CLEVELAND OHIO RIOTS (HOUGH) JULY, 1966. ***MOS*** RACE RIOTS. CIVIL UNREST. COPS SPRAY HOSE INTO STREET. FIREMEN FIGHTING FIRE AT NIGHT. POLICE WITH SHOTGUNS ON TOP OF SUPERMARKET ROOF. FRONT WINDOW OF GROCERY STORE. POLICE HORSES IN TRAILER. CLEVELAND MOUNTED POLICE TRANSPORT. WEARING RIOT HELMETS, NATIONAL GUARD. REPORTER TALKS TO OLD MAN IN SUIT AND HELMET (MOS). DAYTIME, YOUNG BLACK SOLDIER IN DRESS UNIFORM LOOKING AT BURNT OUT HOUSE. KICKS CRUSHED BEER CAN. COMING HOME TO GHETTO NEIGHBORHOOD. WINDOWS OF TALL BUILDING SMASHED. ABANDONED NEIGHBORHOOD. TENEMENT BUILDING. PROJECTS. SLUM NEIGHBORHOOD. LITTER EVERYWHERE. BOARDED UP WINDOWS. EMPTY LOT FILLED WITH GARBAGE, OLD FURNITURE. CU PILES OF GARBAGE INCLUDING WATERMELON RINDS. FLY CRAWLS ON RIND. RACIAL STEREOTYPE. LOOKING UP AT TREES, LEAVES. BURNT-OUT HOMES, ABANDONED. OLD DOLL LYING ON PORCH. ALLEY BETWEEN HOMES.

ORIG. REV. 700 SOF MAG CU OF STREET SIGN: HOUGH STREET. VARIOUS SHOTS OF DEMOLISHED SHOPS, PEOPLE RUMMAGING THROUGH LEFT-OVER GOODS; CLEAN-UP CREW TAKING AWAY THE DEBRIS FROM BURNED-DOWN HOUSES, TRACTOR PICKING UP DEBRIS WITH HUGE THONGS. NIGHT SHOTS OF POLICE IN RIOT AREA. FIREMEN PUTTING OUT FLAMES IN BURNING HOUSE. WHITE YOUTHS LINED UP AGAINST A WALL. CAR CHECKS IN STREET; TWO NEGRO BOYS ARE ARRESTED. THE HOUGH RIOTS WERE RACE RIOTS IN THE PREDOMINANTLY AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY OF HOUGH IN CLEVELAND, OHIO THAT TOOK PLACE OVER A SIX-NIGHT PERIOD FROM JULY 18 TO JULY 23, 1966. DURING THE RIOTS, FOUR AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE KILLED AND 30 PEOPLE WERE CRITICALLY INJURED. IN ADDITION, THERE WERE 275 ARRESTS, WHILE MORE THAN 240 FIRES WERE REPORTED. CI: JUSTICE - ARRESTS. CIVIL RIGHTS - OHIO, CLEVELAND. DISASTERS - FIRES- BUILDINGS.

Race riots / civil rights riots in Cleveland: burning building. Rioters man firehoses. Burned out building.

A Cleveland resident or local businessman comments on the Hough riots and expresses his frustration at the lack of understanding how riots happen. Transferred from film, mastered in Apple Pro Res 422 HQ and Uncompressed, available in all forms of HD and SD.

Universal International Newsreels

The Hough riots in Cleveland Ohio featured a small contingent of the Dubois Clubs of America who were attack by other members of the public and then detained by police officers during the rioting. Transferred from film, uncompressed and ProRes 422 HQ, available in all forms of HD and SD.

ORIG. REV. 300 SOF MAG NIGHT SHOTS OF WHITE YOUTHS BEING CHECKED BY POLICE; THEY ARE LINED UP AGAINST A FENCE. NATIONAL GUARD PATROLLING THE AREA AFTER THE RIOTING. THE HOUGH RIOTS WERE RACE RIOTS IN THE PREDOMINANTLY AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY OF HOUGH IN CLEVELAND, OHIO THAT TOOK PLACE OVER A SIX-NIGHT PERIOD FROM JULY 18 TO JULY 23, 1966. DURING THE RIOTS, FOUR AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE KILLED AND 30 PEOPLE WERE CRITICALLY INJURED. IN ADDITION, THERE WERE 275 ARRESTS, WHILE MORE THAN 240 FIRES WERE REPORTED. CI: JUSTICE - POLICE- SEARCHES. CIVIL RIGHTS - OHIO, CLEVELAND.

CLEVELAND, OHIO RIOTS (HOUGH). JULY, 1966. AFTERMATH OF RACE RIOTS. CIVIL RIGHTS. MINORITIES. ***MOS*** JULY 19, 1966 - EMERGENCY ROOM SIGN. BODY ON STRETCHER COVERED IN SHEET. BLOODY BLACK MAN LEAD INTO HOSPITAL. COP STANDS NEAR RED LIGHT. SMOLDERING STORES. DAYTIME AERIAL OF SMOKING, SMOLDERING CITY BLOCK OF BURNED STORES. HIGH ANGLE SHOT DOWN ONTO CROWD OF BLACK PEOPLE. FIREFIGHTER. BATTLE FIRE AT NIGHT. MANY BLACKS WITH BROOMS CLEANING UP DEBRIS FROM FIRE. BLACK MAN NAILS BOARDS TO DESTROYED STORE FRONT. RIOT POLICE. PATROL AT NIGHT. SMASHED PLATE GLASS WINDOWS OF STORES. BUILDING BURNED TO THE GROUND. CU COP WITH BOOK OF MATCHES AND RIFLE. BURNING NEIGHBORHOOD. FIRE TRUCKS. BLACK CROWD WATCHES. FIREMEN WITH HOSES. JULY 26, 1966 - NATIONAL GUARD. GRAND JURY. SOLDIERS LINED UP CARRYING DUFFEL BAGS. CONVOY OF ARMY JEEPS AND TRUCKS. CRIMINAL COURT BUILDING. CRANE TAKING DOWN REMAINS OF BURNED-OUT BUILDING. BRICKS FALLING. GOODWILL STORE. CARRYING OUT REFRIGERATOR. KIDS LOOKING THROUGH CLOTHES. GHETTO. KIDS WAVE. GRAND JURY GETS INTO BUS. ARMY PATROLS STREETS. LOOKS LIKE A WAR ZONE. JULY 25, 1966 - FUNERAL. ROBINSON. PAN POOR BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD. ARMY REMOVES STREET BLOCKADES. PICK-'N-PAY GROCERY STORE. SUPERMARKET INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR. BLACKS AT CHECK OUT. INSIDE COURTROOM. FAT HICK RACIST ON THE STAND. TRIAL. FUNERAL MASS FOR BLACK MAN. CHAPEL EXT. SIGN. PREACHER. CARRYING COFFIN. WOMEN HOLD FLOWERS. STREET CLEANER GOES BY, SPRAYING WATER. JULY, 21, 1966 - HOUGH FIRES. ARMY PATROLS AT NIGHT. SHOTGUN HOLES ON CAR. CAR TOWED AWAY. COPS DUMP OUT BOTTLES. MOLOTOV COCKTAILS. FRISKING BLACK MAN ON CAR. SOLDIERS SURROUND HOUSE IN SLUM NEIGHBORHOOD. HELICOPTER FLIES OVERHEAD. SOLDIER TALKS ON CB RADIO. CU MACHINE GUN ON JEEP. YOUNG BLACK BOYS STANDING AROUND. MUGGING FOR CAMERA. BUILDING ON FIRE. CU BLAZE. FIREMEN WITH HOSE. EXT ROLLER SKATING HALL. CHURCH OF CHRIST.

REV. PRINT 550 SIL CUT STORY: VS BURNING BUILDING AT NIGHT, FLAMES LEAPING. VS POLICE AND NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS FIRE TEAR GAS NEAR PARKED CAR. TROOPS RUN DOWN STREET. NEGRO POLICEMAN CARRIES NEGRO CHILD WHOSE HEAD IS BLEEDING. CU NEGRO WOMAN IN CAR, BLOOD ON HER FACE. CU ANGRY NEGRO YOUTH BEING CARRIED AWAY BY POLICE. CU WOMAN CRYING. CU'S BULLET HOLES ON CAR DOOR. CU'S FIREMEN FIGHTING FIRE. CU'S FLAMES LEAPING FROM BUILDING. VS SEVERAL BUILDINGS ON FIRE. CU BURNING AUTOMOBILE. THE HOUGH RIOTS WERE RACE RIOTS IN THE PREDOMINANTLY AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY OF HOUGH IN CLEVELAND, OHIO THAT TOOK PLACE OVER A SIX-NIGHT PERIOD FROM JULY 18 TO JULY 23, 1966. DURING THE RIOTS, FOUR AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE KILLED AND 30 PEOPLE WERE CRITICALLY INJURED. IN ADDITION, THERE WERE 275 ARRESTS, WHILE MORE THAN 240 FIRES WERE REPORTED. CI: RIOTS - U. S. - OHIO, CLEVELAND. CIVIL RIGHTS - OHIO, CLEVELAND. CIVIL RIGHTS - VIOLENCE- OHIO, CLEVELAND. DISASTERS - FIRES: BUILDINGS. DISASTERS - FIRES- AUTOS.

At a Congressional Hearing, Senator Robert F. Kennedy questions Cleveland mayor Ralph Locher about theories that Communists had a role in the Hough neighborhood riots.

CLEVELAND OHIO RIOTS. HOUGH. JULY 19, 1966. RACE RIOTS, CIVIL UNREST AFTERMATH OF RIOT. INTERIOR OS SUPERMARKET. FOOD, DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE. TONY?S SUPERMARKET. NIGHTTIME, EMERGENCY VEHICLES. FIRE TRUCKS. POLICE TRYING TO GET INTO MOVIE THEATER. BREAKING DOOR DOWN. SMASHING WINDOW. GOING ON STAIRWELL CHECKING. SHAFTS. FRUIT, ORANGE. COP REMOVES GEAR. TRYING TO WALK THROUGH DEBRIS. LIQUOR STORE ON FIRE. FIREMEN FIGHT FIRE AT CORNER STORE. HOUGH AND E. 73RD STREET SIGN. WATER COMES FROM HOSE CONNECTION. FIREMAN AT POLICE PHONE BOX. DAWN. U.S. ARMY PERSONNEL TALKING WITH REPORTER (MOS), TAKING NOTES ON PAD. COPS STANDING AROUND, GETTING ORGANIZED? BLACK POLICEMEN WITH BILLY CLUBS. COP WITH TATTOO ON ARM. HANDING OUT BULLETS TO OPEN HANDS. BLACK MAN BEING BOOKED AT POLICE STATION. TYPEWRITER. COP WITH GEAR INCLUDING BINOCULARS. COPS OUTSIDE READY TO BE DISPATCHED. GIVEN ASSIGNMENTS. CU COPS EQUIPMENT BELTS: BILLY CLUB, NIGHTSTICK, HANDCUFFS,. FIREMEN FIGHTING FIRE. CROWDS OF BLACKS ON SIDEWALKS WATCHING. CHOPPING WITH AX. CU FIRE TRUCK LIGHTS BLINKING, SPINNING, ETC. AFTERMATH OF FIRE. DESTROYED INTERIOR OF BAR. DESTROYED PINBALL GAME. SOLDIERS NATIONAL GUARD OPEN CANS FILLED WITH AMMO BELTS. PILES OF BULLETS. BANDOLEERS. SOLDIERS GET ONTO TRANSPORT BUS. CONVOY OF ARMY JEEPS AT NIGHT. ARMY TRANSPORT TRUCKS. TANK ROLLS DOWN STREET. COP OPENS BACK OF PADDY WAGON. REMOVING CLOTHES. EVIDENCE. CLOTHES STOLEN FROM DRY CLEANING STORE. CARRYING DRY CLEANING INTO JAIL. SOLDIERS CLIMB OUT OF TRUCK. SOLDIERS PUSH TRUCK. SMILING OFFICER SETTING UP MACHINE GUN ONTO JEEP. DISTRIBUTING AMMUNITION. GM BUSES. CHARTERED. SOLDIERS SITTING IN BUS SLEEPING. DON'T WANT TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED. RED CROSS. YOUNG INEXPERIENCED SOLDIER. BLACK SOLDIER. BAYONET. HOLDING MACHINE GUN. POOR BLACKS ON PORCH OF HOUSE, BUILDING NEXT DOOR ON FIRE. PHARMACY. COP CARRIES PUPPY DOG. SLUM HOUSE. HALF-NAKED BLACK KIDS. FIREMAN CARRIES WOODEN LADDER. COP SEARCHES DRY CLEANERS. LOOKING FOR SUSPECTS. CLOTHING STORE. COPS SIT ON BACK OF CAR AS IT DRIVES AWAY. HUGE FIRE. INFERNO.

ORIG. REV. 700 SOF MAG CU OF STREET SIGN: HOUGH STREET. VARIOUS SHOTS OF DEMOLISHED SHOPS, FTG FROM 028512 PEOPLE RUMMAGING THROUGH LEFT-OVER GOODS; CLEAN-UP CREW TAKING AWAY THE DEBRIS FROM BURNED-DOWN HOUSES, TRACTOR PICKING UP DEBRIS WITH HUGE THONGS. NIGHT SHOTS OF POLICE IN RIOT AREA. FIREMEN PUTTING OUT FLAMES IN BURNING HOUSE. WHITE YOUTHS LINED UP AGAINST A WALL. CAR CHECKS IN STREET; TWO NEGRO BOYS ARE ARRESTED. CI: JUSTICE - ARRESTS. CIVIL RIGHTS - OHIO, CLEVELAND. DISASTERS - FIRES- BUILDINGS. FTG FROM 024887 ORIG. COLOR 950 FT. SOF MAG VARIOUS SHOTS NEGRO AREA. VARIOUS SHOTS DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING ARRIVES AT COMMUNITY CENTER. VARIOUS SHOTS KING NEWS CONFERENCE. EXTERIOR HOUGH OPPORTUNITY CENTER. CU KING SAYS POLICE ARE BECOMING VERY BRUTAL, THAT IT IS GETTING SO YOU CAN'T HOLD A MEETING WITHOUT BEING UNDER POLICE SURVEILANCE. SAYS 98% OF THE RIOTS START BY POLICE TAKING A WILLFUL IGNORANT MOVE. SAYS IT'S UP TO THE CITIES TO CHANGE THE CONDITIONS WHICH LEAD TO RIOTS. SAYS CLEVELAND NEEDS MORE NEGRO POLICEMEN. SAYS THERE IS A NEED FOR TENANT UNIONS. HE TELLS OF WORK THEY WILL DO TO IMPROVE SITUATIONS IN CLEVELAND SLUM AREA. CI: PERSONALITIES - KING, MARTIN LUTHER. CIVIL RIGHTS - OHIO, CLEVELAND.

CLEVELAND OHIO RIOTS. HOUGH. JULY 19, 1966 RACE RIOTS, CIVIL RIGHTS. NIGHTTIME, VERY DARK FOOTAGE. COPS IN RIOT GEAR. SMASHED WINDOWS. GLASS ON SIDEWALK. MANY COP CARS. SPOTLIGHT SHINES ON BUILDING. FIRE TRUCKS GO PAST. DALMATIAN ON TOP OF FIRE TRUCK. EMERGENCY VEHICLES. BURNT-OUT STOREFRONTS. WINDOW SMASHED ON RADIO NEWS CAR. CARRYING PERSON ON STRETCHER. EMERGENCY ROOM SIGN AT HOSPITAL. ARRESTING BLACK MAN. REPORTER TAKES NOTES AS HE TALKS TO COP. BODY COVERED IN BLANKET. TURNING POLICE LIGHTS. POURING RAIN AT NIGHT. FIREMEN PUTTING OUT FIRE. SPOTLIGHT. COPS IN SILHOUETTE. RAIN HITTING PAVEMENT. DESTROYED STORES. SMASHED WINDOWS, INTERIORS. TOTALLY DESTROYED. PILES OF CLOTHING AT POLICE STATION, BLACK MAN GETTING BOOKED INTO JAIL. SEIZED MERCHANDISE. HUGE SIDES OF BEEF. BUILDING ON FIRE, ENGULFED IN FLAMES. BURNING HOUSES. STORES ON FIRE. INFERNO. BLACK PARENT CARRIES CHILD IN PAJAMAS. NATIONAL GUARD. SOLDIERS DIRECTING TANKS, ARMORED VEHICLES. CONVOY OF ARMY JEEPS. POLICE HEADQUARTERS. SOLDIERS PATROL STREETS AT NIGHT. . FRISKING BLACK MEN. SPREAD-EAGLED ON CAR. LOOKING UNDER HOOD OF CAR. "SOUL BROTHER, BLACK OWNER" PAINTED ON WINDOWS OF BLACK OWNED BUSINESSES. WHITE REPORTER INTERVIEWS BLACK MAN (MOS). BUILDINGS ON FIRE, DAYTIME. BLACK BILLOWY SMOKE. CROWDS OF BLACKS ON SIDEWALK. FIREMEN COME TO PUT OUT FIRE. CROWDS STAND UNDER MARQUEE OF ASTOR THEATER. DOORKNOB CU, COMPLETELY DESTROYED. APARTMENT BUILDING. "ROY CROFT". BLACK FOLKS LOOK DOWN FROM THEIR BALCONIES. MAN'S DOOR DESTROYED. SHOWS DAMAGE. SPENT SHOTGUN SHELLS ON FLOOR WITH BROKEN GLASS. POOR BLACKS. DESTROYED PHONOGRAPH PLAYER. TOP COVER OF RECORD PLAYER SHATTERED. HOUSE WAS BROKEN INTO. BLACK REPORTER WITH MICROPHONE. WHITE MAN INTERVIEWS BLACK MAN FROM YOUTH CENTER. INTERVIEW WITH OLDER BLACK MAN. TELLS ABOUT RIOTS. TALKS ABOUT POLICE BRUTALITY. CU MICROPHONE.

Fire fighters battle blazes and police make arrests during the Hough riots in Cleveland. Transferred from film, mastered in Apple Pro Res 422 HQ and Uncompressed, available in all forms of HD and SD.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy questions Cleveland mayor Ralph Lochner about the recent riot in the Hough neighborhood. He asks the mayor if he believes the violence is due to agitation by communists. Lochner responds that he does not, thinking the idea is "an escape." Direct transfer from film, Apple Pro Res 422 HQ 1080p.

ORIG. COLOR 750 SOF. MAG (FTG CKED 11/05 NOW 519') MS DERELECT BUILDINGS. VS CARL STOKES FOR MAYOR CAMPAIGN DINNER NEAR HOUGH STREET WHERE RIOTS BROKE OUT IN SUMMER OF 1966. EV ASPINWALL SU. VS STOKES ADDRESSING RALLY IN CHURCH. STOKES SAYING HE DEPLORES EFFECTS OF RIOTING. CU RALPH LOCHER SPEAKING AT MEETING OF PEOPLE OF SLOVENIAN DESCENT ON 48TH ANNIVERSARY OF SLOVENIAN SOCIETY HOME. CI: POLITICS - CAMPAIGNS, MAYORALTY, CLEVELAND, OHIO. PERSONALITIES: STOKES, CARL. PERSONALITIES - LOCHER, RALPH.

ORIG. REV. 1000 SOF MAG CU SIGN: JFK HOUSE, JOMO KENYATTA FREEDOM. NEWSPAPER HEADLINE: "WAGNER BRANDS JFK HOUSE 'BOMB SCHOOL'. " NEGRO CHILDREN PLAYING BASEBALL IN ALLEY. NATIONAL GUARD PATROLLING AREA. A NEGRO MAN AND A FEW OF HIS FRIENDS GET INTO AN ARGUMENT WITH THE NATIONAL GUARD OVER VIETNAM. INTERVIEW WITH THE MAN ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF CITY RIOTS. HE KEEPS FOLLOWING THE NATIONAL GUARDSMEN, WHO KEEP PACING AROUND THE JFK HOUSE. HE ARGUES WITH THEM THAT THEY HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN THIS AREA. IN AN INTERVIEW HE SAYS THAT THE NATIONAL GUARD HAVE BEEN PATROLLING THE HOUSE FOR SEVERAL DAYS NOW, ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE FOUND NO INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE, AND TELLS OF AN INCIDENT WHERE THE POLICE HAVE BEEN VIOLENT WITH A YOUTH AND A YOUNG GIRL FROM THE HOUSE. VERY GOOD SHOTS OF SMALL BOYS PLAYING BALL IN A DIRTY ALLEY. KIDS INSIDE THE HOUSE PLAYING RECORDS, DAN- CING, PLAYING PING-PONG. IN ANOTHER INTERVIEW WITH THE SAME MAN HE DENIES THAT HIS CENTER IS TEACHING THE KIDS VIOLENCE AND TELLS OF AN INCIDENT WHERE THE POLICE HAVE BEATEN HIM UP WHILE HE WAS ROUNDING UP THE KIDS TO TAKE THEM AWAY FROM THE RIOT AREA. PAN OF DEMOLISHED HOUSES FROM THE RECENT RIOTS. MEN CLEANING UP THE AREA. INTERVIEWS WITH RESIDENTS, WHO ALL AGREE THAT THE VIOLENCE ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING. THE HOUGH RIOTS WERE RACE RIOTS IN THE PREDOMINANTLY AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY OF HOUGH IN CLEVELAND, OHIO THAT TOOK PLACE OVER A SIX-NIGHT PERIOD FROM JULY 18 TO JULY 23, 1966. DURING THE RIOTS, FOUR AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE KILLED AND 30 PEOPLE WERE CRITICALLY INJURED. IN ADDITION, THERE WERE 275 ARRESTS, WHILE MORE THAN 240 FIRES WERE REPORTED. CI: CIVIL RIGHTS - OHIO, CLEVELAND. RIOTS - U. S. - OHIO, CLEVELAND. MANKIND - CHILDREN PLAYING. MANKIND - BOYS.

Scenes from the Hough riots in Cleveland fire fighters put out blazes, police patrol the streets in cars and on foot, and arrest rioters. They battle with a sniper and a resident named Percy Giles is shot in the crossfire. National Guardsmen arrive and plan a course of action. Transferred from film, mastered in Apple Pro Res 422 HQ and Uncompressed, available in all forms of HD and SD.

Louis B. Seltzer, newspaper editor and foreman of the grand jury that investigated the Hough Street riots in Cleveland, comments on the causes of the riots. He specifies inadequate living conditions in the neighborhood and influence from outside radical groups. Transferred from film, mastered in Apple Pro Res 422 HQ and Uncompressed, available in all forms of HD and SD.

ORIG. COLOR 950 FT. SOF MAG VARIOUS SHOTS NEGRO AREA. VARIOUS SHOTS DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING ARRIVES AT COMMUNITY CENTER. VARIOUS SHOTS KING NEWS CONFERENCE. EXTERIOR HOUGH OPPORTUNITY CENTER. CU KING SAYS POLICE ARE BECOMING VERY BRUTAL, THAT IT IS GETTING SO YOU CAN'T HOLD A MEETING WITHOUT BEING UNDER POLICE SURVEILANCE. SAYS 98% OF THE RIOTS START BY POLICE TAKING A WILLFUL IGNORANT MOVE. SAYS IT'S UP TO THE CITIES TO CHANGE THE CONDITIONS WHICH LEAD TO RIOTS. SAYS CLEVELAND NEEDS MORE NEGRO POLICEMEN. SAYS THERE IS A NEED FOR TENANT UNIONS. HE TELLS OF WORK THEY WILL DO TO IMPROVE SITUATIONS IN CLEVELAND SLUM AREA. CI: PERSONALITIES - KING, MARTIN LUTHER. CIVIL RIGHTS - OHIO, CLEVELAND.

