so we don't want inflation expectations to get out of hand. that is what is concerning to larry summers, the former treasury secretary for the democrats who thought $1.9 trillion was a mistake. that is a concern for a lot of republicans. they are pressing jay powell and janet yellen for how they will respond to on welcomed inflation expectations. host:host: how former guest is the former deputy checkered -- former deputy secretary and founder and ceo delta trust in banking in little bark -- little rock, french l. elected in 2014. we go to grovetown georgia for our next caller. democrats line. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. it representative hill, i want to ask a question that, sometimes we just sort of except politics the way they are. but there is something that has always concerned me, two things.

one, why do we not negotiate for medicare? the second one is, the right to work states, for >> you can find all of today's "washington journal" online at c-span.org. we'll take you live now to the white house covid-19 briefing with updates on the johnson & johnson vaccine. >> then i'll turn to the doctor for an update of the pandemic and on the johnson & johnson pause followed by dr. fauci who will also provide his perceptive on j&j. as you know, yesterday, the f.d.a. and c.d.c. announced that out of an abundance of caution it recommended a pause in the use of the johnson & johnson vaccine as they reviewed data involving six reported u.s. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the j&j vaccine.

i want to be clear that this announcement will not have a significant impact on our vaccination program. the j&j vaccine makes up less than 5% of the more than 190 million recorded shots in the arms in the u.s. to date. the president has always said that we were at war with the virus. and as such, we have mobilized a wartime effort so that we're prepared for a range of scenarios and contingencies. this is why the president took aggressive action earlier this year to move up production and delivery schedules for both the pfizer and moderna vaccines and to secure enough pfizer and moderna doses for more than 300 million americans by the end of july. over the last few weeks, we made more than 25 million doses of pfizer and moderna available to states, tribes, and territories

and through federal channels each week. in fact, yesterday, we announced that this week we will make 28 million doses of pfizer and moderna available. and as we've done from the beginning of this administration, we will continue to get supply out the door as soon as it's available. importantly, this means we have more than enough supply of pfizer and moderna vaccines to continue the current pace of vaccinations meet the president's goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office and continue to reach every adult that wants to be vaccinated by the end of may. we are working now with our state and federal partners to get anyone currently scheduled for a j&j vaccine quickly rescheduled for a pfizer or moderna vaccine. we're seeing this take place across the country. the president has committed to the american people that his

administration will always lead with science, tell the truth, and give americans the facts as we know them. over the past 24 hours we've been working to give information to the american public related to the j&j pause, working with state and local governors, clinicians and medical experts. and our public health officials will continue to appear on television, radio, and social media to communicate directly to the american people. so americans have the latest information and answers to their questions and the opportunity to learn more about the safety and the efficacy of the vaccines and the importance of getting vaccinated. stepping back, building vaccine confidence and increasing access to vaccination is central to our efforts to put this pandemic behind us.

that's why we've invested $3 billion to help states and community-based organizations build vaccine confidence, particularly in the hardest hit and highest risk communities. we are getting fact-based information in the hands of those necessary and holding these regular press briefings and committed to sharing the facts at every turn. yesterday's actions should give american the confident in the f.d.a. and c.d.c., the thoroughness of the review process and their commitment to transparency and protection of public -- to public health. we believe by empowering americans with data and facts, we will strengthen the public's trust in government. and increase their confidence in the vaccines. in terms of an update on our

vaccination program, vaccines will continue to accelerate. in total more than 222 million americans have received at least one shot and more than 75 million americans are now fully vaccinated. as you can see from our weekly progress report, our vaccination program is accelerating. our current seven-day average is 3.3 million vaccinations per day. when i last spoke at this briefing last friday, the seven-day average was three million. so once again, strong progress. in the very short term, we do expect some impact on daily averages as sites and appointments transition from johnson & johnson to moderna and pfizer vaccines. however, i want to be clear that we have more than enough pfizer and moderna vaccine supply to continue or even accelerate the

