04/15/21 04/15/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: war in afghanistan was never meant to be multigenerational. we were attacked. we went to war with clear goals. we achieved those objectives. bin laden is dead and al qaeda is degraded in iraq and afghanistan. and it is time to end the war.

amy: president biden has vowed to withdraw u.s troops from afghanistan by september 11, ending the longest war in u.s. history. but will the u.s. keep special operations troops and cia operatives inside afghanistan? we will hear part of biden's speech and talk to congressman ro khanna about u.s. policy in afghanistan, iran, yemen, and more. and then we look at setbacks and in the nation's covid-19 vaccination rollout as the cdc temporarily pauses the use of the johnson & johnson vaccine over conrns aboutare bloo clots. >>is this a very hirera eve,nt in more than one million individuals. the j&j vaccine has been shown in clinical trials to be highly efficacis. wh we artalkinabout now has nothing to do with the efficacy of the vaccine. amy: we will speak to dr. monica gandhi about vaccines, vaccine equity, masks, and more. all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. president biden has vowed to withdraw u.s. troops from afghanistan by september 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. in speech wednesday, biden said it is now me to end what he described as the "forever war." pres. biden: we delivered justice to bin laden a decade ago and we have stayed and afghanistan for a decade since. since then, our reasons for remaining and afghanistan become increasingly unclear. amy: despite biden's remarks, "the new york times" reports the united states is expected to keep relying on a "shadowy combination of clandestine special operations forces, pentagon contractors, and covert intelligence operatives" inside afghanistan after september. following his speech, biden traveled to arlington national cemetery to visit the graves of soldiers lost in afghanistan. meanwhile, secretary of state

tony blinken has just arrived in afghanistan on an unannounced trip. after headlines, we will speak to democratic congressmember ro khanna of california. who is also calling for reduction of the military budget. a warning to our audience, the next stories contain graphic agenda description's of police violence. in minnesota, the brooklyn center police officer who shot and killed 20-year-old daunte wright during a traffic stop sunday has been arrested on a charge of second-degree manslaughter. if convicted, kimberly potter faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. potter was released from jail after posting a $100,000 bond. bodycam video shows potter pointing her 9 millimeter pistol at wright, repeatedly shouting "taser!" before firing a single bullet into wright's chest.

the taser remained holstered beside her non-dominant hand. the weapon is a bright yellow color and has a different grip. potter is a 26-yeapolice veteran who was training other officers when she shot wright. she will be charged in washington county east of the twin cities. hennepin county prosecutor mike freeman said the change in jurisdiction was to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. for a fourth straight night, protesters surrounded the brooklyn center police department demanding justice. police fired tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades, and pepper spray at protesters -- once again, violating a prohibition on the use of such force passed by the city council on monday. the minnesota state patrol said 24 people were arrested overnight. a few miles south of brooklyn center, the murder trial of derek chauvin continues today. with speculation growing over whether the former minneapolis police officer will take the

stand in his own defense. on wednesday, a forensic pathologist called by chauvin's lawyers testified that george floyd died of heart trouble rather than a lack of oxygen. dr. david fowler, the former chief medical examiner for the state of maryland, dismissed an official autopsy report that found floyd died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to restraint and neck compression. video of floyd's death shows chauvin kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes, including for several minutes after floyd stopped responding. but dr. fowler claimed floyd died from a combination of heart disease, drug use, and tailpipe emissions from the police cruiser. >> there is exposure to a vehicle exhaust, potentially carbon monoxide poisoning. amy: under cross-examination, dr. fowler admitted there was no evidence of carbon monoxide in

george floyd's blood. he also conceded george floyd should have been given medical attention and might have survived if officers had rendered aid. dr. fowler is being sued by the family of 19-year-old anton black, an african american teenager who died in 2018 after he was electrocuted with a taser, pinned in a prone position, and crushed under the weight of three white police officers and a white civilian as he struggled to breathe and lost consciousness. black died on the front porch of his mother's home as she was forced to stand by watching. after an autopsy, dr. fowler ruled black's death an accident and no one was charged with a crime. the wrongful death lawsuit says dr. fowler delayed release of an autopsy report for months and covered up police responsibility for black's death. black's sister, latoya holley, said this week -- "it's surreal that you have two

men on the opposite sides of the country that experienced almost the same treatment by two different police officers. the medical examiner, in my opinion, was egregious in the way he finalized anton's autopsy results. now he's being called to be an expert witness for another police officer." the new york police department is under fire after officers were spotted once again deploying a high-tech surveillance robot -- this time, during an arrest at a manhattan public housing complex. on monday, a bystander filmed as members of nypd's technical assistance response unit escorted a four-legged robot studded with sensors, lights, and cameras out of a high-rise apartment. the robot, produced by boston dynamics, is as large as a medium-sized dog and can navigate autonomously. new york congressmember jamaal bowman blasted the city's use of police robots in a video posted on twitter.

