walensky: thank you. first let me say congratulations to you and connecticut for your extraordinary work on the vaccine. maybe i will jump off of where you started, the nih, and comment that what we are looking for in the budget is similar to what has occurred with nih, long-term, longitudinal, sustainable increases. once a scientific study has been top -- has been published, there is evidence that by the time it gets to the core community in the rural south, the urban settings, it can take 17 years before it gets from scientific data to guidance training doctors, reaching people in hospitals, to reaching people in the core community. that is the work of what public health can do and that is why we need sustainable resources. the buckets you described are exactly where we need to be and where we have learned we are fragile during the pandemic. our workforce. we need a trained workforce that is versatile and disciplined and in backgrounds coming from the communities they are going to serve. we know from th

walensky: thank you. first let me say congratulations to you and connecticut for your extraordinary work on the vaccine. maybe i will jump off of where you started, the nih, and comment that what we are looking for in the budget is similar to what has occurred with nih, long-term, longitudinal, sustainable increases. once a scientific study has been top -- has been published, there is evidence that by the time it gets to the core community in the rural south, the urban settings, it can take 17 years before it gets from scientific data to guidance training doctors, reaching people in hospitals, to reaching people in the core community. that is the work of what public health can do and that is why we need sustainable resources. the buckets you described are exactly where we need to be and where we have learned we are fragile during the pandemic. our workforce. we need a trained workforce that is versatile and disciplined and in backgrounds coming from the communities they are going to serve. we know from th

walensky. from the get-go, there has been that uncertainty of when we arrived at the moment when many of us feel that this is truly in the rearview mirror. from the early conversations i have had being on this committee, has always been interesting to understand if and when that comes with clarity, the only way i think we get true comfort back into the country, senator murphy and others have mentioned how things have changed, the goalposts have moved. that is inherently confusing to people, especially ones that might have other reasons for not getting vaccinated. i think that is so important that we get everyone vaccinated. my question is, on the education side of it, what, the service -- emphasis and resources along with logistics, it is difficult to get vaccines in the arms when it is spread out. i would like you to zero in on, first it was six feet, that it was three feet, indoors and outdoors. so many things have involved. but something as uncertain as this is natural to have that dynamic.

walensky: we could. senator cassidy: if we know critical mass if -- if we know herd immunity is somewhere north of 60% or 70%, if we go into a workplace where within that workplace there is 100% immunization, such as here, we've achieved herd immunity. yeah, there's somebody in here that may not be responding to the vaccine, but because everybody else has, they're protected. that's nowhere reflected. and right now we have federal agencies, which we've had employees not working for a year because the union says they have to have special workplace precautions for them to return to work. there is consequence to this kind of delay as the stat article shows of the kind of updating of these recommendations. the american people are incredibly frustrated. and as senator collins said, they're beginning to disregard what you say that's true. because what you -- so much of what you say is patently not true, i have to wear a mask when i'm outside and the wind is blowing 20 miles per hour, that was changed but only c

walensky. so, dr. walensky has spoken to you about the exciting issues that we can now look forward to when you have vaccination. i'm going to talk to you a little bit about the future of where we want to go with vaccines with regard to coronavirus, and that is the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine. if i could have the first slide. this is something that has been discussed now for some time, these two articles, one in the late press in "the new york times" asking about the possibility of the use of coronavirus and the other in science magazine by jon cohen. so what do we mean by universal coronavirus? next slide. this is the genetic trait. the ones in red font are human coronaviruses and the four that have yellow highlighting are the four viruses that account for anywhere from 5% to 15% of the common colds that we all get each year. next slide. in 2002, you had sars cov-1, and in 2012, you had sars -- the mers coronavirus. again, the first indication that coronaviruses were capable of pand

