Summary:
Virtual town hall on race and COVID-19. How do I find out where to get vaccine if I`m eligible? Have black people with preexisting conditions been properly represented in vaccine trials. How do we convince doubters to get vaccinated
Transcript:
BOOTSY COLLINS, AMERICAN MUSICIAN: It`s like it`s something that this -- it affects everybody. And -- but it`s playtime is something that we need because we were so blessed to be able to go on the road, to be able to go in these places and play. And now that it would not, it`s like all the musician are really -- the artists and musicians are really sick.
ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: I love it. I`m only jumping on because I got to hand it to Joy Reid. I want to thank Bootsy Collins and Al Sharpton for ending the week right, be in touch with both of you.
And keep it locked right here. Joy Reid is up next.
JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to a very special edition of THE REIDOUT, our virtual town hall on race and America`s COVID crisis.
Now, we have got a gorgeous live zoom audience who will be with us throughout the night. And we are one year into the pandemic. And we wanted to hear from you, the American people. Many of you have submitted questions for this event and here is what you wanted to know.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will we be with the coronavirus and its other mutants until 2022 and beyond?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please help us understand the difference between the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you overcome the skepticism about taking the vaccine from certain people in the community who don`t believe?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will the current vaccines protect us from future variants of COVID? If not, will everything go into lockdown again?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When will we be able to get to some kind of normal?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: This once in a century global pandemic has upended billions of lives worldwide. More than 510,000 American lives have been lost with black and brown Americans much more likely to get infected with coronavirus, to be hospitalized forth and to die.
U.S. life expectancy also dropped by a year in first half of 2020, according to a new government report. But for black Americans, it was nearly three years, and for Latin X people, nearly two years.
Such staggering, immeasurable lost has impacted virtually aspect of our lives. But we are now at a crucial crossroads with two vaccines now available and a third by Johnson & Johnson that the FDA advisory panel has just approved.
But even with more vaccines, it may still take months to vaccinate enough of the American public to keep us all safe. And the rollout is already serving as a disturbing mirror for who gets to thrive in this country and who gets left behind.
Tonight, we will shed light on the racial inequities that plague this country and what can be done about it.
We have got a lot to cover so let`s just jump right in. Joining me now is White House Chief Medical Adviser and Leading Infectious Disease Expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio, Chair of Congresswoman Black Caucus, Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence of Michigan, Second Vice Chair of the CBC. And thank you all for being here.
I want to start with you Chairwoman Beatty. Thank you, first of all, so much for joining us and getting together with us to do this. This is so important. But I have to ask you this question, which is maybe a bit depressing question. How -- what does it say about this country that a pandemic that has affected the entire world has become a race and equities issue and inequality issue in this country?
REP. JOYCE BEATTY (D-OH): Well, first of all, Joy, let me thank you for being here. I`m excited and looking forward to hearing from our constituents and those calling in. But I think you hit it on the nail. It`s very devastating that when we think of the coronavirus, we cannot think of it as a single issue. It is the economic issue and it is also the social justice issues.
We know how it has affected us. It has affected us as we look at housing, as we look at small businesses. 41 percent of black owned businesses have closed, devastated, people are being evicted, but for the Congress, putting dollars in. We put forbearances on mortgages. It`s affecting us like no other disease, no other epidemic has. And that`s because, for black Americans, we were already behind. There were already disparities.
We know in the health care we`re treated disproportionately already. So, we`re having to double down in this fight. And that`s why the Congressional Black Caucus is being so involved and so strong with this.
REID: And, Congresswoman Lawrence, is facing this equity issue, is it about investment, is it about social change, some combination? What do you think is the priority to change this dynamic?
REP. BRENDA LAWRENCE (D-MI): What we are witnessing is the intersection of all the issues that black America are facing, health disparity. The fact we die at a higher rate than any other ethnic group, the fact we`re looking at access to health care. We`re looking at historic fear, and we`re going to talk about that of vaccine and a fear of the health care industry because are they going to hurt us, harm us, ignore us or are they going to help us.