>> n not only do they physically occupy a community by too many police, n you' bringing robot police to occupy my community so you c't ve me living wage, c't rae the minimum wage, c't get afforble housin i'm workinhard and cannot get paid leave, cannot get affordable childcare and instead we have money, taxpayer money, going toward robot police dogs. amy: in boston, the acting mayor has ordered release of documents related to the former police chief patrick rose who is first accused of child sexual abuse in 1995. he was allowed to remain on the force for over 20 more years, abusing other children. the boston globe found the boston police department concluded rose likely was guilty of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in 1995 but took

no action. last year, teenage girl reported she was abused by rose from the age of seven through 12, leading to at least five more survivors coming forward. in maryland, 16-year-old peyton alexander ham died tuesday after he was fatally shot by a state trooper in st. mary's county. few details of ham's killing have emerged, but police cited a witness who said ham appeared to be pointing a gun toward a trooper, who then shot and wounded him. another witness told investigators the boy then got up, pulled out a knife, and was shot a second time by the trooper. police released photos of an air-soft plastic pellet gun and a small knife recovered from the scene. in washington, d.c., gun control advocates placed 40,000 silk flowers on the national mall wednesday to mark e numberf u.s. residents who die by shootings each year. the memorial was unveiled by gabby giffords, the former arizona congresswoman who

surviv a gunshot to the head during a mass shooting in tucson in 2011. >> today i struggle to speak but i have not lost my voice. amica needs all of us to speak out. were at a crossroads. we can let the shooting continue or we can act. we can protect our families, our future. amy: gabby giffords husband is the new senator from arizona, mark kelly. as the gun violence memorial was unveiled wednesday, virginia's state senate voted to reject governor ralph northam's amendment to a bill that would bar anyone convicted of assaulting a family member or housemate from owning or transporting firearms for three years. the governor wanted to raise the probationary period to five years. the united states recorded more

than 75,000 new coronavirus cases wednesday and nearly 1000 deaths from covid-19. hospitalizations continue to rise in many states throughout the country, led by michigan, even though 124 million u.s. residents are at least partially vaccinated. on wednesday, a centers for disease control pal delayed its desion on whher to resume use of johnson & johnson's covid-19 vaccine after reports of extremely rare blood clots in seven women and one man who received doses. it's not yet known if the vaccine caused the rare condition. we will have more on that story later in the broadcast with dr. monica gandhi. several southeast asian countries that successfully contained the coronavirus over the past year are seeing outbreaks. cambodia ordered a strict two-week lockdown of its capital phnom penh after reporting hundreds of infections per day for the first time.

fewer than 1.5 million cambodians -- or less than 5% of the population -- has been vaccinated against covid-19. thailand's cases have risen exponentially throughout april. meanwhile, scattered outbreaks in vietnam are threatening one of the most successful public health campaigns of the pandemic. 175 former heads of state and nobel laureates are calling on president biden to back a waiver world tde organation intellecal propey rules r covid- vaccines dung the ndemic. nine o of 10 pple in mt poor countes likelwill not reive a vaine thisear acrding tohe open tter, buan ip waer wou "expand globalanufactung capity, unhindered by industry monopolies that are driving the dire supply shortages blocking vaccine access." gnatorieinclude rmer berian president ell johnson

sirlea formebrith prime minier gordobrown, a nobel laureateoseph stlitz. serately, a alition 250 grps,ncludi amnty ternatnal, plic cizen, and doors witht border sued a silar pleto the head of the wod trade organization. e fatef the inrnationa efrts coulbe decided omay 5 the nexmajor meing beeen wto mbers. ba in the ited stas come the use overght coittee haadvanced a bill at would make whington,.c., the1st state. thwashington, d.c.admissio act ssed outf commite on a party-line vote, over unanimous republican opposition. the full house is set to vote on the bill next week. the district of columbia has one of the highest per-capita populations of african americans of any major u.s. city and is home to more than 700,000 people -- more than the states of wyoming and vermont.