FS24 WH PRESS BRIEFING CUTS POOL 4 1240 ABC POOL WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING WITH PRESS SECRETARY JEN PSAKI, JEFF ZIENTS, AND DR ANTHONY FAUCI 124712 PSAKI>> Well, today, I'm joined by, of course, Jeff Zients, our Covid Coordinator, and Dr. Fauci to talk about the news from the FDA this morning. They are also going to be able to take some questions. I will keep an eye on the clock. And with that, I will turn it over to Jeff. 124732 ZIENTS>> Well, first, thank you, Jen. And thank you to all of you. Good afternoon. As you all know, the FDA and CDC announced earlier today that, out of an abundance of caution, they've recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine as they review data involving 6 reported US cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 124804 Let me start by saying 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 arms in the United States to date. The President has always said that this is a wartime effort. We're at war against the virus. 124833 And, as such, we've mobilized a wartime effort so that we're prepared for a wide range of scenarios. And that's why the President took action earlier this year, before the J&J vaccine was even authorized, to secure enough Pfizer and Moderna doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July. Over the last few weeks, we have made available more than 25 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna each and every week. 124910 In fact, this week, we will make available 28 million doses of these two vaccines. [12:49:18] And as we've done since we took office, we will continue to get the supply out the door as soon as it's available. So -- 124927 We have more than enough supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue the current pace of about 3 million shots per day, and that puts us well on pace to meet the President's goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office. And continue to reach every adult who wants to get vaccinated. 124955 We're now working with our state and federal partners to get anyone scheduled for a J&J vaccine quickly rescheduled for a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. [12:50:10] And we're actually already seeing this happen today at sites across the country where j&j appointments are being adjusted that were for today to actually get Merna and pfizer today. So that's happening many places 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. CDC and fda will continue to do just that and provide regular updates to the public. And they will do so as they continue their investigation. Withthat, let me hand it over [12:51:09] to Dr. Fauci, and then we'll take questions. FAUCI>> Thank you very much, Jeff. Just to follow up and maybeill in a couple ofoints from what Jeff said and what our colleagues in the fda and the CDC said earlier this morning at the press conference. A couple of issues have come up of the impnce of calling this pause because people say, what does the pause mean? It really allows both the fda and the CDC to further investigation these cases to try and understand some of the mechanisms of what it is. Some more details about the history of the individuals who were involved that might shed some light on looking forward. Wh will happen and what we will do. That's the fst thing. The other thing is to make [12:52:10] physicians out there aware O this. And there are som clinical applications of that, that I believe are important. For example, if someone comes in with this really rather rar syndrome of thrombociti where you get thromboses. 125211 The most common way to treat that is with heparin. That would be a mistake, in this situation, because it could be dangerous and make the situation much worse. So there's a clinically relevant reason why you want to make this known to people. [12:52:28] Also when individuals, particularly younger women might come into a physician with a particular thrombotic phenomenon, which something that happens for other reasons all the time, that we want to alert physicians to take a story of a recent vaccination. That would be important. So the pause not only allows us to take a look at the cases and [12:53:10] learn more but also a signal out there to help the physicians. Common question, and I'm sure we'll have a number questions, which Jeff and I will be happy to answer to you, but one of the questions that comes up already rather frequently, does this have anything to do with the efficacy of the vaccine? So we know that there have been 6.85 million doses of j&j distributed in the United States thus far. So may who had it month or two ago would say, what does this mean for me? It really doesn't mean anything. You're okay. If you look at the frame, the time frame when this occurs, it's pretty tight from a few days, 6 T to 13 days, from the time of T vaccination. The nextstion is one that we're all obviously aware of. What impact is this going to have about people's attitudes about vaccines in general. So you might know that there [12:54:11] have been now 120 milli people that have received at least one dose of a vaccine. St of that, subtract the 6.85 million is in the messenger rna from pfizer and modern. There have been no red flag signals from those. So you're talking about tens and tens and tens of millions of people have received vaccine with no adverse effect. 125422 This is a really rare event. If you look at what we know so far, there have been 6 out of the 6.85 million doses, which is less than 1 in a million. [12:54:35] So, remember, this is something that we always, out of -- really out of an abundance of caion, as Jeff said, to give us the time to take a good look at it and see if we can get further information. So I'll stop there, Jeff, and we can, obviously, take some questions. 125553 MARY BRUCE Q>> You've described this as a really rare event, but it seems like a pretty drastic step. Do you believe that the scientists sufficiently weighed the benefits of this pause against the damage or risk that this could do to the broader effort and the impact it could have on vaccine hesitancy? 125508 ZIENTS>> Well, Dr. Fauci, maybe you'll go after me. But I want to say that we have plenty of supply. So I mentioned that we, for the last several weeks, have been sending 25 million doses out. And while we're averaging 3 million shots in arms per day, the 25 million supports actually that level, and even accelerating. And we just sent out 28 million doses today -- or announced 28 million doses will be sent this week to states, tribes and territories and through our federal channels. 125541 So we have plenty of supply to continue our vaccination program and to hit our goals. But over to Dr. Fauci. FAUCI>> Yeah. I believe your question is: did we pull the trigger too soon on this because it was such a rare event? 125554 Well, you know, our FDA is internationally known for their capability of making sure that we have the safest products out there. And that's what I meant when I said "an abundance of caution." You want to make sure that safety is the important issue here. We are totally aware that this is a very rare event. We want to get this worked out as quickly as we possibly can. 125620 And that's why you see the word "pause." In other words, we want to hold off for a bit and very well may go back to that, maybe with some conditions or maybe not. But we want to leave that up to the FDA and the CDC to investigate this carefully. So I don't think it was pulling the trigger too quickly. MARY BRUCE Q>> And just a logistical question more so than anything. The advisory committee on immunization practices is meeting tomorrow -- FAUCI>> Right. MARY BRUCE Q>> -- to discuss this. Why not try and meet today? I mean, is this not a moment to sort of drop everything and focus on this? 125648 FAUCI>> You know, I think you have to get people pulled together. I think tomorrow is not such a long wait. I mean, I am sure they want to get everybody. There may be people who are not available. They want to get the full component of it. [12:57:02] >> Can you talk a little bit about the process in both deciding for this pause and sort of what comes next? First off, did the white house have any advance notice of the issues with the j&j vaccine and was there involvement fro the white house in deciding this? And how do you evaluate when to pause vaccines? We are going to see more of these pauses in the future if more issues pop up? >> I'll let you do the first part. I'll do theecond part. >> This decision was made by the CDC and fda. Andt'shat's one of the good INGs about our system here. We're ruled by the science, not by any other considerations. So the decision was really thoroughly made by the CDC and the fda. >> Staying consistent with following the science, we we notified last night there would be an annocement this morning and, therefore, had no other involvement other than knowing [12:58:12] last night there would Ben announcement this morning from the fda and CDC. >> And in this review, what are they looking for? What are they evaluating? When should we expect to see conclusions? >> They want to see if there's any clues of any else going on. For example, if they're going to-- hypothetical. If they're going to make a decision to go forward and say, you know, we looked at this. If they find some common denominators among the women who were involved that might synergizing and enabling this type of adverse event, they may know tt for those who don't have that, it may be much safer. There may be clues when you go down and really get granular about every single case. In addition, they want to look at what some of the mechanisms are. The mechanisms may give some insight as to what is going on. >> Do expect to potentially E further pauses in the future? Could this keep happening with the vaccines because they're so [12:59:12] new? >> If you look at the history -- take a look at what has gone on with the modern and the pfizer. Where you have literally tens and tens and tens of millions. There have been no red flags. When you have a red flag of something that is as serious as thrombocytic, particularly when you have an individual, one of whom died, you take that seriously. So I don't think that minimal things that very likely have nothing at all to do with the vaccine that we're going to pull the trigger so quickly as to keep stopping and stopping and stopping. I think this is an unusual occurrence of an adverse event that you want to make sure before you go forward you investigate it thoroughly. They are pausing so that they can look att more carefully. >> Given that the infected [13:00:15] patients were all women between 18 and 48, should women under 50 be excluded from getting the j&j vaccine? >> The question you're asking gets back to several of the questions here. That's the reason why the CDC and the fda want to take a look at this and say, is there -- are there some categories now where people outside of that category don't have a of the factors so it would be okay to go on. It is entirely conceivable making no predictions that there may be some restrictions in an age group or not. We don't know that now. That's the reason why they are working very hard answer the question you're asking. >> And what's youral ical advice for people who have recently received the j&j vaccine and may be concerned about blood clots? 130043 FAUCI>> Well, I mean, if someone recently -- within days, I would tell them to just, first of all, don't get an anxiety reaction because, remember, it's less than 1 in a million. However, having said that, pay attention. Do you have symptoms? Headache? Do you have shortness of breath? Chest discomfort? Do you have anything that resembles a neurological syndrome? And, obviously, if you have something as serious as a seizure, I mean, you -- that's pretty clear. [13:01:13] But the manifestations of this are that headaches the very common component of it because the sinus thromboses they have is the draining of the blood in the brain and it would cause enough symptomatology that you'd notice it. Just tell people to watch out for not feeling very well. >> Officials from different states told us this morning that they were really caught off guard by this announcement. They were ready to put shots into people's arms and had to scramble. Can Y explain that chain of communication, when and how did you notify states that they might have to paus >> We didn't know about anythg in terms of the announcement until last night. We didn't even know the content of the announcement until this morning when eveone else read [13:02:18] . As soon as we got that, our team farmed out and started contacting folks to make sure that everyone knew that that was nownnounced by the fda and CDC. Tuesday is the day I have my regular governors call so that was fortunate that was at 11:00 A.M. We had all the governors already lined up with their teams. And we had doctors Fauci and Dr. Walensky join that call and the teams will continue to support the statewide effort, the federalchannels, communi health centers to make the adjustments. I think the message got out clearly and quickly. There was no heads-up here. The announcement was made this morning. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, ys. Just two quick ones. Do we have a timeline in terms hough long -- are we talking days bore this may get put back on or a week and second one for Jeff. I understand wh you're saying on the macro level related to supply. When you talk to local officials, j&j shot because of storage, because it was one shot, it's considered a crucial component in rural areas and [13:03:19] underserved communities. How does that not affect the timeline that you guys are on in terms of actlly getting shots in arms? >> During one of the questions which was asked, I believe, of the CDC, the question was, yes, yours, and I don't know what they're going to be doing. What I heard from the previous press discussion was it's going to be more like days to weeks rather than weeks to months. 130330 ZIENTS>> We have plenty of supply and we have plenty of vehicles for delivering that supply, whether it's through the federal pharmacy channel, whether it's mobile units, community health centers. And all of those are equipped to deliver the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. [13:03:45] So we'll make sure those units continue torow in number. You're right we need to reach peoplehere they are in the mobile units and community health centers are particularly essential for those. And they have beeneceiving modern and pfizer doses since [13:04:20] we preambled those programs. >> Youust swap out the vaccine and the mobile unit goes into a rural area? >> Moderna and pfizer are two-dose vaccines so it's important people come back for their second dose. Three weeks post their first dose of pfizer and four weeks post their first dose of modern. But all of our units, all of our delivery channels are equipped to deliver bothfizer and modern. >> And just real quick, how does this not contribute to the very areas where hesitancy is most predominant at this point in time? Do you have to change your message? Do you have to do something different to address hesitancy in the wake of something like this? >> We nee to continue to be transparent about what the science is telling us. That's what brings us here today. There's been tens of millions of doses of pfizer and modern administered over the last several months and millions of people both in the U.S. And around the world have been safely vaccinated. 130500 I think it's important that, you know, we have here the FDA, and the FDA is the gold standard for ensuring the safety and the effectiveness of the vaccines. And today's action, I think, is clear evidence that they are taking every step necessary to ensure the American people have clear and transparent information about the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines. So the bottom line is the vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer that are now being administered are clearly safe and are saving lives, and every American should get vaccinated when it's their turn. [13:05:33] >> Thanks, Jeff. Is the -- is j&j production going to continue during this pause, and secondly, is the Biden administration considering ordering more doses of pfizer and moderna given -- just in case this problem with j&j becomes prolonged? >> So the j&j production issues in Baltimore, obviously, completely separate set of issues. Those are being worked out through the fda process with the company. And production of those vaccines [13:06:22] can begin if and when the fda authorizes that facility. Your second question was, 130611 We really have thought of this as a wartime effort from the beginning, which is why we purchased excess supply so that we'd be ready for any contingency. And we'll continue to look at every possibility, in terms of making sure that we always have enough supply for the American people. [13:06:25] >> Just to clarify on the j&j production. Not related to the Baltimore plant but just overall, j&j production is that going to pause while this pause on administering dos occurs or is the production going to continue? >> The production is centered around that baltire facity. The vast majority of production is at that Baltimore facility. >> I want to just ask you very directly. Are you ruling out the possibility that theaccine could be removed from the market? Are you ruling out that -- are you expecting it to be re-allowed? >> I think it would be premature [13:07:23] to comment on that. And that's the reason why T pause was done. So that they could take a good look at itery carefully. Look at every factor. 130715 I wouldn't want to speculate as to what would happen. Often, when you see things like this, that you pause and come back. Whether or not that happens now, I can't guarantee it, but I can tell you that's exactly what the CDC and FDA people are going to be deciding on and looking at very carefully. [13:07:33] >> If I could just ask you that outreach question. Sohis is the problem that you've been struggling with, the sort of vaccine hesitancy. This, obviously, is a setback. What do you have to sort of ramp up to an additional war-type effort to really ensure ts message gets out there? Do you personally go to states like Mississippi where the vaccine vaccination rate is really low? >> I'll answer your first [13:08:25] question. Coistent with being a wartime effort we pn for different scenarios and contingencies. We have enough supply of modern and pfizer to hit the gets that we've said, the 200illion shots in 100 days and to head toward the fourth ofuly that we've talked about as a country. More normal fourth of July. Clearly part of that is making sure that when Americans turn to get vaccinated, they get vaccinated. And we need to continue to build confidence. And that's done at the community level. People are trusting of their local doctors, their state leaders, their neighbors. Which is why it's important when people do get vaccinated, they noonly get themselves vaccinatedut spread the word about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. >> One of the goals you haven't mentioned today is the hope that the supply on handor the county by the end of may. Is that still operative in the wake of this pause? And the second question, it's a [13:09:25] bit surprising to learn that you ly yourself learned about this, this morning. Do youish you had heard sooner? >> I learned about it last night that there would be an announcement. Not the specifics of the announcement. No, because that's T science. We want the science agencies to lead with ience. There's no reason for us to be involved in any ofhe scientific decisions. We bring nothing to the table. That's the fda's role. That's the CDC's role. And they are Ledy terrific leaders with great teams to do the science, and this administration will be led by science. As to your first question we believe there's enough vaccine in the system, modern and pfizer, for all Americans who want to get vaccinated by may 31st to do so. 130952 Q>> I -- Jeff, I feel we're kind of dancing around the hesitancy question here. And so, I'll ask you directly. Do you think the announcement of this pause will increase or decrease vaccine hesitancy? ZIENTS>> Look, hesitancy amongst a group of people is a challenge, and we need to be addressing it and we are, as I've talked about, by going to meet people where they are, to follow all that we've learned about who people trust -- doctor, their local doctor, their nurse, their faith leader. 131024 And I think that, you know, there's a tremendous track record, as Dr. Fauci has talked about, with tens of millions of doses of Pfizer and Moderna. The FDA acting the way they did today shows that they are, indeed, the gold standard. And I think that should reassure the American public that they will be very diligent and conservative in how they approach the vaccines. 131048 Q>> So the argument is that because the FDA -- this trip wire was triggered, that should give Americans more confidence in the overall vaccination plan? ZIENTS>> Certainly about -- around how safety and efficacy are being monitored by the gold standard folks at the FDA. [13:11:05] >> Let's do these three more and then we'll let them go back. Go ahead. >> Jeff, you said the fda is the gold standard for ensuring the safety and efficacy of vaccines. To what except does today's news add urgency to the effort of getting a permanent nominee confirmed ahead of the fda? Clearly it's always an important post but how much does this news -- >> I have no personnel announcement to make today. The fda has extraordinary group of scientists and experts that will lead these types of efforts. >> How helpful will a permanent director be in November? [13:12:02] >> I think the fda does an extraordinary job and the teams that are addressing these issues are experienced teams. In fact, the acting directors is a very experienced leader so I think the experience of the fda and expertise of the fda is indeed T gold standard. >> Are there immediate plans to accommodate the states because of a pause? Can you guarantee every person with a reservation canceled will get rescheduled in a matter of days? >> As I said, I think there's already in certain locations people who were scheduled for today are already rescheduled. We'll do everything we can to support the states on the logistics of rescheduling. At the same time the most important thing is the supply exists to continue to vaccine millions of Americans a day and there's enough supply to accelerate that. There are tens of millions of [13:13:03] doses in the system. As I said today, we announced 28 million more modern and pfizer doses available to be ordered this week. >> Last question. >> Dr. Fauci, you said that there was no red flags for the other two vaccines. Can you verify that means there were no developments about blood clot symptoms in other vaccines? >> There have been no serious events to call attention to anything that would relate to a pause. >> Why would it be -- why would it be for one vaccine and not the other two? How does that speak to the safety of the other two vaccines? >> I think when you examine everything in general, the fact that you have 120 million doses -- individuals have received at least one dose, and as you subtract out of that 100 [13:14:04] million, you're talking about 114 million or so individuals have received at least one dose. And no negative red flag signals, that tells you you're dealing with a really safe vaccine. And I think apropos of several of the questions that people asked about hesitancy, you know, when you want to talk about safety, this is an extraordinary safety record that the others have and the fact that a pause was done I think just as a testimony to how seriously we take safety and why we have an fda and CDC that looks at this very carefully and hopefully we will resolve it pretty soon within days to weeks, apropos of your question. So I think it's a very strong argument for safety actually. >> Thank you, Dr. Fauci. Thank you, Jeff. >> Thank you, everybody. [13:14:40] PSAKI>> I know there's a lot going on today and you also have a call time so we will try to get through as much as we possibly can but I did want to give you all a couple of updates. Obviously, the President met yesterday with a bipartisan group of members who are, are working work on committees of jurisdiction, I can talk a little bit more about that but I also wanted to give you an update on the work of our Jobs Cabinet, which will be very, which will be central to our efforts, and especially in this period of time, we're now a lot of these members are going to go back, they're going to work with their staff they're going to work with each other, to see what the path forward is so so far cabinet secretaries from our jobs, Kevin, I should say, have made 27 calls to members including seven Republicans, those are when they connected, of course, our legislative affairs team has, has made 139 calls to members their chiefs of staff and staff directors. [13:15:35] 35 of those 99 calls to the house were two Republicans, along with 15 of the 40 calls into the Senate, this is obviously ongoing and we will venture to provide you regular updates you have a sense of what's happening. We've held 26 house and senate staff briefings and nine member level briefings, including with Republican leadership and five bipartisan groups, and clearly picking up senior administration officials have also engaged with rural leaders, faith communities in the private sector, they've held briefings with bipartisan groups of over 1000 mayors and county elected officials, and I've had one on one conversations with governors from both parties. I also wanted to highlight that this week is black maternal health week and in its honor today the Vice President and domestic policy Adviser Susan Rice are hosting a roundtable with women who will share their experiences with complications from pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. The impact of postpartum post, post childbirth [13:16:33] as well as their work and advocacy and research highlighting the disparities that black women face and maternal health, this I think this actually started around 1230 So I should say they, their, their event is ongoing. We also announced initial actions we are taking to address the maternal health crisis in the United States, including significant funding to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates improve Huberty and and race based disparities nationwide, the approval of the first Medicaid section 1115 waiver and Illinois to broadly extend postpartum coverage this approval will help ensure access to vital health care services, promote better health outcomes and reduce their rate of maternal morbidity and mortality. And obviously this is an issue we will continue to work hard on. [13:17:17] I also just wanted to highlight that we're also hosting today, a virtual Small Business briefing on the American jobs plan. Small Business Administrator newly confirmed as well as mine will join the event with 1000s of small business owners to highlight how the American jobs plan support small business. The plan, the President has proposed provides direct support to small businesses by increasing access to federal contracts and investing more than $110 billion in financing and technical, technical assistance programs. As you know, the President also attended a congressional tribute for US Capitol Officer William Evans, this morning, he paid his respects. For those of you who didn't see to Officer Evans and met with his family, the present, following his remarks, I should say, the President offered his support to the Capitol Police who have weathered great stress and responsibilities and January's interaction. In addition to sustaining the loss of another fellow officer. [13:18:15] Finally, the President will deliver remarks tomorrow at the White House on the way forward in Afghanistan, including his plans and timeline for withdrawing US troops in close coordination with our partners and allies, and the government of Afghanistan, and its commitment to focusing on the threats and opportunities we face around the world today, we will have an advisory with more details out later today, we of course are doing a series of briefings throughout the day with all of you and others. I'm going to be limited and what I'm going to share from here because I don't want to get ahead of the President, but I will look forward to having conversation with all of you in the coming days about the details of his speech with that go ahead, Alex. Q>> Let's start with Russia. Can you share any details on the proposed summit with President Putin, or would it be what would the topics be and what was his response, and also putting himself suggested public talks with 5g in March, and he was brushed off by the White House so what's, what's the change what's behind the change in posture. PSAKI>> Well, let me first say that, as you note, the President had a call with President Putin this morning we put out a readout of that, but let me reiterate a couple of the highlights. For those of you who are following other pieces of news during this call they discussed a number of regional ish global and global issues, including the attempt intent of the United States and Russia to pursue a strategic stability dialogue on a range of arms control and emerging security issues, building on the extension of the New START Treaty president vice Biden also made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interest in response to Russia's actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference, and he also emphasized the United States, unwavering commitment to Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity, the president voiced our concerns over the sudden the aggressive Russian military buildup and increasing aggression on the border of Ukraine, and called on Russia to de escalate tensions, so as it relates to your question. 132009 I will say that, you know, our approach to our relationship with Russia is one where we certainly expect the relationship to remain a challenge. We expect there will be continued difficult conversations. We are prepared to confront those, but our goal is to have a relationship with Russia that is predictable and stable. And having a conversation or a dialogue, which the plans will need to be developed on -- this is the first conversation about it at that level, of course. 