And so, today, that`s why this -- this is black history month. And this is a time for us to look at this intersection of challenges that we have in America when it comes to black America health care and this virus has just ripped us the scab off of so many challenges in America.
REID: Yes, indeed. And, Dr. Fauci, you have been at this for a long time, dealing with multiple pandemic at the face this country. And it is sadly kind of the rule at this point that each of these pandemics does wind up being a racial disparities issue. What can we do about that, in your view?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISOR: Well there are a couple of things that you can do and you can do things immediately, such as make sure we have equal access or equity to the interventions that would be important. The one we`re facing right now is to make sure with two vaccines that have gotten EUA approval, Moderna and Pfizer, and now, as you just mentioned correctly, the J&J vaccine has been voted of approval by the advisory board to the FDA, and it looks like that`s going to be imminent they will get their EUA. We`ve got to make sure that there`s equal access to this life-saving intervention of the African American community. We absolutely need to do that.
REID: Absolutely. Well, I could ask all of you questions for a solid hour. But we are not going to do that. Because we are not here to talk about my question, we are here to take the questions from our wonderful audience. Hundreds of you have sent in questions. So we`re going to get right to them.
Now, among all the questions that we received, the most by far were about vaccine access. Here are two people, Kathy and Pat, who are both eligible to receive vaccine but have not been able to navigate the system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m a 69-year-old female. And I live in New Jersey. I work in Philadelphia. I`ve been on multiple lists trying to get vaccinated. I stood in line for over three hours. When I got to the front of the line, I was told I didn`t have a Philadelphia address and photo I.D. So, I wasn`t eligible. I would like to know what I need to do so I can get vaccinated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have preexisting conditions, yet I can`t get vaccine. My question is if you say minorities aren`t getting vaccinated, perhaps it`s because they`re not a priority. So why not make them a priority so they can get vaccinated?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Dr. Fauci, I`m going throw that question to you, both of those questions.
FAUCI: Well, it`s very unfortunate that the first person who made the comment had to go through that very difficult and I`m sure burdensome experience of getting up to the line and finding out that she could not do that.
The Biden administration is now -- that we`ve been taken over -- is trying very hard to make sure we can expedite and make as easy as possible the accessibility of vaccines to everyone but also particularly to people of color, the brown and black people in our population in order to do things like setting up community vaccine centers that are in the areas that are demographically heavily weighted towards minority populations to make it easier to get through the process. Also, pharmacies making sure that vaccines are available and she doesn`t have to go through the experience she went to and even having mobile units that actually go to not easy to access areas.
So, we`re trying very hard to make sure that that experience that she had is not repeated.
REID: Yes.
FAUCI: The situation with priorities, she has an underlying condition, and that is now one of the priorities that will be next up on the priority list. You know, when we had the priorities, there were phase 1A, phase 1B and then phase 1C is going to be people who are at any age, 16 and up, who have an underlying condition. So, hopefully, we will get that and get the vaccine to her and people just like her as quickly as possible.
REID: And before we move on to the next question, I want to give you an opportunity, Chairwoman Beatty, is there anything in the COVID relief bill that will make that easier, to prioritize people who should be in line getting the vaccine but right now are not?
BEATTY: Absolutely. There are dollars set in there for us to do education and awareness because the first lady, we should have had or she should have been able know what she needed before going there and getting in front of the line.
The other thing is we have put $350 billion in this plan for emergency funding but for vaccine distribution. And as Dr. Fauci said, we have areas that get to. We did the essential workers and now we`re coming up with the different levels. But we need to make sure that they`re in our communities.
We actually even put dollars in there, some $20 billion for transportation. We know a lot of people in our communities don`t have access to getting to the points of where they can go. So, between the distribution, dollars, the education and awareness putting them in our communities, that should be very helpful because there are so many disparities.
REID: Yes, indeed. Let`s go to another question. Dia Mani (ph) from Las Vegas is a Student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and his question is about the transparency of the vaccine trials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many black people live with preexisting conditions and many have died more than other ethnic groups and racial groups. And so, my question is, have black folk, especially those with pre-existing conditions been properly represented and tested within the trials and research for these vaccines?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: It`s a huge question. Dr. Fauci, I`m going to ask you to take that one.