current pace of vaccinations and meet the president's goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office. in closing, we still have a lot of work to do. as the president has said, the war against covid-19 is far from won, and we need everyone to do their part. so please, please, wear a mask, socially distance, and get vaccinated when it's your turn. with that i'll turn it over to dr. walensky. dr. walensky: today i want to discuss recommending a pause on administering the johnson & johnson vaccine at this time. first, i do want to share where we are in the context of the pandemic. yesterday, the c.d.c. reported 61,000 new cases of covid. as such, c.d.c.'s most recent data show the seven-day average of new cases has continued to increase. now 6% over the seven-day period

with the seven-day average of 67,530. hospital admissions also continue to increase. the most recent seven-day average a little over 5,400 admissions per day is also up 6.8% from the previous seven-day period. and unfortunately, there were also 569 deaths, again, yesterday. now i want to switch topics to the decision we made yesterday to pause administration on the johnson & johnson vaccine. i have always told you i'm going to tell you the truth and i'm going to lead with science. and today is, once again, one of those moments. c.d.c. and f.d.a. were alerted to six cases of rare types of blood clots called is he reboundal venis thrombosis that occurred in combination of low level of platlets. two individuals with these blood clots also had in their

gastrointestinal tracts. it was reported to a system that c.d.c. and f.d.a. co-manage to serve as an early warning system to monitor the safety of vaccines. all six individuals with these clots were women between the ages of 18 and 48 and their symptoms presented six to 13 days after they were vaccinated with the johnson & johnson vaccine. these reports are similar to reports of thom boughtic e -- thrombotic events in europe with the astrazeneca. they were more frequent in women. the astrazeneca and johnson & johnson vaccines use an adno

vector. they are different than the pfizer and moderna vaccines. blood clots in combination of loet plate -- low plateletes are not being seen -- platelets are not been seen in pfizer and moderna. our latest data show we have administered more than 7.2 million doses of johnson & johnson vaccine and have yet observed only six of these cases. right now, we believe these events to be extremely rare. while we are also not yet certain we heard about all possible cases as this syndrome may not be easily recognized as one associated with the vaccine. c.d.c. and f.d.a. are working rapidly to investigate each case and understand whether there is a causal relationship between these blood clots and vaccine administration. the decision to pause

administration of johnson & johnson vaccine was made specifically for three reasons. first, we want to alert the health care providers to be on the lookout for these rare events postvaccination and to make sure they are treating patients appropriately. it is imperative for health care workers to know that the treatment of these clots is different than our current standard of care. while we would typically treat blood clots with a medication called heprin. it should be avoided in the treatment of these clots while an investigation of the cause is ongoing. second, there may be additional cases to report. we want people who have received a vaccine and their health care providers to be aware of these events and report them to the c.d.c. and f.d.a. through the vers system. and third, the pause will allow our independent committees review the safety information on this vaccine and these events to determine their significance.

we'll discuss the safety data around the johnson & johnson vaccine. deliberations such as this is part of our standard process to ensure we are gathering the best expert advice. during the meeting, acip will review the safety profile of the johnson & johnson vaccine based on all of the available evidence. they'll analyze these six events postvaccination and others that are reported and once able to review the best available evidence to deliberate on potential updates to the vaccine recommendations and uses of the vaccine. i know the information we have presented may be very concerning to americans, especially those who have already received the johnson & johnson convenient. for those -- vaccine. for those that received it more

than a month ago, it is exceptionally low. those that received within the last few weeks they should aware of their symptoms and immediately seek medical assistance with any symptoms of concern. also, i want to reiterate to this group, even in this group, these events are extremely rare. symptoms of other associated severe blood clot may include a severe health care, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath, all leading to an emergency department visit. importantly, we have two other vaccines that are authorized for use in this country. again, we are not seen these events with the other two vaccines with pfizer and moderna. people who have vaccine appointments to receive mrna vaccines should keep their appointment and we will work with our partners aacross -- across the country that were scheduled to receive the johnson & johnson vaccine. i want to share with you my confidence in the system that we

have in place. jointly, c.d.c. and f.d.a. were able to identify these rare events and act quickly to alert health care providers and the public. this demonstrates the safety systems we have in place are working. we will continue to monitor vaccinations and adverse events across this country. this pause will allow us to accelerate reporting from health care providers across the country and all of you. as we seen more data and carefully review each case, we will able to provide the best recommendations and appropriate next steps given the current context of the covid-19 pandemic and our broader immunization efforts. we are committed to following the science and ensuring complete transparency as we pursue this investigation. as promised, we will tell you what we know when we know it. and with that i'll turn things over to dr. fauci. dr. fauci: thank you very much, dr. walensky.