132039 The purpose of that is to, of course, be honest and candid, where there are areas where we disagree and have concerns, but also work together on areas where there is mutual interest, and that may relate to arms control, as -- as we did with the extension of New START shortly after the President was inaugurated, or even working together on pursuing an Iran Nuclear Deal. 132103 So there'll be a range of topics discussed. As we get closer and details are finalized, we'll share those with you but we're just at the early stages of the discussions. [13:21:10] Q>> And then with respect to Russia's military filled up at the Ukrainian border, what is on the table to respond if Russia doesn't back down, I mean in our military options being considered. PSAKI>> Well, Secretary Blinken on Secretary Austin are both in Brussels now, they are having discussions with their counterparts about a range of topics including the military buildup on the border, so I won't get ahead of those discussions I expect they will do a readout, Q>> when those discussions conclude any approach or engagement with Russia or actions would be done in coordination, Afghanistan, Republicans are talking is that with the announcement has happened, the withdrawal of all troops by September 11 And so I wanted to get your reaction to something which we cannot just said. He suggested that it would put our NATO partners in a shared fight that we have not yet, one would abandon the women of Afghanistan because freedoms and human rights will be in peril. He said that the administration plans to turn tail and abandon the fight in Afghanistan. So, what is your response to this criticism and criticism from other Republicans that it's it's too soon without any plans to sort of maintain stability there 132219 PSAKI>> Well, again, I will leave it to the President to lay out his specific plans for withdrawing troops, the reasoning and his commitment to focusing on the threats and opportunities we face around the world today. But I will say that the President has been consistent in his view that there's not a military solution to Afghanistan, that we have been there for far too long. That has been his view for some time -- well documented, well reported on. 132248 He believes that -- and he remains committed to supporting negotiations between the parties, which many of you may be following our resuming next week. And he also believes we need to focus our resources on fighting the threats we face today, 20 years -- almost 20 years after the war began. And so, that's his approach and how he looks at this decision but he will lay out more specifics tomorrow. [13:23:15] Q>> You mentioned President Biden has been consistent as a candidate. He told CBS that he thought a smaller footprint of should remain in Afghanistan in the case that terrorists remaster capacity, but now he's committing to drawing troops to a number that is zero. Can you explain that change. Again, I know we're doing a number of briefings with all of you, where you will have all of these questions answered, I will say that the President's approach and his decision that he made was done through cold close consultation with military leaders with his national security team with partners and allies around the world, and with his objective of mine in mind of ensuring we are focusing on the threats we're facing, we're doing that in close coordination with our partners and allies, and I will leave it to the briefings that you will be receiving and his speech tomorrow to outline more and more further detail, go ahead. Q>> Russia, the US has repeatedly called on Russia to de escalate tensions at the Ukrainian border. This person I have any reason to believe Putin will actually listen this time. 132425 PSAKI>> Well, I would say when it comes to diplomacy, you don't stop calling for what -- what are the right actions and the appropriate actions and the actions the global community believes are right, just because you see a hesitation in taking those actions. And there is -- what is different now is that there is coordination on the international front with the Europeans, with our partners. As I mentioned, Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin are in Brussels now, having a discussion about a range of issues, including the aggression at the border. 132456 And that pressure is different. Russia is an outlier in many ways, in that regard. So, we will continue to work in partnership with our allies and partners, and continue to put the pressure on and call for what's right. Q>> Thanks, Jen. PSAKI>> Go ahead. Q>> Just one quick follow up on Russia, in reading the readout that you guys send out. 132515 Q>> Does the President currently characterize the relationship with Russia as honest and stable, or is that something he wants to work toward? PSAKI>> I think what we're working toward is predictable and stable. We're not -- we're not looking for an establishment of trust, as much as a predictability and stability because there are a range of threats. There are a range of opportunities in the world. And the President wants to have the bandwidth to focus on them, not on an adversarial relationship with Russia. [13:25:45] You guys have had a little bit of back and forth, the White House in the Michigan governor's office is the President right now, when she's an ally, kind of disappointed with how the governor has managed COVID in her state at least of late. Well, let me say, Phil, as you know you've been covering it quite closely. We've been at war with this virus for over a year now, and Governor Whitmer has been in charge of a state that has been incredibly hard hit by COVID for that period of time, and she's done a tremendous job in our view, while facing an enormous set of challenges, she has been steadfast in her commitment to keeping the people of the state of Michigan safe, and a tremendous partner in the fight against COVID and if you go back more than a year ago, she led that fight to make sure first responders in the state had peepee. They needed when cases took off and she pushed for more testing when the federal government told governor's that they were frankly on their own, and to figure it out on their own. She had had to endure not just a public health crisis and a hostile state legislator sloucher but friends who have passed from the virus armed aggression and state capitol and threats against her life. She's also had to coordinate assess or response to a faulty dam burst all well, doing all of this and it devastated Michigan community so we feel she's shown some serious grit fight and resolve. We're going to continue to work with her on how we can help address the uptick in her state, and help deploy the resources we have available. The President repeatedly said that he wants the proposals put on the table to pay for his I've seen proposals to pay for it. Is that a red line is he open to not pay for some of that proposal if that's the direction Congress wants. 132722 PSAKI>> Well, I'm not going to -- his only red line is inaction. And he is happy to hear from, as he did yesterday, proposals that members have whether it is to have a lower increase or, yes, a lower increase of the rate on corporations, whether there are proposals to pay for this plan in a different way, he's open to hearing it. His starting place is that we should pay for it, but we're at the beginning of the discussions here, and ultimately, his only red line is investing in our infrastructure, making sure we are putting Americans back to work over the long term. [13:27:56] Go ahead. Sorry America. Finally the Russia. The President proposing a summit with Vladimir Putin would suggest that he's looking to de escalate tensions there so does that mean it's unlikely the US is going to enact harsher sanctions on Russia, like sanctioning their sovereign debt. Well, well I'm not going to get ahead of any announcements we have on the consequences that we will invoke on the Russian leaders for the actions they've already taken, no it does not change the calculations the the process the review that has been ongoing I expect we'll have more to say soon, and certainly the President was clear that there will be consequences as he has said publicly, some will be seen and some will be unseen as we often say, and hopefully we'll have more to share with all of you soon Q>> One on on nominations. 132848 I noticed that the Director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not included in the tranche that was announced yesterday that included DDP and USCIS. So why wasn't that person included in that tranche and when should we expect to see a nominee for that position? 132905 PSAKI>> It's a great question. I don't have any personnel announcements or previews for you. Sometimes, we announce things because they're through the vetting process and a decision has been made. And while it might be cleaner to do it in a group, we want to get these names out, nominated, through the process as quickly as possible. So hopefully, we'll have a nominee soon. Go ahead. 132923 Q>> I know you're leaving the details of this to the President tomorrow, but I do want to try on just one part of this. The administration, obviously, is committed to supporting Afghan women and minorities. What do you say to people who are concerned that this could put them and their lives at risk by withdrawing? 132937 PSAKI>> I will say that, broadly speaking, the President and this administration supports women and girls around the world. We support it through a range of actions, through a range of initiatives, through a range of programs that we support. We will absolutely continue to do that. The President has been consistent in his view that there -- there is no viable end to the war, military viable end to the war in Afghanistan. 133004 He's had that view for some time now, and he has to make decisions through the prism of what's in the interests of the national security of the United States. And that includes keeping our focus on where the threats are emerging around the world, whether those are emerging threats from al Qaeda in parts of North Africa, or other threats or opportunities we see in other regions. And hence, those are big motivating factors in his decision. 133029 Q>> And on police reforms and racial justice, it doesn't appear that Democrats have the votes needed to pass the George Floyd Policing Act as the administration hopes. Is the White House open to negotiations on this, possibly even giving maybe another look at Tim Scott's Justice Act the Democrats blocked last year? 133044 PSAKI>> Well, we will leave that -- I know Senator Scott, Senator Booker and others are in close discussion and coordination about what a path forward may look like. We certainly understand that there could be changes to proposals that have been forward -- put forward to day. We believe that the George Floyd Act has a lot of the components that will help rebuild the trust, help address -- put in place many of the reforms that are frankly long overdue. 133110 So, we -- but we also recognize that democracy in action means changes take place. So we'll have to see what the discussions look like and whether the President could support any changes that would be made through that process. Q>> And if I could, I just want to get your reaction to some comments from Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib that are getting a fair amount of attention, responding to Daunte Wright's shooting. She says, "I'm done with those who condone government funded murder. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can't be reformed." What do you make of those comments? Do you disavow her calls for no more policing? 133140 PSAKI>> Look, I -- what I can say from here is that that's not the President's view. The President's view is that there are necessary, outdated reforms that should be put in place, that there is accountability that needs to happen, that the loss of life is far too high, that these families are suffering around the country, and that the Black community is exhausted from the ongoing threats they feel. 133208 But he also believes that there is a forum for putting in place legislation, the George Floyd Act, that can help put many of these necessary reforms in place and that part of what needs to happen is rebuilding trust in communities, in order to get to a better place. Go ahead, Steve. Q>> A follow up to that. There are people all across the country who are demonstrating and actively calling for reform. What expectation should they have for change in the Biden era? [13:32:27] What is this President going to bring to bear. If for example qualified immunity isn't removed from the law, if you can't get that in a bipartisan agreement. Well, first, we're not going to get ahead of what the discussions are about a bipartisan agreement I think what Americans who are exhausted, who have suffered who are worried about their kids and their family members should know is that the President sees racial equity as a central focus of his presidency, and his actions, bear that out. He has obviously signed a number of executive actions. He is a strong supporter of putting in place, working through legislation that can put in place, permanent reforms, and he will continue to elevate and talk about the need to address these issues across the country at a range of opportunities and I hopefully that gives some reassurance to the public about his commitment, quick question about yesterday's infrastructure meeting there were some rumblings on the Hill that one of the things that was mentioned in the discussion was an increase in the gasoline tax, can you explain the context and what was actually discussing. 133336 PSAKI>> Sure. I think that was a little bit of a garble, unintentional, but in yesterday's meeting with members of Congress, the President mentioned the gas tax only to make a point that even a significant increase in the gas tax, which some people have proposed, would pay for only a fraction of the investment the country needs. Now, fundamentally, he does not believe that paying for this historic investment in rebuilding our nation's infrastructure and creating millions of jobs should be on the backs of Americans. 133403 So he doesn't believe that anyway. He's proposed his own means of paying for it, but he was using it as an example of how it wouldn't even make a sizable dent in paying for the package. Q>> So it is not under consideration here? PSAKI>> Correct. Correct. Go ahead, Andrew. [13:34:17] Q>> Andrew national friend, you have tension, obviously, with Russia over Ukraine and Crimea. There are a lot of concerns about what's happening in China in the South China Sea and also in Taiwan Are you confident is the President confident that the US militaries, is postured correctly and prepared to deal with multiple crises, occurring almost simultaneously at a time when you're withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. PSAKI>> Absolutely. The President has utmost confidence in General Austin, and his leadership, and Secretary Austin I should guess I should say switching switching titles, and he believes we have the best military men and women serving in the world, and so he has absolute confidence. He also believes that we should leave with diplomacy, and his actions his leadership, his approach. Certainly bear that out. It's done China with the climate summit coming up and you do see opportunities to sort of rebuild this relationship, or to address the tensions in the long standing pensions in the relationship with China over the climate summit just sort of use that as a an opportunity to move forward. I, we obviously have not made a determination about bilateral portions or meetings that would take place as a part of the summit, we've invited over 40 leaders. But I would say that we are engaged, As you know, at a range of levels. We are approaching our relationship as one, not of conflict but of competition. We believe that the most important steps we can take is to rebuild and support our own economy here at home, and to also be candid about areas where we have concerns, whether it's human rights abuses, or I technological abuses, and that is certainly how we approach our relationship. So, well the summit is still coming together I'm not sure I would go that far. Given there are over 40 leaders we have invited and we're still finalizing the details of the, of the events on the domestic front, In terms of the Georgia deployed policing act. Did you anticipate major protests and riots, if it depending on the verdict in the Chavez Chavez case, and what are you doing to prepare for that we have a lot of controversy during the Trump administration about the use of National Guard troops are you preparing to put in National Guard troops, if needed. If the, depending on what happens in that verdict, I know it's a hypothetical question but you were, you have to prepare for all eventualities and last night, or today it's got the President was, you know, appealing for calm to just tell us walk us through your strategy and approach, given how volatile volatile. Tensions are the situation. Well, while we are not going to prejudge the outcome, which I realized you're not asking me to do, but just to say that clearly we are working with state and local leaders to advance our shared goal of ensuring public safety and citizens' rights to peaceful protest. The President, we all will continue to monitor the developments and our team will remain in contact with these officials on the ground as well as with civil rights leaders and community stakeholders, but don't think I'm going to read out more than that. Go ahead. Sending him an extra, I would just leave it at what I can make Go ahead. The President's tax plans He has said that individuals households under $400,000 per year, aren't going to see their taxes go up. Does that also apply two indirect effects from the corporate tax changes that might not technically be tax increases. But when average family of four making under that amount, sees their heating bill go up because utility companies increase their rates to accommodate the 20% corporate tax rate, is that okay or acceptable to the President, you know, technically attacks increase. Well, I would say that there's no President. Technically, a tax increase. Well, I would say that there's no reason that that is what needs to happen, we saw, we have evidence of what happens. Back in 2017, when Republicans prioritize tax cuts for big corporations over investing in working people, there were many arguments made about what the impact would be the benefits would be passed on to consumers, they would invest in r&d, there would be jobs created, none of that happened. There were stop stock buybacks more incentives to offshore record compensation for executives, we have seen countless studies where the biggest impact to these corporations would likely be on capital. So I would say that's not a concern we have at this moment in time. But even though I mean, utility companies get, maybe it's arguably partially for show, but they did announce rate decreases after the 27 tax law passed and attributed it to the tax law, that thing. Is there some data that you're expecting from economist suggesting that will be the case are you just getting head of what might happen when the bill passes. I'm just getting ahead of that, Like, there were those announcements. They didn't have the intended effects, but utility companies didn't say, hey are you know we can pass on a slower rate to consumers through their utility bills, utility companies that I have not seen it if they have that they would raise the cost. If this bill passed invest in infrastructure and get led out of the pipes to make sure there's clean drinking water and create millions of jobs, wherever the specific announcements like that I'm just saying that was the one of the results that that occurred after the 2017 I don't think we have to anticipate it as an issue quite yet. Go ahead, Hans. They've been asked to go 60% During enrichment. What does that do to the ongoing indirect talks does it complicate them others tuxedo on, and then I'll, I'll have a couple follow couple of follow ups. Sure. Well, let me say that. First we take seriously Iran's provocative announcement of its intention to begin enriching uranium to 60%, which the P five plus one should be unified in rejecting the step of calls into question around seriousness. With regard to the nuclear talks and underscores the imperative of returning to mutual compliance with the JC po A, we share a common stated objective of returning to mutual compliance with the JCP away with Iran and we have been engaged constructively, what we felt was constructive dialogue. Last week, even as it was indirect in Vienna, and we, while they were difficult. and while we expect this to be long. We expect and we have not been alerted of any change in plans attendance in the meetings that will resume later this week. So, we are certainly concerned about these provocative announcements. But our goal remains, seeing through a diplomatic process which we expect to resume in Vienna later this week, very clear you expect, you expect vision direct negotiations to continue even though you're questioning their seriousness to those negotiations. Well look I think cons we are, we believe that the diplomatic path is the only path forward here, and that having a discussion, even in direct is the best way to come to resolution. It doesn't mean that we hold back on concerns we have and don't encourage our P five plus one partners to expressing those same concerns, and having that as part of the discussion, sort of diplomatic freq was the US giving us a heads up about the attack from potentially Israel, the power facility for the talks. I have nothing further to read out about our understanding of the origin or the intention of the attack us at all in any way involved in the attack on the power facility and as I said yesterday we were not. Q>> If I could just do, we'll switch gears to Russia real quick. The same as in the coming months for this potential Summit. Is that going to be this summer. PSAKI>> We'll see in the coming months would be the summer. Does the President have any preference on where the location should be. It's a great question I know Alex is asking a similar one, we're still just at the early part of this process and so as we have more details we will share them with all of you. Northern Hemisphere. I don't think we're quite there yet. You're sounding like there's a place you'd like to summer with President Biden and President Putin I can pass that along. Certainly, but. Okay, Go ahead, hard to follow, but I'm sure you have a very serious a good question. Go ahead. Q>> Thanks for, I suppose my question is, LGBTQ rights, told me weeks ago, President Biden stands by his campaign promise to sign the legislation within 100 within 100 days. We are now on day, 83 of the presidency and it looks like that bill is close to making it by that deadline and the President is facing multiple crises as evidenced by the questions in this briefing, as the President continues to stand by that campaign promise, he does. He continues to work toward it. And as you know, in order to sign legislation, it needs to come to his desk and while he is certainly been a vocal advocate in his support for the Equality Act, he and obviously as you know and noted it passed the House and needs to work its way through the Senate. He requires the Senate passing it in order for him to sign it suffered slide in getting out of the sun to health legislation. Well certainly he's put out a statement of administration policy, he has talked about his view that this is legislation that should pass and he has a range of conversations about a range of topics but also sodas our legislative team who worked to move forward his agenda every single day. One thing that's related to this is the Supreme Court's upcoming decision in the case of Fulton versus City of Philadelphia, which will determine whether there's a First Amendment right to reject job placement of the same sex couples, Is the administration to any contingency planning for that decision in terms of the Equality Act or anything else. Tell me a little bit more contingency planning, as if What if there's a different outcome than we would like from the Supreme Court ruling is just a clinic based on the outcome of this decision, and how that squares with the passage of this legislation and I think some observers say that one decision or another might let the hair out and allow and cheap lucky but that sort of changed the landscape for passage of the Equality Act. It's an interesting question I'd probably have to talk to our legislative team. We typically as you know, don't get ahead of Supreme Court rulings, but I will talk to them and see if there's anything we can convey directly to you. Go ahead, think, oh I'm sorry go ahead. I'm just gonna keep track so I get to everybody but go ahead. I have a question on immigration. So, you know, with the Guatemala and Honduras and Mexico deploying their troops off their borders, what are, What is the White House's about administration's next plan to kind of help mitigate migration at the US Mexico border at our own border. Well, I would say that part of our effort here in working with these countries is the recognition that irregular migration is a hemispheric issue that requires all countries in the region to play their part so part of our effort here was to work with Mexico and Northern Triangle governments to implement collaborative migration measures of course if these are effective, then there will be fewer people who are coming to our own borders so there is an impact, even if that announcement that we just made that in that in that ensures that countries have deployed, security personnel migration officials and other officials at the different border to add their borders to address migration. And, you know, last month we saw some really large numbers at the border of migrant apprehensions, how is the body new ministration working with local officials will flip with governments and local nonprofits along the border who, some are picking up some, some of the costs like, You know, COVID test, and hotel. Hello, yeah bookings and so kind of how is the government working with these local officials, will they play a tremendously important role in helping ensure, as you noted, in some cases it is working with NGOs and local authorities and officials on testing and other cases there are covering the cost of hotels and others for quarantining so they play a really tremendous role in helping ensure we are working in a humane way with those who are coming to our border on in a range of ways. Now we continue to convey, which is our policy that the border is not open, that we are turning away the majority of people have adults who come to the border. But we still have children, we still have some migrant families who Mexico cannot accept for a variety of reasons, and these NGOs play an incredibly important role, I know we're at the end of our time here so let me just because there's a gather that's why, but let's see if we can just get to you to quickly go ahead and secure about the vaccine and well Iran if I can, several times from the podium you acknowledge that the button administration may not be the best messenger for certain groups on the vaccines, such as white evangelicals conservative white folks. Can you take us inside the process as to how you're determining who the best messengers are for those communities are you reaching out specifically to targeted people, are you relying on volunteers. What does that process look like. Well, a big part of our effort, and I appreciate you asking this question is to create in part of community core, which is a program that gets back based messages into the hands of local messengers and what we've seen through our data is that local messengers, whether that is elected officials mayor's doctors sometimes clergy civic leaders are the most effective messengers of anyone, and that's why a large part of our $3 billion funding that we have are are focused on getting out into the country is on working with community based organizations to strengthen vaccine confidence in the highest risk and hardest hit communities. So it really depends community, community but we work with faith based organizations we work with community health workers we work with disability organizations we work with organizations across the board of all different backgrounds and affiliations so that they can get the message clearly out to communities, how are you determining which organizations know who these influential people are who are going to reach these certain groups that you feel like perhaps you're not going to reach are, how we determine who community leaders are in communities, and like center trying to, you know, deal I think as I'm conveying here a lot of this is based on local taking a local rural approach and it's a lot of it's driven through HHS so they may be best able to answer your question, I just want to get to our last person here go ahead. My colleague, do you have a comment on Japan's fans to release wastewater from Fukushima to Pacific Ocean into the Pacific Ocean. Let me get you a comment from our national security team after the briefing. I'm happy to do that before directly to your colleague I should clarify who initiated the full phone call with President Putin was threatened by them. I'm not I don't think I'm gonna have more detail on that and I'll check if I do, because that's one that's President fight and the want to restore travel with, between the United States and Europe as well, with the United Kingdom before summer, even as it relates to COVID restrictions. Our focus, of course, we'd love to have travel return, just like everybody would like to return to normalcy but we rely on the advice and the guidelines, done by our health and medical experts and so will defer to them on the timeline for that, just for sorting fellows between Europe and the United States for the summer, many people need to plan in advance, should we in. We understand that. But also we will rely on the guidance and the timeline of our health and medical teams. Thanks, Everyone,