FAUCI: Yes, thank you, Joy. That`s a great question. And we have tried, and I believe succeeded for the most part in getting representation in the major trials to get people of color, as well as those who have underlying conditions.
It was not easy for a number of reasons. In fact, we spent about ten Saturdays in a row working with the leaders of the company that was doing the trial to try and help them because of the experience that we`ve had over the years in making sure there`s proper representation of minority groups in the clinical trial.
And, in fact, we did succeed in the Moderna trial. It was over 10 percent were African American. It was about 20 to 21 percent were Latin X. In the Novavax trial, which has just now been completed in the enrollment, there was 13 percent African American and well over 20 percent were Latin X.
So, we made a special effort to make sure that you are represented so that when we say vaccine is safe and effective, it`s safe and effective for everyone, including you and your community.
REID: Thank you for answering that question. Okay, we have two questions about people who might be hesitant to get the vaccine. The first comes from Swan (ph), a High School Art Teacher from the Detroit, Metropolitan Area. She is concerned that some of those with strong opinions in her community might refuse to get vaccinated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How can we help the naysayers consider receive the vaccine so that we may protect our entire community as a whole?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Okay, keeping that in mind, this next question is also about distrust, but this time of the medical community. Here is Emery (ph), a Visual Merchandiser from the Virgin Islands who now lives in Brooklyn New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you can see, there`s only a small percentage of African American people that have taken this vaccine. And that is because we actually don`t trust the doctors. For someone like myself who is not willing to take the vaccine, convince me on why I should take it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: I`m going to throw that one to you Congresswoman Lawrence.
LAWRENCE: Thank you so much. Joy, as we look at the challenges that we have with the deaths, with COVID, when we look at the responsibility that we have to ensure that my community, that the black community is effectively vaccine, I want to say to everyone that I was confronted when I was delaying myself to get the vaccine and I`m proud to say I`ve had both of my shot.
The question to me was, why are you delaying. And I said, well, you know, some people are getting sick. I don`t know if it`s been tested. And my friend who is a doctor said, Brenda, if you get sick, I can fix that. But if you die, I can`t fix that. I need you. I need your contribution. And I will say to everyone, especially my health care workers, my God, we could not have survived without you being there for us. We need you to live. This vaccine does not discriminate. It will take away any life. And it hurts me when I see a line of people getting vaccines and my people are not represented but I`m invited to the funerals of those who have died. I have taken the vaccine. I believe in it. I need my people, my community, to step up.
And we`ve had ministers open up their church to give them a safe environment. We have had the community health centers have been funded through our COVID relief plan so they can be right in the neighborhoods to help my brown and black community who they serve every day. But I do encourage everyone to please, I need you alive and I want you to take the vaccine.
REID: Yes, and do you know what is scarier than the vaccine, COVID. COVID- 19 is scarier than the vaccine.
LAWRENCE: Yes.
REID: Okay. We have so much more to talk about tonight. Stay with us as our REIDOUT special, Our special edition, race and America`s COVID crisis continues right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: Welcome back to our special edition of THE REIDOUT, our virtual town hall, "Race and America`s COVID Crisis."
Back with me are Dr. Anthony Fauci and the chair and second vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence of Michigan.
All right, we`re going to go right back to questions.
This question is about racial disparities when it comes to COVID-19. And it comes from the president of Howard University, Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WAYNE A.I. FREDERICK, PRESIDENT, HOWARD UNIVERSITY: Minorities are dying at a disproportionate rate of COVID-19 compared to our white neighbors.
What efforts are being made through the CDC to work more closely with leaders in the black community to improve the distribution of the vaccine?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Dr. Fauci, I will throw that one to you.
FAUCI: Well, there are a number of things that are being done.
Some, I mentioned before, namely, the community vaccine centers that are actually in the areas that are demographically represented more by minority communities, pharmacies that are getting vaccines in those areas, as well as mobile units to get to the fully accessible areas.
But, importantly, what President Biden has established is an equities task force, which is chaired by Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, whose job is to do exactly what you`re referring to, is, how do we make sure we look in every way possible to make sure there is equitable distribution of these lifesaving vaccines to the minority community?