yet residents have no representation in the senate and send only a single, non-voting delegate to the house of representatives. washington governor jay inslee has signed legislation to phase out for-profit prisons and immigration jails. under house bill 1090, companies that contract with local, state and federal agencies like immigration and customs enforcement will be barred from renewing their existing contracts. that means one of the largest privately run immigration jails, the geo group's northwest detention center in tacoma, must shut down by 2025. asylum seekers at the nearly 1600-bed jail have repeatedly gone on hunger strike to protest squalid and dangerous conditions, including several outbreaks of covid-19. texas' top cminal court has thrown o the death sentence of the state's longest-serving death row prisoner. 70-year-old raymond riles, who is african american, was sentenced to die for murdering a houston used-car salesman in 1974.

riles suffers from mental illness and has been repeatedly deemed mentally incompetent to be put to death. in pennsylvania, the imprisoned journalist mumia abu-jamal is scheduled to have heart surgery today after he was rushed to the hospital with chest pains. he suffers from several pre-existing conditions and lost over 30 pounds in march after becoming ill with covid-19 in the state correctional institution. the house judiciary committee voted wednesday to rommendhe creation of a committee to consider reparations for slavery. the reparations bill was first proposed over 30 years ago but never received a committee vote until this week. this is the bill's sponsor, texas congressmember sheila jackson lee. >> do not ignore the pain, the history, and the reasonableness of this commission. this is a governmental commission. a commission that establishes

the parameters of a study that provide a roadmap for the truth of the brutality and the owners and terrible burden placed on african-americans in the station by slavery. amy: in the senate, lawmakers advanced a bill addressing hate crimes against asian americans. a final vote is expected this week. meanwhile, president biden named erika moritsugu as liaison to the asian american pacific islander community. moritsugu is of japanese and chinese descent who previously worked for the obama administration and is currently the vice president at national partnership for women & families, a women's health and equity non-profit. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we can bat, we will speak with congressmember rochon about president biden's vow to withdraw u.s. troops in afghanistan september 11, ending the longest war in u.s. history. we will also look at u.s. policy

in iran, yemen, and more. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: music from the ensemble, "voices of afghanistan." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined remotely by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: wcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: president biden has vowed to withdraw u.s. troops from afghanistan by september 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. biden spoke wednesday from the treaty room at the white house -- the same room where president george w. bush announced the start of the u.s. invasion of afghanistan nearly 20 years ago, beginning what has become the longest war in u.s. history. pres. biden: we cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in afghanistan hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal and expecting a different result. i am now the fourth united

states president to preside over american troop presence in afghanistan. two republicans, two democrats. i will not pass this responsibility onto a fifth. after consulting with our allies, military leaders and intelligence personnel, with our diplomats and our development experts, with congress and the vice president, as well as with mr. gandhi and many others around the world, i concluded that it is time to end america's longest war. it is time for american troops to come home. amy: president biden went on to say the 20-year-war has succeeded in preventing afghanistan from being used again as a base to carry out attacks against the united states. he rejected arguments from critics who say it is too soon to withdraw. pres. biden: so when will it be the right moment to leave? one more year? two more years? 10 more years?

$10 million, $20 billion more than we have already spent? not now? that is how we got here. there is downside beyond may 1 without a clear timetable for departure. if we instead pursue the approach the america u.s. exit is tied to conditions on the ground, we have to have clear answers to the following russian -- what conditions require dish be required to allow us to depart? by what means and how long would it take to achieve them if they could be achieved at all? what additional cost in lives yucca i have not heard any good answers to these questions. if you can't answer them, in my view, we should not stay. war in afghanistan was never meant to be a multigenerational.

we were attacked. we went to war with clear goals. we achieved those objectives. bin laden is dead and al qaeda is degraded in iraq and afghanistan. and it is time to end the forever war. amy: on wednesday, the taliban threatened to target u.s. forces because biden is reneging on a deal reached by the trump administration to withdraw all u.s. troops, first. while biden is vowing to withdraw troops by september 11, "the new york times" reporting it will unlikely be a full withdrawal. citing former and current officials, "the times" reports the united states is expected keep relying on a "shadowy combination of clandestine special operations forces, pentagon contracrs and covt intelligence operatives" inside afghanistan. the pentagon has estimated 18,000 contractors in afghanistan. over the past 20 years of war