FS23 WH PRESS BRIEFING HEAD ON POOL 3 1245 ABC POOL WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING WITH PRESS SECRETARY JEN PSAKI, JEFF ZIENTS, AND DR ANTHONY FAUCI 124712 PSAKI>> Well, today, I'm joined by, of course, Jeff Zients, our Covid Coordinator, and Dr. Fauci to talk about the news from the FDA this morning. They are also going to be able to take some questions. I will keep an eye on the clock. And with that, I will turn it over to Jeff. 124732 ZIENTS>> Well, first, thank you, Jen. And thank you to all of you. Good afternoon. As you all know, the FDA and CDC announced earlier today that, out of an abundance of caution, they've recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine as they review data involving 6 reported US cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 124804 Let me start by saying 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 arms in the United States to date. The President has always said that this is a wartime effort. We're at war against the virus. 124833 And, as such, we've mobilized a wartime effort so that we're prepared for a wide range of scenarios. And that's why the President took action earlier this year, before the J&J vaccine was even authorized, to secure enough Pfizer and Moderna doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July. Over the last few weeks, we have made available more than 25 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna each and every week. 124910 In fact, this week, we will make available 28 million doses of these two vaccines. [12:49:18] And as we've done since we took office, we will continue to get the supply out the door as soon as it's available. So -- 124927 We have more than enough supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue the current pace of about 3 million shots per day, and that puts us well on pace to meet the President's goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office. And continue to reach every adult who wants to get vaccinated. 124955 We're now working with our state and federal partners to get anyone scheduled for a J&J vaccine quickly rescheduled for a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. [12:50:10] And we're actually already seeing this happen today at sites across the country where j&j appointments are being adjusted that were for today to actually get Merna and pfizer today. So that's happening many places 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. CDC and fda will continue to do just that and provide regular updates to the public. And they will do so as they continue their investigation. Withthat, let me hand it over [12:51:09] to Dr. Fauci, and then we'll take questions. FAUCI>> Thank you very much, Jeff. Just to follow up and maybeill in a couple ofoints from what Jeff said and what our colleagues in the fda and the CDC said earlier this morning at the press conference. A couple of issues have come up of the impnce of calling this pause because people say, what does the pause mean? It really allows both the fda and the CDC to further investigation these cases to try and understand some of the mechanisms of what it is. Some more details about the history of the individuals who were involved that might shed some light on looking forward. Wh will happen and what we will do. That's the fst thing. The other thing is to make [12:52:10] physicians out there aware O this. And there are som clinical applications of that, that I believe are important. For example, if someone comes in with this really rather rar syndrome of thrombociti where you get thromboses. 125211 The most common way to treat that is with heparin. That would be a mistake, in this situation, because it could be dangerous and make the situation much worse. So there's a clinically relevant reason why you want to make this known to people. [12:52:28] Also when individuals, particularly younger women might come into a physician with a particular thrombotic phenomenon, which something that happens for other reasons all the time, that we want to alert physicians to take a story of a recent vaccination. That would be important. So the pause not only allows us to take a look at the cases and [12:53:10] learn more but also a signal out there to help the physicians. Common question, and I'm sure we'll have a number questions, which Jeff and I will be happy to answer to you, but one of the questions that comes up already rather frequently, does this have anything to do with the efficacy of the vaccine? So we know that there have been 6.85 million doses of j&j distributed in the United States thus far. So may who had it month or two ago would say, what does this mean for me? It really doesn't mean anything. You're okay. If you look at the frame, the time frame when this occurs, it's pretty tight from a few days, 6 T to 13 days, from the time of T vaccination. The nextstion is one that we're all obviously aware of. What impact is this going to have about people's attitudes about vaccines in general. So you might know that there [12:54:11] have been now 120 milli people that have received at least one dose of a vaccine. St of that, subtract the 6.85 million is in the messenger rna from pfizer and modern. There have been no red flag signals from those. So you're talking about tens and tens and tens of millions of people have received vaccine with no adverse effect. 125422 This is a really rare event. If you look at what we know so far, there have been 6 out of the 6.85 million doses, which is less than 1 in a million. [12:54:35] So, remember, this is something that we always, out of -- really out of an abundance of caion, as Jeff said, to give us the time to take a good look at it and see if we can get further information. So I'll stop there, Jeff, and we can, obviously, take some questions. 125553 MARY BRUCE Q>> You've described this as a really rare event, but it seems like a pretty drastic step. Do you believe that the scientists sufficiently weighed the benefits of this pause against the damage or risk that this could do to the broader effort and the impact it could have on vaccine hesitancy? 125508 ZIENTS>> Well, Dr. Fauci, maybe you'll go after me. But I want to say that we have plenty of supply. So I mentioned that we, for the last several weeks, have been sending 25 million doses out. And while we're averaging 3 million shots in arms per day, the 25 million supports actually that level, and even accelerating. And we just sent out 28 million doses today -- or announced 28 million doses will be sent this week to states, tribes and territories and through our federal channels. 125541 So we have plenty of supply to continue our vaccination program and to hit our goals. But over to Dr. Fauci. FAUCI>> Yeah. I believe your question is: did we pull the trigger too soon on this because it was such a rare event? 125554 Well, you know, our FDA is internationally known for their capability of making sure that we have the safest products out there. And that's what I meant when I said "an abundance of caution." You want to make sure that safety is the important issue here. We are totally aware that this is a very rare event. We want to get this worked out as quickly as we possibly can. 125620 And that's why you see the word "pause." In other words, we want to hold off for a bit and very well may go back to that, maybe with some conditions or maybe not. But we want to leave that up to the FDA and the CDC to investigate this carefully. So I don't think it was pulling the trigger too quickly. MARY BRUCE Q>> And just a logistical question more so than anything. The advisory committee on immunization practices is meeting tomorrow -- FAUCI>> Right. MARY BRUCE Q>> -- to discuss this. Why not try and meet today? I mean, is this not a moment to sort of drop everything and focus on this? 125648 FAUCI>> You know, I think you have to get people pulled together. I think tomorrow is not such a long wait. I mean, I am sure they want to get everybody. There may be people who are not available. They want to get the full component of it. [12:57:02] >> Can you talk a little bit about the process in both deciding for this pause and sort of what comes next? First off, did the white house have any advance notice of the issues with the j&j vaccine and was there involvement fro the white house in deciding this? And how do you evaluate when to pause vaccines? We are going to see more of these pauses in the future if more issues pop up? >> I'll let you do the first part. I'll do theecond part. >> This decision was made by the CDC and fda. Andt'shat's one of the good INGs about our system here. We're ruled by the science, not by any other considerations. So the decision was really thoroughly made by the CDC and the fda. >> Staying consistent with following the science, we we notified last night there would be an annocement this morning and, therefore, had no other involvement other than knowing [12:58:12] last night there would Ben announcement this morning from the fda and CDC. >> And in this review, what are they looking for? What are they evaluating? When should we expect to see conclusions? >> They want to see if there's any clues of any else going on. For example, if they're going to-- hypothetical. If they're going to make a decision to go forward and say, you know, we looked at this. If they find some common denominators among the women who were involved that might synergizing and enabling this type of adverse event, they may know tt for those who don't have that, it may be much safer. There may be clues when you go down and really get granular about every single case. In addition, they want to look at what some of the mechanisms are. The mechanisms may give some insight as to what is going on. >> Do expect to potentially E further pauses in the future? Could this keep happening with the vaccines because they're so [12:59:12] new? >> If you look at the history -- take a look at what has gone on with the modern and the pfizer. Where you have literally tens and tens and tens of millions. There have been no red flags. When you have a red flag of something that is as serious as thrombocytic, particularly when you have an individual, one of whom died, you take that seriously. So I don't think that minimal things that very likely have nothing at all to do with the vaccine that we're going to pull the trigger so quickly as to keep stopping and stopping and stopping. I think this is an unusual occurrence of an adverse event that you want to make sure before you go forward you investigate it thoroughly. They are pausing so that they can look att more carefully. >> Given that the infected [13:00:15] patients were all women between 18 and 48, should women under 50 be excluded from getting the j&j vaccine? >> The question you're asking gets back to several of the questions here. That's the reason why the CDC and the fda want to take a look at this and say, is there -- are there some categories now where people outside of that category don't have a of the factors so it would be okay to go on. It is entirely conceivable making no predictions that there may be some restrictions in an age group or not. We don't know that now. That's the reason why they are working very hard answer the question you're asking. >> And what's youral ical advice for people who have recently received the j&j vaccine and may be concerned about blood clots? 130043 FAUCI>> Well, I mean, if someone recently -- within days, I would tell them to just, first of all, don't get an anxiety reaction because, remember, it's less than 1 in a million. However, having said that, pay attention. Do you have symptoms? Headache? Do you have shortness of breath? Chest discomfort? Do you have anything that resembles a neurological syndrome? And, obviously, if you have something as serious as a seizure, I mean, you -- that's pretty clear. [13:01:13] But the manifestations of this are that headaches the very common component of it because the sinus thromboses they have is the draining of the blood in the brain and it would cause enough symptomatology that you'd notice it. Just tell people to watch out for not feeling very well. >> Officials from different states told us this morning that they were really caught off guard by this announcement. They were ready to put shots into people's arms and had to scramble. Can Y explain that chain of communication, when and how did you notify states that they might have to paus >> We didn't know about anythg in terms of the announcement until last night. We didn't even know the content of the announcement until this morning when eveone else read [13:02:18] . As soon as we got that, our team farmed out and started contacting folks to make sure that everyone knew that that was nownnounced by the fda and CDC. Tuesday is the day I have my regular governors call so that was fortunate that was at 11:00 A.M. We had all the governors already lined up with their teams. And we had doctors Fauci and Dr. Walensky join that call and the teams will continue to support the statewide effort, the federalchannels, communi health centers to make the adjustments. I think the message got out clearly and quickly. There was no heads-up here. The announcement was made this morning. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, ys. Just two quick ones. Do we have a timeline in terms hough long -- are we talking days bore this may get put back on or a week and second one for Jeff. I understand wh you're saying on the macro level related to supply. When you talk to local officials, j&j shot because of storage, because it was one shot, it's considered a crucial component in rural areas and [13:03:19] underserved communities. How does that not affect the timeline that you guys are on in terms of actlly getting shots in arms? >> During one of the questions which was asked, I believe, of the CDC, the question was, yes, yours, and I don't know what they're going to be doing. What I heard from the previous press discussion was it's going to be more like days to weeks rather than weeks to months. 130330 ZIENTS>> We have plenty of supply and we have plenty of vehicles for delivering that supply, whether it's through the federal pharmacy channel, whether it's mobile units, community health centers. And all of those are equipped to deliver the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. [13:03:45] So we'll make sure those units continue torow in number. You're right we need to reach peoplehere they are in the mobile units and community health centers are particularly essential for those. And they have beeneceiving modern and pfizer doses since [13:04:20] we preambled those programs. >> Youust swap out the vaccine and the mobile unit goes into a rural area? >> Moderna and pfizer are two-dose vaccines so it's important people come back for their second dose. Three weeks post their first dose of pfizer and four weeks post their first dose of modern. But all of our units, all of our delivery channels are equipped to deliver bothfizer and modern. >> And just real quick, how does this not contribute to the very areas where hesitancy is most predominant at this point in time? Do you have to change your message? Do you have to do something different to address hesitancy in the wake of something like this? >> We nee to continue to be transparent about what the science is telling us. That's what brings us here today. There's been tens of millions of doses of pfizer and modern administered over the last several months and millions of people both in the U.S. And around the world have been safely vaccinated. 130500 I think it's important that, you know, we have here the FDA, and the FDA is the gold standard for ensuring the safety and the effectiveness of the vaccines. And today's action, I think, is clear evidence that they are taking every step necessary to ensure the American people have clear and transparent information about the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines. So the bottom line is the vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer that are now being administered are clearly safe and are saving lives, and every American should get vaccinated when it's their turn. [13:05:33] >> Thanks, Jeff. Is the -- is j&j production going to continue during this pause, and secondly, is the Biden administration considering ordering more doses of pfizer and moderna given -- just in case this problem with j&j becomes prolonged? >> So the j&j production issues in Baltimore, obviously, completely separate set of issues. Those are being worked out through the fda process with the company. And production of those vaccines [13:06:22] can begin if and when the fda authorizes that facility. Your second question was, 130611 We really have thought of this as a wartime effort from the beginning, which is why we purchased excess supply so that we'd be ready for any contingency. And we'll continue to look at every possibility, in terms of making sure that we always have enough supply for the American people. [13:06:25] >> Just to clarify on the j&j production. Not related to the Baltimore plant but just overall, j&j production is that going to pause while this pause on administering dos occurs or is the production going to continue? >> The production is centered around that baltire facity. The vast majority of production is at that Baltimore facility. >> I want to just ask you very directly. Are you ruling out the possibility that theaccine could be removed from the market? Are you ruling out that -- are you expecting it to be re-allowed? >> I think it would be premature [13:07:23] to comment on that. And that's the reason why T pause was done. So that they could take a good look at itery carefully. Look at every factor. 130715 I wouldn't want to speculate as to what would happen. Often, when you see things like this, that you pause and come back. Whether or not that happens now, I can't guarantee it, but I can tell you that's exactly what the CDC and FDA people are going to be deciding on and looking at very carefully. [13:07:33] >> If I could just ask you that outreach question. Sohis is the problem that you've been struggling with, the sort of vaccine hesitancy. This, obviously, is a setback. What do you have to sort of ramp up to an additional war-type effort to really ensure ts message gets out there? Do you personally go to states like Mississippi where the vaccine vaccination rate is really low? >> I'll answer your first [13:08:25] question. Coistent with being a wartime effort we pn for different scenarios and contingencies. We have enough supply of modern and pfizer to hit the gets that we've said, the 200illion shots in 100 days and to head toward the fourth ofuly that we've talked about as a country. More normal fourth of July. Clearly part of that is making sure that when Americans turn to get vaccinated, they get vaccinated. And we need to continue to build confidence. And that's done at the community level. People are trusting of their local doctors, their state leaders, their neighbors. Which is why it's important when people do get vaccinated, they noonly get themselves vaccinatedut spread the word about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. >> One of the goals you haven't mentioned today is the hope that the supply on handor the county by the end of may. Is that still operative in the wake of this pause? And the second question, it's a [13:09:25] bit surprising to learn that you ly yourself learned about this, this morning. Do youish you had heard sooner? >> I learned about it last night that there would be an announcement. Not the specifics of the announcement. No, because that's T science. We want the science agencies to lead with ience. There's no reason for us to be involved in any ofhe scientific decisions. We bring nothing to the table. That's the fda's role. That's the CDC's role. And they are Ledy terrific leaders with great teams to do the science, and this administration will be led by science. As to your first question we believe there's enough vaccine in the system, modern and pfizer, for all Americans who want to get vaccinated by may 31st to do so. 130952 Q>> I -- Jeff, I feel we're kind of dancing around the hesitancy question here. And so, I'll ask you directly. Do you think the announcement of this pause will increase or decrease vaccine hesitancy? ZIENTS>> Look, hesitancy amongst a group of people is a challenge, and we need to be addressing it and we are, as I've talked about, by going to meet people where they are, to follow all that we've learned about who people trust -- doctor, their local doctor, their nurse, their faith leader. 131024 And I think that, you know, there's a tremendous track record, as Dr. Fauci has talked about, with tens of millions of doses of Pfizer and Moderna. The FDA acting the way they did today shows that they are, indeed, the gold standard. And I think that should reassure the American public that they will be very diligent and conservative in how they approach the vaccines. 131048 Q>> So the argument is that because the FDA -- this trip wire was triggered, that should give Americans more confidence in the overall vaccination plan? ZIENTS>> Certainly about -- around how safety and efficacy are being monitored by the gold standard folks at the FDA. [13:11:05] >> Let's do these three more and then we'll let them go back. Go ahead. >> Jeff, you said the fda is the gold standard for ensuring the safety and efficacy of vaccines. To what except does today's news add urgency to the effort of getting a permanent nominee confirmed ahead of the fda? Clearly it's always an important post but how much does this news -- >> I have no personnel announcement to make today. The fda has extraordinary group of scientists and experts that will lead these types of efforts. >> How helpful will a permanent director be in November? [13:12:02] >> I think the fda does an extraordinary job and the teams that are addressing these issues are experienced teams. In fact, the acting directors is a very experienced leader so I think the experience of the fda and expertise of the fda is indeed T gold standard. >> Are there immediate plans to accommodate the states because of a pause? Can you guarantee every person with a reservation canceled will get rescheduled in a matter of days? >> As I said, I think there's already in certain locations people who were scheduled for today are already rescheduled. We'll do everything we can to support the states on the logistics of rescheduling. At the same time the most important thing is the supply exists to continue to vaccine millions of Americans a day and there's enough supply to accelerate that. There are tens of millions of [13:13:03] doses in the system. As I said today, we announced 28 million more modern and pfizer doses available to be ordered this week. >> Last question. >> Dr. Fauci, you said that there was no red flags for the other two vaccines. Can you verify that means there were no developments about blood clot symptoms in other vaccines? >> There have been no serious events to call attention to anything that would relate to a pause. >> Why would it be -- why would it be for one vaccine and not the other two? How does that speak to the safety of the other two vaccines? >> I think when you examine everything in general, the fact that you have 120 million doses -- individuals have received at least one dose, and as you subtract out of that 100 [13:14:04] million, you're talking about 114 million or so individuals have received at least one dose. And no negative red flag signals, that tells you you're dealing with a really safe vaccine. And I think apropos of several of the questions that people asked about hesitancy, you know, when you want to talk about safety, this is an extraordinary safety record that the others have and the fact that a pause was done I think just as a testimony to how seriously we take safety and why we have an fda and CDC that looks at this very carefully and hopefully we will resolve it pretty soon within days to weeks, apropos of your question. So I think it's a very strong argument for safety actually. >> Thank you, Dr. Fauci. Thank you, Jeff. >> Thank you, everybody. [13:14:40] PSAKI>> I know there's a lot going on today and you also have a call time so we will try to get through as much as we possibly can but I did want to give you all a couple of updates. Obviously, the President met yesterday with a bipartisan group of members who are, are working work on committees of jurisdiction, I can talk a little bit more about that but I also wanted to give you an update on the work of our Jobs Cabinet, which will be very, which will be central to our efforts, and especially in this period of time, we're now a lot of these members are going to go back, they're going to work with their staff they're going to work with each other, to see what the path forward is so so far cabinet secretaries from our jobs, Kevin, I should say, have made 27 calls to members including seven Republicans, those are when they connected, of course, our legislative affairs team has, has made 139 calls to members their chiefs of staff and staff directors. [13:15:35] 35 of those 99 calls to the house were two Republicans, along with 15 of the 40 calls into the Senate, this is obviously ongoing and we will venture to provide you regular updates you have a sense of what's happening. We've held 26 house and senate staff briefings and nine member level briefings, including with Republican leadership and five bipartisan groups, and clearly picking up senior administration officials have also engaged with rural leaders, faith communities in the private sector, they've held briefings with bipartisan groups of over 1000 mayors and county elected officials, and I've had one on one conversations with governors from both parties. I also wanted to highlight that this week is black maternal health week and in its honor today the Vice President and domestic policy Adviser Susan Rice are hosting a roundtable with women who will share their experiences with complications from pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. The impact of postpartum post, post childbirth [13:16:33] as well as their work and advocacy and research highlighting the disparities that black women face and maternal health, this I think this actually started around 1230 So I should say they, their, their event is ongoing. We also announced initial actions we are taking to address the maternal health crisis in the United States, including significant funding to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates improve Huberty and and race based disparities nationwide, the approval of the first Medicaid section 1115 waiver and Illinois to broadly extend postpartum coverage this approval will help ensure access to vital health care services, promote better health outcomes and reduce their rate of maternal morbidity and mortality. And obviously this is an issue we will continue to work hard on. [13:17:17] I also just wanted to highlight that we're also hosting today, a virtual Small Business briefing on the American jobs plan. Small Business Administrator newly confirmed as well as mine will join the event with 1000s of small business owners to highlight how the American jobs plan support small business. The plan, the President has proposed provides direct support to small businesses by increasing access to federal contracts and investing more than $110 billion in financing and technical, technical assistance programs. As you know, the President also attended a congressional tribute for US Capitol Officer William Evans, this morning, he paid his respects. For those of you who didn't see to Officer Evans and met with his family, the present, following his remarks, I should say, the President offered his support to the Capitol Police who have weathered great stress and responsibilities and January's interaction. In addition to sustaining the loss of another fellow officer. [13:18:15] Finally, the President will deliver remarks tomorrow at the White House on the way forward in Afghanistan, including his plans and timeline for withdrawing US troops in close coordination with our partners and allies, and the government of Afghanistan, and its commitment to focusing on the threats and opportunities we face around the world today, we will have an advisory with more details out later today, we of course are doing a series of briefings throughout the day with all of you and others. I'm going to be limited and what I'm going to share from here because I don't want to get ahead of the President, but I will look forward to having conversation with all of you in the coming days about the details of his speech with that go ahead, Alex. Q>> Let's start with Russia. Can you share any details on the proposed summit with President Putin, or would it be what would the topics be and what was his response, and also putting himself suggested public talks with 5g in March, and he was brushed off by the White House so what's, what's the change what's behind the change in posture. PSAKI>> Well, let me first say that, as you note, the President had a call with President Putin this morning we put out a readout of that, but let me reiterate a couple of the highlights. For those of you who are following other pieces of news during this call they discussed a number of regional ish global and global issues, including the attempt intent of the United States and Russia to pursue a strategic stability dialogue on a range of arms control and emerging security issues, building on the extension of the New START Treaty president vice Biden also made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interest in response to Russia's actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference, and he also emphasized the United States, unwavering commitment to Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity, the president voiced our concerns over the sudden the aggressive Russian military buildup and increasing aggression on the border of Ukraine, and called on Russia to de escalate tensions, so as it relates to your question. 132009 I will say that, you know, our approach to our relationship with Russia is one where we certainly expect the relationship to remain a challenge. We expect there will be continued difficult conversations. We are prepared to confront those, but our goal is to have a relationship with Russia that is predictable and stable. And having a conversation or a dialogue, which the plans will need to be developed on -- this is the first conversation about it at that level, of course. 