Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

Good morning. Fauci and Walensky head to the Senate today to talk pandemic response and recovery. Hearing starts around 10AM.

https://twitter.com/BBuchman_CNS/status/1391890730612822016

In addition to Fauci & Walensky the witness list also includes David Kessler, chief science officer for COVID Response at HHS & Peter Marks, director for the Ctr for Biologics Evaluations and Research at the FDA. Expecting to hear a bit today about vaccine eligibility for kids.

https://twitter.com/HELPCmteDems/status/1392114458995068935?s=19

A third of the country is fully vaccinated. 200M+ have rec'd their vaccine and the FDA has now authorized the vaccine for adolescents. It is encouraging, but more work lies ahead, says Senate HELP Cmte chair Patty Murray.
@CourthouseNews

Systemic inequities and barriers that make it harder for some people to receive vaccines must be eliminated Murray says, noting as well that the vax rate has currently slowed in the US.

Murray also brings up the outbreak in India. The pandemic won't be over until it is over for the world, she says.
Related: reuters.com/world/china/us…

Ranking member Richard Burr, R-NC, says "We spent more taxpayer money than I could have ever imagined" to restore the economy. But now, there is real hope thanks to the vax.

[CDC projecting continued declines in deaths and hosp. rates]

Burr: "IP is part of the reason we have these vaccines. If [the IP rights] are not in place, we won't have them for the next pandemic, it's that simple."
He asks Fauci, Walensky, Kessler, Marks to "be the adults in the room" & steer Biden away from disclosing full IP to China

The NC Republican says he "might have been naive" to believe that staying out of the hospital and not having people dying was enough of a reason to convince people to get a vax. He realizes now it is not, suggests its the realization that we could all "return to normal"

The most challenging days may be the next weeks and months ahead as we attempt to get to a vaccination level that changes the glide path to where we are permanently in decline," Burr says.

CDC dir. Walensky kicks off testimony She was here 2 mos ago and since then, CDC has been busy updating its guidance, incl. levels of risk for fully vaccinated ppl and they'll continue to update.
261M doses delivered so far, incl. 133M since she last testified in March.

More than 84% of americans over 65, and over 58% of all adult Americans have received at least one dose. With cases trending down, the CDC is cautiously optimistic but globally, the pandemic is more severe than ever, she notes.

Since January, Walensky says, there's been a downward trend w/daily avg of new infections dropping 76%, hospitalizations down 71% and reported deaths down 75% in the U.S.

Fauci in his remarks for the purpose of today's hearing he is going to focus on vaccines. He is often asked how it could be possible the vaccine was developed so quickly (11 mos)? The story behind that, he says, has been decades of basic clinical and biomedical research.

Crediting basic research in developing vax technology, particularly, mRNA platform, and scientists at NIAID and others throughout the US, he says they developed the optimal spike protein, used by virtually all vaccines being tested right now.

The clinical trial networks set up decades ago for influenza and HIV were instrumental in getting this off the ground so fast, Fauci says.
Last April when I interviewed Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of HIV, we talked a bit about this.
courthousenews.com/bent-curve-isn…

Earlier tweets deleted due to typos. Testimony from Peter Marks, dir. for biologics at FDA said today:
The FDA looked at 2k adolescents 12-15. Half got Pfizer-BioNTech, other half saline placebo. Side effects were similar to those 16 and older

On effectiveness, they looked at data in 190 people, ages 12-15 and 170 people, ages 16-25. Also evaluated cases of Covid-19 in teens 12-15, 7 days after the 2nd dose . No Covid occurred among 1,005 adolescents who rec'd vax compared to 16 cases in 978 placebo recipients,

Marks: "Thus indicating the vaccine was completely effective in preventing Covid 19 in the trial that was symptomatic." He adds, parents can "rest assured" there has been a thorough review of this data.

For his part, Kessler, Chief Science Officer, COVID Response for HHS says booster doses will be available for the American people if they need it.

50m vax will be sent to India by July 4 under Biden's plan. Fauci: India is in such dire straits now because they had a decline in rates and then opened up prematurely.