walensky. dr. walensky: thank you. good morning. let's begin with an overview. yesterday cdc reported a little over 27,850 new cases of covid-19. our seven day averages about 27,300 cases per day. this represents another decrease of more than 19% from the prior seven day average and marked the second day in a row where our seven day average is less than 30,000 cases per day. last time the seven day average was this low was june 18, 2020. the seven day average of hospital admissions is slightly over 3400, a decrease of almost 15% from previous seven-day period. the average of daily deaths has also declined to a new low of 498 per day. at the start of each briefing over the past few weeks i have shared with you a snapshot of the data and more recently the encouraging decreases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. as each week passes these data give me hope. i also note that these snapshots are hard to put into context after 16 months of reviewing them. in the isolation each data point does not

walensky: yes, i can.ell you it certainly would've been easier if the science had evolved a week earlier and i didn't have to go to congress making those statements but i'm delivering the science as the science is delivered to the medical journals and, you know, it evolved over this last week. the cases came down over this last two weeks and so i delivered it as soon as i can when we have that information available. >> chris: while the new guidance, and i suspect you've never had as much trouble delivering good news is you have this week, while the new guidance is clearly good news, it certainly has created some confusion and even concern. i want to put up some numbers. the seven day average of new cases is still almost 34,000 a day. deaths per day are still more than 600 and almost two-thirds of americans are still not fully vaccinated. if people who aren't fully vaccinated start taking off their masks along with the people who are fully vaccinated, aren't we going to see a spike in new cases and aren't y

walensky. dr.walensky has spoken to you about exciting issues that we can now look forward to when you have vaccination. i'm going to talk to you a little bit about the future of where we want to go with vaccines with regard to coronavirus. and that is the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine. if i can have the first slide. this is something that has been discussed now for some time, these two articles, one in the late press in the "new york times" asking about the possibility of a universal coronavirus, and the other in science magazine by john cohen. so what would we mean by universal coronavirus? next slide. this is the phylogenetic trait of the coronaviruses. the ones in red font are human coronaviruses. and the four that have yellow highlighting are the four viruses that account for anywhere from five to 15% of the common colds that we all get each year. next slide. in 2002 you had sars cove 1. and in 2012 you had sars the mers coronavirus. again, the first indication that coronaviru

marks, and da walensky. what percent -- dr. walensky. what percentage of your employees in your institute, your center, or your agency of your employees has been vaccinated? dr. fauci: i'm not 100% sure, senator. i think it's probably a little more than half. probably around 60%. senator burr: dr. marks? dr. marks: i can't tell you the exact number. it's probably in the same range. some people vaccinated at our facility, and others at outside of the facility. senator burr: dr. walensky? dr. walensky: we are encouraging our employees to get vaccinated. we have been doing town halls and education seminars. our staff have the option to report their vaccination status. as you understand, the federal government is not requiring it. so we do not know. senator burr: listen, you're the face of why people should get vaccinated. and knowing and promoting and confidently giving numbers, percentages, i think is really, really important as we go into this last part. if you tell me that there's some statute that says you can't require somebody to tell

walensky. -- doctors fauci and walensky. >> are doing to assist with the vaccination efforts. scores of businesses and organizations have responded to the president's call to action to volunteer their services and help the american people to get vaccinated. over the next few weeks we will be highlighting a number of outside initiatives to provide incentives for people to get their vaccinations. we believe it is important to reach young people where they are in the effort to get them vaccinated. you do know that in addition to schooling, financial loss, stress levels, the pandemic has also had a negative impact on young people's social lives. social distancing and dating were always a bit of a challenging combination. today dating sites like bumble, tinder, okcupid, wendy of fish are announcing a series of features to encourage vaccinations and help people with -- help people meet people who have that universally attractive quality -- they have been vaccinated against covid-19. these sites cater

walensky.dr. walensky: thank you. yesterday, 17,724 cases of covid-19 were reported. the lowest daily case number since june 2020. hospitalizations saw another positive sign with back-to-back decreases over the prior seven-day period. deaths also declined to a new low of 546 today. the last time our seven-day average was this low was in march 2020, essentially since the pandemic began in large parts of the united states. progress and milestones set us on a path out of this pandemic. we should all have cautious optimism. cases have continued to decrease and have not been this low since spring of last year. hospitalizations are down, deaths are down, and we are vaccinating between 1.5 million and 2 million people a day. we are working with governors and local leaders looking at their transmission rates and vaccination rates to make informed decisions about how the state will look at vaccine activity we have lost during the pandemic. this was never going to be easy, but we will do the hard work to