It`s a top priority of President Biden. He`s been very explicit about that. And he`s instructed us to make sure this gets implemented.
REID: All right, that is an excellent answer.
All right let`s take the next question. And this one is for Representatives Beatty and Lawrence.
Darica (ph) of El Paso, Texas, is pursuing her master`s in health administration from George Washington University. And she has a question about access to the vaccine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you reached out to certain communities and asked what locations would be more convenient in order to participate in receiving the vaccine? Also, have you thought about incentivizing for those who receive the shot?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: I will start with you, Congresswoman Beatty.
BEATTY: Absolutely. And thank you for that question.
For the Congressional Black Caucus, we actually have four nurses within the Congressional Black Caucus. And we are reaching out in our own committees - - communities when we go back to our district.
Let me just tell you about in the heartland of it all in Ohio. We have a young doctor by the name of Dr. Laurel Esby Baio (ph), who actually put a video together to talk about just what you`re asking about. It`s all young black doctors.
And these doctors all will give you a statement about why you should get it, the ramifications if you don`t get it, where you can go. And they have made themselves available to our younger folks, because it`s so important for you to know where you can go.
And because of the disparities, it`s really important for us to have community access. We have churches. We have health centers. But the biggest thing, if you don`t know where to go, and if you don`t know about it, then you can`t do it.
So, we are engaging barbershops and beauty salons to get engaged and to tell their constituents more about how to get the shot and where to go.
REID: Yes.
And, Congresswoman Lawrence, same question.
LAWRENCE: So, one of the things we`re doing in Detroit that I think is really powerful, the mayor has designated Saturday as senior day.
So, if you are age 60, you can pick up a senior and bring them to the testing center. So, it`s not about you going online and going through all this procedure. It is opening it up, so that seniors, who we know are the ones that are most critical, that they have access to testing, a day, that they can figure out, on Saturday, they can get their son or daughter to get them in a car, take them there, or they can call for transportation.
When you talk about giving incentives, I know that there is dialogue about travel, about other things that can happen if you get your vaccine, but we`re not there yet. We still have too many people that need to step up.
And one issue I need to bring forward is that a lot of people are bypassing the second shot. The first shot does not complete the job. You have to get the second, so you`re fully -- get the -- all of the benefits of the vaccine.
So, I`m encouraging people. The churches have been amazing of including others when they are making sure that this is a safe place. And I`m encouraging you. My community health centers have been amazing, and the mobile, having the mobile trucks that go into those communities, like Dr. Fauci said.
REID: Yes, all right, let`s get one more question in.
Next up is Andrew from just outside Springfield, Missouri. He has a question for Dr. Fauci about the speed of vaccine distribution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the Johnson & Johnson vaccine gets approved, if it gets approved for emergency distribution, does this mean that the rollout of the vaccines that we`re already seeing is expected to get faster?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Dr. Fauci?
FAUCI: It won`t -- it`s going to get faster because we`re getting better and better at it.
But once the J&J vaccine gets into the mix, as it were, it will be treated exactly like the others in the distribution and the planning to get it out.
The more vaccines we have in the mix, the quicker you get vaccines out, I believe, if you look at the next couple of months, there`s going to be a rather substantial increment in the amount of vaccine that`s going to be available.
Once that occurs, you can start mass vaccination procedures, which will, in fact, directly answer your question about speed. The entire process will speed up with J&J, with Moderna, and with Pfizer.
REID: I have so many questions. I think I have about an hour`s worth. I just wrote one down.
But I`m going to hold back. I`m going to hold back, because we got to take a break.
The congresswomen will be back with us in a bit. And, of course, Dr. Fauci is sticking with us throughout this special, for this REIDOUT virtual town hall.
More straight ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: Welcome back to a special edition of THE REIDOUT, our virtual town hall, "Race and America`s COVID Crisis."
Dr. Anthony Fauci is still with me.
And joining us now is Denise Fair, Detroit`s chief public health officer, and Father Paul Abernathy, pastor of St. Moses The Black Orthodox Church in Pittsburgh and CEO of the Neighborhood Resilience Project.
