg. i don't recall, i can look it up right now. i can see if i have his cell phone number. >> i am sure that you do. an entity like that, we have 190 million users in the u.s.. they are getting into the fray on so many things. they are the classic example of where there is too much concentration within one entity. in years past, we have done something about that, not just let it run its course. we have never had any of the big monopolies get involved with filtering or censoring speech to boot. another question related to the white house, they recently said they wanted to flag problematic posts. working for the presi

and as it does, we want our public health agencies to update their guidance. to me, this is not a sharp turnabout. this is not a flip-flop. this is the evidence changed, so our recommendations changed. it's exactly what we want the cdc to be doing. >> guidance on masks has changed, as you both know, throughout the course of the pandemic. take a look at this. >> there's no rule for these masks in the community. >> wearing this as a healthy person will not protect you. >> right now in the united states, people should not be walking around with masks. masks are very important. they protect you from giving infection to someone else. >> anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask. >> in areas with substantial and high transmission, cdc recommends fully vaccinated people wear masks to help prevent the spread of the delta variant. >> dr. jha, to you first. do you worry that the latest guidance and the change in mask guince can further undermine the public's trust in health officials? >> i thi