As new strains of coronavirus appear in various parts of the world and cases within the U.S. continue to peak, officials are stressing the importance of getting vaccinated.
"Right now the science suggests that the vaccines are still effective against the strains that have been identified but we're in a race," U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told Cheddar.
Adams said the existence of new virus strains is not uncommon, and COVID-19 has mutated nearly 30 times since it was first discovered. However, he noted that mutations do not necessarily mean the virus will become more deadly or contagious.
While the vaccines appear to be holding up against new variants, there is still pressure, according to Adams, to reach "community immunity" before those doses become ineffective. As a result, the Surgeon General said that more has to be done to increase the volume of vaccinations and to speed up the process.
"We need businesses to be advocates for vaccines and to help us spread information about how people can stay healthy, including by getting vaccinated, so we can open up schools, open up restaurants, get back to worship again, get back to doing the things that we were doing in 2019 before we ever heard of this thing called COVID-19," Adams said.
In a report released today by the Office of the Surgeon General, a lack of prevention investments has impacted the overall health of the country and when it comes to COVID-19, in particular, Adams said he thinks businesses can be a line of defense against the virus if they are willing to be more vocal about people maintaining their health.
He said he was aware of the hesitancy many Americans have when it comes to taking the vaccine, partly because of the speed in which it was developed but wants the public to understand that "there were no safety corners cut whatsoever." Adams expressed a fear that misinformation could cause many people to avoid the vaccine altogether.
Vaccine Timeline
Officials planned for 20 million Americans to get vaccinated by the end of 2020, but the straggling rollout only yielded about 2.8 million people who had received a dose by year's end, partly because some hospitals didn't receive enough doses, while others received a surplus. The surgeon general said that in addition to using pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, the focus should be shifted to all possible avenues to quickly get as many people vaccinated as possible.
"We need to use churches and other sites where people are so that we can quickly get vaccinations into arms," he noted. "And we also need to address vaccine confidence because a vaccine does nothing if a person is unwilling to take it."
For Adams, it's an all-hands-on-deck approach to stomping out COVID-19 and as the Biden administration gears up to take over the White House, he said he hopes to work with the administration, particularly Surgeon General nominee Vivek Murthy, to continue the effort.
"Dr. Murthy and I have worked together for the past three and half years. It's a small group of surgeons general," Adams said.
"I want us to be successful, and I'm committed to helping the Biden administration and our country — because I am the nation's doctor — really recover from this pandemic. And that's why I put this report out today," he added.
Dr. Nasia Safdar, Doctor at UW Madison, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss the implications of Merck sharing its antiviral pill, which has been shown in early trials to cut hospitalizations and deaths by half, with poorer nations around the globe.
The Federal Reserve finally announced its taper plan on Wednesday saying that it planned to scale back on bond purchases as growth slows, and would not rush to raise interest rates. Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategy Analyst at Baird spoke on whether or not a decrease in inflation could be in the country’s future amidst comments made by Fed chairman Jerome Powell. Baird also broke down ADP jobs numbers ahead of the Labor Department's October jobs report.
Going into election day on Tuesday, many of us had an inkling it might not be a great day for Democrats. History tells us the president's party tends to lose congressional seats, governorships and state legislature seats in off-year and midterm elections. Tuesday turned out to be a big wake-up call for democrats. Not only did Terry McAuliffe lose in the Virginia governor's race, Gov. Phil Murphy won re-election by an incredibly slim margin. Both races saw continued Democratic losses in rural areas and a shift of suburban voters back to the GOP. Liz Landers, chief political correspondent at Vice News, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
Week one of UN climate summit is coming to an end, world leaders made a number of promises to save the planet. President Biden attended the first two days of the meeting.
Alan Neuhauser, vice president of Silverline Communications, joined Cheddar Politics to talk more about the pledges that came out from the summit and their significance.
It's been a busy week for the Supreme Court. It heard arguments on three of the most watched cases in the docket for this term. The court heard arguments in two cases challenging the Texas abortion law on Monday - one filed by abortion providers and the other by the justice department. Instead of weighing in on the constitutionality of the matter itself, justices focused on the unusual structure of the law that enables citizens to enforce the law, not the state government.
On Wednesday, the court heard arguments in the biggest Second Amendment case in more than a decade. The dispute is over a New York gun law that requires people seeking a license to carry a handgun in public to show a "proper cause." The challengers in this case claim the law inhibits their constitutional Second Amendment rights.
Amy Howe, co-founder of SCOTUSBlog, joined Cheddar Politics to break the cases down.
This is the first installment of Cheddar Changemakers, where we spotlight young activists making a difference in the world and speaking up on issues regarding mental health, voting, and climate change.
Republicans are considered, and often act like, the party opposed to action on climate change. They've made a point of fighting even modest regulations on businesses related to stemming the worst effects of climate change. But Republicans aren't a monolith on climate change, and our next guest reminds us that "conservation" and "conservative" have the same word root.
Quill Robinson, VP of government affairs at the American Conservation Coalition, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
The mayor of Portland, Oregon, Ted Wheeler joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss his plans to get an increase in the city's police budget for more personnel, changes to public safety response, and more body cameras. The Democratic mayor addressed the growth in violent crimes amid the pandemic, but noted the need for officers who take their roles seriously. We want officers who understand that policing is an important responsibility, it's a high calling," he said. "We also want a police bureau that is accountable and responsible to the public it serves."
More American tech companies continue to pull their businesses out of China as the Communist Party cracks down on firms — both foreign and domestic. Yahoo and Fortnite have become the latest companies to withdraw from the country, and the withdrawals come just days after Microsoft announced it would take LinkedIn offline. Shehzad Qazi, managing director at China Beige Book International, joined Cheddar to provide some insight into how the crackdowns in China would also impact the tech companies at home in the United States.