100,000 afghan civilians have , been killed as well as more than 2400 u.s. service members. brown university cost of war has estimated the u.s. has been $2.3 trillion in ahanistan. we turn now to congressmember ro khanna who has long been a critic of the pentagon budget and also the wars in iraq and afghanistan. your response to what biden has done? congressman, welcome. >> is a courageous decision. it is a complete withdrawal of troops, including a special operation troops. senator sanders and i have an op-ed coming up in "the washington post" supporting the president's decision but i am

very glad we have a president who is finally recognized this is not a militarily winnable war, that we are spending $50 billion that is leading to more debt of the afghan civilians and putting our troops at risk. so this was the right decision. i will be standing up for it. nermeen: congressmember khanna, we just learned today secretary of state antony blinken is in afghanistan on a surprise visit. what do we know about why he is there and what kinds of discussions are ongoing? he is met with their president. >> he is there to up, list three things. first, making sure the tele-band as a power-sharing agreement, second that tre is a recognition of women's rights and human rights as part of that agreement, and 30 making it clear that while the united

states is withdrawing their troops by the september 11 deadline, that there are no attacks on troops or threats on troops, that that would be extraordinarily counterproductive to our withdrawal and my sense is the secretary of state is probably making those points and working toward those objectives. nermeen: there have been concerns expressed by some afghans that even though this withdrawal will end the war for the u.s., it will not end the war for people in afghanistan. in fact,t might make the conflict within the country worse with some saying the u.s., even as it withdrawals, should support some kind of,or exampl u.n. peacekeeping effort in the country given that the war now is not just an internal war, but also a proxy war. your response to that? >> am sympathetic to those

concerns. withdrawing militarily does not mean we can stop engaging. we need to be actively engaged in the diplomatic process, in the aid process, and we should be open to the idea of some united nations presence if that is what it will take, and consider supporting such an effort. but we have an obligation after 20 years to do all w can through nondirect military means to see that we support the afghani people. amy: in 2009, biden handwrote a memo to obama arguing for withdrawal from afghanistan. this is 12 years ago. he faxed the letter to the white house from his thanksgiving vacation on nantucket. obama instead chose to surge troops will for eventually pulling many out. two years later in 2011, he announced a plan to end the war

in afghanistan. this is 10 years ago. pres. obama: tonight we take comfort in knowing the tide of war is receding. fewer of our sons and daughters are serving in harm's way. we have ended our combat mission in iraq with 100,000 american troops already out of that country. and even as there will be dark days ahead in afghanistan, the light of a secure peace can be seen in the distance. these long wars will come to a responsible ends. amy: that was president obama 10 years ago. before that you had bush. biden pointed out he does not want to hang this onto a fifth president. now the war has been through two republican and two democratic presidents. while trump has that all troops would be out, first, biden says troops will begin to be pulled out, first. as we see in "the new york times," we're talking about

thousands and thousands more mercenaries, intelligence people, contractors will remain in afghanistan. your thoughts on this? >> first, amy, president biden's judgment on afghanistan has been right. i wish we had listeneto him and did not have that surge back in 2010. i do believe the president and his team keep a few months to respond to withdrawal. the may 1 deadline that president trump set i do not think president biden should be obligated to meet that post september 11 seems like a reasonable goal. i think after we have the withdrawal, we need to look into the presence of contractors, what they are doing, and their role and what more we may need to do. it is the first time learning of it based on "the new york times" report, and that is something we will investigate through the armed services committee to make sure we have withdrawn.

many of us supported secretary austin as the defense secretary, and one of the reasons we suppted him despite the controversy is we thought he would get in line with the president's decision to withdraw and not push back. and i'm glad that secretary austin has shown that judgment and is committed now to withdrawal. amy: you tweeted tuesday congress should reject president biden's pentagon spending hike, at the same time he's talking about pulling out of afghanistan. he wrote -- "instead of continuing to increase the bloated pentagon budgets or defense contractors, we should invest in keeping us safe from pandemics and climate change. we need a 21st century national security strategy." and you signed along with 50 house democrats a letter from biden from the defense spending reduction caucus that read in part -- "hundreds of billions of dollars now directed to the military would have greater return if invested in diplomacy, humanitarian aid, global public health, sustainability initiatives, and basic