We have a ton of questions.
But I want to first quickly start by asking Father Paul Abernathy a question just about -- you`re going door to door talking with folks about getting your vaccines, about participating in the process of trying to rescue ourselves from this crisis.
What are you hearing at the doors? What kind of questions are you getting and concerns are you hearing?
REV. PAUL ABERNATHY, ST. MOSES THE BLACK ORTHODOX CHURCH: First, Joy, it`s so good to be with you. Thank you so much for having me.
I think that the concerns that we have been hearing, really, there`s three overarching themes. The first would be the mistrust of government. There`s a deep history of government failure in our community. And so the government`s role in the dissemination of the vaccine is concerning to people.
The second is a history of clinical abuse, which gives people pause, which I may say is not just about Tuskegee. We have plenty of experience of clinical excuse -- clinical abuse that`s lived experience, even in this generation, racism that`s experienced in the health care system that gives also people pause.
And, thirdly, there is a mistrust of corporate America that, at times, we hear people thinking that this is simply a ploy to help those who are rich become richer.
And so what we have really done is taken this approach not to try to convince people, but rather to disseminate information, honoring their dignity to make choice, believing that, with the right information, they can make the best choice. And it`s had a tremendous effect with that approach.
REID: We had so many questions that got right to the issues that you`re talking about. I want to jump right back into those questions.
This question, this first one comes from Dante of Portsmouth, Virginia, who says COVID is one of the reasons that he`s running for the Virginia House of Delegates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time and time again, we`re given the undeniable fact that communities of color, specifically African-American communities, are denied the same access to medical resources.
What steps are the federal, state and local governments prepared to take to ensure equity within vaccination distribution?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: I`m going to throw that question to Denise Fair.
DENISE FAIR, DETROIT, MICHIGAN, CHIEF PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICER: Thank you.
First, thank you so much for having me.
Let me just say that Detroit was hit hard. We lost close to 2,000 of our close neighbors and friends. And most of those people who we lost were seniors. And that is why it`s so important that we bring the vaccine directly to our most vulnerable.
But we want to do it an equitable way. In the city of Detroit, what we have done is bring the vaccine directly to our most vulnerable. We`re out in the community. We are making sure that we`re going to senior apartments. We`re using our mobile clinics to vaccinate those who are in mental health facilities.
We also have a massive drive-through, which I believe is the most efficient in the entire country. It`s the only place where you can drive in and out in about 45 minutes or less, and get your vaccine without leaving your car.
And then, finally, for our seniors, we have partnered with our clergy, who are -- they have opened their doors to us. And they have made sure that seniors have the opportunity to get their vaccine. And we are going to be expanding to more sites in the next couple of weeks, because we have to keep backing our most vulnerable.
REID: Yes, hopefully, Dr. Fauci is, like, writing all that down, and maybe he will roll that out nationwide. That all sounds really good.
Our next question is from Asada (ph), who is a writer in Jersey City, New Jersey. She and her family are eager to get the vaccine, but most of them, including her 75-year-old mom, cannot get appointments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, why aren`t states and municipalities requiring residency requirements? And why aren`t people who come to a vaccine center being required to show proof of where they live before being given access to vaccines that were designated for impacted communities?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Father Abernathy, I hear about this all the time in states all over the country, people coming from outside the community who are wealthy and have access to technology lining up in communities of color and getting the vaccines.
What can be done about that?
ABERNATHY: Well, I think the registration process really has to change.
If we`re talking about an online registration process, it`s going to favor people who have better access to those digital platforms. We really have to think, if we`re going to disseminate links to sign up and register for people to come to vaccine centers, we have to understand that those people who have access to the online registration, as well as transportation, and even sometimes a social support system, to help them navigate the complexities of online registration, they will be the first to get the vaccine.
We need to take a look at a different way of doing this. I think building up phone banks in our community becomes very important. I know that we have -- we have had to do this in partnership with our local health department and University of Pittsburgh in helping facilitate community vaccination, as well as I believe we should have a core of community health deputies that are able to go door to door and register people door to door.
