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Got a few good bits of news on
the pandemic and vaccination.
The most important by far, and
you've probably seen this reported
all over the country,
I got the vaccine.
And that's the most
important thing.
Also, one of our producers is
going to be getting
the vaccine later on today.
I believe Frannie
is going to be getting it soon.
I hear Ana is going to
be getting it soon.
How awesome that so
many people in so many states
increasingly have access to it.
Unfortunately, many don't want to
get it, but it's great for
those of us who want it.
So Francesca,
I know you're close to it.
Are you excited?
>> Yeah, yeah, I'm excited as hell.
I want to leave the house,
I want to see people.
I realize I don't need liquor every
day when I can see a friend-
[LAUGH] >> Which is interesting.
And so yeah, I'm very much looking
forward to seeing people.
I think at this point,
though, we know that there aren't
really very many side effects other
than feeling crappy,
and we would have known by now.
We probably would have
known by now.
And yes, we don't know beyond 6
months or something, maybe on month
12 we all turn into zombies, or
this is how the X-men starts.
In which case, I claim Rogue, and
that's cool.
>> That's a pretty good one.
I'll be Jubilee, I want sparkles.
Anyway, and yeah, the side effects
of feeling crappy, sure,
some people get bad side effects.
My wife had really bad arm pain
from Moderna.
Right now,
I feel a little bit weird and
probably everyone can tell.
But I want to put it in perspective
how bad I feel.
It's only so bad that I'm not even
sure if it's that I got the shot
yesterday or that last night
I drank champagne and ate a bunch
of Americone Dream ice cream.
It could be either, honestly,
I'm not sure.
That's how I feel, a little bit
hung over, and a little bit like I
had too much ice cream.
You know?
Maybe it's the vaccine.
Maybe it's the Ben and Jerry's.
I don't know.
>> How much did you- >> Anyway.
>> Champagne?
>> It was actually a gift for
our move.
[LAUGH] So nothing, actually.
>> Okay, so then it's, well,
I'm going to say bad champagne is
the worst hangover.
>> That will give you a bad
hangover.
That is true.
Now, almost as important vaccine
new news is that,
as reported by Cyrus Shahpar,
on Saturday, America administered
4.63 million doses in one day.
That is amazing.
Not too long ago,
it was 1 million a day average.
That is huge,
more than half a million doses
higher than the previous record of
the previous Saturday.
And that means that, as of Friday,
and obviously we now have 8 million
more people since these numbers,
more than 112 million people across
the US, or a little bit more than
one-third of the population, have
received at least one vaccine dose.
As of Sunday, at least 22% of
the country's population had
been fully vaccinated.
So about one in five Americans
are totally done with this thing.
And about one-third have
received at least one dose.
That is good.
Even better, though, is that more
than 78% of people aged 65 and
over have received at least one
dose of the vaccine, and
60% have been fully vaccinated.
That is obviously the main reason
that the death numbers are dropping
as much as they have.
And that, as cases go up,
which we'll get to, the deaths
haven't been shooting back up like
they have in past spikes.
It's because we've done a very good
job of vaccinating the elderly.
>> Yeah, this is some golden years,
that SciFi movie Cocoon,
they are loving it.
This is like a renaissance, older
people are loving life, going out,
partying, and I say good for them.
>> Yeah. >> Screw young people,
young people have had their
own run.
They've been spreading the virus,
now it's the old's turn.
The old- >> I love that they're
doing it.
And I get it,
they're obviously really scared,
but almost eight in ten have
received at least one dose.
There is like Werther's Original
level acceptance by the elderly
in America that they're like, no,
I like it.
Do that to me.
>> Yeah, yeah, that and BBC dramas.
It's that and
BBC dramas is just, they love it.
>> It's like watching Downton Abbey
and sucking on a hard candy.
[LAUGH] >> Anyway, other good news.
Fewer than one in 20,000 people who
have gotten a vaccine, or
less than 0.004% have reported
severe serious adverse reactions.
And by the way, the vast majority
who do, and it is rare, do so
in the first 30 minutes, generally,
when they are still being watched
at the site, where they can be
tended to if they have it.
But again, one in 20,000,
that is a very low chance of
adverse reactions.
So that is good news.
On the other hand,
the US has averaged more than
68,000 new Covid-19 cases
every day over the past week.
That is about 20% higher than it
was the previous week.
So cases are still high.
In some states,
hospitalizations have begun to go
up, which is very worrying,
considering the vaccination.
Deaths seem like they're pretty
consistent.
So, again, that race continues, but
we're getting more and
more good information.
And vaccination is opening up to
more and more people.
The fact that California,
a huge, populous state now,
if you're generally old enough that
you'd be watching the show,
you can probably schedule and
go get it in the next few days.
That is very good news.
>> Yeah, no, it's huge and
it is scary, though,
to think about 68,000 cases, right?
And I am curious,
more specifically, about where
those cases are coming from.
And again, a lot of the initial
cases were about workplaces, and
workplace safety.
And a lot of folks who are not able
to work from home,
which people should and
are still doing, if possible.
So there's, as we move out of this,
John, there's just going to be so
many questions about who is being
protected.
I mean, the same folks or
who have been exposed to the virus,
essential workers,
they're going to continue to be
the ones who are exposed and
fall ill with the virus as well.
How are they being protected?
And how can we prevent, yes,
the next virus, the next pandemmy?
it's going to be a thing.
So good on Biden for
rolling this out.
Good on Biden for
kind of making good and surpassing
the promises of vaccination when he
first took office.
Now I want to see, and I know there
is in the infrastructure and
the budget, sort of the annual
budget, more money for the CDC.
I want to see that, I want to make
sure that, if this happens again,
that we're not going to be missing
ventilators in hospitals.
And I guess the other thing
would be two things.
One, a plan for national health,
and two, a plan to rapidly reduce
climate change and all of the
things that lead to these viruses
leaping to humans from bats,
and rats, and all the other stuff.
So, huge questions, but yes,
so happy that more people are being
vaccinated.
>> Very much so, great news.
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