research." so talk about biden both announcing he will end this forever were but increasing the pentagon, and what you think needs to happen. >> the pentagon increases make no sense. president biden's own secretary of treasury describes the federal budget as military spending plus pensions. the military budget is 50% of discretionary spending. we have not seen the breakdown yet, but if you are ending the forever war in afghanistan as a president pointed out, that should save about $50 billion a year, then why e we increasing at the same time the defense budget? we need to look at where the numbers are being allocated and have a strategic reduction and allocate that instead a the threats of the united states faces, which is potential

pandemic, climate change, cybersecurity. i'm going to continue to advocate on the armed services for a smart defense budget that meets the 21st century needs. one final point, we ought to be returning them to where obama-biden had it, which was significantly less, instead of increasing it where trump had it. nermeen: congressmember khanna, i want to turn to another issue now, which you also have been active on, and that is the war in yemen. you joined almost 80 other democrats urging president biden to demand an end to the saudi-led blockade of yemen, telling "the nation" -- "what we've seen is that the blockade is really what's starving yemeni children and yemeni civilians. right now, there is a moral outrage in congress about what's going on." has president biden or anyone in his administration responded to

what you have said? and could you explain also biden's promise to end all american support for offensive operations in the war in yemen, including relevant arms sales? there have been some questions raised about what support precisely apart from that that president biden has pledged to end. >> there's no doubt in my mind the administration needs to be doing more to stop the saudi blockade of yemen. there is food and medicine getting in, but that is not the one. fuel is not getting . very little fuel is getting in, leading to great difficulty in getting the food transported to people who'd need it, leading to blackouts at hospitals. in the administration says, well, the houthis to blame. sure, they are. no one is saying the houthis a

angelic actors, but the world food program for the united nations has had the biggest source right now for famine is the blockade of the fuel getting in. i spoke to the saudi ambassador and she said, well, we're not engaged in a blockade, we're just enforcing the u.n. resolution. enforcing the u.n. to avoid fuel getting in is a deftive blockade. so the saudis should not be enforcing any resolution. if anything, it should be a third. the national security council is engaged on this. are going to be receiving briefings from others. they know how serious the house and the senate are about taking further action if the blockade is not lifted. nermeen: congressmember khanna, even as president biden has said he will stop u.s. arms sales to saudi arabia over what is

happening in yemen, the administration is moving ahead with more than $23 billion in weapons sales to the united arab emirates. your response to that given that uae's previous involvement in supporting saudi arabia? >> i believe it is a mistake. i do not know -- there's no evidence to suggest there continues to be involvement militarily in the war, for that matter, the blockade -- but there are reports that there is funding from the uae from the saudis and even from iran still making its way into yemen. and one of the issues that griffith and others have said is we have to stop any of the external funding into the yemen civil war or the war

whenever in. until the uae stops all the funding and we have verification, and tilt the commitment to some form of reparations to yemen for redevelopment, i don't believe we should be affirmatively selling them or weapons. amy: speaking of reparations, also decide one of the deadliest massacres of u.s. history stub nearly a century ago in 1921, a white mob attacked a black neighborhood in tulsa, killing as many as 300 african americans. over two days, white mobs set fire to homes, businesses, churches in greenwood, a thriving african american business district known as "black wall street." congressman ro khanna, you tweeted an article titled "why black wall street should be rebuilt as a global capitol of black tech" and wrote -- "this is silicon valley's moment to prove a commitment to solving systemic injustices. together, we can build upon the foundation of black wall street in tulsa and invest in black tech street."

this is particularly relevant because you represent silicon valley. also for the first time, committee just voted out a reparations committee bill that will be voted on the floor of the house next week. can you talk about exactly your calling on the silicon companies to do? >> thank you for noticing that. first, i'm very proud that the reparation bill is going to get a vote eventually in the house this time. i obviously supported. what we need to think about is what does it mean to have reparations? one of those views in my opinion is economic development. the racial wealth gap in this country has increased since the end of formalize jim crow. we actually have more wealth this verity between white families and black families. one of the reasons for this is the total exclusion of many black communities, black

