CDC Director Rochelle Walensky joins “CBS Mornings” to discuss the impact of the weekend’s deadly tornadoes on the spread of COVID-19 in hard-hit areas. Plus, the latest on the Omicron variant, and what she thinks is the next phase of the pandemic.
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today marks one year since the first dose of a Kobe vaccine was administered in the U.S more than 200 million Americans are now fully vaccinated and more than three quarters of the eligible population received at least one dose however the latest CBS News poll finds nearly one-third of people who are vaccinated have no plans of getting a booster shot in spite of evidence that regular vaccinations are not enough to protect against the Omicron variant CDC director Dr Rachelle wolinski is here joining us right now now as we mentioned three out of 10 people who got the first two shots say they won’t get the booster Dr fauci says getting the booster shots give you optimal protection are we just redefining what it means to be fully vaccinated you know what we know is that the more mutations a variant has the more immune protection that you need and so now we’re facing the Omicron variant here in the United States we have new data out of the CDC just this morning that has demonstrated that about three percent of our uh very of our disease here in the United States is from Omicron 13 here in New York in New York and so really we want to bolster our immune protection to fight against this variant that has a lot of mutations and so yes we would really like people to get doubly vaccinated and then get their booster when they’re eligible for their booster are we setting people up for a conversation down the line where we say look every year you need your covet booster you know we don’t know that yet we have um you know a lot of Sciences evolving now a lot of uh information that we’re getting about how well the boosters are working against the Delta variant and then more data that’s emerging on how well our boosters are working against the Omicron vary but we have a lot of different vaccines where you get two shots and then a boost and then you’re done and so what we don’t know is how long that protection is going to last over time well earlier we were talking to Albert borla who I know you know from Pfizer who was talking about the new pill what’s your take on the pill and are you concerned that people will think well I’m not going to get the vaccine anyway I’ll just if I get the symptoms I’ll just run and take the pills yeah the first and foremost we need to get people to prevent disease that’s really really get your vaccine get your booster take all of those prevention measures but if you were to get sick with covid then you know we now have a new tool in our armamentarium and that’s terrific so should this tool move through the FDA through authorization the really important thing here is that you have to test quickly because you really need to give it within a pretty narrow window of symptoms and so if you get because not everybody gets symptoms though Rochelle that’s the problem and if you don’t get symptoms then you’re not really at risk of severe disease or death so if you start to get those symptoms then you really need to test quickly and go consult with your physician or provider so that you can get this so if you don’t have the symptoms you don’t have to if even if you get diagnosed if you don’t have the symptoms don’t worry about disease don’t worry about something really serious happening to you well then I would actually really look and see whether you’re at high risk of disease whether you’re an older population have a lot of comorbidities and at risk of progressing to more serious disease now not all scientists agree that young or healthy people should get booster shots and I have friends and family that say to me well well Nate I’m young I’m healthy I’m as strong as an ox and my immune system is great so why are you telling me I need something if I’m good right now you know again it goes back to the more mutations the variant has the more immune protection that you need from it so we’re really encouraging everybody who’s eligible 16 17 year olds just became eligible last week my 17 year old got his booster over the weekend and we’re really trying to encourage people to get that boost to bolster their protection so that they’re ready should they encounter the Omicron variant I’m really hungry I think a lot of Americans are really hungry for some sort of a a conversation about when we start living with this virus as opposed to being in a kind of crisis mode where we’re changing the rules and we don’t know if we can plan getting ready for the next thing yeah getting ready for the next thing from a from a public health scientific perspective where when do we shift into recovery mode and out of crisis mode um we all want to get there we’re not where we want to be right now but what I’ll say is we have 1100 under deaths every day still and we can’t be Cavalier about the fact that we’re losing so many lives from this right now those are directly related related to covet shouldn’t the messaging be though Rochelle as we sit here there because if we’re going into year two people think we’re waiting for you to sound the Trump and say it’s all clear we’re not really going to get an all clear are we we just have to face the fact that we’re going to have to live with this true I think that that’s probably too true but what I would say is we have a lot of control and power to do that as we come together as we get vaccinated as we do those prevention things that work to protect one another and ourselves and our family we can bring down the amount of disease in this country and get much faster to that place can I just say I’m so glad you’re here at the table that you actually have legs you’re six feet tall we’re so used to seeing you from there yeah we’re so used to seeing you from here up it’s so great to have you in studio yeah she’s six feet tall thank you very much