We can take people from our community and essentially deputize them in the dissemination effort. And I think, until we do these things, we`re going to see this -- these kinds of inequities happen around vaccine centers.
REID: And do you think that there should be a residency requirement? Should you only be limited to the zip code where you live to get vaccinated?
ABERNATHY: I do not believe that really is best.
And the reason why I say that is because, in some of our communities, it`s not -- that we have had so much displacement over the years, that we have people who still consider, for example, our neighborhood, their home, but they have been displaced to adjoining neighborhoods, or, in some cases, neighborhoods that are maybe three neighborhoods or more away.
This, though, is still their home. And this is where their comfort level is. And so I think, because of the displacement, we have to be open to people who can -- who really are leveraging their social networks, staying within, certainly, the demographic of our community, but using that as an opportunity to bring those of our neighbors, our family members, our brothers and sisters to places they`re comfortable with, so that they can receive the vaccine.
REID: Indeed.
All right, Herman from the Bronx brought up a topic that we probably hear more than any other topic when it comes to vaccine skepticism, distrust in the scientific community due to the notorious Tuskegee experiment. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to know, with the controversy surrounding the Tuskegee Institute experiment, how can we, an African-American, Latino, Asian, and indigenous people community, that once this vaccine is distributed, it will not be tampered with before it goes into our arms, and it will be safe and effective?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Dr. Fauci, I`m so glad someone asked this question. A lot of people do.
It is ironic, because Tuskegee was about withholding medicine, not giving something that was tainted. But please answer that question. It comes up so much, the Tuskegee question about trust.
FAUCI: Well, I think the first thing you have to do is, you have to respect that skepticism, because it`s well-founded, but once you say that you do respect the fact that you do have hesitancy, to try and explain that the egregious ethical violations that have occurred that led to the Tuskegee incident and to subsequent types of incidents have now had ethical constraints put in place that would make a rapid repetition of that essentially impossible.
That`s the first thing.
The other part of that questioner`s question was, how can you be sure that`s what being put into your arm is really safe and effective? The safety and the efficacy of the vaccine has been determined by the clinical trial of tens of thousands of people, including African-Americans, Latinx, and whites.
The decision as to whether or not it`s safe and effective is not made by the federal government or by the company, in case one, understandably, might have some skepticism about that. It was made by independent data and safety monitoring boards who are responsible to the general public, not to the administration and not to the drug company.
And the ultimate decision, as was made today by the advisory committee regarding Johnson & Johnson, was an independent advisory committee. So, the entire process was transparent and independent.
And, finally, the fact that the people, why I myself and the president of the United States and Vice President Kamala Harris publicly got vaccinated with the same vaccine that we want to put into the arms of everyone, including black and brown people, to protect them, to save their lives, that of their community and that of the country.
REID: Thank you so much for that. Very important. Very important point.
OK, thank you Denise Fair and Father Paul Abernathy.
We have so much more of our special REIDOUT virtual town hall on race and COVID still to come.
Don`t go anywhere. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: Welcome back to this special edition of THE REIDOUT, our virtual town hall on "Race and America`s COVID Crisis."
Back with me is Dr. Anthony Fauci.
And with us now is Dr. Gary Gibbons, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health.
All right, we`re going to do this as a lightning round, because I have a bunch of questions to get through, so I`m going to fire them right off.
OK, Robin (ph) from Los Angeles has a popular question that goes to the question of whether this new single-dose vaccine will start to create almost like a rich person/poor person dichotomy between the vaccines. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to know if any vaccine is better than the other for African-Americans.
I have heard that Pfizer is the best, but then Johnson, you only need one shot. So, what vaccine would you recommend? And does it matter?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Dr. Gibbons?
DR. GARY GIBBONS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HEART, LUNG AND BLOOD INSTITUTE: Well, at this point, we were fortunate that we now have what appears to be three options, presuming that all three get the EUA, and the good news is that all three are very effective at preventing the most severe consequences of COVID, severe disease, hospitalizations, and death.
And so the recommendation right now is, the most important thing is for America to get vaccinated...