entrepreneurs, black venture capitalist from the wealth generation of the digital economy to the wealth generation of silicon valley. i met a brilliant young man who went to tulsa and is now trying to make tulsa a technology, atacting entrepreneurs, attracting remote workers aztec who may be leaving silicon valley or boston because they can now work remotely. i would like to see all of the technology companies, venture capitalist, support this young man's vision. if we could rebuild tulsa into a technology thriving with entrepreneurship, what a wonderful story that is. that is a 21st century response to the destruction that happened with black wall street. amy: thank you for being with us, ro khanna, democratic congressmember from california. member of the house armed services committee. when we come back, look at the

johnson & johnson controversy. that's right, the cdc has paused the johnson & johnson vaccine. we will look at why. you will also talk about vaccine equity around the world and talk about masks. why they are still necessary or than ever. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "heroes" from the upcoming album "phoenix rise," produced by sunny jain. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. u.s. health officials have deyed a decision on whether to resume the use of johnson & johnson's covid-19 vaccine after reports of extremely rare blood clots in six women between the ages of 18 to 48 who received doses. this is out of nearly 7 million johnson & johnson vaccines

administered in the united states. a centers for disease control panel met wednesday and may continue the pause for seven to 10 days. they also learned of a seventh woman and a man who developed the rare condition. in this video released by the white house, white house medical adviser dr. anthony fauci explained the reason for the johnson & johnson vaccine pause. >> couple of rsons to do that, e first to vestate this bit further. and e seconds to arthe clinicns out trehen somee comes in with the types of symptoms, to askf theyave aisto of a rent vaccinatn. the peoplwho havelready tten aaccine suld not b woied becae as ientioned thiss a very rare eve. one in me tn a milln dividus. the j vacci has beeshown in clical trials to bhighly efficious. what we are tking aut now has nothg to do th the efficacy of the vaccin amy: dr. fau is set to testify

today on before a house select committee that oversees the gornment's coronavirus response, along with cdc director dr. rochelle walensky and dr. david kessler, biden's chief science officer for the covid-19 response. this comes as biden has insisted there are still enough covid-19 vaccines for everyone in the united states and that the pause of johnson & johnson vaccines won't affect immunization efforts here. this is biden speaking tuesday during a meeting with members of the congressional black caucus. mr. biden: i've told you i major we had 600 million doses not either johnson & johnson and/or astrazeneca. there is enough vaccine. amy: to discuss all of this and also what it means for vaccine access worldwide, and much more, we are joined by dr. monica gandhi, infectious disease

physician and professor of medicine at the ucsf/san francisco general hospital. welcome back to democracy now! let's start off with the johnson & johnson vaccine. one of the things that dr. fauci's that is to alert clinicians. please explain what exactly happened to these six or seven or eight people, one woman died and we're talking about young women. we do not know if it is tied to the vaccine. at this whole issue of this rare blood clot in the brain? i was always -- also interested we wanted to alert all clinicians to report but to let them know the standard of care for blood clots is to give heparin, a blood thinning medicine, but in this case, it has an eight adverse reaction and you should not do this. . essentially, like he said, this

is very rare. six women out of 6.8 million doses given, it was at think prudent to investigate these. we need to see if there is another reason for the clots. we need to see if there is any association with any other medication. it is true this particular syndrome isinked to the vaccine, causes both blood thinning and blood clots. low platelets and also platelets clumping. it helps us determine what to do if one has a headache, very rare clot, but they mean they are in the brain. this is a temporary pause. this happened with the astrazeneca vaccine, clots associated with this and what type of vaccine, which is the virus with the dna inside it. they decided to proceed with the

vaccine but in older individuals. the clots were seen in younger individuals. right now it is just time to wait and give a week and examine it. nermeen: dr. gandhi, can you stay with the implications of this pause are? what are the communities that were receiving the johnson & johnson vaccine, especially in areas where it was difficult -- it has been difficult to administer pfizer and moderna because of how difficult it is to transport them, the conditions under which they have to be capped as opposed to johnson & johnson? >>nk yes. johnson & johnson had advantages just because the issue was it did not need to be kept as cold as pfizer and moderna and it was one does and you're finished. there were advantages for hard-to-reach populations, minority communities, and specifically worldwide there is