132039 The purpose of that is to, of course, be honest and candid, where there are areas where we disagree and have concerns, but also work together on areas where there is mutual interest, and that may relate to arms control, as -- as we did with the extension of New START shortly after the President was inaugurated, or even working together on pursuing an Iran Nuclear Deal. 132103 So there'll be a range of topics discussed. As we get closer and details are finalized, we'll share those with you but we're just at the early stages of the discussions. [13:21:10] Q>> And then with respect to Russia's military filled up at the Ukrainian border, what is on the table to respond if Russia doesn't back down, I mean in our military options being considered. PSAKI>> Well, Secretary Blinken on Secretary Austin are both in Brussels now, they are having discussions with their counterparts about a range of topics including the military buildup on the border, so I won't get ahead of those discussions I expect they will do a readout, Q>> when those discussions conclude any approach or engagement with Russia or actions would be done in coordination, Afghanistan, Republicans are talking is that with the announcement has happened, the withdrawal of all troops by September 11 And so I wanted to get your reaction to something which we cannot just said. He suggested that it would put our NATO partners in a shared fight that we have not yet, one would abandon the women of Afghanistan because freedoms and human rights will be in peril. He said that the administration plans to turn tail and abandon the fight in Afghanistan. So, what is your response to this criticism and criticism from other Republicans that it's it's too soon without any plans to sort of maintain stability there 132219 PSAKI>> Well, again, I will leave it to the President to lay out his specific plans for withdrawing troops, the reasoning and his commitment to focusing on the threats and opportunities we face around the world today. But I will say that the President has been consistent in his view that there's not a military solution to Afghanistan, that we have been there for far too long. That has been his view for some time -- well documented, well reported on. 132248 He believes that -- and he remains committed to supporting negotiations between the parties, which many of you may be following our resuming next week. And he also believes we need to focus our resources on fighting the threats we face today, 20 years -- almost 20 years after the war began. And so, that's his approach and how he looks at this decision but he will lay out more specifics tomorrow. [13:23:15] Q>> You mentioned President Biden has been consistent as a candidate. He told CBS that he thought a smaller footprint of should remain in Afghanistan in the case that terrorists remaster capacity, but now he's committing to drawing troops to a number that is zero. Can you explain that change. Again, I know we're doing a number of briefings with all of you, where you will have all of these questions answered, I will say that the President's approach and his decision that he made was done through cold close consultation with military leaders with his national security team with partners and allies around the world, and with his objective of mine in mind of ensuring we are focusing on the threats we're facing, we're doing that in close coordination with our partners and allies, and I will leave it to the briefings that you will be receiving and his speech tomorrow to outline more and more further detail, go ahead. Q>> Russia, the US has repeatedly called on Russia to de escalate tensions at the Ukrainian border. This person I have any reason to believe Putin will actually listen this time. 132425 PSAKI>> Well, I would say when it comes to diplomacy, you don't stop calling for what -- what are the right actions and the appropriate actions and the actions the global community believes are right, just because you see a hesitation in taking those actions. And there is -- what is different now is that there is coordination on the international front with the Europeans, with our partners. As I mentioned, Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin are in Brussels now, having a discussion about a range of issues, including the aggression at the border. 132456 And that pressure is different. Russia is an outlier in many ways, in that regard. So, we will continue to work in partnership with our allies and partners, and continue to put the pressure on and call for what's right. Q>> Thanks, Jen. PSAKI>> Go ahead. Q>> Just one quick follow up on Russia, in reading the readout that you guys send out. 132515 Q>> Does the President currently characterize the relationship with Russia as honest and stable, or is that something he wants to work toward? PSAKI>> I think what we're working toward is predictable and stable. We're not -- we're not looking for an establishment of trust, as much as a predictability and stability because there are a range of threats. There are a range of opportunities in the world. And the President wants to have the bandwidth to focus on them, not on an adversarial relationship with Russia. [13:25:45] You guys have had a little bit of back and forth, the White House in the Michigan governor's office is the President right now, when she's an ally, kind of disappointed with how the governor has managed COVID in her state at least of late. Well, let me say, Phil, as you know you've been covering it quite closely. We've been at war with this virus for over a year now, and Governor Whitmer has been in charge of a state that has been incredibly hard hit by COVID for that period of time, and she's done a tremendous job in our view, while facing an enormous set of challenges, she has been steadfast in her commitment to keeping the people of the state of Michigan safe, and a tremendous partner in the fight against COVID and if you go back more than a year ago, she led that fight to make sure first responders in the state had peepee. They needed when cases took off and she pushed for more testing when the federal government told governor's that they were frankly on their own, and to figure it out on their own. She had had to endure not just a public health crisis and a hostile state legislator sloucher but friends who have passed from the virus armed aggression and state capitol and threats against her life. She's also had to coordinate assess or response to a faulty dam burst all well, doing all of this and it devastated Michigan community so we feel she's shown some serious grit fight and resolve. We're going to continue to work with her on how we can help address the uptick in her state, and help deploy the resources we have available. The President repeatedly said that he wants the proposals put on the table to pay for his I've seen proposals to pay for it. Is that a red line is he open to not pay for some of that proposal if that's the direction Congress wants. 132722 PSAKI>> Well, I'm not going to -- his only red line is inaction. And he is happy to hear from, as he did yesterday, proposals that members have whether it is to have a lower increase or, yes, a lower increase of the rate on corporations, whether there are proposals to pay for this plan in a different way, he's open to hearing it. His starting place is that we should pay for it, but we're at the beginning of the discussions here, and ultimately, his only red line is investing in our infrastructure, making sure we are putting Americans back to work over the long term. [13:27:56] Go ahead. Sorry America. Finally the Russia. The President proposing a summit with Vladimir Putin would suggest that he's looking to de escalate tensions there so does that mean it's unlikely the US is going to enact harsher sanctions on Russia, like sanctioning their sovereign debt. Well, well I'm not going to get ahead of any announcements we have on the consequences that we will invoke on the Russian leaders for the actions they've already taken, no it does not change the calculations the the process the review that has been ongoing I expect we'll have more to say soon, and certainly the President was clear that there will be consequences as he has said publicly, some will be seen and some will be unseen as we often say, and hopefully we'll have more to share with all of you soon Q>> One on on nominations. 132848 I noticed that the Director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not included in the tranche that was announced yesterday that included DDP and USCIS. So why wasn't that person included in that tranche and when should we expect to see a nominee for that position? 132905 PSAKI>> It's a great question. I don't have any personnel announcements or previews for you. Sometimes, we announce things because they're through the vetting process and a decision has been made. And while it might be cleaner to do it in a group, we want to get these names out, nominated, through the process as quickly as possible. So hopefully, we'll have a nominee soon. Go ahead. 132923 Q>> I know you're leaving the details of this to the President tomorrow, but I do want to try on just one part of this. The administration, obviously, is committed to supporting Afghan women and minorities. What do you say to people who are concerned that this could put them and their lives at risk by withdrawing? 132937 PSAKI>> I will say that, broadly speaking, the President and this administration supports women and girls around the world. We support it through a range of actions, through a range of initiatives, through a range of programs that we support. We will absolutely continue to do that. The President has been consistent in his view that there -- there is no viable end to the war, military viable end to the war in Afghanistan. 133004 He's had that view for some time now, and he has to make decisions through the prism of what's in the interests of the national security of the United States. And that includes keeping our focus on where the threats are emerging around the world, whether those are emerging threats from al Qaeda in parts of North Africa, or other threats or opportunities we see in other regions. And hence, those are big motivating factors in his decision. 133029 Q>> And on police reforms and racial justice, it doesn't appear that Democrats have the votes needed to pass the George Floyd Policing Act as the administration hopes. Is the White House open to negotiations on this, possibly even giving maybe another look at Tim Scott's Justice Act the Democrats blocked last year? 133044 PSAKI>> Well, we will leave that -- I know Senator Scott, Senator Booker and others are in close discussion and coordination about what a path forward may look like. We certainly understand that there could be changes to proposals that have been forward -- put forward to day. We believe that the George Floyd Act has a lot of the components that will help rebuild the trust, help address -- put in place many of the reforms that are frankly long overdue. 133110 So, we -- but we also recognize that democracy in action means changes take place. So we'll have to see what the discussions look like and whether the President could support any changes that would be made through that process. Q>> And if I could, I just want to get your reaction to some comments from Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib that are getting a fair amount of attention, responding to Daunte Wright's shooting. She says, "I'm done with those who condone government funded murder. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can't be reformed." What do you make of those comments? Do you disavow her calls for no more policing? 133140 PSAKI>> Look, I -- what I can say from here is that that's not the President's view. The President's view is that there are necessary, outdated reforms that should be put in place, that there is accountability that needs to happen, that the loss of life is far too high, that these families are suffering around the country, and that the Black community is exhausted from the ongoing threats they feel. 133208 But he also believes that there is a forum for putting in place legislation, the George Floyd Act, that can help put many of these necessary reforms in place and that part of what needs to happen is rebuilding trust in communities, in order to get to a better place. Go ahead, Steve. Q>> A follow up to that. There are people all across the country who are demonstrating and actively calling for reform. What expectation should they have for change in the Biden era? [13:32:27] What is this President going to bring to bear. If for example qualified immunity isn't removed from the law, if you can't get that in a bipartisan agreement. Well, first, we're not going to get ahead of what the discussions are about a bipartisan agreement I think what Americans who are exhausted, who have suffered who are worried about their kids and their family members should know is that the President sees racial equity as a central focus of his presidency, and his actions, bear that out. He has obviously signed a number of executive actions. He is a strong supporter of putting in place, working through legislation that can put in place, permanent reforms, and he will continue to elevate and talk about the need to address these issues across the country at a range of opportunities and I hopefully that gives some reassurance to the public about his commitment, quick question about yesterday's infrastructure meeting there were some rumblings on the Hill that one of the things that was mentioned in the discussion was an increase in the gasoline tax, can you explain the context and what was actually discussing. 133336 PSAKI>> Sure. I think that was a little bit of a garble, unintentional, but in yesterday's meeting with members of Congress, the President mentioned the gas tax only to make a point that even a significant increase in the gas tax, which some people have proposed, would pay for only a fraction of the investment the country needs. Now, fundamentally, he does not believe that paying for this historic investment in rebuilding our nation's infrastructure and creating millions of jobs should be on the backs of Americans. 133403 So he doesn't believe that anyway. He's proposed his own means of paying for it, but he was using it as an example of how it wouldn't even make a sizable dent in paying for the package. Q>> So it is not under consideration here? PSAKI>> Correct. Correct. Go ahead, Andrew. [13:34:17] Q>> Andrew national friend, you have tension, obviously, with Russia over Ukraine and Crimea. There are a lot of concerns about what's happening in China in the South China Sea and also in Taiwan Are you confident is the President confident that the US militaries, is postured correctly and prepared to deal with multiple crises, occurring almost simultaneously at a time when you're withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. PSAKI>> Absolutely. The President has utmost confidence in General Austin, and his leadership, and Secretary Austin I should guess I should say switching switching titles, and he believes we have the best military men and women serving in the world, and so he has absolute confidence. He also believes that we should leave with diplomacy, and his actions his leadership, his approach. Certainly bear that out. It's done China with the climate summit coming up and you do see opportunities to sort of rebuild this relationship, or to address the tensions in the long standing pensions in the relationship with China over the climate summit just sort of use that as a an opportunity to move forward. I, we obviously have not made a determination about bilateral portions or meetings that would take place as a part of the summit, we've invited over 40 leaders. But I would say that we are engaged, As you know, at a range of levels. We are approaching our relationship as one, not of conflict but of competition. We believe that the most important steps we can take is to rebuild and support our own economy here at home, and to also be candid about areas where we have concerns, whether it's human rights abuses, or I technological abuses, and that is certainly how we approach our relationship. So, well the summit is still coming together I'm not sure I would go that far. Given there are over 40 leaders we have invited and we're still finalizing the details of the, of the events on the domestic front, In terms of the Georgia deployed policing act. Did you anticipate major protests and riots, if it depending on the verdict in the Chavez Chavez case, and what are you doing to prepare for that we have a lot of controversy during the Trump administration about the use of National Guard troops are you preparing to put in National Guard troops, if needed. If the, depending on what happens in that verdict, I know it's a hypothetical question but you were, you have to prepare for all eventualities and last night, or today it's got the President was, you know, appealing for calm to just tell us walk us through your strategy and approach, given how volatile volatile. Tensions are the situation. Well, while we are not going to prejudge the outcome, which I realized you're not asking me to do, but just to say that clearly we are working with state and local leaders to advance our shared goal of ensuring public safety and citizens' rights to peaceful protest. The President, we all will continue to monitor the developments and our team will remain in contact with these officials on the ground as well as with civil rights leaders and community stakeholders, but don't think I'm going to read out more than that. Go ahead. Sending him an extra, I would just leave it at what I can make Go ahead. The President's tax plans He has said that individuals households under $400,000 per year, aren't going to see their taxes go up. Does that also apply two indirect effects from the corporate tax changes that might not technically be tax increases. But when average family of four making under that amount, sees their heating bill go up because utility companies increase their rates to accommodate the 20% corporate tax rate, is that okay or acceptable to the President, you know, technically attacks increase. Well, I would say that there's no President. Technically, a tax increase. Well, I would say that there's no reason that that is what needs to happen, we saw, we have evidence of what happens. Back in 2017, when Republicans prioritize tax cuts for big corporations over investing in working people, there were many arguments made about what the impact would be the benefits would be passed on to consumers, they would invest in r&d, there would be jobs created, none of that happened. There were stop stock buybacks more incentives to offshore record compensation for executives, we have seen countless studies where the biggest impact to these corporations would likely be on capital. So I would say that's not a concern we have at this moment in time. But even though I mean, utility companies get, maybe it's arguably partially for show, but they did announce rate decreases after the 27 tax law passed and attributed it to the tax law, that thing. Is there some data that you're expecting from economist suggesting that will be the case are you just getting head of what might happen when the bill passes. I'm just getting ahead of that, Like, there were those announcements. They didn't have the intended effects, but utility companies didn't say, hey are you know we can pass on a slower rate to consumers through their utility bills, utility companies that I have not seen it if they have that they would raise the cost. If this bill passed invest in infrastructure and get led out of the pipes to make sure there's clean drinking water and create millions of jobs, wherever the specific announcements like that I'm just saying that was the one of the results that that occurred after the 2017 I don't think we have to anticipate it as an issue quite yet. Go ahead, Hans. They've been asked to go 60% During enrichment. What does that do to the ongoing indirect talks does it complicate them others tuxedo on, and then I'll, I'll have a couple follow couple of follow ups. Sure. Well, let me say that. First we take seriously Iran's provocative announcement of its intention to begin enriching uranium to 60%, which the P five plus one should be unified in rejecting the step of calls into question around seriousness. With regard to the nuclear talks and underscores the imperative of returning to mutual compliance with the JC po A, we share a common stated objective of returning to mutual compliance with the JCP away with Iran and we have been engaged constructively, what we felt was constructive dialogue. Last week, even as it was indirect in Vienna, and we, while they were difficult. and while we expect this to be long. We expect and we have not been alerted of any change in plans attendance in the meetings that will resume later this week. So, we are certainly concerned about these provocative announcements. But our goal remains, seeing through a diplomatic process which we expect to resume in Vienna later this week, very clear you expect, you expect vision direct negotiations to continue even though you're questioning their seriousness to those negotiations. Well look I think cons we are, we believe that the diplomatic path is the only path forward here, and that having a discussion, even in direct is the best way to come to resolution. It doesn't mean that we hold back on concerns we have and don't encourage our P five plus one partners to expressing those same concerns, and having that as part of the discussion, sort of diplomatic freq was the US giving us a heads up about the attack from potentially Israel, the power facility for the talks. I have nothing further to read out about our understanding of the origin or the intention of the attack us at all in any way involved in the attack on the power facility and as I said yesterday we were not. Q>> If I could just do, we'll switch gears to Russia real quick. The same as in the coming months for this potential Summit. Is that going to be this summer. PSAKI>> We'll see in the coming months would be the summer. Does the President have any preference on where the location should be. It's a great question I know Alex is asking a similar one, we're still just at the early part of this process and so as we have more details we will share them with all of you. Northern Hemisphere. I don't think we're quite there yet. You're sounding like there's a place you'd like to summer with President Biden and President Putin I can pass that along. Certainly, but. Okay, Go ahead, hard to follow, but I'm sure you have a very serious a good question. Go ahead. Q>> Thanks for, I suppose my question is, LGBTQ rights, told me weeks ago, President Biden stands by his campaign promise to sign the legislation within 100 within 100 days. We are now on day, 83 of the presidency and it looks like that bill is close to making it by that deadline and the President is facing multiple crises as evidenced by the questions in this briefing, as the President continues to stand by that campaign promise, he does. He continues to work toward it. And as you know, in order to sign legislation, it needs to come to his desk and while he is certainly been a vocal advocate in his support for the Equality Act, he and obviously as you know and noted it passed the House and needs to work its way through the Senate. He requires the Senate passing it in order for him to sign it suffered slide in getting out of the sun to health legislation. Well certainly he's put out a statement of administration policy, he has talked about his view that this is legislation that should pass and he has a range of conversations about a range of topics but also sodas our legislative team who worked to move forward his agenda every single day. One thing that's related to this is the Supreme Court's upcoming decision in the case of Fulton versus City of Philadelphia, which will determine whether there's a First Amendment right to reject job placement of the same sex couples, Is the administration to any contingency planning for that decision in terms of the Equality Act or anything else. Tell me a little bit more contingency planning, as if What if there's a different outcome than we would like from the Supreme Court ruling is just a clinic based on the outcome of this decision, and how that squares with the passage of this legislation and I think some observers say that one decision or another might let the hair out and allow and cheap lucky but that sort of changed the landscape for passage of the Equality Act. It's an interesting question I'd probably have to talk to our legislative team. We typically as you know, don't get ahead of Supreme Court rulings, but I will talk to them and see if there's anything we can convey directly to you. Go ahead, think, oh I'm sorry go ahead. I'm just gonna keep track so I get to everybody but go ahead. I have a question on immigration. So, you know, with the Guatemala and Honduras and Mexico deploying their troops off their borders, what are, What is the White House's about administration's next plan to kind of help mitigate migration at the US Mexico border at our own border. Well, I would say that part of our effort here in working with these countries is the recognition that irregular migration is a hemispheric issue that requires all countries in the region to play their part so part of our effort here was to work with Mexico and Northern Triangle governments to implement collaborative migration measures of course if these are effective, then there will be fewer people who are coming to our own borders so there is an impact, even if that announcement that we just made that in that in that ensures that countries have deployed, security personnel migration officials and other officials at the different border to add their borders to address migration. And, you know, last month we saw some really large numbers at the border of migrant apprehensions, how is the body new ministration working with local officials will flip with governments and local nonprofits along the border who, some are picking up some, some of the costs like, You know, COVID test, and hotel. Hello, yeah bookings and so kind of how is the government working with these local officials, will they play a tremendously important role in helping ensure, as you noted, in some cases it is working with NGOs and local authorities and officials on testing and other cases there are covering the cost of hotels and others for quarantining so they play a really tremendous role in helping ensure we are working in a humane way with those who are coming to our border on in a range of ways. Now we continue to convey, which is our policy that the border is not open, that we are turning away the majority of people have adults who come to the border. But we still have children, we still have some migrant families who Mexico cannot accept for a variety of reasons, and these NGOs play an incredibly important role, I know we're at the end of our time here so let me just because there's a gather that's why, but let's see if we can just get to you to quickly go ahead and secure about the vaccine and well Iran if I can, several times from the podium you acknowledge that the button administration may not be the best messenger for certain groups on the vaccines, such as white evangelicals conservative white folks. Can you take us inside the process as to how you're determining who the best messengers are for those communities are you reaching out specifically to targeted people, are you relying on volunteers. What does that process look like. Well, a big part of our effort, and I appreciate you asking this question is to create in part of community core, which is a program that gets back based messages into the hands of local messengers and what we've seen through our data is that local messengers, whether that is elected officials mayor's doctors sometimes clergy civic leaders are the most effective messengers of anyone, and that's why a large part of our $3 billion funding that we have are are focused on getting out into the country is on working with community based organizations to strengthen vaccine confidence in the highest risk and hardest hit communities. So it really depends community, community but we work with faith based organizations we work with community health workers we work with disability organizations we work with organizations across the board of all different backgrounds and affiliations so that they can get the message clearly out to communities, how are you determining which organizations know who these influential people are who are going to reach these certain groups that you feel like perhaps you're not going to reach are, how we determine who community leaders are in communities, and like center trying to, you know, deal I think as I'm conveying here a lot of this is based on local taking a local rural approach and it's a lot of it's driven through HHS so they may be best able to answer your question, I just want to get to our last person here go ahead. My colleague, do you have a comment on Japan's fans to release wastewater from Fukushima to Pacific Ocean into the Pacific Ocean. Let me get you a comment from our national security team after the briefing. I'm happy to do that before directly to your colleague I should clarify who initiated the full phone call with President Putin was threatened by them. I'm not I don't think I'm gonna have more detail on that and I'll check if I do, because that's one that's President fight and the want to restore travel with, between the United States and Europe as well, with the United Kingdom before summer, even as it relates to COVID restrictions. Our focus, of course, we'd love to have travel return, just like everybody would like to return to normalcy but we rely on the advice and the guidelines, done by our health and medical experts and so will defer to them on the timeline for that, just for sorting fellows between Europe and the United States for the summer, many people need to plan in advance, should we in. We understand that. But also we will rely on the guidance and the timeline of our health and medical teams. Thanks, Everyone,