walensky? dr. walensky: that is a study that just came up from the ihme, where they are now adding those attributable to deaths to covid-19. we have known that excess deaths relating to access of care, many other things. we will look at this carefully and then we will work within the cdc to make decisions as to whether to count them as excess or covid specific. -- or as covid specific. regardless, we need to understand the death toll of this disease has been attributable directly from covid, as well as collateral damage, i would say, what has happened from covid-19. in my mind, that is just more reason to get vaccinated. jeff: next question. >> zeke, ap. >> we heard the president say he wants to share vaccines around the world. a couple of weeks into this, i was hoping you might have some outline, what criteria the white house will use to share vaccines with the rest of the world. will it be only with allies, through covax, on an as-needed basis? is it a tool of foreign policy, or of philanthropy a

walensky. dr. walensky: thank you, andy. yesterday, cdc reported just over 32,000 new cases of covid. our seven-day average is 48,000 cases a day. this represents another decrease of about 12% from the prior seven-day average. and every day with daily cases continuing to fall, we are hopeful about these encouraging trends. the seven-day average of hospital admissions is just over 3900, again a positive find, with another back decrease of almost 10% from the prior seven-day period, and seven-day average testicle into a new low. something i am often asked is, when will this pandemic be over it when can we go back to normal? the reality is commit all depends on actions we take now. today, cdc published an article that provides insights using data and evidence to show various scenarios of what will happen with cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and how it appends on how many people get vaccinated that whether we continue to follow prevention measures. this study, which cdc did in collaboration with a large group of academic res

walensky. >> good morning. thank you. i'm pleased with you today. let's begin with the overview of the data. yesterday cdc report 17,724 new cases of covid-19, the lowest daily case numbers since june 2020. the seven-day average of hospital admissions is 3500. again a positive sign with another decrease of almost 18% from the prior seven days. and seven-day average daily deaths have also declined to a new low of 546 per day. the last time our seven-day average was at this low was in march 2020, 2020, essentie the pandemic began in large part of the united states. the past week has been big week with progress and milestones that set up on the path out of this pandemic. we should all have cautious optimism. cases have entered a decrease and have not been this low since the spring last year hospital admissions are down, deaths are down and we are vaccinating between 1.52 million people per day. and we are now working with governors and local leaders who were looking at their vaccination rates to m

walensky in recent days. you had a sense this was evolving and we heard it over and over again today to put people at home at ease, that this is based on science. >> it really is, david. and i have to be clear, this is not a reversal to what we heard 16 days ago. this is based on new data, new evolving science about how this virus transmits and how effective these vaccines are. something called vaccination metrics. that's going up, cases are going down. so, yes, they remained open-minded and flexible to make this shift. >> all of that is encouraging, the new data. in the meantime, one of the very common questions among vaccinated americans has been, is there a chance that i can get this, without even knowing, and give it to others? dr. walensky seemed to indicate the new science that's coming in shows a very low chance of that. >> exactly. and real world data is showing how well these vaccines are performing in real environments and, yes, they're very effective at keeping people out of the hospital and saving

walensky, dr. shookit, this is an important opportunity for us to hear about the cdc's budget proposal and understand more about cdc's priorities for this year. i don't think there's been a year that cdc got more attention than it got in the last year and so the profile of cdc, the understanding, the importance of cdc is i think at a high point. i want to recognize the tireless efforts of the cdc staff working across the country during the pandemic. it's been a challenging year for all americans, but particularly for those in public health. dr. walensky i look forward to hearing your testimony today on the administration's fiscal year 2022 budget. unfortunately, your comments will be limited somewhat by the fact that we're really waiting for more information about that budget. but from what we do know from the limited details released last month, there are really several areas of alignment where we can work together. for example, addressing the needs of the hard hit public health infrastructure, re