i want to spend a minute or so adding one aspect of this discussion that we have been questioned on fairly intensely over the last 24 hours. and that's the issue of whether or not the action on the part of the c.d.c. and the f.d.a. will actually make the issue of vaccine hesitancy even a more difficult problem. as people see what's going on here and they then essentially extrapolate that to the issue of hesitancy, not only for this vaccine, but for all the vaccines that are available. to underscore what dr. walensky said, this was taken to look at the issues that dr. walensky delineated. importantly, when i go out and try to counter the issues of hesitancy, a substantial

proportion of the hesitancy is centered around concern that the vaccines might not be safe. i've addressed this many times on this briefing. for example, the question -- you did this so quickly in 11 months. it usually takes years. is there a real problem here? did you cut corners? and did you not pay enough attention to safety? the fact that following the e.u.a., we have continued to follow very carefully any possibility of adverse events i believe is the other side of the coin of hesitancy. it should reinforce in those individuals how we take safety so seriously. so as opposed to looking at this as a negative safety issue, it could be looked as a positive issue, where they know that when

we let a vaccine be available and give it a go ahead, to be put in the arms of the american people, we do it with a considerable degree of confidence as to its safety. so when i get asked questions about whether or not this will set us back from a hesitancy standpoint, i give the opposite of it, mainly what i just explained. so with that, let's get back to jeff. jeff: thank you, dr. fauci. thank you, dr. walensky. let me open it up for a few questions. >> we don't have a ton of time today. so please keep your question to one question. first cheyenne, abc. reporter: hi. thank you for taking the question. are you prepared to increase pfizer and moderna to states in the case that people are too concerned to go with j&j, even if the pause is lifted? jeff: so we are going to

continue to allocate doses the way we described in the past. which is based on states' population, adult population. there is plenty of supply in the system for the last three weeks, we distributed our made available more than 25 million doses of pfizer and moderna. this week we shipped out 28 million doses through our state and federal channels, so there's plenty of supply in the system of moderna and pfizer, including to replace j&j appointments with pfizer and moderna vaccine. and that's happening as we speak throughout the country. next question. >> victoria knight, kaiser health news. reporter: hi. thanks for taking my question. my question is about vaccine passports. i know the federal government, you guys have repeatedly said you're not going to maintain a

federal database. but does that mean you are going to leave it up to every state to track it? what is your plan if people lose their vaccination cards? it seems it could be become a hot mess if someone is not overseeing everyone's vaccination. jeff: so you're right. let me be clear that government is not now nor will we be supporting a system that requires americans to carry a credential. there will be no federal vaccination database, no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential. as these tools are being considered by the private and not-for-profit sectors, our interest is simple. and that's about protecting americans' privacy and their rights so the systems aren't used unfairly. so we will make sure that, you know, consumers' protections are first and foremost in the

private and not-for-profit sector efforts but there will be no government -- federal government system in place. next question. >> erin, spectrum news. reporter: hi. thank you for taking my question. in light of new variants and the need to vaccinate as many people as possible, what can you do to combat hesitancy on the ground? will the c.d.c. work with community centers and local governments? jeff: let me go there and then doctors fauci and walensky. you're absolutely correct, building vaccine confidence is critical to get americans vaccinated when it's their turn and we will work to do that. we allocated $3 billion to community-based organizations. as you point out, to increase vaccine access and confidence in