FS37 WH PRESS BRIEFING ROBO CUTS 1240 ABC UNI WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING WITH PRESS SECRETARY JEN PSAKI, JEFF ZIENTS, AND DR ANTHONY FAUCI 124712 PSAKI>> Well, today, I'm joined by, of course, Jeff Zients, our Covid Coordinator, and Dr. Fauci to talk about the news from the FDA this morning. They are also going to be able to take some questions. I will keep an eye on the clock. And with that, I will turn it over to Jeff. 124732 ZIENTS>> Well, first, thank you, Jen. And thank you to all of you. Good afternoon. As you all know, the FDA and CDC announced earlier today that, out of an abundance of caution, they've recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine as they review data involving 6 reported US cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 124804 Let me start by saying 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 arms in the United States to date. The President has always said that this is a wartime effort. We're at war against the virus. 124833 And, as such, we've mobilized a wartime effort so that we're prepared for a wide range of scenarios. And that's why the President took action earlier this year, before the J&J vaccine was even authorized, to secure enough Pfizer and Moderna doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July. Over the last few weeks, we have made available more than 25 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna each and every week. 124910 In fact, this week, we will make available 28 million doses of these two vaccines. [12:49:18] And as we've done since we took office, we will continue to get the supply out the door as soon as it's available. So -- 124927 We have more than enough supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue the current pace of about 3 million shots per day, and that puts us well on pace to meet the President's goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office. And continue to reach every adult who wants to get vaccinated. 124955 We're now working with our state and federal partners to get anyone scheduled for a J&J vaccine quickly rescheduled for a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. [12:50:10] And we're actually already seeing this happen today at sites across the country where j&j appointments are being adjusted that were for today to actually get Merna and pfizer today. So that's happening many places 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. CDC and fda will continue to do just that and provide regular updates to the public. And they will do so as they continue their investigation. Withthat, let me hand it over [12:51:09] to Dr. Fauci, and then we'll take questions. FAUCI>> Thank you very much, Jeff. Just to follow up and maybeill in a couple ofoints from what Jeff said and what our colleagues in the fda and the CDC said earlier this morning at the press conference. A couple of issues have come up of the impnce of calling this pause because people say, what does the pause mean? It really allows both the fda and the CDC to further investigation these cases to try and understand some of the mechanisms of what it is. Some more details about the history of the individuals who were involved that might shed some light on looking forward. Wh will happen and what we will do. That's the fst thing. The other thing is to make [12:52:10] physicians out there aware O this. And there are som clinical applications of that, that I believe are important. For example, if someone comes in with this really rather rar syndrome of thrombociti where you get thromboses. 125211 The most common way to treat that is with heparin. That would be a mistake, in this situation, because it could be dangerous and make the situation much worse. So there's a clinically relevant reason why you want to make this known to people. [12:52:28] Also when individuals, particularly younger women might come into a physician with a particular thrombotic phenomenon, which something that happens for other reasons all the time, that we want to alert physicians to take a story of a recent vaccination. That would be important. So the pause not only allows us to take a look at the cases and [12:53:10] learn more but also a signal out there to help the physicians. Common question, and I'm sure we'll have a number questions, which Jeff and I will be happy to answer to you, but one of the questions that comes up already rather frequently, does this have anything to do with the efficacy of the vaccine? So we know that there have been 6.85 million doses of j&j distributed in the United States thus far. So may who had it month or two ago would say, what does this mean for me? It really doesn't mean anything. You're okay. If you look at the frame, the time frame when this occurs, it's pretty tight from a few days, 6 T to 13 days, from the time of T vaccination. The nextstion is one that we're all obviously aware of. What impact is this going to have about people's attitudes about vaccines in general. So you might know that there [12:54:11] have been now 120 milli people that have received at least one dose of a vaccine. St of that, subtract the 6.85 million is in the messenger rna from pfizer and modern. There have been no red flag signals from those. So you're talking about tens and tens and tens of millions of people have received vaccine with no adverse effect. 125422 This is a really rare event. If you look at what we know so far, there have been 6 out of the 6.85 million doses, which is less than 1 in a million. [12:54:35] So, remember, this is something that we always, out of -- really out of an abundance of caion, as Jeff said, to give us the time to take a good look at it and see if we can get further information. So I'll stop there, Jeff, and we can, obviously, take some questions. 125553 MARY BRUCE Q>> You've described this as a really rare event, but it seems like a pretty drastic step. Do you believe that the scientists sufficiently weighed the benefits of this pause against the damage or risk that this could do to the broader effort and the impact it could have on vaccine hesitancy? 125508 ZIENTS>> Well, Dr. Fauci, maybe you'll go after me. But I want to say that we have plenty of supply. So I mentioned that we, for the last several weeks, have been sending 25 million doses out. And while we're averaging 3 million shots in arms per day, the 25 million supports actually that level, and even accelerating. And we just sent out 28 million doses today -- or announced 28 million doses will be sent this week to states, tribes and territories and through our federal channels. 125541 So we have plenty of supply to continue our vaccination program and to hit our goals. But over to Dr. Fauci. FAUCI>> Yeah. I believe your question is: did we pull the trigger too soon on this because it was such a rare event? 125554 Well, you know, our FDA is internationally known for their capability of making sure that we have the safest products out there. And that's what I meant when I said "an abundance of caution." You want to make sure that safety is the important issue here. We are totally aware that this is a very rare event. We want to get this worked out as quickly as we possibly can. 125620 And that's why you see the word "pause." In other words, we want to hold off for a bit and very well may go back to that, maybe with some conditions or maybe not. But we want to leave that up to the FDA and the CDC to investigate this carefully. So I don't think it was pulling the trigger too quickly. MARY BRUCE Q>> And just a logistical question more so than anything. The advisory committee on immunization practices is meeting tomorrow -- FAUCI>> Right. MARY BRUCE Q>> -- to discuss this. Why not try and meet today? I mean, is this not a moment to sort of drop everything and focus on this? 125648 FAUCI>> You know, I think you have to get people pulled together. I think tomorrow is not such a long wait. I mean, I am sure they want to get everybody. There may be people who are not available. They want to get the full component of it. [12:57:02] >> Can you talk a little bit about the process in both deciding for this pause and sort of what comes next? First off, did the white house have any advance notice of the issues with the j&j vaccine and was there involvement fro the white house in deciding this? And how do you evaluate when to pause vaccines? We are going to see more of these pauses in the future if more issues pop up? >> I'll let you do the first part. I'll do theecond part. >> This decision was made by the CDC and fda. Andt'shat's one of the good INGs about our system here. We're ruled by the science, not by any other considerations. So the decision was really thoroughly made by the CDC and the fda. >> Staying consistent with following the science, we we notified last night there would be an annocement this morning and, therefore, had no other involvement other than knowing [12:58:12] last night there would Ben announcement this morning from the fda and CDC. >> And in this review, what are they looking for? What are they evaluating? When should we expect to see conclusions? >> They want to see if there's any clues of any else going on. For example, if they're going to-- hypothetical. If they're going to make a decision to go forward and say, you know, we looked at this. If they find some common denominators among the women who were involved that might synergizing and enabling this type of adverse event, they may know tt for those who don't have that, it may be much safer. There may be clues when you go down and really get granular about every single case. In addition, they want to look at what some of the mechanisms are. The mechanisms may give some insight as to what is going on. >> Do expect to potentially E further pauses in the future? Could this keep happening with the vaccines because they're so [12:59:12] new? >> If you look at the history -- take a look at what has gone on with the modern and the pfizer. Where you have literally tens and tens and tens of millions. There have been no red flags. When you have a red flag of something that is as serious as thrombocytic, particularly when you have an individual, one of whom died, you take that seriously. So I don't think that minimal things that very likely have nothing at all to do with the vaccine that we're going to pull the trigger so quickly as to keep stopping and stopping and stopping. I think this is an unusual occurrence of an adverse event that you want to make sure before you go forward you investigate it thoroughly. They are pausing so that they can look att more carefully. >> Given that the infected [13:00:15] patients were all women between 18 and 48, should women under 50 be excluded from getting the j&j vaccine? >> The question you're asking gets back to several of the questions here. That's the reason why the CDC and the fda want to take a look at this and say, is there -- are there some categories now where people outside of that category don't have a of the factors so it would be okay to go on. It is entirely conceivable making no predictions that there may be some restrictions in an age group or not. We don't know that now. That's the reason why they are working very hard answer the question you're asking. >> And what's youral ical advice for people who have recently received the j&j vaccine and may be concerned about blood clots? 130043 FAUCI>> Well, I mean, if someone recently -- within days, I would tell them to just, first of all, don't get an anxiety reaction because, remember, it's less than 1 in a million. However, having said that, pay attention. Do you have symptoms? Headache? Do you have shortness of breath? Chest discomfort? Do you have anything that resembles a neurological syndrome? And, obviously, if you have something as serious as a seizure, I mean, you -- that's pretty clear. [13:01:13] But the manifestations of this are that headaches the very common component of it because the sinus thromboses they have is the draining of the blood in the brain and it would cause enough symptomatology that you'd notice it. Just tell people to watch out for not feeling very well. >> Officials from different states told us this morning that they were really caught off guard by this announcement. They were ready to put shots into people's arms and had to scramble. Can Y explain that chain of communication, when and how did you notify states that they might have to paus >> We didn't know about anythg in terms of the announcement until last night. We didn't even know the content of the announcement until this morning when eveone else read [13:02:18] . As soon as we got that, our team farmed out and started contacting folks to make sure that everyone knew that that was nownnounced by the fda and CDC. Tuesday is the day I have my regular governors call so that was fortunate that was at 11:00 A.M. We had all the governors already lined up with their teams. And we had doctors Fauci and Dr. Walensky join that call and the teams will continue to support the statewide effort, the federalchannels, communi health centers to make the adjustments. I think the message got out clearly and quickly. There was no heads-up here. The announcement was made this morning. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, ys. Just two quick ones. Do we have a timeline in terms hough long -- are we talking days bore this may get put back on or a week and second one for Jeff. I understand wh you're saying on the macro level related to supply. When you talk to local officials, j&j shot because of storage, because it was one shot, it's considered a crucial component in rural areas and [13:03:19] underserved communities. How does that not affect the timeline that you guys are on in terms of actlly getting shots in arms? >> During one of the questions which was asked, I believe, of the CDC, the question was, yes, yours, and I don't know what they're going to be doing. What I heard from the previous press discussion was it's going to be more like days to weeks rather than weeks to months. 130330 ZIENTS>> We have plenty of supply and we have plenty of vehicles for delivering that supply, whether it's through the federal pharmacy channel, whether it's mobile units, community health centers. And all of those are equipped to deliver the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. [13:03:45] So we'll make sure those units continue torow in number. You're right we need to reach peoplehere they are in the mobile units and community health centers are particularly essential for those. And they have beeneceiving modern and pfizer doses since [13:04:20] we preambled those programs. >> Youust swap out the vaccine and the mobile unit goes into a rural area? >> Moderna and pfizer are two-dose vaccines so it's important people come back for their second dose. Three weeks post their first dose of pfizer and four weeks post their first dose of modern. But all of our units, all of our delivery channels are equipped to deliver bothfizer and modern. >> And just real quick, how does this not contribute to the very areas where hesitancy is most predominant at this point in time? Do you have to change your message? Do you have to do something different to address hesitancy in the wake of something like this? >> We nee to continue to be transparent about what the science is telling us. That's what brings us here today. There's been tens of millions of doses of pfizer and modern administered over the last several months and millions of people both in the U.S. And around the world have been safely vaccinated. 130500 I think it's important that, you know, we have here the FDA, and the FDA is the gold standard for ensuring the safety and the effectiveness of the vaccines. And today's action, I think, is clear evidence that they are taking every step necessary to ensure the American people have clear and transparent information about the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines. So the bottom line is the vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer that are now being administered are clearly safe and are saving lives, and every American should get vaccinated when it's their turn. [13:05:33] >> Thanks, Jeff. Is the -- is j&j production going to continue during this pause, and secondly, is the Biden administration considering ordering more doses of pfizer and moderna given -- just in case this problem with j&j becomes prolonged? >> So the j&j production issues in Baltimore, obviously, completely separate set of issues. Those are being worked out through the fda process with the company. And production of those vaccines [13:06:22] can begin if and when the fda authorizes that facility. Your second question was, 130611 We really have thought of this as a wartime effort from the beginning, which is why we purchased excess supply so that we'd be ready for any contingency. And we'll continue to look at every possibility, in terms of making sure that we always have enough supply for the American people. [13:06:25] >> Just to clarify on the j&j production. Not related to the Baltimore plant but just overall, j&j production is that going to pause while this pause on administering dos occurs or is the production going to continue? >> The production is centered around that baltire facity. The vast majority of production is at that Baltimore facility. >> I want to just ask you very directly. Are you ruling out the possibility that theaccine could be removed from the market? Are you ruling out that -- are you expecting it to be re-allowed? >> I think it would be premature [13:07:23] to comment on that. And that's the reason why T pause was done. So that they could take a good look at itery carefully. Look at every factor. 130715 I wouldn't want to speculate as to what would happen. Often, when you see things like this, that you pause and come back. Whether or not that happens now, I can't guarantee it, but I can tell you that's exactly what the CDC and FDA people are going to be deciding on and looking at very carefully. [13:07:33] >> If I could just ask you that outreach question. Sohis is the problem that you've been struggling with, the sort of vaccine hesitancy. This, obviously, is a setback. What do you have to sort of ramp up to an additional war-type effort to really ensure ts message gets out there? Do you personally go to states like Mississippi where the vaccine vaccination rate is really low? >> I'll answer your first [13:08:25] question. Coistent with being a wartime effort we pn for different scenarios and contingencies. We have enough supply of modern and pfizer to hit the gets that we've said, the 200illion shots in 100 days and to head toward the fourth ofuly that we've talked about as a country. More normal fourth of July. Clearly part of that is making sure that when Americans turn to get vaccinated, they get vaccinated. And we need to continue to build confidence. And that's done at the community level. People are trusting of their local doctors, their state leaders, their neighbors. Which is why it's important when people do get vaccinated, they noonly get themselves vaccinatedut spread the word about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. >> One of the goals you haven't mentioned today is the hope that the supply on handor the county by the end of may. Is that still operative in the wake of this pause? And the second question, it's a [13:09:25] bit surprising to learn that you ly yourself learned about this, this morning. Do youish you had heard sooner? >> I learned about it last night that there would be an announcement. Not the specifics of the announcement. No, because that's T science. We want the science agencies to lead with ience. There's no reason for us to be involved in any ofhe scientific decisions. We bring nothing to the table. That's the fda's role. That's the CDC's role. And they are Ledy terrific leaders with great teams to do the science, and this administration will be led by science. As to your first question we believe there's enough vaccine in the system, modern and pfizer, for all Americans who want to get vaccinated by may 31st to do so. 130952 Q>> I -- Jeff, I feel we're kind of dancing around the hesitancy question here. And so, I'll ask you directly. Do you think the announcement of this pause will increase or decrease vaccine hesitancy? ZIENTS>> Look, hesitancy amongst a group of people is a challenge, and we need to be addressing it and we are, as I've talked about, by going to meet people where they are, to follow all that we've learned about who people trust -- doctor, their local doctor, their nurse, their faith leader. 131024 And I think that, you know, there's a tremendous track record, as Dr. Fauci has talked about, with tens of millions of doses of Pfizer and Moderna. The FDA acting the way they did today shows that they are, indeed, the gold standard. And I think that should reassure the American public that they will be very diligent and conservative in how they approach the vaccines. 131048 Q>> So the argument is that because the FDA -- this trip wire was triggered, that should give Americans more confidence in the overall vaccination plan? ZIENTS>> Certainly about -- around how safety and efficacy are being monitored by the gold standard folks at the FDA. [13:11:05] >> Let's do these three more and then we'll let them go back. Go ahead. >> Jeff, you said the fda is the gold standard for ensuring the safety and efficacy of vaccines. To what except does today's news add urgency to the effort of getting a permanent nominee confirmed ahead of the fda? Clearly it's always an important post but how much does this news -- >> I have no personnel announcement to make today. The fda has extraordinary group of scientists and experts that will lead these types of efforts. >> How helpful will a permanent director be in November? [13:12:02] >> I think the fda does an extraordinary job and the teams that are addressing these issues are experienced teams. In fact, the acting directors is a very experienced leader so I think the experience of the fda and expertise of the fda is indeed T gold standard. >> Are there immediate plans to accommodate the states because of a pause? Can you guarantee every person with a reservation canceled will get rescheduled in a matter of days? >> As I said, I think there's already in certain locations people who were scheduled for today are already rescheduled. We'll do everything we can to support the states on the logistics of rescheduling. At the same time the most important thing is the supply exists to continue to vaccine millions of Americans a day and there's enough supply to accelerate that. There are tens of millions of [13:13:03] doses in the system. As I said today, we announced 28 million more modern and pfizer doses available to be ordered this week. >> Last question. >> Dr. Fauci, you said that there was no red flags for the other two vaccines. Can you verify that means there were no developments about blood clot symptoms in other vaccines? >> There have been no serious events to call attention to anything that would relate to a pause. >> Why would it be -- why would it be for one vaccine and not the other two? How does that speak to the safety of the other two vaccines? >> I think when you examine everything in general, the fact that you have 120 million doses -- individuals have received at least one dose, and as you subtract out of that 100 [13:14:04] million, you're talking about 114 million or so individuals have received at least one dose. And no negative red flag signals, that tells you you're dealing with a really safe vaccine. And I think apropos of several of the questions that people asked about hesitancy, you know, when you want to talk about safety, this is an extraordinary safety record that the others have and the fact that a pause was done I think just as a testimony to how seriously we take safety and why we have an fda and CDC that looks at this very carefully and hopefully we will resolve it pretty soon within days to weeks, apropos of your question. So I think it's a very strong argument for safety actually. >> Thank you, Dr. Fauci. Thank you, Jeff. >> Thank you, everybody. [13:14:40] PSAKI>> I know there's a lot going on today and you also have a call time so we will try to get through as much as we possibly can but I did want to give you all a couple of updates. Obviously, the President met yesterday with a bipartisan group of members who are, are working work on committees of jurisdiction, I can talk a little bit more about that but I also wanted to give you an update on the work of our Jobs Cabinet, which will be very, which will be central to our efforts, and especially in this period of time, we're now a lot of these members are going to go back, they're going to work with their staff they're going to work with each other, to see what the path forward is so so far cabinet secretaries from our jobs, Kevin, I should say, have made 27 calls to members including seven Republicans, those are when they connected, of course, our legislative affairs team has, has made 139 calls to members their chiefs of staff and staff directors. [13:15:35] 35 of those 99 calls to the house were two Republicans, along with 15 of the 40 calls into the Senate, this is obviously ongoing and we will venture to provide you regular updates you have a sense of what's happening. We've held 26 house and senate staff briefings and nine member level briefings, including with Republican leadership and five bipartisan groups, and clearly picking up senior administration officials have also engaged with rural leaders, faith communities in the private sector, they've held briefings with bipartisan groups of over 1000 mayors and county elected officials, and I've had one on one conversations with governors from both parties. I also wanted to highlight that this week is black maternal health week and in its honor today the Vice President and domestic policy Adviser Susan Rice are hosting a roundtable with women who will share their experiences with complications from pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. The impact of postpartum post, post childbirth [13:16:33] as well as their work and advocacy and research highlighting the disparities that black women face and maternal health, this I think this actually started around 1230 So I should say they, their, their event is ongoing. We also announced initial actions we are taking to address the maternal health crisis in the United States, including significant funding to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates improve Huberty and and race based disparities nationwide, the approval of the first Medicaid section 1115 waiver and Illinois to broadly extend postpartum coverage this approval will help ensure access to vital health care services, promote better health outcomes and reduce their rate of maternal morbidity and mortality. And obviously this is an issue we will continue to work hard on. [13:17:17] I also just wanted to highlight that we're also hosting today, a virtual Small Business briefing on the American jobs plan. Small Business Administrator newly confirmed as well as mine will join the event with 1000s of small business owners to highlight how the American jobs plan support small business. The plan, the President has proposed provides direct support to small businesses by increasing access to federal contracts and investing more than $110 billion in financing and technical, technical assistance programs. As you know, the President also attended a congressional tribute for US Capitol Officer William Evans, this morning, he paid his respects. For those of you who didn't see to Officer Evans and met with his family, the present, following his remarks, I should say, the President offered his support to the Capitol Police who have weathered great stress and responsibilities and January's interaction. In addition to sustaining the loss of another fellow officer. [13:18:15] Finally, the President will deliver remarks tomorrow at the White House on the way forward in Afghanistan, including his plans and timeline for withdrawing US troops in close coordination with our partners and allies, and the government of Afghanistan, and its commitment to focusing on the threats and opportunities we face around the world today, we will have an advisory with more details out later today, we of course are doing a series of briefings throughout the day with all of you and others. I'm going to be limited and what I'm going to share from here because I don't want to get ahead of the President, but I will look forward to having conversation with all of you in the coming days about the details of his speech with that go ahead, Alex. Q>> Let's start with Russia. Can you share any details on the proposed summit with President Putin, or would it be what would the topics be and what was his response, and also putting himself suggested public talks with 5g in March, and he was brushed off by the White House so what's, what's the change what's behind the change in posture. PSAKI>> Well, let me first say that, as you note, the President had a call with President Putin this morning we put out a readout of that, but let me reiterate a couple of the highlights. For those of you who are following other pieces of news during this call they discussed a number of regional ish global and global issues, including the attempt intent of the United States and Russia to pursue a strategic stability dialogue on a range of arms control and emerging security issues, building on the extension of the New START Treaty president vice Biden also made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interest in response to Russia's actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference, and he also emphasized the United States, unwavering commitment to Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity, the president voiced our concerns over the sudden the aggressive Russian military buildup and increasing aggression on the border of Ukraine, and called on Russia to de escalate tensions, so as it relates to your question. 132009 I will say that, you know, our approach to our relationship with Russia is one where we certainly expect the relationship to remain a challenge. We expect there will be continued difficult conversations. We are prepared to confront those, but our goal is to have a relationship with Russia that is predictable and stable. And having a conversation or a dialogue, which the plans will need to be developed on -- this is the first conversation about it at that level, of course. 132039 The purpose of that is to, of course, be honest and candid, where there are areas where we disagree and have concerns, but also work together on areas where there is mutual interest, and that may relate to arms control, as -- as we did with the extension of New START shortly after the President was inaugurated, or even working together on pursuing an Iran Nuclear Deal. 132103 So there'll be a range of topics discussed. As we get closer and details are finalized, we'll share those with you but we're just at the early stages of the discussions. [13:21:10] Q>> And then with respect to Russia's military filled up at the Ukrainian border, what is on the table to respond if Russia doesn't back down, I mean in our military options being considered. PSAKI>> Well, Secretary Blinken on Secretary Austin are both in Brussels now, they are having discussions with their counterparts about a range of topics including the military buildup on the border, so I won't get ahead of those discussions I expect they will do a readout, Q>> when those discussions conclude any approach or engagement with Russia or actions would be done in coordination, Afghanistan, Republicans are talking is that with the announcement has happened, the withdrawal of all troops by September 11 And so I wanted to get your reaction to something which we cannot just said. He suggested that it would put our NATO partners in a shared fight that we have not yet, one would abandon the women of Afghanistan because freedoms and human rights will be in peril. He said that the administration plans to turn tail and abandon the fight in Afghanistan. So, what is your response to this criticism and criticism from other Republicans that it's it's too soon without any plans to sort of maintain stability there 132219 PSAKI>> Well, again, I will leave it to the President to lay out his specific plans for withdrawing troops, the reasoning and his commitment to focusing on the threats and opportunities we face around the world today. But I will say that the President has been consistent in his view that there's not a military solution to Afghanistan, that we have been there for far too long. That has been his view for some time -- well documented, well reported on. 132248 He believes that -- and he remains committed to supporting negotiations between the parties, which many of you may be following our resuming next week. And he also believes we need to focus our resources on fighting the threats we face today, 20 years -- almost 20 years after the war began. And so, that's his approach and how he looks at this decision but he will lay out more specifics tomorrow. [13:23:15] Q>> You mentioned President Biden has been consistent as a candidate. He told CBS that he thought a smaller footprint of should remain in Afghanistan in the case that terrorists remaster capacity, but now he's committing to drawing troops to a number that is zero. Can you explain that change. Again, I know we're doing a number of briefings with all of you, where you will have all of these questions answered, I will say that the President's approach and his decision that he made was done through cold close consultation with military leaders with his national security team with partners and allies around the world, and with his objective of mine in mind of ensuring we are focusing on the threats we're facing, we're doing that in close coordination with our partners and allies, and I will leave it to the briefings that you will be receiving and his speech tomorrow to outline more and more further detail, go ahead. Q>> Russia, the US has repeatedly called on Russia to de escalate tensions at the Ukrainian border. This person I have any reason to believe Putin will actually listen this time. 132425 PSAKI>> Well, I would say when it comes to diplomacy, you don't stop calling for what -- what are the right actions and the appropriate actions and the actions the global community believes are right, just because you see a hesitation in taking those actions. And there is -- what is different now is that there is coordination on the international front with the Europeans, with our partners. As I mentioned, Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin are in Brussels now, having a discussion about a range of issues, including the aggression at the border. 132456 And that pressure is different. Russia is an outlier in many ways, in that regard. So, we will continue to work in partnership with our allies and partners, and continue to put the pressure on and call for what's right. Q>> Thanks, Jen. PSAKI>> Go ahead. Q>> Just one quick follow up on Russia, in reading the readout that you guys send out. 132515 Q>> Does the President currently characterize the relationship with Russia as honest and stable, or is that something he wants to work toward? PSAKI>> I think what we're working toward is predictable and stable. We're not -- we're not looking for an establishment of trust, as much as a predictability and stability because there are a range of threats. There are a range of opportunities in the world. And the President wants to have the bandwidth to focus on them, not on an adversarial relationship with Russia. [13:25:45] You guys have had a little bit of back and forth, the White House in the Michigan governor's office is the President right now, when she's an ally, kind of disappointed with how the governor has managed COVID in her state at least of late. Well, let me say, Phil, as you know you've been covering it quite closely. We've been at war with this virus for over a year now, and Governor Whitmer has been in charge of a state that has been incredibly hard hit by COVID for that period of time, and she's done a tremendous job in our view, while facing an enormous set of challenges, she has been steadfast in her commitment to keeping the people of the state of Michigan safe, and a tremendous partner in the fight against COVID and if you go back more than a year ago, she led that fight to make sure first responders in the state had peepee. They needed when cases took off and she pushed for more testing when the federal government told governor's that they were frankly on their own, and to figure it out on their own. She had had to endure not just a public health crisis and a hostile state legislator sloucher but friends who have passed from the virus armed aggression and state capitol and threats against her life. She's also had to coordinate assess or response to a faulty dam burst all well, doing all of this and it devastated Michigan community so we feel she's shown some serious grit fight and resolve. We're going to continue to work with her on how we can help address the uptick in her state, and help deploy the resources we have available. The President repeatedly said that he wants the proposals put on the table to pay for his I've seen proposals to pay for it. Is that a red line is he open to not pay for some of that proposal if that's the direction Congress wants. 132722 PSAKI>> Well, I'm not going to -- his only red line is inaction. And he is happy to hear from, as he did yesterday, proposals that members have whether it is to have a lower increase or, yes, a lower increase of the rate on corporations, whether there are proposals to pay for this plan in a different way, he's open to hearing it. His starting place is that we should pay for it, but we're at the beginning of the discussions here, and ultimately, his only red line is investing in our infrastructure, making sure we are putting Americans back to work over the long term. [13:27:56] Go ahead. Sorry America. Finally the Russia. The President proposing a summit with Vladimir Putin would suggest that he's looking to de escalate tensions there so does that mean it's unlikely the US is going to enact harsher sanctions on Russia, like sanctioning their sovereign debt. Well, well I'm not going to get ahead of any announcements we have on the consequences that we will invoke on the Russian leaders for the actions they've already taken, no it does not change the calculations the the process the review that has been ongoing I expect we'll have more to say soon, and certainly the President was clear that there will be consequences as he has said publicly, some will be seen and some will be unseen as we often say, and hopefully we'll have more to share with all of you soon Q>> One on on nominations. 132848 I noticed that the Director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not included in the tranche that was announced yesterday that included DDP and USCIS. So why wasn't that person included in that tranche and when should we expect to see a nominee for that position? 132905 PSAKI>> It's a great question. I don't have any personnel announcements or previews for you. Sometimes, we announce things because they're through the vetting process and a decision has been made. And while it might be cleaner to do it in a group, we want to get these names out, nominated, through the process as quickly as possible. So hopefully, we'll have a nominee soon. Go ahead. 132923 Q>> I know you're leaving the details of this to the President tomorrow, but I do want to try on just one part of this. The administration, obviously, is committed to supporting Afghan women and minorities. What do you say to people who are concerned that this could put them and their lives at risk by withdrawing? 132937 PSAKI>> I will say that, broadly speaking, the President and this administration supports women and girls around the world. We support it through a range of actions, through a range of initiatives, through a range of programs that we support. We will absolutely continue to do that. The President has been consistent in his view that there -- there is no viable end to the war, military viable end to the war in Afghanistan. 133004 He's had that view for some time now, and he has to make decisions through the prism of what's in the interests of the national security of the United States. And that includes keeping our focus on where the threats are emerging around the world, whether those are emerging threats from al Qaeda in parts of North Africa, or other threats or opportunities we see in other regions. And hence, those are big motivating factors in his decision. 133029 Q>> And on police reforms and racial justice, it doesn't appear that Democrats have the votes needed to pass the George Floyd Policing Act as the administration hopes. Is the White House open to negotiations on this, possibly even giving maybe another look at Tim Scott's Justice Act the Democrats blocked last year? 133044 PSAKI>> Well, we will leave that -- I know Senator Scott, Senator Booker and others are in close discussion and coordination about what a path forward may look like. We certainly understand that there could be changes to proposals that have been forward -- put forward to day. We believe that the George Floyd Act has a lot of the components that will help rebuild the trust, help address -- put in place many of the reforms that are frankly long overdue. 133110 So, we -- but we also recognize that democracy in action means changes take place. So we'll have to see what the discussions look like and whether the President could support any changes that would be made through that process. Q>> And if I could, I just want to get your reaction to some comments from Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib that are getting a fair amount of attention, responding to Daunte Wright's shooting. She says, "I'm done with those who condone government funded murder. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can't be reformed." What do you make of those comments? Do you disavow her calls for no more policing? 133140 PSAKI>> Look, I -- what I can say from here is that that's not the President's view. The President's view is that there are necessary, outdated reforms that should be put in place, that there is accountability that needs to happen, that the loss of life is far too high, that these families are suffering around the country, and that the Black community is exhausted from the ongoing threats they feel. 133208 But he also believes that there is a forum for putting in place legislation, the George Floyd Act, that can help put many of these necessary reforms in place and that part of what needs to happen is rebuilding trust in communities, in order to get to a better place. Go ahead, Steve. Q>> A follow up to that. There are people all across the country who are demonstrating and actively calling for reform. What expectation should they have for change in the Biden era? [13:32:27] What is this President going to bring to bear. If for example qualified immunity isn't removed from the law, if you can't get that in a bipartisan agreement. Well, first, we're not going to get ahead of what the discussions are about a bipartisan agreement I think what Americans who are exhausted, who have suffered who are worried about their kids and their family members should know is that the President sees racial equity as a central focus of his presidency, and his actions, bear that out. He has obviously signed a number of executive actions. He is a strong supporter of putting in place, working through legislation that can put in place, permanent reforms, and he will continue to elevate and talk about the need to address these issues across the country at a range of opportunities and I hopefully that gives some reassurance to the public about his commitment, quick question about yesterday's infrastructure meeting there were some rumblings on the Hill that one of the things that was mentioned in the discussion was an increase in the gasoline tax, can you explain the context and what was actually discussing. 133336 PSAKI>> Sure. I think that was a little bit of a garble, unintentional, but in yesterday's meeting with members of Congress, the President mentioned the gas tax only to make a point that even a significant increase in the gas tax, which some people have proposed, would pay for only a fraction of the investment the country needs. Now, fundamentally, he does not believe that paying for this historic investment in rebuilding our nation's infrastructure and creating millions of jobs should be on the backs of Americans. 133403 So he doesn't believe that anyway. He's proposed his own means of paying for it, but he was using it as an example of how it wouldn't even make a sizable dent in paying for the package. Q>> So it is not under consideration here? PSAKI>> Correct. Correct. Go ahead, Andrew. [13:34:17] Q>> Andrew national friend, you have tension, obviously, with Russia over Ukraine and Crimea. There are a lot of concerns about what's happening in China in the South China Sea and also in Taiwan Are you confident is the President confident that the US militaries, is postured correctly and prepared to deal with multiple crises, occurring almost simultaneously at a time when you're withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. PSAKI>> Absolutely. The President has utmost confidence in General Austin, and his leadership, and Secretary Austin I should guess I should say switching switching titles, and he believes we have the best military men and women serving in the world, and so he has absolute confidence. He also believes that we should leave with diplomacy, and his actions his leadership, his approach. Certainly bear that out. It's done China with the climate summit coming up and you do see opportunities to sort of rebuild this relationship, or to address the tensions in the long standing pensions in the relationship with China over the climate summit just sort of use that as a an opportunity to move forward. I, we obviously have not made a determination about bilateral portions or meetings that would take place as a part of the summit, we've invited over 40 leaders. But I would say that we are engaged, As you know, at a range of levels. We are approaching our relationship as one, not of conflict but of competition. We believe that the most important steps we can take is to rebuild and support our own economy here at home, and to also be candid about areas where we have concerns, whether it's human rights abuses, or I technological abuses, and that is certainly how we approach our relationship. So, well the summit is still coming together I'm not sure I would go that far. Given there are over 40 leaders we have invited and we're still finalizing the details of the, of the events on the domestic front, In terms of the Georgia deployed policing act. Did you anticipate major protests and riots, if it depending on the verdict in the Chavez Chavez case, and what are you doing to prepare for that we have a lot of controversy during the Trump administration about the use of National Guard troops are you preparing to put in National Guard troops, if needed. If the, depending on what happens in that verdict, I know it's a hypothetical question but you were, you have to prepare for all eventualities and last night, or today it's got the President was, you know, appealing for calm to just tell us walk us through your strategy and approach, given how volatile volatile. Tensions are the situation. Well, while we are not going to prejudge the outcome, which I realized you're not asking me to do, but just to say that clearly we are working with state and local leaders to advance our shared goal of ensuring public safety and citizens' rights to peaceful protest. The President, we all will continue to monitor the developments and our team will remain in contact with these officials on the ground as well as with civil rights leaders and community stakeholders, but don't think I'm going to read out more than that. Go ahead. Sending him an extra, I would just leave it at what I can make Go ahead. The President's tax plans He has said that individuals households under $400,000 per year, aren't going to see their taxes go up. Does that also apply two indirect effects from the corporate tax changes that might not technically be tax increases. But when average family of four making under that amount, sees their heating bill go up because utility companies increase their rates to accommodate the 20% corporate tax rate, is that okay or acceptable to the President, you know, technically attacks increase. Well, I would say that there's no President. Technically, a tax increase. Well, I would say that there's no reason that that is what needs to happen, we saw, we have evidence of what happens. Back in 2017, when Republicans prioritize tax cuts for big corporations over investing in working people, there were many arguments made about what the impact would be the benefits would be passed on to consumers, they would invest in r&d, there would be jobs created, none of that happened. There were stop stock buybacks more incentives to offshore record compensation for executives, we have seen countless studies where the biggest impact to these corporations would likely be on capital. So I would say that's not a concern we have at this moment in time. But even though I mean, utility companies get, maybe it's arguably partially for show, but they did announce rate decreases after the 27 tax law passed and attributed it to the tax law, that thing. Is there some data that you're expecting from economist suggesting that will be the case are you just getting head of what might happen when the bill passes. I'm just getting ahead of that, Like, there were those announcements. They didn't have the intended effects, but utility companies didn't say, hey are you know we can pass on a slower rate to consumers through their utility bills, utility companies that I have not seen it if they have that they would raise the cost. If this bill passed invest in infrastructure and get led out of the pipes to make sure there's clean drinking water and create millions of jobs, wherever the specific announcements like that I'm just saying that was the one of the results that that occurred after the 2017 I don't think we have to anticipate it as an issue quite yet. Go ahead, Hans. They've been asked to go 60% During enrichment. What does that do to the ongoing indirect talks does it complicate them others tuxedo on, and then I'll, I'll have a couple follow couple of follow ups. Sure. Well, let me say that. First we take seriously Iran's provocative announcement of its intention to begin enriching uranium to 60%, which the P five plus one should be unified in rejecting the step of calls into question around seriousness. With regard to the nuclear talks and underscores the imperative of returning to mutual compliance with the JC po A, we share a common stated objective of returning to mutual compliance with the JCP away with Iran and we have been engaged constructively, what we felt was constructive dialogue. Last week, even as it was indirect in Vienna, and we, while they were difficult. and while we expect this to be long. We expect and we have not been alerted of any change in plans attendance in the meetings that will resume later this week. So, we are certainly concerned about these provocative announcements. But our goal remains, seeing through a diplomatic process which we expect to resume in Vienna later this week, very clear you expect, you expect vision direct negotiations to continue even though you're questioning their seriousness to those negotiations. Well look I think cons we are, we believe that the diplomatic path is the only path forward here, and that having a discussion, even in direct is the best way to come to resolution. It doesn't mean that we hold back on concerns we have and don't encourage our P five plus one partners to expressing those same concerns, and having that as part of the discussion, sort of diplomatic freq was the US giving us a heads up about the attack from potentially Israel, the power facility for the talks. I have nothing further to read out about our understanding of the origin or the intention of the attack us at all in any way involved in the attack on the power facility and as I said yesterday we were not. Q>> If I could just do, we'll switch gears to Russia real quick. The same as in the coming months for this potential Summit. Is that going to be this summer. PSAKI>> We'll see in the coming months would be the summer. Does the President have any preference on where the location should be. It's a great question I know Alex is asking a similar one, we're still just at the early part of this process and so as we have more details we will share them with all of you. Northern Hemisphere. I don't think we're quite there yet. You're sounding like there's a place you'd like to summer with President Biden and President Putin I can pass that along. Certainly, but. Okay, Go ahead, hard to follow, but I'm sure you have a very serious a good question. Go ahead. Q>> Thanks for, I suppose my question is, LGBTQ rights, told me weeks ago, President Biden stands by his campaign promise to sign the legislation within 100 within 100 days. We are now on day, 83 of the presidency and it looks like that bill is close to making it by that deadline and the President is facing multiple crises as evidenced by the questions in this briefing, as the President continues to stand by that campaign promise, he does. He continues to work toward it. And as you know, in order to sign legislation, it needs to come to his desk and while he is certainly been a vocal advocate in his support for the Equality Act, he and obviously as you know and noted it passed the House and needs to work its way through the Senate. He requires the Senate passing it in order for him to sign it suffered slide in getting out of the sun to health legislation. Well certainly he's put out a statement of administration policy, he has talked about his view that this is legislation that should pass and he has a range of conversations about a range of topics but also sodas our legislative team who worked to move forward his agenda every single day. One thing that's related to this is the Supreme Court's upcoming decision in the case of Fulton versus City of Philadelphia, which will determine whether there's a First Amendment right to reject job placement of the same sex couples, Is the administration to any contingency planning for that decision in terms of the Equality Act or anything else. Tell me a little bit more contingency planning, as if What if there's a different outcome than we would like from the Supreme Court ruling is just a clinic based on the outcome of this decision, and how that squares with the passage of this legislation and I think some observers say that one decision or another might let the hair out and allow and cheap lucky but that sort of changed the landscape for passage of the Equality Act. It's an interesting question I'd probably have to talk to our legislative team. We typically as you know, don't get ahead of Supreme Court rulings, but I will talk to them and see if there's anything we can convey directly to you. Go ahead, think, oh I'm sorry go ahead. I'm just gonna keep track so I get to everybody but go ahead. I have a question on immigration. So, you know, with the Guatemala and Honduras and Mexico deploying their troops off their borders, what are, What is the White House's about administration's next plan to kind of help mitigate migration at the US Mexico border at our own border. Well, I would say that part of our effort here in working with these countries is the recognition that irregular migration is a hemispheric issue that requires all countries in the region to play their part so part of our effort here was to work with Mexico and Northern Triangle governments to implement collaborative migration measures of course if these are effective, then there will be fewer people who are coming to our own borders so there is an impact, even if that announcement that we just made that in that in that ensures that countries have deployed, security personnel migration officials and other officials at the different border to add their borders to address migration. And, you know, last month we saw some really large numbers at the border of migrant apprehensions, how is the body new ministration working with local officials will flip with governments and local nonprofits along the border who, some are picking up some, some of the costs like, You know, COVID test, and hotel. Hello, yeah bookings and so kind of how is the government working with these local officials, will they play a tremendously important role in helping ensure, as you noted, in some cases it is working with NGOs and local authorities and officials on testing and other cases there are covering the cost of hotels and others for quarantining so they play a really tremendous role in helping ensure we are working in a humane way with those who are coming to our border on in a range of ways. Now we continue to convey, which is our policy that the border is not open, that we are turning away the majority of people have adults who come to the border. But we still have children, we still have some migrant families who Mexico cannot accept for a variety of reasons, and these NGOs play an incredibly important role, I know we're at the end of our time here so let me just because there's a gather that's why, but let's see if we can just get to you to quickly go ahead and secure about the vaccine and well Iran if I can, several times from the podium you acknowledge that the button administration may not be the best messenger for certain groups on the vaccines, such as white evangelicals conservative white folks. Can you take us inside the process as to how you're determining who the best messengers are for those communities are you reaching out specifically to targeted people, are you relying on volunteers. What does that process look like. Well, a big part of our effort, and I appreciate you asking this question is to create in part of community core, which is a program that gets back based messages into the hands of local messengers and what we've seen through our data is that local messengers, whether that is elected officials mayor's doctors sometimes clergy civic leaders are the most effective messengers of anyone, and that's why a large part of our $3 billion funding that we have are are focused on getting out into the country is on working with community based organizations to strengthen vaccine confidence in the highest risk and hardest hit communities. So it really depends community, community but we work with faith based organizations we work with community health workers we work with disability organizations we work with organizations across the board of all different backgrounds and affiliations so that they can get the message clearly out to communities, how are you determining which organizations know who these influential people are who are going to reach these certain groups that you feel like perhaps you're not going to reach are, how we determine who community leaders are in communities, and like center trying to, you know, deal I think as I'm conveying here a lot of this is based on local taking a local rural approach and it's a lot of it's driven through HHS so they may be best able to answer your question, I just want to get to our last person here go ahead. My colleague, do you have a comment on Japan's fans to release wastewater from Fukushima to Pacific Ocean into the Pacific Ocean. Let me get you a comment from our national security team after the briefing. I'm happy to do that before directly to your colleague I should clarify who initiated the full phone call with President Putin was threatened by them. I'm not I don't think I'm gonna have more detail on that and I'll check if I do, because that's one that's President fight and the want to restore travel with, between the United States and Europe as well, with the United Kingdom before summer, even as it relates to COVID restrictions. Our focus, of course, we'd love to have travel return, just like everybody would like to return to normalcy but we rely on the advice and the guidelines, done by our health and medical experts and so will defer to them on the timeline for that, just for sorting fellows between Europe and the United States for the summer, many people need to plan in advance, should we in. We understand that. But also we will rely on the guidance and the timeline of our health and medical teams. Thanks, Everyone,