walensky. dr. walensky has spoken to you about exciting issues that we can now look forward to what you have vaccination. i'm going to talk to you a little bit about the future of where we want to go with vaccines with regard to coronavirus and that is the development of the universal coronavirus vaccine. this is something that has been discussed now for some time. these two articles, one in the late press in the "new york times" from carl zimer asking about the possibility of a universal coronavirus and other in science magazine by john cohen. so what would we mean by universal coronavirus? next slide. this is the tree of the coronavirus. the ones in red font are human coronaviruses and the four that have yellow highlighting are the four viruses that account for anywhere from 5 to 15%. >> dr. fauci now getting into detail of the effectiveness of vaccines but the major headline made by cdc director dr. rachel walensky a moment ago, her words, we can start doing the things we stopped doing. referenc

walensky. dr. walensky has spoken to you about issues we can look forward to when you have vaccination. i want to talk a little about the future of where we want to go with vaccines with regard to coronavirus. and that is the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine. this is something that has been discussed now for some time. these two articles in the "new york times" asking about the possibility of a universal coronavirus, and the other in science magazine by jon cohen. what do we mean by universal vaccine? this is the phylogenetic tree of the coronavirus. the four viruses account for anywhere between 5 and 15% of the common colds we all get each year. next slide. in 2002, you had sars-cov-1 and the first indication that the covid virus had spreading potential. now in the next slide we are dealing with this very difficult situation of sars-cov-2. next slide. so what people are asking is can we actually, conceptually and in reality, get the covid-19 vaccine? there have been a number of f

walensky. dr. walensky: i'm pleased to be back with you today. c.d.c. reported new cases of vaccine, the seven-day average is about 52,500 daily cases. this represents a decrease of about 16% from our prior average. the seven-day average of hospitalizations is just over 5,050, a positive sign with a the crease of about 10%. the seven-day average of daily deaths has also declined to 628 per day, a decrease of about 8%. in addition to these positive trends, i would like to share another exciting piece of news about vaccines. earlier this week, the cdc issued a study on the real-world effectiveness of the pfizer and moderna vaccines. this looked at hospitalization rates among people over the age of 65 and found fully vaccinated seniors were 94% less likely to be hospitalized with covid-19 than those who were unvaccinated. importantly, this study was done in a high-risk population, those over 65 who endured a tremendous burden during this pandemic. this is yet another piece of great news that our vaccines are working to prevent severe disease. i would like

walensky. what i would like to do over the neck couple of minutes is talk about the relative degree of protection following natural infection versus vaccine and the combination of the two. command the first slide, please. a couple of statements first to set the stage. we know we have infections with a homologous strain. they occur, but they are rare. vaccinating significantly boost the immune response. -- vaccinating previously infected people seven if it get lee boost the immune response, likely providing better protection against invariants. with covid-19 vaccines, responses can be better than nature. about 30 years ago, exactly 30 years this coming june, we will be looking at a chevy, -- looking at hiv, was it natural infection, vaccination, or both? what is optimal. in the middle, the same thing for influenza. we looked at the prospects for broadly protective influenza vaccine, and looking at immunity that is natural versus vaccine. then finally, just a few years ago, we revisited hiv again

walensky, thank you. thanks for your time this weekend.lease come back. >> thank you so much, chris. chris: up next, we'll bring in our sunday group to discuss the escalating violence in the middle east, how long will it last, how far will it spread. >> the president and his team keeps sending mixed messages about gatherings and wearing masks. and sometimes break from their own cdc guidance for vaccinated americans. chris: senate republican leader mitch mcconnell reflecting the growing frustration political leaders and the public were feeling about cdc guidance before the agency announced the big change on thursday. and it's time now for our sunday group. steve hayes, editor of the dispatch, catherine lucey and juan williams. steve, it's easy to second guess the cdc and the biden administration for either moving too slowly or too fast in its changing guidance during an evolving situation. but how fair do you think the criticism is of the cdc, especially this week? >> chris, as you point out, it's difficult. if you're the cdc, you have to c