REID: Get whichever one you can.
GIBBONS: ... and particularly communities...
REID: But, very quickly, Dr. Fauci, there are a lot of people who are saying, if you have a one-dose vaccine, then people are going to start to shunt off poorer communities to get the Johnson & Johnson, because they don`t have to worry about them coming back.
Are we going to find a sort of vaccine apartheid, where people push one vaccine toward communities of color, and the others are for the affluent?
FAUCI: We are aware of that consideration and that possibility.
And for that reason, there is going to be equitable distribution of all three vaccines in exactly the same way, so that there isn`t that inadvertent or even deliberate attempt to be putting vaccines and shunting them to one group vs. the other.
Getting back to the question that you asked and that Dr. Gibbons answered quite correctly, all three vaccines are good vaccines. If I were in a situation where they said, this one is ready now, take it, I`d have the one that`s the most available to me, and I would take any one of the three.
REID: All right, great.
Our next question is going to come from Dr. Leslie Harris (ph), a physician in Brooklyn, New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, when is the capacity for vaccination going to meet us at the practitioner level, where doctors and professionals similar to myself could dispense, just as we do the flu vaccine, in our local clinics and offices?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Dr. Gibbons?
GIBBONS: Well, this is being rolled out in a variety of settings.
Certainly, the front-line practitioners are an important part of that system.
And, in particular, related to this topic today, federally qualified health centers, for example, will be a prime site, since they treat and care for so many in communities of color.
REID: All right, our next question is coming from Jack in Indianapolis. He is one of our youngest and most adorable viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Dr. Fauci. I`m Jack, and I`m 10 years old. I live in Indianapolis.
When will us kids be able to get the vaccine?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Dr. Fauci?
FAUCI: Great question.
So, right now, the trials have shown that, by the time we get to the beginning of the fall for the fall school term, likely, that there will be enough evidence of the safety and of the efficacy of high school students, namely, people from 12 up to 17 or 18.
The trials on what`s called an age de-escalation, from going to 12 to 9, 9 to 6, 6 to 2, and 6 months to 2 years, that will likely be by the end of the year, at the earliest, and more likely by the first quarter of 2022.
So, we`re very likely that young children in elementary school will be able to get the vaccine at the beginning of 2022.
REID: All right, let`s go to an interesting question from Aldoberto (ph) in Castro Valley, California. He`s one of the 28 million Americans already diagnosed with COVID-19.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a person who suffered the COVID back in June 2020 and continue to deal with the lingering effects, such as fatigue, migraines, headaches, shortness of breath, how many doses, if any, of the vaccine do you recommend, based on the current immunity within my body?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Dr. Gibbons?
GIBBONS: Well, it appears that he has what we`re calling the post-acute syndrome of COVID-19, where there are individuals who have lingering symptoms, even after much of the virus has been cleared from their bodies.
And it`s clear that we`re still actively studying that at NIH, and it will be apparent that it will be important for him to be vaccinated in order for him to be sure that there`s no recurrence of the infection.
REID: All right, here`s one more.
Connie (ph) from Cleveland has a question on vaccine immunity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, how long will the vaccine last? And will I have to take it again in and another year or two?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: This one`s for you, Dr. Fauci.
But if I could add on, we had Gabriel, who had a question, which we can`t get in. Can you add to that question and also answer, is the vaccine safe to take if somebody is HIV-positive or has other issues with immunocompromization -- compromise?
FAUCI: Well, the answer to the second question is, absolutely.
People who have HIV or people who are immunocompromised should definitely get the vaccine, because they need it as much or more than anyone, because they are immunocompromised, and they are more likely to get a serious complication if, in fact, they get infected. So the vaccine is very important for them.
Regarding the question of how long it lasts, we don`t know that right now, because we have just begun the process of vaccinating people. We know it lasts at least six months, because we followed people that long from the clinical trials.
Likely, and I hope, it will be much longer than that. The way we find out is by following people over months to year. Most of the vaccine trials have a two-year duration period, so you can be observing people at least out to two years. But, for now, we know it`s at least six months and likely much longer than that.