FS36 WH PRESS BRIEFING ROBO HEAD ON 1240 ABC UNI WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING WITH PRESS SECRETARY JEN PSAKI, JEFF ZIENTS, AND DR ANTHONY FAUCI 124712 PSAKI>> Well, today, I'm joined by, of course, Jeff Zients, our Covid Coordinator, and Dr. Fauci to talk about the news from the FDA this morning. They are also going to be able to take some questions. I will keep an eye on the clock. And with that, I will turn it over to Jeff. 124732 ZIENTS>> Well, first, thank you, Jen. And thank you to all of you. Good afternoon. As you all know, the FDA and CDC announced earlier today that, out of an abundance of caution, they've recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine as they review data involving 6 reported US cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 124804 Let me start by saying 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 arms in the United States to date. The President has always said that this is a wartime effort. We're at war against the virus. 124833 And, as such, we've mobilized a wartime effort so that we're prepared for a wide range of scenarios. And that's why the President took action earlier this year, before the J&J vaccine was even authorized, to secure enough Pfizer and Moderna doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July. Over the last few weeks, we have made available more than 25 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna each and every week. 124910 In fact, this week, we will make available 28 million doses of these two vaccines. [12:49:18] And as we've done since we took office, we will continue to get the supply out the door as soon as it's available. So -- 124927 We have more than enough supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue the current pace of about 3 million shots per day, and that puts us well on pace to meet the President's goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office. And continue to reach every adult who wants to get vaccinated. 124955 We're now working with our state and federal partners to get anyone scheduled for a J&J vaccine quickly rescheduled for a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. [12:50:10] And we're actually already seeing this happen today at sites across the country where j&j appointments are being adjusted that were for today to actually get Merna and pfizer today. So that's happening many places 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. CDC and fda will continue to do just that and provide regular updates to the public. And they will do so as they continue their investigation. Withthat, let me hand it over [12:51:09] to Dr. Fauci, and then we'll take questions. FAUCI>> Thank you very much, Jeff. Just to follow up and maybeill in a couple ofoints from what Jeff said and what our colleagues in the fda and the CDC said earlier this morning at the press conference. A couple of issues have come up of the impnce of calling this pause because people say, what does the pause mean? It really allows both the fda and the CDC to further investigation these cases to try and understand some of the mechanisms of what it is. Some more details about the history of the individuals who were involved that might shed some light on looking forward. Wh will happen and what we will do. That's the fst thing. The other thing is to make [12:52:10] physicians out there aware O this. And there are som clinical applications of that, that I believe are important. For example, if someone comes in with this really rather rar syndrome of thrombociti where you get thromboses. 125211 The most common way to treat that is with heparin. That would be a mistake, in this situation, because it could be dangerous and make the situation much worse. So there's a clinically relevant reason why you want to make this known to people. [12:52:28] Also when individuals, particularly younger women might come into a physician with a particular thrombotic phenomenon, which something that happens for other reasons all the time, that we want to alert physicians to take a story of a recent vaccination. That would be important. So the pause not only allows us to take a look at the cases and [12:53:10] learn more but also a signal out there to help the physicians. Common question, and I'm sure we'll have a number questions, which Jeff and I will be happy to answer to you, but one of the questions that comes up already rather frequently, does this have anything to do with the efficacy of the vaccine? So we know that there have been 6.85 million doses of j&j distributed in the United States thus far. So may who had it month or two ago would say, what does this mean for me? It really doesn't mean anything. You're okay. If you look at the frame, the time frame when this occurs, it's pretty tight from a few days, 6 T to 13 days, from the time of T vaccination. The nextstion is one that we're all obviously aware of. What impact is this going to have about people's attitudes about vaccines in general. So you might know that there [12:54:11] have been now 120 milli people that have received at least one dose of a vaccine. St of that, subtract the 6.85 million is in the messenger rna from pfizer and modern. There have been no red flag signals from those. So you're talking about tens and tens and tens of millions of people have received vaccine with no adverse effect. 125422 This is a really rare event. If you look at what we know so far, there have been 6 out of the 6.85 million doses, which is less than 1 in a million. [12:54:35] So, remember, this is something that we always, out of -- really out of an abundance of caion, as Jeff said, to give us the time to take a good look at it and see if we can get further information. So I'll stop there, Jeff, and we can, obviously, take some questions. 125553 MARY BRUCE Q>> You've described this as a really rare event, but it seems like a pretty drastic step. Do you believe that the scientists sufficiently weighed the benefits of this pause against the damage or risk that this could do to the broader effort and the impact it could have on vaccine hesitancy? 125508 ZIENTS>> Well, Dr. Fauci, maybe you'll go after me. But I want to say that we have plenty of supply. So I mentioned that we, for the last several weeks, have been sending 25 million doses out. And while we're averaging 3 million shots in arms per day, the 25 million supports actually that level, and even accelerating. And we just sent out 28 million doses today -- or announced 28 million doses will be sent this week to states, tribes and territories and through our federal channels. 125541 So we have plenty of supply to continue our vaccination program and to hit our goals. But over to Dr. Fauci. FAUCI>> Yeah. I believe your question is: did we pull the trigger too soon on this because it was such a rare event? 125554 Well, you know, our FDA is internationally known for their capability of making sure that we have the safest products out there. And that's what I meant when I said "an abundance of caution." You want to make sure that safety is the important issue here. We are totally aware that this is a very rare event. We want to get this worked out as quickly as we possibly can. 125620 And that's why you see the word "pause." In other words, we want to hold off for a bit and very well may go back to that, maybe with some conditions or maybe not. But we want to leave that up to the FDA and the CDC to investigate this carefully. So I don't think it was pulling the trigger too quickly. MARY BRUCE Q>> And just a logistical question more so than anything. The advisory committee on immunization practices is meeting tomorrow -- FAUCI>> Right. MARY BRUCE Q>> -- to discuss this. Why not try and meet today? I mean, is this not a moment to sort of drop everything and focus on this? 125648 FAUCI>> You know, I think you have to get people pulled together. I think tomorrow is not such a long wait. I mean, I am sure they want to get everybody. There may be people who are not available. They want to get the full component of it. [12:57:02] >> Can you talk a little bit about the process in both deciding for this pause and sort of what comes next? First off, did the white house have any advance notice of the issues with the j&j vaccine and was there involvement fro the white house in deciding this? And how do you evaluate when to pause vaccines? We are going to see more of these pauses in the future if more issues pop up? >> I'll let you do the first part. I'll do theecond part. >> This decision was made by the CDC and fda. Andt'shat's one of the good INGs about our system here. We're ruled by the science, not by any other considerations. So the decision was really thoroughly made by the CDC and the fda. >> Staying consistent with following the science, we we notified last night there would be an annocement this morning and, therefore, had no other involvement other than knowing [12:58:12] last night there would Ben announcement this morning from the fda and CDC. >> And in this review, what are they looking for? What are they evaluating? When should we expect to see conclusions? >> They want to see if there's any clues of any else going on. For example, if they're going to-- hypothetical. If they're going to make a decision to go forward and say, you know, we looked at this. If they find some common denominators among the women who were involved that might synergizing and enabling this type of adverse event, they may know tt for those who don't have that, it may be much safer. There may be clues when you go down and really get granular about every single case. In addition, they want to look at what some of the mechanisms are. The mechanisms may give some insight as to what is going on. >> Do expect to potentially E further pauses in the future? Could this keep happening with the vaccines because they're so [12:59:12] new? >> If you look at the history -- take a look at what has gone on with the modern and the pfizer. Where you have literally tens and tens and tens of millions. There have been no red flags. When you have a red flag of something that is as serious as thrombocytic, particularly when you have an individual, one of whom died, you take that seriously. So I don't think that minimal things that very likely have nothing at all to do with the vaccine that we're going to pull the trigger so quickly as to keep stopping and stopping and stopping. I think this is an unusual occurrence of an adverse event that you want to make sure before you go forward you investigate it thoroughly. They are pausing so that they can look att more carefully. >> Given that the infected [13:00:15] patients were all women between 18 and 48, should women under 50 be excluded from getting the j&j vaccine? >> The question you're asking gets back to several of the questions here. That's the reason why the CDC and the fda want to take a look at this and say, is there -- are there some categories now where people outside of that category don't have a of the factors so it would be okay to go on. It is entirely conceivable making no predictions that there may be some restrictions in an age group or not. We don't know that now. That's the reason why they are working very hard answer the question you're asking. >> And what's youral ical advice for people who have recently received the j&j vaccine and may be concerned about blood clots? 130043 FAUCI>> Well, I mean, if someone recently -- within days, I would tell them to just, first of all, don't get an anxiety reaction because, remember, it's less than 1 in a million. However, having said that, pay attention. Do you have symptoms? Headache? Do you have shortness of breath? Chest discomfort? Do you have anything that resembles a neurological syndrome? And, obviously, if you have something as serious as a seizure, I mean, you -- that's pretty clear. [13:01:13] But the manifestations of this are that headaches the very common component of it because the sinus thromboses they have is the draining of the blood in the brain and it would cause enough symptomatology that you'd notice it. Just tell people to watch out for not feeling very well. >> Officials from different states told us this morning that they were really caught off guard by this announcement. They were ready to put shots into people's arms and had to scramble. Can Y explain that chain of communication, when and how did you notify states that they might have to paus >> We didn't know about anythg in terms of the announcement until last night. We didn't even know the content of the announcement until this morning when eveone else read [13:02:18] . As soon as we got that, our team farmed out and started contacting folks to make sure that everyone knew that that was nownnounced by the fda and CDC. Tuesday is the day I have my regular governors call so that was fortunate that was at 11:00 A.M. We had all the governors already lined up with their teams. And we had doctors Fauci and Dr. Walensky join that call and the teams will continue to support the statewide effort, the federalchannels, communi health centers to make the adjustments. I think the message got out clearly and quickly. There was no heads-up here. The announcement was made this morning. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, ys. Just two quick ones. Do we have a timeline in terms hough long -- are we talking days bore this may get put back on or a week and second one for Jeff. I understand wh you're saying on the macro level related to supply. When you talk to local officials, j&j shot because of storage, because it was one shot, it's considered a crucial component in rural areas and [13:03:19] underserved communities. How does that not affect the timeline that you guys are on in terms of actlly getting shots in arms? >> During one of the questions which was asked, I believe, of the CDC, the question was, yes, yours, and I don't know what they're going to be doing. What I heard from the previous press discussion was it's going to be more like days to weeks rather than weeks to months. 130330 ZIENTS>> We have plenty of supply and we have plenty of vehicles for delivering that supply, whether it's through the federal pharmacy channel, whether it's mobile units, community health centers. And all of those are equipped to deliver the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. [13:03:45] So we'll make sure those units continue torow in number. You're right we need to reach peoplehere they are in the mobile units and community health centers are particularly essential for those. And they have beeneceiving modern and pfizer doses since [13:04:20] we preambled those programs. >> Youust swap out the vaccine and the mobile unit goes into a rural area? >> Moderna and pfizer are two-dose vaccines so it's important people come back for their second dose. Three weeks post their first dose of pfizer and four weeks post their first dose of modern. But all of our units, all of our delivery channels are equipped to deliver bothfizer and modern. >> And just real quick, how does this not contribute to the very areas where hesitancy is most predominant at this point in time? Do you have to change your message? Do you have to do something different to address hesitancy in the wake of something like this? >> We nee to continue to be transparent about what the science is telling us. That's what brings us here today. There's been tens of millions of doses of pfizer and modern administered over the last several months and millions of people both in the U.S. And around the world have been safely vaccinated. 130500 I think it's important that, you know, we have here the FDA, and the FDA is the gold standard for ensuring the safety and the effectiveness of the vaccines. And today's action, I think, is clear evidence that they are taking every step necessary to ensure the American people have clear and transparent information about the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines. So the bottom line is the vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer that are now being administered are clearly safe and are saving lives, and every American should get vaccinated when it's their turn. [13:05:33] >> Thanks, Jeff. Is the -- is j&j production going to continue during this pause, and secondly, is the Biden administration considering ordering more doses of pfizer and moderna given -- just in case this problem with j&j becomes prolonged? >> So the j&j production issues in Baltimore, obviously, completely separate set of issues. Those are being worked out through the fda process with the company. And production of those vaccines [13:06:22] can begin if and when the fda authorizes that facility. Your second question was, 130611 We really have thought of this as a wartime effort from the beginning, which is why we purchased excess supply so that we'd be ready for any contingency. And we'll continue to look at every possibility, in terms of making sure that we always have enough supply for the American people. [13:06:25] >> Just to clarify on the j&j production. Not related to the Baltimore plant but just overall, j&j production is that going to pause while this pause on administering dos occurs or is the production going to continue? >> The production is centered around that baltire facity. The vast majority of production is at that Baltimore facility. >> I want to just ask you very directly. Are you ruling out the possibility that theaccine could be removed from the market? Are you ruling out that -- are you expecting it to be re-allowed? >> I think it would be premature [13:07:23] to comment on that. And that's the reason why T pause was done. So that they could take a good look at itery carefully. Look at every factor. 130715 I wouldn't want to speculate as to what would happen. Often, when you see things like this, that you pause and come back. Whether or not that happens now, I can't guarantee it, but I can tell you that's exactly what the CDC and FDA people are going to be deciding on and looking at very carefully. [13:07:33] >> If I could just ask you that outreach question. Sohis is the problem that you've been struggling with, the sort of vaccine hesitancy. This, obviously, is a setback. What do you have to sort of ramp up to an additional war-type effort to really ensure ts message gets out there? Do you personally go to states like Mississippi where the vaccine vaccination rate is really low? >> I'll answer your first [13:08:25] question. Coistent with being a wartime effort we pn for different scenarios and contingencies. We have enough supply of modern and pfizer to hit the gets that we've said, the 200illion shots in 100 days and to head toward the fourth ofuly that we've talked about as a country. More normal fourth of July. Clearly part of that is making sure that when Americans turn to get vaccinated, they get vaccinated. And we need to continue to build confidence. And that's done at the community level. People are trusting of their local doctors, their state leaders, their neighbors. Which is why it's important when people do get vaccinated, they noonly get themselves vaccinatedut spread the word about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. >> One of the goals you haven't mentioned today is the hope that the supply on handor the county by the end of may. Is that still operative in the wake of this pause? And the second question, it's a [13:09:25] bit surprising to learn that you ly yourself learned about this, this morning. Do youish you had heard sooner? >> I learned about it last night that there would be an announcement. Not the specifics of the announcement. No, because that's T science. We want the science agencies to lead with ience. There's no reason for us to be involved in any ofhe scientific decisions. We bring nothing to the table. That's the fda's role. That's the CDC's role. And they are Ledy terrific leaders with great teams to do the science, and this administration will be led by science. As to your first question we believe there's enough vaccine in the system, modern and pfizer, for all Americans who want to get vaccinated by may 31st to do so. 130952 Q>> I -- Jeff, I feel we're kind of dancing around the hesitancy question here. And so, I'll ask you directly. Do you think the announcement of this pause will increase or decrease vaccine hesitancy? ZIENTS>> Look, hesitancy amongst a group of people is a challenge, and we need to be addressing it and we are, as I've talked about, by going to meet people where they are, to follow all that we've learned about who people trust -- doctor, their local doctor, their nurse, their faith leader. 131024 And I think that, you know, there's a tremendous track record, as Dr. Fauci has talked about, with tens of millions of doses of Pfizer and Moderna. The FDA acting the way they did today shows that they are, indeed, the gold standard. And I think that should reassure the American public that they will be very diligent and conservative in how they approach the vaccines. 131048 Q>> So the argument is that because the FDA -- this trip wire was triggered, that should give Americans more confidence in the overall vaccination plan? ZIENTS>> Certainly about -- around how safety and efficacy are being monitored by the gold standard folks at the FDA. [13:11:05] >> Let's do these three more and then we'll let them go back. Go ahead. >> Jeff, you said the fda is the gold standard for ensuring the safety and efficacy of vaccines. To what except does today's news add urgency to the effort of getting a permanent nominee confirmed ahead of the fda? Clearly it's always an important post but how much does this news -- >> I have no personnel announcement to make today. The fda has extraordinary group of scientists and experts that will lead these types of efforts. >> How helpful will a permanent director be in November? [13:12:02] >> I think the fda does an extraordinary job and the teams that are addressing these issues are experienced teams. In fact, the acting directors is a very experienced leader so I think the experience of the fda and expertise of the fda is indeed T gold standard. >> Are there immediate plans to accommodate the states because of a pause? Can you guarantee every person with a reservation canceled will get rescheduled in a matter of days? >> As I said, I think there's already in certain locations people who were scheduled for today are already rescheduled. We'll do everything we can to support the states on the logistics of rescheduling. At the same time the most important thing is the supply exists to continue to vaccine millions of Americans a day and there's enough supply to accelerate that. There are tens of millions of [13:13:03] doses in the system. As I said today, we announced 28 million more modern and pfizer doses available to be ordered this week. >> Last question. >> Dr. Fauci, you said that there was no red flags for the other two vaccines. Can you verify that means there were no developments about blood clot symptoms in other vaccines? >> There have been no serious events to call attention to anything that would relate to a pause. >> Why would it be -- why would it be for one vaccine and not the other two? How does that speak to the safety of the other two vaccines? >> I think when you examine everything in general, the fact that you have 120 million doses -- individuals have received at least one dose, and as you subtract out of that 100 [13:14:04] million, you're talking about 114 million or so individuals have received at least one dose. And no negative red flag signals, that tells you you're dealing with a really safe vaccine. And I think apropos of several of the questions that people asked about hesitancy, you know, when you want to talk about safety, this is an extraordinary safety record that the others have and the fact that a pause was done I think just as a testimony to how seriously we take safety and why we have an fda and CDC that looks at this very carefully and hopefully we will resolve it pretty soon within days to weeks, apropos of your question. So I think it's a very strong argument for safety actually. >> Thank you, Dr. Fauci. Thank you, Jeff. >> Thank you, everybody. [13:14:40] PSAKI>> I know there's a lot going on today and you also have a call time so we will try to get through as much as we possibly can but I did want to give you all a couple of updates. Obviously, the President met yesterday with a bipartisan group of members who are, are working work on committees of jurisdiction, I can talk a little bit more about that but I also wanted to give you an update on the work of our Jobs Cabinet, which will be very, which will be central to our efforts, and especially in this period of time, we're now a lot of these members are going to go back, they're going to work with their staff they're going to work with each other, to see what the path forward is so so far cabinet secretaries from our jobs, Kevin, I should say, have made 27 calls to members including seven Republicans, those are when they connected, of course, our legislative affairs team has, has made 139 calls to members their chiefs of staff and staff directors. [13:15:35] 35 of those 99 calls to the house were two Republicans, along with 15 of the 40 calls into the Senate, this is obviously ongoing and we will venture to provide you regular updates you have a sense of what's happening. We've held 26 house and senate staff briefings and nine member level briefings, including with Republican leadership and five bipartisan groups, and clearly picking up senior administration officials have also engaged with rural leaders, faith communities in the private sector, they've held briefings with bipartisan groups of over 1000 mayors and county elected officials, and I've had one on one conversations with governors from both parties. I also wanted to highlight that this week is black maternal health week and in its honor today the Vice President and domestic policy Adviser Susan Rice are hosting a roundtable with women who will share their experiences with complications from pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. The impact of postpartum post, post childbirth [13:16:33] as well as their work and advocacy and research highlighting the disparities that black women face and maternal health, this I think this actually started around 1230 So I should say they, their, their event is ongoing. We also announced initial actions we are taking to address the maternal health crisis in the United States, including significant funding to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates improve Huberty and and race based disparities nationwide, the approval of the first Medicaid section 1115 waiver and Illinois to broadly extend postpartum coverage this approval will help ensure access to vital health care services, promote better health outcomes and reduce their rate of maternal morbidity and mortality. And obviously this is an issue we will continue to work hard on. [13:17:17] I also just wanted to highlight that we're also hosting today, a virtual Small Business briefing on the American jobs plan. Small Business Administrator newly confirmed as well as mine will join the event with 1000s of small business owners to highlight how the American jobs plan support small business. The plan, the President has proposed provides direct support to small businesses by increasing access to federal contracts and investing more than $110 billion in financing and technical, technical assistance programs. As you know, the President also attended a congressional tribute for US Capitol Officer William Evans, this morning, he paid his respects. For those of you who didn't see to Officer Evans and met with his family, the present, following his remarks, I should say, the President offered his support to the Capitol Police who have weathered great stress and responsibilities and January's interaction. In addition to sustaining the loss of another fellow officer. [13:18:15] Finally, the President will deliver remarks tomorrow at the White House on the way forward in Afghanistan, including his plans and timeline for withdrawing US troops in close coordination with our partners and allies, and the government of Afghanistan, and its commitment to focusing on the threats and opportunities we face around the world today, we will have an advisory with more details out later today, we of course are doing a series of briefings throughout the day with all of you and others. I'm going to be limited and what I'm going to share from here because I don't want to get ahead of the President, but I will look forward to having conversation with all of you in the coming days about the details of his speech with that go ahead, Alex. Q>> Let's start with Russia. Can you share any details on the proposed summit with President Putin, or would it be what would the topics be and what was his response, and also putting himself suggested public talks with 5g in March, and he was brushed off by the White House so what's, what's the change what's behind the change in posture. PSAKI>> Well, let me first say that, as you note, the President had a call with President Putin this morning we put out a readout of that, but let me reiterate a couple of the highlights. For those of you who are following other pieces of news during this call they discussed a number of regional ish global and global issues, including the attempt intent of the United States and Russia to pursue a strategic stability dialogue on a range of arms control and emerging security issues, building on the extension of the New START Treaty president vice Biden also made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interest in response to Russia's actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference, and he also emphasized the United States, unwavering commitment to Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity, the president voiced our concerns over the sudden the aggressive Russian military buildup and increasing aggression on the border of Ukraine, and called on Russia to de escalate tensions, so as it relates to your question. 132009 I will say that, you know, our approach to our relationship with Russia is one where we certainly expect the relationship to remain a challenge. We expect there will be continued difficult conversations. We are prepared to confront those, but our goal is to have a relationship with Russia that is predictable and stable. And having a conversation or a dialogue, which the plans will need to be developed on -- this is the first conversation about it at that level, of course. 