walensky, thank you. thanks for your time this weekend.lease come back. >> thank you so much, chris. chris: up next, we'll bring in our sunday group to discuss the escalating violence in the middle east, how long will it last, how far will it spread. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! ( sighs wearily ) here, i'll take that! ( excited yell ) woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one-gram of sugar, and nutrients to support immune health! ( abbot sonic ) ♪♪ and nutrients to support immune health! ♪ i want to see you stand up ♪ ♪ i want to feel you be proud ♪ ♪ i want to hear your beating heart ♪ ♪ live out loud ♪ ♪ you can do it on your own ♪ ♪ stand up now ♪ ♪ be proud, yeah ♪ ♪ stand up now ♪ ♪ live out loud, oh ♪♪ (vo) nobody dreams in conventional thinking. it didn't get us to the moon. it doesn't ring the bell on wall street. or disrupt the status quo. t-mobile for business uses unconventional thinking to help you realize new possibili

walensky. dr. walensky: thank you, and good morning to everyone. that is begin with the state of the pandemic. the cdc reported over 41,900 new cases of covid-19. our seven day average is 45,800 cases per day, a decrease of 13% from the prior average, and another hopeful sign that we are on the right track. the seven day average of hospital admissions is 4640, 8% of a decrease from our prior average. the seven day average daily deaths is 656 per day. we have still recorded over 700 deaths these last two days. i am enormously proud of the work put forward by so many towards vaccinating our entire country. it has truly been a remarkable feat and i am so thankful to the millions and millions of americans who have rolled up their sleeves. you heard from andy on wednesday, there is power for hearing the reasons why each of us are getting vaccinated. the decisions of where, when, and why are unique and personal. we need to share these stories and encourage others to do the same, to follow what we have done and to join us and the community in this effort.

walensky.ssess the risk for the country, large populations of people so she will be inherently more cautious but this is cautious. keep in mind as well that we're talking about right now, the time frame right now, when we get into the summer, first of all, the vaccine may be available for 12 to 1wr5-year-olds almost assuredly. viral transsubmission going to come down considerably as it already has so all those factors in play make that guidance too caution. >> and what about kids who won't be at summer camp, playing with their friends, in the neighborhood. do they need to be masked? what would you tell just the average parent who is not sending their kids to camp. you know, what rules should we have for my kids when it comes to playing? >> i think that, you know, i real think the big dichotomy here has been between indoors and outdoors. i mean this, virus simply does not transmit well outdoors. we've known that for some time. now we have lots of data. if you look at the tens of thousands of new

walensky to go ahead and do this. i've got to tell you, it was very surprising having covering the story for 14 months. that was a turn on a dime. i thought it was going to be a much slower transition process into this. but basically they're saying, if you're vaccinated, no need for a mask. it was a significant move. >> i'm so glad you pointed out the rate of infection. even if you get vaccinated, you're really unlikely to spread it. that is key. i have a question how this is going to affect all of us in real life. how hard will be for businesses and local governments to navigate these new guidelines? >> i think this is going to be the biggest challenge, you know, and i think the cdc is basically saying, hey, look, we're here to make the recommendations and now businesses, private, public, whatever, are going to have to figure this out on your own. you're seeing this overnight. nevada, for example, they decided before this, we're going to follow what the cdc says. now the cdc says you don't need to wear masks indoors.

rachele walensky. dr. walensky, thank you for joining me this morning. so as you know by now, this move set off confusion for the 1.21 million fully vaccinated americans. you and dr. fauci and president biden told them that they didn't need to wear masks anymore. almost 20 states plus companies like walensky and starbucks, they are lifting or relaxing their mask mandates. so did you mean for this guidance to result in stores and local governments lifting those mask mandates? >> good morning, dana. thanks for having me. i think we should take a moment and pause and celebrate where we are in this moment. cases have come down by about a third just in the last two weeks. our death rates are as low as they have been since april of 2020. in fact, teens are eligible above the age of 12. so we have plenty of vaccine and the science as you just conveyed demonstrates that they work. so that is what allowed us to make this guidance at the individual level. this was a first step. it foundational guidance. everything is thinking about what this means at this moment 1