any advantage of using an agent that is easy to transport that is just in a refrigerator. and this is a setback and concerning. astrazeneca, and, we have a precedent for this with a similar vaccine. what ended up happening was it was paused and resumed in the eu certain population, and it is still ongoing in india, for example. it may not mean this is a pause, not a finality, as president biden said. we have enough dosesf moderna and pfizer to continue with 3 million doses a day in the u.s., but concerned about the impact worldwide. nermeen: a lot of people, at least initially, were more skeptical of the new vaccine that are now being administered most widely in the u.s., that

is, the mrna vaccines pfizer and moderna, and their safety and efficacy relative to johnson & johnson? >> the mrna vaccines seemed like they were new technology. they are not in the since they have not been used for pathogens anywhere, but they have been used for tumor vaccines. ey have been around and started being developed since 2011 when we had a much, much smaller pandemic from a coronavirus called mers and they were developed quickly because there was a public/private partnership and money was put to the problems. this was a terrible pandemic we needed to get over. there were lots of reasons they were developed ugly, but they're not profoundly new. 70 doses have been ministered -- 70 doses have been administered

and they have been incredibly safe. profoundly effective. even more effective in the real-world setting and we saw in the clinical trial, which is very unusual because usually the real world setting is messy and more diverse populations and you did not think there would be so amazingly effective in the real world setting. study after study, including a six month study of the pfizer vaccine, released april 1, shows these vaccines are 100% effective across 44,000 people around world against severe disease and very highly effective, 90% against symptomatic covid. with all of these administrations and how well people are doing, think people are becoming comfortable with the na vaccines. amy: is or something -- is there something in the johnson & johnson and astrazeneca vaccine, what is there the swirl of blood clots, though extremely rare,

why would they be causing this? >> they are different types of vaccines. the mrna vaccine is a material that your body makes into the thing that six out of the virus, the spike protein. the mrna is surrounded by this lipid and you injected in the arm. the astrazeneca and johnson & johnson are similar and different from the mrna vaccines and actually contain a virus that is very benign, causes cold usually does not even replicate in our systems called a adenovirus. inside that is a coil and that dna goes into her body after you inject it. it is made by your body into mrna in the same process occurs. there was a new england journal study last week that questions whether this mechanism of action

were either the dna or the adenovirus of these two vaccines and essentially linking and creating an antibody against platelets. platelets are clottg factors. so if you create an antibody into platelets, they can clump and cause clots and they can actually also go down in the body and cause bleeding. so there is a partially to mechanism if you mess with heparin, which is a blood thinner, that he can really cause this antiplatet antibodies to form. there is now a mechanism and both vaccines have caused these clots. so it is prudent to investigate this. very rare, though. amy: so how will you deal with the people who are vaccine-hesitant or and vectors altogether? you have the person leading the charge, fox news

host tucker carlsen. the most-watched cable news show and history, so it is extremely significant. he sees the opportunity of the johnson & johnson pause to suggest the u.s. government is likely downplaying the alleged danger and lying about the efficacy of covid-19 vaccines. >> according to the cdc's new guidance, once you have been vaccinated, you still cannot attend medium or large gatherings. the federal health authorities recommend you continue to wear your mask when you go outside. how long will this continue? experts say it is "not entirely clear when it will be considered ok for people who are fully vaccinated to stop wearing masks." at se point, no one is asking this but should be, what is is about? if vaccines work, why are vaccinated people still banned from living normal lives? what is the answer? it doesn't make any sense.

if the vaccine is effective, there's no reason for people who have received the vaccine to wear masks or avoid physical contact. maybe it does not work and they're simply not telling you that. amy: dr. monica gandhi, i think we can call you the mask matter. you are ve serious proponent of masks. why do you say it doesn't indicate failure and also let's be car, the vaccine hesitant goes across the political spectrum. >> actually, the cdc has given guidance that indicates when people can stop wearing their masks. the guidance is vaccinated people around vaccinated people and vaccinated people around and vaccinated individuals of low risk like children who are not at risk for severe disease. the cdc has also given guidance about travel with vaccinated people. this is the right thing to do. it increases vaccine optimism

en you tell people that we are going to eventually get back to normal life without masks and distancing once we can get more of our population vaccinated. so there is a point to be said that eventually we're going to get back to the normalcy of not masking and distancing. we're just in the twilight period right now because we are not fully vaccinated there people desperate to get the vaccine who have not yet had the chance to get the vaccine. we are in a transition phase right now. very good thing to look at is israel and the u.k., which has had faster vaccination programs than we and israel is gradually easing restrictions -- they are at 60% first dose given now. they keep gradually easing restrictions lockdowns things are getting more and more normal. this is where we will get to if we can get enough people to take the vaccine. the u.k. just released major