132039 The purpose of that is to, of course, be honest and candid, where there are areas where we disagree and have concerns, but also work together on areas where there is mutual interest, and that may relate to arms control, as -- as we did with the extension of New START shortly after the President was inaugurated, or even working together on pursuing an Iran Nuclear Deal. 132103 So there'll be a range of topics discussed. As we get closer and details are finalized, we'll share those with you but we're just at the early stages of the discussions. [13:21:10] Q>> And then with respect to Russia's military filled up at the Ukrainian border, what is on the table to respond if Russia doesn't back down, I mean in our military options being considered. PSAKI>> Well, Secretary Blinken on Secretary Austin are both in Brussels now, they are having discussions with their counterparts about a range of topics including the military buildup on the border, so I won't get ahead of those discussions I expect they will do a readout, Q>> when those discussions conclude any approach or engagement with Russia or actions would be done in coordination, Afghanistan, Republicans are talking is that with the announcement has happened, the withdrawal of all troops by September 11 And so I wanted to get your reaction to something which we cannot just said. He suggested that it would put our NATO partners in a shared fight that we have not yet, one would abandon the women of Afghanistan because freedoms and human rights will be in peril. He said that the administration plans to turn tail and abandon the fight in Afghanistan. So, what is your response to this criticism and criticism from other Republicans that it's it's too soon without any plans to sort of maintain stability there 132219 PSAKI>> Well, again, I will leave it to the President to lay out his specific plans for withdrawing troops, the reasoning and his commitment to focusing on the threats and opportunities we face around the world today. But I will say that the President has been consistent in his view that there's not a military solution to Afghanistan, that we have been there for far too long. That has been his view for some time -- well documented, well reported on. 132248 He believes that -- and he remains committed to supporting negotiations between the parties, which many of you may be following our resuming next week. And he also believes we need to focus our resources on fighting the threats we face today, 20 years -- almost 20 years after the war began. And so, that's his approach and how he looks at this decision but he will lay out more specifics tomorrow. [13:23:15] Q>> You mentioned President Biden has been consistent as a candidate. He told CBS that he thought a smaller footprint of should remain in Afghanistan in the case that terrorists remaster capacity, but now he's committing to drawing troops to a number that is zero. Can you explain that change. Again, I know we're doing a number of briefings with all of you, where you will have all of these questions answered, I will say that the President's approach and his decision that he made was done through cold close consultation with military leaders with his national security team with partners and allies around the world, and with his objective of mine in mind of ensuring we are focusing on the threats we're facing, we're doing that in close coordination with our partners and allies, and I will leave it to the briefings that you will be receiving and his speech tomorrow to outline more and more further detail, go ahead. Q>> Russia, the US has repeatedly called on Russia to de escalate tensions at the Ukrainian border. This person I have any reason to believe Putin will actually listen this time. 132425 PSAKI>> Well, I would say when it comes to diplomacy, you don't stop calling for what -- what are the right actions and the appropriate actions and the actions the global community believes are right, just because you see a hesitation in taking those actions. And there is -- what is different now is that there is coordination on the international front with the Europeans, with our partners. As I mentioned, Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin are in Brussels now, having a discussion about a range of issues, including the aggression at the border. 132456 And that pressure is different. Russia is an outlier in many ways, in that regard. So, we will continue to work in partnership with our allies and partners, and continue to put the pressure on and call for what's right. Q>> Thanks, Jen. PSAKI>> Go ahead. Q>> Just one quick follow up on Russia, in reading the readout that you guys send out. 132515 Q>> Does the President currently characterize the relationship with Russia as honest and stable, or is that something he wants to work toward? PSAKI>> I think what we're working toward is predictable and stable. We're not -- we're not looking for an establishment of trust, as much as a predictability and stability because there are a range of threats. There are a range of opportunities in the world. And the President wants to have the bandwidth to focus on them, not on an adversarial relationship with Russia. [13:25:45] You guys have had a little bit of back and forth, the White House in the Michigan governor's office is the President right now, when she's an ally, kind of disappointed with how the governor has managed COVID in her state at least of late. Well, let me say, Phil, as you know you've been covering it quite closely. We've been at war with this virus for over a year now, and Governor Whitmer has been in charge of a state that has been incredibly hard hit by COVID for that period of time, and she's done a tremendous job in our view, while facing an enormous set of challenges, she has been steadfast in her commitment to keeping the people of the state of Michigan safe, and a tremendous partner in the fight against COVID and if you go back more than a year ago, she led that fight to make sure first responders in the state had peepee. They needed when cases took off and she pushed for more testing when the federal government told governor's that they were frankly on their own, and to figure it out on their own. She had had to endure not just a public health crisis and a hostile state legislator sloucher but friends who have passed from the virus armed aggression and state capitol and threats against her life. She's also had to coordinate assess or response to a faulty dam burst all well, doing all of this and it devastated Michigan community so we feel she's shown some serious grit fight and resolve. We're going to continue to work with her on how we can help address the uptick in her state, and help deploy the resources we have available. The President repeatedly said that he wants the proposals put on the table to pay for his I've seen proposals to pay for it. Is that a red line is he open to not pay for some of that proposal if that's the direction Congress wants. 132722 PSAKI>> Well, I'm not going to -- his only red line is inaction. And he is happy to hear from, as he did yesterday, proposals that members have whether it is to have a lower increase or, yes, a lower increase of the rate on corporations, whether there are proposals to pay for this plan in a different way, he's open to hearing it. His starting place is that we should pay for it, but we're at the beginning of the discussions here, and ultimately, his only red line is investing in our infrastructure, making sure we are putting Americans back to work over the long term. [13:27:56] Go ahead. Sorry America. Finally the Russia. The President proposing a summit with Vladimir Putin would suggest that he's looking to de escalate tensions there so does that mean it's unlikely the US is going to enact harsher sanctions on Russia, like sanctioning their sovereign debt. Well, well I'm not going to get ahead of any announcements we have on the consequences that we will invoke on the Russian leaders for the actions they've already taken, no it does not change the calculations the the process the review that has been ongoing I expect we'll have more to say soon, and certainly the President was clear that there will be consequences as he has said publicly, some will be seen and some will be unseen as we often say, and hopefully we'll have more to share with all of you soon Q>> One on on nominations. 132848 I noticed that the Director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not included in the tranche that was announced yesterday that included DDP and USCIS. So why wasn't that person included in that tranche and when should we expect to see a nominee for that position? 132905 PSAKI>> It's a great question. I don't have any personnel announcements or previews for you. Sometimes, we announce things because they're through the vetting process and a decision has been made. And while it might be cleaner to do it in a group, we want to get these names out, nominated, through the process as quickly as possible. So hopefully, we'll have a nominee soon. Go ahead. 132923 Q>> I know you're leaving the details of this to the President tomorrow, but I do want to try on just one part of this. The administration, obviously, is committed to supporting Afghan women and minorities. What do you say to people who are concerned that this could put them and their lives at risk by withdrawing? 132937 PSAKI>> I will say that, broadly speaking, the President and this administration supports women and girls around the world. We support it through a range of actions, through a range of initiatives, through a range of programs that we support. We will absolutely continue to do that. The President has been consistent in his view that there -- there is no viable end to the war, military viable end to the war in Afghanistan. 133004 He's had that view for some time now, and he has to make decisions through the prism of what's in the interests of the national security of the United States. And that includes keeping our focus on where the threats are emerging around the world, whether those are emerging threats from al Qaeda in parts of North Africa, or other threats or opportunities we see in other regions. And hence, those are big motivating factors in his decision. 133029 Q>> And on police reforms and racial justice, it doesn't appear that Democrats have the votes needed to pass the George Floyd Policing Act as the administration hopes. Is the White House open to negotiations on this, possibly even giving maybe another look at Tim Scott's Justice Act the Democrats blocked last year? 133044 PSAKI>> Well, we will leave that -- I know Senator Scott, Senator Booker and others are in close discussion and coordination about what a path forward may look like. We certainly understand that there could be changes to proposals that have been forward -- put forward to day. We believe that the George Floyd Act has a lot of the components that will help rebuild the trust, help address -- put in place many of the reforms that are frankly long overdue. 133110 So, we -- but we also recognize that democracy in action means changes take place. So we'll have to see what the discussions look like and whether the President could support any changes that would be made through that process. Q>> And if I could, I just want to get your reaction to some comments from Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib that are getting a fair amount of attention, responding to Daunte Wright's shooting. She says, "I'm done with those who condone government funded murder. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can't be reformed." What do you make of those comments? Do you disavow her calls for no more policing? 133140 PSAKI>> Look, I -- what I can say from here is that that's not the President's view. The President's view is that there are necessary, outdated reforms that should be put in place, that there is accountability that needs to happen, that the loss of life is far too high, that these families are suffering around the country, and that the Black community is exhausted from the ongoing threats they feel. 133208 But he also believes that there is a forum for putting in place legislation, the George Floyd Act, that can help put many of these necessary reforms in place and that part of what needs to happen is rebuilding trust in communities, in order to get to a better place. Go ahead, Steve. Q>> A follow up to that. There are people all across the country who are demonstrating and actively calling for reform. What expectation should they have for change in the Biden era? [13:32:27] What is this President going to bring to bear. If for example qualified immunity isn't removed from the law, if you can't get that in a bipartisan agreement. Well, first, we're not going to get ahead of what the discussions are about a bipartisan agreement I think what Americans who are exhausted, who have suffered who are worried about their kids and their family members should know is that the President sees racial equity as a central focus of his presidency, and his actions, bear that out. He has obviously signed a number of executive actions. He is a strong supporter of putting in place, working through legislation that can put in place, permanent reforms, and he will continue to elevate and talk about the need to address these issues across the country at a range of opportunities and I hopefully that gives some reassurance to the public about his commitment, quick question about yesterday's infrastructure meeting there were some rumblings on the Hill that one of the things that was mentioned in the discussion was an increase in the gasoline tax, can you explain the context and what was actually discussing. 133336 PSAKI>> Sure. I think that was a little bit of a garble, unintentional, but in yesterday's meeting with members of Congress, the President mentioned the gas tax only to make a point that even a significant increase in the gas tax, which some people have proposed, would pay for only a fraction of the investment the country needs. Now, fundamentally, he does not believe that paying for this historic investment in rebuilding our nation's infrastructure and creating millions of jobs should be on the backs of Americans. 133403 So he doesn't believe that anyway. He's proposed his own means of paying for it, but he was using it as an example of how it wouldn't even make a sizable dent in paying for the package. Q>> So it is not under consideration here? PSAKI>> Correct. Correct. Go ahead, Andrew. [13:34:17] Q>> Andrew national friend, you have tension, obviously, with Russia over Ukraine and Crimea. There are a lot of concerns about what's happening in China in the South China Sea and also in Taiwan Are you confident is the President confident that the US militaries, is postured correctly and prepared to deal with multiple crises, occurring almost simultaneously at a time when you're withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. PSAKI>> Absolutely. The President has utmost confidence in General Austin, and his leadership, and Secretary Austin I should guess I should say switching switching titles, and he believes we have the best military men and women serving in the world, and so he has absolute confidence. He also believes that we should leave with diplomacy, and his actions his leadership, his approach. Certainly bear that out. It's done China with the climate summit coming up and you do see opportunities to sort of rebuild this relationship, or to address the tensions in the long standing pensions in the relationship with China over the climate summit just sort of use that as a an opportunity to move forward. I, we obviously have not made a determination about bilateral portions or meetings that would take place as a part of the summit, we've invited over 40 leaders. But I would say that we are engaged, As you know, at a range of levels. We are approaching our relationship as one, not of conflict but of competition. We believe that the most important steps we can take is to rebuild and support our own economy here at home, and to also be candid about areas where we have concerns, whether it's human rights abuses, or I technological abuses, and that is certainly how we approach our relationship. So, well the summit is still coming together I'm not sure I would go that far. Given there are over 40 leaders we have invited and we're still finalizing the details of the, of the events on the domestic front, In terms of the Georgia deployed policing act. Did you anticipate major protests and riots, if it depending on the verdict in the Chavez Chavez case, and what are you doing to prepare for that we have a lot of controversy during the Trump administration about the use of National Guard troops are you preparing to put in National Guard troops, if needed. If the, depending on what happens in that verdict, I know it's a hypothetical question but you were, you have to prepare for all eventualities and last night, or today it's got the President was, you know, appealing for calm to just tell us walk us through your strategy and approach, given how volatile volatile. Tensions are the situation. Well, while we are not going to prejudge the outcome, which I realized you're not asking me to do, but just to say that clearly we are working with state and local leaders to advance our shared goal of ensuring public safety and citizens' rights to peaceful protest. The President, we all will continue to monitor the developments and our team will remain in contact with these officials on the ground as well as with civil rights leaders and community stakeholders, but don't think I'm going to read out more than that. Go ahead. Sending him an extra, I would just leave it at what I can make Go ahead. The President's tax plans He has said that individuals households under $400,000 per year, aren't going to see their taxes go up. Does that also apply two indirect effects from the corporate tax changes that might not technically be tax increases. But when average family of four making under that amount, sees their heating bill go up because utility companies increase their rates to accommodate the 20% corporate tax rate, is that okay or acceptable to the President, you know, technically attacks increase. Well, I would say that there's no President. Technically, a tax increase. Well, I would say that there's no reason that that is what needs to happen, we saw, we have evidence of what happens. Back in 2017, when Republicans prioritize tax cuts for big corporations over investing in working people, there were many arguments made about what the impact would be the benefits would be passed on to consumers, they would invest in r&d, there would be jobs created, none of that happened. There were stop stock buybacks more incentives to offshore record compensation for executives, we have seen countless studies where the biggest impact to these corporations would likely be on capital. So I would say that's not a concern we have at this moment in time. But even though I mean, utility companies get, maybe it's arguably partially for show, but they did announce rate decreases after the 27 tax law passed and attributed it to the tax law, that thing. Is there some data that you're expecting from economist suggesting that will be the case are you just getting head of what might happen when the bill passes. I'm just getting ahead of that, Like, there were those announcements. They didn't have the intended effects, but utility companies didn't say, hey are you know we can pass on a slower rate to consumers through their utility bills, utility companies that I have not seen it if they have that they would raise the cost. If this bill passed invest in infrastructure and get led out of the pipes to make sure there's clean drinking water and create millions of jobs, wherever the specific announcements like that I'm just saying that was the one of the results that that occurred after the 2017 I don't think we have to anticipate it as an issue quite yet. Go ahead, Hans. They've been asked to go 60% During enrichment. What does that do to the ongoing indirect talks does it complicate them others tuxedo on, and then I'll, I'll have a couple follow couple of follow ups. Sure. Well, let me say that. First we take seriously Iran's provocative announcement of its intention to begin enriching uranium to 60%, which the P five plus one should be unified in rejecting the step of calls into question around seriousness. With regard to the nuclear talks and underscores the imperative of returning to mutual compliance with the JC po A, we share a common stated objective of returning to mutual compliance with the JCP away with Iran and we have been engaged constructively, what we felt was constructive dialogue. Last week, even as it was indirect in Vienna, and we, while they were difficult. and while we expect this to be long. We expect and we have not been alerted of any change in plans attendance in the meetings that will resume later this week. So, we are certainly concerned about these provocative announcements. But our goal remains, seeing through a diplomatic process which we expect to resume in Vienna later this week, very clear you expect, you expect vision direct negotiations to continue even though you're questioning their seriousness to those negotiations. Well look I think cons we are, we believe that the diplomatic path is the only path forward here, and that having a discussion, even in direct is the best way to come to resolution. It doesn't mean that we hold back on concerns we have and don't encourage our P five plus one partners to expressing those same concerns, and having that as part of the discussion, sort of diplomatic freq was the US giving us a heads up about the attack from potentially Israel, the power facility for the talks. I have nothing further to read out about our understanding of the origin or the intention of the attack us at all in any way involved in the attack on the power facility and as I said yesterday we were not. Q>> If I could just do, we'll switch gears to Russia real quick. The same as in the coming months for this potential Summit. Is that going to be this summer. PSAKI>> We'll see in the coming months would be the summer. Does the President have any preference on where the location should be. It's a great question I know Alex is asking a similar one, we're still just at the early part of this process and so as we have more details we will share them with all of you. Northern Hemisphere. I don't think we're quite there yet. You're sounding like there's a place you'd like to summer with President Biden and President Putin I can pass that along. Certainly, but. Okay, Go ahead, hard to follow, but I'm sure you have a very serious a good question. Go ahead. Q>> Thanks for, I suppose my question is, LGBTQ rights, told me weeks ago, President Biden stands by his campaign promise to sign the legislation within 100 within 100 days. We are now on day, 83 of the presidency and it looks like that bill is close to making it by that deadline and the President is facing multiple crises as evidenced by the questions in this briefing, as the President continues to stand by that campaign promise, he does. He continues to work toward it. And as you know, in order to sign legislation, it needs to come to his desk and while he is certainly been a vocal advocate in his support for the Equality Act, he and obviously as you know and noted it passed the House and needs to work its way through the Senate. He requires the Senate passing it in order for him to sign it suffered slide in getting out of the sun to health legislation. Well certainly he's put out a statement of administration policy, he has talked about his view that this is legislation that should pass and he has a range of conversations about a range of topics but also sodas our legislative team who worked to move forward his agenda every single day. One thing that's related to this is the Supreme Court's upcoming decision in the case of Fulton versus City of Philadelphia, which will determine whether there's a First Amendment right to reject job placement of the same sex couples, Is the administration to any contingency planning for that decision in terms of the Equality Act or anything else. Tell me a little bit more contingency planning, as if What if there's a different outcome than we would like from the Supreme Court ruling is just a clinic based on the outcome of this decision, and how that squares with the passage of this legislation and I think some observers say that one decision or another might let the hair out and allow and cheap lucky but that sort of changed the landscape for passage of the Equality Act. It's an interesting question I'd probably have to talk to our legislative team. We typically as you know, don't get ahead of Supreme Court rulings, but I will talk to them and see if there's anything we can convey directly to you. Go ahead, think, oh I'm sorry go ahead. I'm just gonna keep track so I get to everybody but go ahead. I have a question on immigration. So, you know, with the Guatemala and Honduras and Mexico deploying their troops off their borders, what are, What is the White House's about administration's next plan to kind of help mitigate migration at the US Mexico border at our own border. Well, I would say that part of our effort here in working with these countries is the recognition that irregular migration is a hemispheric issue that requires all countries in the region to play their part so part of our effort here was to work with Mexico and Northern Triangle governments to implement collaborative migration measures of course if these are effective, then there will be fewer people who are coming to our own borders so there is an impact, even if that announcement that we just made that in that in that ensures that countries have deployed, security personnel migration officials and other officials at the different border to add their borders to address migration. And, you know, last month we saw some really large numbers at the border of migrant apprehensions, how is the body new ministration working with local officials will flip with governments and local nonprofits along the border who, some are picking up some, some of the costs like, You know, COVID test, and hotel. Hello, yeah bookings and so kind of how is the government working with these local officials, will they play a tremendously important role in helping ensure, as you noted, in some cases it is working with NGOs and local authorities and officials on testing and other cases there are covering the cost of hotels and others for quarantining so they play a really tremendous role in helping ensure we are working in a humane way with those who are coming to our border on in a range of ways. Now we continue to convey, which is our policy that the border is not open, that we are turning away the majority of people have adults who come to the border. But we still have children, we still have some migrant families who Mexico cannot accept for a variety of reasons, and these NGOs play an incredibly important role, I know we're at the end of our time here so let me just because there's a gather that's why, but let's see if we can just get to you to quickly go ahead and secure about the vaccine and well Iran if I can, several times from the podium you acknowledge that the button administration may not be the best messenger for certain groups on the vaccines, such as white evangelicals conservative white folks. Can you take us inside the process as to how you're determining who the best messengers are for those communities are you reaching out specifically to targeted people, are you relying on volunteers. What does that process look like. Well, a big part of our effort, and I appreciate you asking this question is to create in part of community core, which is a program that gets back based messages into the hands of local messengers and what we've seen through our data is that local messengers, whether that is elected officials mayor's doctors sometimes clergy civic leaders are the most effective messengers of anyone, and that's why a large part of our $3 billion funding that we have are are focused on getting out into the country is on working with community based organizations to strengthen vaccine confidence in the highest risk and hardest hit communities. So it really depends community, community but we work with faith based organizations we work with community health workers we work with disability organizations we work with organizations across the board of all different backgrounds and affiliations so that they can get the message clearly out to communities, how are you determining which organizations know who these influential people are who are going to reach these certain groups that you feel like perhaps you're not going to reach are, how we determine who community leaders are in communities, and like center trying to, you know, deal I think as I'm conveying here a lot of this is based on local taking a local rural approach and it's a lot of it's driven through HHS so they may be best able to answer your question, I just want to get to our last person here go ahead. My colleague, do you have a comment on Japan's fans to release wastewater from Fukushima to Pacific Ocean into the Pacific Ocean. Let me get you a comment from our national security team after the briefing. I'm happy to do that before directly to your colleague I should clarify who initiated the full phone call with President Putin was threatened by them. I'm not I don't think I'm gonna have more detail on that and I'll check if I do, because that's one that's President fight and the want to restore travel with, between the United States and Europe as well, with the United Kingdom before summer, even as it relates to COVID restrictions. Our focus, of course, we'd love to have travel return, just like everybody would like to return to normalcy but we rely on the advice and the guidelines, done by our health and medical experts and so will defer to them on the timeline for that, just for sorting fellows between Europe and the United States for the summer, many people need to plan in advance, should we in. We understand that. But also we will rely on the guidance and the timeline of our health and medical teams. Thanks, Everyone,