. -- doctors fauci and walensky. >> are doing to assist with the vaccination efforts. scores of businesses and organizations have responded to the president's call to action to volunteer their services and help the american people to get vaccinated. over the next few weeks we will be highlighting a number of outside initiatives to provide incentives for people to get their vaccinations.

i want to remind everybody what rochelle walensky said. she stepped out on this and said something that later got snapped back by the white house. watch this. >> there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated. >> martha: that was february 1, will. jen psaki said she was just speaking in her personal capacity and very clear that that was going to be walked back and fast. now we're in may. many kids across the country still not in school. >> walensky probably got her hand slapped. for a moment she made the cardinal sin of thinking the guidance should be evidence and science. she was reminded quickly we're a political institution here. we take interests and listen to our stakeholders. we know the biggest stakeholder is the teacher's union. they had to walk that back very quickly. it's what it should be is a moment of revelation. we should rip back the covers and the cdc is not an evidence-based science guidance bureaucracy. remember that when

walensky after the press conference this afternoon. she said even if you are one of that small percentage of people who is vaccinated and still gets infected, the amount of virus in your system is so low it is very unlikely that you will infection someone else. >> o'donnell: that is interesting. why is the c.d.c. saying you still have to wear mask on a plane, train or bus? >> it is basically to protect people unvaccinated. say you are unvaccinated for whatever reason, maybe are you immuneo compromise and the vaccine didn't take well enough and are you sitting across from someone without a mask. is that person vaccinated or are they perhaps unvaccinated and they could possibly just say i'm not going to wear a mask and they could be infected and infection you. to get away from that uncertainty, everybody still wears the mask in a certain situation like a crowded bus. >> o'donnell: all right, well, enjoy your walk home without your mask. thank you, dr. lapook. tonight the race is on to vaccinate nearly 17 million kids between 12 and 15 ye

walensky, thank you, appreciate your time i want to talk about kids and covid shots.t on this criticism on guidance, you've heard it. there is confusion has the cdc lost its lofty perch? if so, how do you plan to get it back >> good evening and thanks for having me. thank you for the question these issues are complex the science is volving the science is moving. we are following the science at each and every day and our guidance is evolving as the science evolves. i am really confident at how we at cdc are doing with regard to following that science, keeping americans safe our case rates are down dramatically, our vaccine rates are up dramatically, and what we're really trying to do is ensure that as we get cases down, as we get vaccines into to 12 to 15-year-olds, we follow the science and do exactly what the science says we should. >> all true and exciting you know, dr. ka vitae patel, health policy director for the obama white house, was on news hour last night. >> i think the cdc's credibility is eroding as quickly as their cases of coronavirus are eroding and tha

walensky made her announcement on may 13th, it went up. it made a nosedive.cidentally, 12- to 15-year-olds were able to get the vaccine. but we went out and factored out the younger group getting vaccinated, and still you saw those numbers rising a little bit. that's very interesting. perhaps the mask guidance really changed something. >> it could be that, incentives going on in states, or the efforts to reach people who aren't reluctant to getting it but there are barriers in the way. that's good news. elizabeth cohen, thanks so much. >>> so immunity to the coronavirus may last for years, even lifetime. that's according to two new stories. joining me now, you have an interesting study. earlier, months ago, there was some evidence that the amount of antibodies in your body waned. you looked aet something different. you said we're seeing something different that's actually very encouraging and that has to do with memory cells. what are you talking about, and why is it important? >> it's very important because we're looking at the source of these antibodies tha

walensky told me. as far as institutions some will make their own decisions based on the guidance but they're going to provide more guidance to the aviation industry and other industries forthcoming. keep in mind, there's even -- technically there's still a federal mask mandate on federal properties. that has been lifted at the white house now as you have may have heard. but what about all the other federal buildings? technically it's still in place. hopefully we'll see further steps over the next few days. >> the concern i have right now is that i have two children, 11 and 13. i know you have three girls and they're not vaccinated. i'll get them vaccinated as soon as they can. but they're not vaccinated. if i'm going to get on an airplane, i don't have to wear a mask, but i'll have my kids wear one. i'm also worried i have to say about people who don't get vaccinated for whatever reason who kind of now piggyback on the fact that people like you and my did get vaccinated and they go about their lives,