hard to hit and hard to reach places. we built the covid-19 community corps to get local leaders key information about the vaccines. all the research shows that people look to leaders in their communities for counsel and advice on issues like whether they should get vaccinated. and we're ramping up our targeted media efforts in multiple languages to increase confidence. leading with science, as dr. fauci talked about, and giving americans the facts they need is central to building that vaccine confidence, and i think yesterday's actions should give the american people increased confidence in the f.d.a. and c.d.c. the seriousness of the review process and the steadfastness of their commitment to transparency. and we're already hearing from leaders, and dr. fauci should comment on this, that experts in the communities are --

appreciate how the f.d.a. and c.d.c. are handling the zags with -- situation with j&j and that's helping to build confidence at the local level. dr. fauci, anything to add there? dr. fauci: just one issue that's just very fresh in my mind. that has to do with the covid-19 community corps. surgeon general and i addressed the group last night. they were on the zoom, literally, 2,000 people. can you imagine that on zoom. and we spoke just what you were talking about, explaining to them what has gone on and why they need to get out there as trusted members of the community and explain to people why this was done and why we feel that's an important part of the safety that we like to guarantee whenever we get products into the arms of people. jeff: ok.

next question. >> zeke miller, ap. reporter: thank you for doing the call. jeff, i was hoping if you could address whether the administration would purchase additional pfizer or moderna doses because of the j&j pause, particularly given more of those doses will be giving up to adults to make up the j&j doses? is there a procurement provide ses under way for that? -- process under way for that? and if the johnson & johnson is paused -- project out some estimate of what's -- what the impact will be in terms of adults being vaccinated? jeff: so zeke, on pfizer and moderna, you'll recall in february the president ordered 100 million additional doses of each pfizer and moderna, which brings us to 600 million doses

by the end of july. the pfizer c.e.o. announced that he's accelerating that time frame to mid-july. that's enough doses to vaccinate 300 million americans. so there's no further procurement underway in the moment. so there's plenty of pfizer and moderna doses on order and being delivered. furthermore, we're doing everything we can to accelerate the delivery of those doses. and, again, pfizer announced they'll deliver their first 200 million of their 300 before their may 31 deadline and we're working with moderna to do everything to accelerate those doses. i forgot. can you repeat your second question? reporter: is there an estimate if the j&j vaccine remains paused, what the impact would be on the pace of -- the timeline

which -- jeff: we don't expect any significant impact whatsoever in those numbers that i showed you accelerating weekly vaccinations, we can support that level of vaccination and even more with the current supply that we have of moderna and pfizer doses. next question, please. >> last question. let's go to christian at the" "los angeles times."" reporter: the president moved up the timeline having enough doses to the middle of may but you mentioned the end of may. is that slipping a couple weeks because of the j&j situation? how do you characterize that? jeff: there's no change. we always talked about enough doses to vaccinate adult americans by the end of may and there's been no change in that. what has changed, as i mentioned earlier, is that pfizer will

deliver their 200 million doses before the end of may. and moderna remains on track. and, you know, we are on track for the various goals that we set. the next goal that is in our sight is 200 million doses by the president's 100th day which is april 29, and we're on track to meet or beat that goal. i want to thank everybody. next briefing will be on friday. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> go to c-span.org/coronavirus for the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. if you miss our live coverage, it's easy to quickly find the latest briefings and the biden administration's response using interactive gallery of map to follow the cases in the u.s. and worldwide, go to c-span.org/coronavirus. the u.s. house will be back at noon eastern to debate 17 bills, including legislation dealing with food allergies and scams

against senior citizens. also, this afternoon, newly elected congresswoman julia letlow, the first republican woman in the house from louisiana, she made the -- she fills the vacancy of her husband who died before being sworn in due to covid. live coverage when the house returns at noon eastern. also watch online at c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> the trial of former minneapolis police officer derek shauven is now -- chavuin is now in the third week. the defense is calling witnesses. you can follow the trial online at c-span.org and we'll show you the full day's proceedings starting tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. you can go back and watch any of the court's activities anytime on our website c-span.org.