Preparedness is key, Fauci adds. A lesson learned for future pandemics says, is continuing to build up the local public health infrastructure which over the last decades has been in "disarray, likely because of our successes in controlling so many diseases."

Fauci: "The other lesson learned is that this is a global pandemic that requires a global response and we need to pay attention to the responsibility we have."

The U.S. must work with other countries to ensure there is access to vaccines throughout the world. "Because if it continues to have the dynamics of a virus spreading anywhere in the world, it is a threat here in the U.S"

Burr asks why US hasn't sent AstraZeneca vax to nations like India. 4M doses of AZ have gone to Mexico, 1.5M to Canada.
Kessler: We're ready to ship up to 60M doses of AZ by July 4, but there's issues under review by FDA. When resolved & US can say they're quality, we'll ship

This is a once-in-a-century pandemic, Kessler says, we know that a waiver alone won't result in the scale and speed to make enough vaccines to end the pandemic. That's why the admin will keep ramping up efforts to expand vax manufacturing/distro

In an exchange between Dr. Fauci and Sen. Rand Paul on the origins of the virus, things got a bit tense and a lot of false, bad information was being thrown around. I am not going to live-tweet that but will break it down in my report later. In a nutshell however -

Paul was insistent that Fauci/NIH funded "gain of function" research. In simple terms, gain of function is about enhancing the transmission of a virus through manipulated means. Paul was suggesting Fauci supported this at NIH. He did not. This has been debunked repeatedly.

PolitiFact piece below from February.
It is now May & these theories keep lingering in Congress.
Fauci to Paul today: "I don't know how many times we can say it. We did not fund gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology."
politifact.com/factchecks/202…

Fauci reiterated to Paul today, if Congress wants to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 virus, go ahead. He fully supports that.

Sen. Tina Smith, cut right to the chase after that exchange between Paul + Fauci
"Dr. Fauci, what is the impact of conspiracy theories peddled by Paul and others, on America's willingness to take this vaccine, a vax that by all accounts is remarkable for its safety and efficacy?"

Dr. Fauci, after a protracted round of commentary from Sen. Rand Paul on the origins of Covid 19:

"Conspiracy theories certainly are not helpful in what we’re trying to do, I certainly can say that with some degree of confidence."
@CourthouseNews

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-LA kicked off his comments today by saying he's "incredibly frustrated" because of the lag time between CDC's recommendations and rate of vaccination. Then he goes into Q's on immunity.

Cassidy: Does previous infection confer immunity?
Fauci: It does but we don't know how long.
Cassidy: Yet we suggest they still be vaccinated? That seems out of step.
Fauci: "No, actually, a study has shown v. clearly if you vaccinate someone who previously got infected and..

Fauci "...recovered, the level of neutralizing antibodies and T-calls are extraordinarily high against the virus and its variants.
Cass: "That'd happen if you had another infection. All immunization does is mimic a pre-existing infctn. That's well established in other viruses."

Cassidy: He's concerned about increase in side effects from the second dose. None are life-threatening but Cassidy doesn't care for the "increased risk" of side effects w/2nd. Marks agrees, it's a reasonable proposition to study but...

the purpose of immunizing some1 who has been infected previously is to develop high antibody titers (indicators) Cassidy interrupts: Studies in other viruses show a 2nd reimmunization mimics what would happen if someone were exposed.
Marks: "Senator, this is a different virus."

Marks: Research has been done to show after vax, the nature of immune response is higher antibodies.
Cassidy interrupts: "That's w/every virus." But Marks underlines: the reimmuno makes this a superior way to cure infection and prevents against variants

Pulling off of live-tweeting now but the stream is still going here: help.senate.gov

Meanwhile! President Biden, in an effort to get vaccines up in the US by July 4, is announcing a "Free Ride" program with Uber and Lyft. The feds are not paying for this program. You can claim your free ride by going through the app and following instructions to your vax site.

More on this in my story coming up for @CourthouseNews.

Ready. Set. Keep going. The race is still on to vaccinate Americans as Covid-19 variants crop up and a long summer in the U.S. looms.
courthousenews.com/to-end-pandemi…
@CourthouseNews