REID: All right, thank you very much.
OK, thank you, Dr. Gary Gibbons.
We have more viewer questions that are going to be answered by our experts in this special REIDOUT virtual town hall next.
Do not go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: Welcome back to a special edition of THE REIDOUT, our virtual town hall, "Race and America`s COVID Crisis."
Dr. Anthony Fauci is still with us.
And back with me are Congresswoman Joyce Beatty and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence.
All right, this question is from Victor (ph), a freshman at UCLA who`s studying political science.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m a freshman in college.
And, as a student, I`m wondering what you think the best approach is to bring students back into the classroom in a fair and equitable way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: This one`s for you, Congresswoman Beatty.
BEATTY: I think it`s important for us, as we`re doing with the Congressional Black Caucus through our education program, to encourage students that you have to come back, but you have to come back when it`s safe. I think we`re at that point where many of the universities are bringing students back. So, just stay focused. Stay at home working. But I think we will bring individuals back. Teachers are getting the vaccine. And we`re -- our numbers hopefully will start going back down.
REID: All right.
BEATTY: But we have to be safe first.
REID: That is good news, I think, to a lot of students.
OK. And our next question is from Antonio, a flight attendant on the risks essential workers face in the middle of this pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are here on the front lines every day dealing with passengers from all over the U.S. and the world.
And my question is, what would you say to the front-line crew members who are risking our lives daily, and have been from the very beginning, and there`s not much press about us and what we do out here, and also being asked to be mask police at the same time?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: This one`s for you, Congresswoman Lawrence.
LAWRENCE: First thing I want to say is, thank you. Thank you.
We recognize in the Congressional Black Caucus in Congress how important people who -- like you, who every day went to work during this pandemic. I have to fly because I`m a member of Congress, so I know how valuable you are.
I want you to know that you should be in that first line of getting the vaccine. And we also want you to know that -- and I will use my bully platform to recognize you and continue to ensure that you get all the protections with health care and everything else in our corona relief package, and that I want you to know that we appreciate you. You are our heroes.
REID: Well, Dr. Fauci, I am now going to ask you the question that we got more than any other question and I think you probably get a lot as well.
How long do you think that this is going to last, this situation where we have to lock ourselves down, wear masks, do social distancing? How long are we going to be in this, do you think?
FAUCI: Well, it`s difficult to predict.
But if we keep going in the direction we`re going now, with the infection rate going down precipitously, and more and more people getting vaccinated, I think, by the time we get to the fall and the winter, we may not be back 100 percent to where we were before this started, but I think we could be close to that by the end of this coming year.
But it`s not going to be next month or the month after. That`s for sure. We have to be patient. It`s going to get better and better.
We also, quite frankly, have to keep our eye out on these variants, namely, the mutations that have occurred that make the virus a little bit different. The best way to protect yourself against that is, one, do the kind of public health measures we talk about all the time, wearing a mask, physical distancing, and avoiding congregate settings.
And, two, when vaccine becomes available, please get vaccinated. The more people that get vaccinated, the better off we will be, and the quicker we will get back to that normality that you`re talking about.
REID: Well, I just want to thank all of you for being here.
These were such important questions. And all of you were so helpful. I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus for really inspiring this idea of trying to help the community with direct Q&A. It`s so important.
Thank you all for being here.
BEATTY: Thank you.
REID: We could do this for another hour, because I have so many questions.
But I think the most important thing that came out of this is, get vaccinated. Get vaccinated. The vaccine is far scarier than COVID (sic).
I want to thank Dr. Anthony Fauci, Representatives Joyce Beatty and Brenda Lawrence from the Congressional Black Caucus, all of our other guests, our amazing, amazing REIDOUT viewers, and also these fabulous people who were in our audience tonight, all of you who submitted great questions, and our great audience behind me in the Zoom.
Look at them. They look so great.
That`s it for tonight on tonight`s REIDOUT.
Here`s my mask. I got to show you guys. I got my little REIDOUT mask here in honor of all of this.
Be sure to join us on Monday. My special guest will be Stacey Abrams.
Good night and stay with MSNBC.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END