walensky and the cdc have done, they've had a hard time with reliability anyway. special interests and political influence to put guidance forth from the cdc. what they're doing and the teacher's union are doing and let's be clear about this, they're putting their partisan politics ahead of the welfare of our children. they have caused and in my opinion are continuing to cause irreparable harm to students in the future, especially in minority and rural communities. this type of political influence in this presidency, this administration is abhorrent and needs to stop. dr. walensky has lost all credibility and needs to resign. >> trace: and maybe medicine and politics do go together. watch this with kristin fisher and jen psaki. >> can you explain a little bit more why the cdc needs all of this input from so many outside entities? why can't they come up with the science based guidelines on their own? >> they do so to ensure the recommendations are feasible to implement and that they adequately address the safety and well-being of individuals, the guide dense it aim

this is rochelle walensky. february 3. watch what she said.id may. >> there's increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely. >> martha: so i'm sure you remember that, secretary devos. she got slapped on the wrist. jen psaki said oh, she was speaking in her personal capacity. she wasn't speaking for the white house saying to go back to school. >> yeah, we knew last spring it was safe for kids to be back in school. there was every reason to have them back in school. we know today for so many kids, it's been a devastating year. so the fact that now the head of the aft has been championing getting kids back in school is a good thing. it's a very good thing. but we have got to ensure that parents have more options other than just to go back to the schools that were failing them before. reopening them and sending kids back into the same environment now more than a year behind is not the right solution. i would just say this policy

do you have anything to add, rachelle walensky? >> nothing to add. >> okay, next question. >> zeke miller, a p. >> when you say 100 million americans are fully vaccinated that means they've gotten there second dose. that doesn't mean they are two weeks past the dose. >> that is correct. everyone needs to make sure they follow that 2-week post, 100 million americans have received their second shot if they are on a 2 shot regimen or their one shot on that regimen. >> thank you and to follow up on the point about a reasonable timetable, can you explain what would be possible by july 1st, new york goes to 100% capacity at restaurants and bars and arenas and the like, masks will be required indoors, two months, what should the american people hope for? >> what i would like to do is say the more people are vaccinated if your cases we have and we see those numbers come down we will take increased steps. until now, the guidance of what you could do in vaccinated we look forward to more as more people get vaccinated but i don't think -- the

rochelle walensky, director of the cdc. congratulations on -- i mean, in some ways this is an achievement of our public health folks, an achievement of the cdc to get us to a point where we can announce this kind of historic change in guidance today. this be for being with us on a big day. come back any time. as always, let us know if anybody starts messing with you or the scientists at the cdc and we'll knock their block off for you. god the see you. >> you too. no problems so far. thank you so much. >> let me know. you know how to reach me. all right. it is an amazing thing. i'll tell you at a personal level -- sorry for speaking about that at such a personal level. but when i was talking to people about this new guidance and what to ask her, everybody had such personal feelings about it and i realized i did too. part of it is i'll have to rewire myself so when i see somebody out in the world who doesn't have a mask i don't instantly think, you are a threat. or you are selfish or you're a covid denier and you haven't been

walensky explaining the decision. >> several things have happened in the last two weeks. in the last two weeks cases in the country have dropped by a third. in the last two weeks we have had increasing available vaccines and eligible people between the ages of 12 and 15, and we have had a coalescence of science in the last few weeks. one is the effectiveness of the vaccines in general in rural populations and one is the effectiveness against variants which was just published last week, and then the effectiveness in transmissionability. >> what a big day. >> yeah, it really is. may 13th, mark it down, the day we were all told we could basically get rid of our masks. maybe not throw them away or burn them in a bonfire, because who knows, things change, but we could put them away on the top shelf of our closet if you are vaccinated, and if you are going to get on a train, plane or bus, but what a huge day and kind of unexpected? we knew something was coming soon. we didn't know it would be this soon and this big. >> yeah, that's what surprised me, it was indoors as well. i e