lockdowns on april 12. i think it is important to say the goal of vaccination is not to stay in the state of masking and distancing, but we need the temporary state, just temporary now, where those of us who are vaccinated are respectful to those of us who are not vaccinated. you don't know what is going on in a store. we are still staying with masks and distancing for now. amy: you mentioned these vaccines are even more effective in real-world settings than they were in clinical trials. but we still see in the u. despite the fact the u.s. administered more doses of vaccine than anywhere else in the world, we still see a very high rate of infection in certain areas. uld you explain this, vaccine versus what people attribute

some of these rises in cases to variants? >> yes. so what happened -- again, i look to israel and the u.k. as examples of places that have ne faster -- i that if you started with high case rates and you have not tamped down transition enough, the vaccine itself cannot bring down cases until you've got to a certain vaccination rate. so what happened in michigan and other states as we were rolling out vaccine is the vaccine was not catching up fast enough to the fact there was still ongoing case transmission. unfortunately, there were increased cases come hospitalizations in these areas. this is not true across the entire united states. if you started with a lowercase rate like in california where i live, then the vaccine has been profoundly effective and has kept cases very lo

i compare this to israel. israel had a surge in cases after they started rolling out vaccines because the lot downs were more permissive -- lockdowns were more permissive than the u.k. and the u.k. did not have a surge. in turn of variants, the one that in the u.k. b.1.1.7 and now south and west, is more transmissible. luckily, we had datedust the other day, very well done studies from england that they are not more burial at committed just that they move faster and do not have enough population vaccinated, cannot keep upnto you get enough vaccinated. the mostmportant pnt about variants is will our vaccines not work against the variants? what i want to clear up, it is a

very clear message, actually, there are two -- there are antibodies, ich are mo temporary mean system and fundamental immune system that are most effective against viruses, and thais called cell-mediated immunity or t cells. all these vaccines induce t cells. we know that because they measured these t cells under the clinical trials. there complited to meare. but they tk the time to measure t cells in the clinical trials. they all rise propriatel inde, the t cells are effective against all the varits. there e several papers that sh even if you get the mrna vaccine and you haveeen exposed to a variance, or t cells stay active against that

variant. i think long-term we will be able to get out of this coronavirus pandemic when we see vaccines -- i'm not worried. nermeen: you advocated first dose, first strategwhich was empled in the u.k., controversial at the time. could you explain what the advantages of that strategy are? you mentioned -- that is one. you mentioned earlier there are people who are desperate for t vaccine who have not been able to get access to it. could you talk about that in particular with respect to people in poorer countries, the majority of whom are not expected to get the vaccine anytime this year and possibly for several years? >> yes. the idea around first dose first

is that you will get the second dose eventually but you delay the time between doses. there are great reasons for this. there is no reason we had to do three weeks to four weeks with pfizer and moderna respectfully, that was just too expedient the trial. that has taught us the longer between doses, the better. it gives you more of an immune response. hepatitis b vaccine used to give doses sooner than we realized we had more immune responses if we give them longer. childhood vaccinations, we don't care if children come in a little late for their vaccines, we care if they come in too early. the most important reason is we have seen the u.k. strategy and they have delayed the second dose until 12 weeks and there have been no implications for that, no emergent variants. they have gone much faster and have very low cases in the u.k. and are opening up more. i genuinely believe the first dose/first strategy would get

more of our population vaccinated. we could ring more immunity and could ve the second dose later. the reason it is so important for the global equity question that you just asked is right now we are in the strange position where we have a global pandemic and we're are not working hard enough to get global equity to the vaccine. if you give first dose first, you can have more people fundamentally get more of the first dose, which is up to 80% to 92% effective. second is we will never get complete safety from covid-19 unless we do whatever is in our power to increase global equity to the vaccines. and there are various ways to do that. amy: speaking of vaccine apartheid, amnesty just wcriticized israel last week for not providing vaccines to palestinians saying the move flagrantly by rates their obligation as occupying power under international law. very significant because as you point out come israel is often

used as the gold standard when it comes to its population in israel proper but what is devastating is what is happening to the palestinians under the occupied territories. dr. monica gandhi, thank you for being with us, infectious disease physician and professor@

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