What A Day - Hit Me with Your Third Shot

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

The Biden Administration is expected to announce as soon as today that boosters should be in order for most fully vaccinated people who got either the Pfizer or Moderna shots. The recommended third dose should come approximately eight months after the last shot. But those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will have to wait on a possible booster shot until results from a study are released in a few weeks.The Taliban has started to speak publicly about its plans for Afghanistan, and offered many reassurances that people who formerly assisted the U.S. and NATO, as well as women, will not be targeted. Those promises, however, have been met with skepticism by Afghan civilians as well as other countries.And in headlines: the legal settlement over the opioid crisis hits a snag, Chris Cuomo finally opens up about his brother, and New Zealand locks down for a single COVID case.Show Notes:NYT: Malala, “I Fear for My Afghan Sisters” – https://nyti.ms/3k3pYBJFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

it's wednesday august 18th i'm gideon resnick and i'm priyanka arabindi and this is what a day the podcast that your campus crush is definitely listening to in their airpods when you see them walking across the quad yeah step aside underage drinking what a day is the new back to school sensation and listening to us is way less likely to get you in trouble with the dean. Unless they're a Daily fan and then we can't help you. Sorry. Oh my God. Sorry. No.

No. On today's show, Chris Cuomo finally speaks out about his brother. Plus, New Zealand entered a three-day lockdown because of one COVID case. Wow. My goodness. But first, a big update on the U.S. and the Biden administration's plans for COVID booster shots. So the New York Times broke the story on Monday, but they and others are reporting that the Biden administration is now planning to announce that most fully vaccinated Americans should get a booster shot eight months after receiving their second dose of either Moderna or Pfizer. So it's possible that we're actually going to see that formal decision on this this week as early as today, in fact, and that these

third shots could start getting offered to certain people by mid-September. Last week, federal officials gave the green light to booster shots for people with weakened or compromised immune systems. But what do we know about who will be eligible for a booster when this announcement is made? Yeah, so according to the reporting right now, it's going to look a little like it did at the start. So we could see the first dose is going to nursing home residents and frontline health workers. After that, it could be in the same order for when you got the vaccine, essentially. Plus, it appears that people will be given the same vaccine brand as you originally got. So no mixing and matching or shopping for other options for now. And Priyanka, this marks a pretty large shift because as recently as July, federal health officials said boosters were not needed at that point and that it was unclear if and when they would be needed.

So this kind of shows how our science and understanding of the virus and the vaccines continues to evolve, especially with Delta continuing to spread. Yeah, that's a big shift. So can you tell us a little bit more about the science behind this decision? Yeah, so a couple of things seem to be going on at once here. I got some expert analysis from Dr. Joshua Sharfstein. He is the Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at Johns Hopkins. And he told me that the expected decision is partly based off of research on the vaccines in Israel, where a huge percentage of the population got shots and actually got them quite early in 2020. There is evidence that the vaccine's effectiveness starts to wane after about

eight months. It would be quite useful for the agencies that are considering this step to really release all the data and the explanation so people can see not just the rationale, but get a sense of how big a deal this is to get this shot. Right. So on the data that we do know and actually have access to for now, it suggests that the Pfizer vaccine, which was primarily used in Israel, lost a significant amount of protection against severe disease for older individuals who got vaccinated back in January or February. Now, what's more, they are also reportedly seeing drops in protection, likely because of the Delta variant, for everyone from mild or asymptomatic disease. That's why they

began their own booster campaign. So the takeaway isn't that vaccines are not working, but the situation would be considerably worse without them. And we're continuing to learn about how to make sure the protection lasts as long as it can with them. Got it. Okay. So I hear you talking about Pfizer. You're talking about Moderna. Notably absent, you and I, J&J, what do people like us need to know? Yeah. Well, unfortunately, we and others are going to have to wait a bit to see what the guidance is there. Since this expected announcement on boosters only applies to the mRNA two-parter vaccine so far. Congratulations

to everybody out there getting their info before us. But it is conceivably possible that people who got J&J are going to need another shot eventually. Later this month, in fact, the company is reportedly going to put out results of its trial on people who received two doses, so that might offer some more clarity. Also, a lot of people who got J&J got it later. So if there is lower efficacy over time, it's possible we wouldn't see it until later. So we will be on the lookout for that soon. You can count on that from our show because both of us got it. But let's take a moment to talk about kids, many of whom aren't eligible for a vaccine of any kind. Gideon, catch us up on the battles around COVID protections and school. Yeah, so this is

a mess everywhere. School is beginning or has started, and unfortunately, it is kids who are bearing the brunt of these political decisions. So for example, the Hillsborough County School District in Tampa, Florida is going to hold an emergency meeting today to talk about a mask mandate. It comes as more than 8,000 kids and hundreds of employees of the district had to go into quarantine or isolation in recent days due to potential exposure. And this is, of course, after the state's governor, Ron DeSantis, sought to prohibit schools from requiring masks. And, in fact, he is reportedly going to penalize two other districts for the gall of wanting to institute mandates by withholding state funds. It is absolutely ridiculous.

And generally across the country, too, the number of children that are hospitalized because of COVID has hit a record high in recent days. Awful. That piece about children and keeping them safe is something that hit a nerve when you talked with Dr. Sharfstein from Johns Hopkins, yeah? Yeah, he had a lot to say about all of this. I wouldn't mess around.

I'm a pediatrician, and I've seen kids desperately ill and it's terrible. And we should be doing what we can to prevent that from happening. Yeah, and then he went on to talk about why we may be seeing these rising numbers, what we still actually don't know, and what the impact is of irresponsible policy. You know, I'm just dumbfounded, frankly, by some of these school boards that seem to be acting like COVID is not a worry at all for kids. I think that's just really dangerous. And people have to look at the facts rather than whatever misinformation they're getting from somewhere. They have to turn to credible sources of information and realize that they're there to help kids in their jobs.

It's pretty urgent. And I think this is more than just school systems. You know, communities have to say, well, if we're going to prioritize kids because now it's a, you know, pediatric pandemic too, then that means that if cases are up and it may make sense to have some inconveniences for adults in order to protect kids and allow them to go to school.

And so if we're going to put the health of kids first, we really have to, you know, make decisions that show that we do. Yeah, so there's a lot more on all this that we didn't get to that we are going to return to soon. And we'll keep you updated on when more of the booster info comes out. So that's the latest on COVID. But switching gears, let's get into what more we have learned about the unfolding situation in Afghanistan. Yeah, let's. So the situation in Afghanistan has changed very quickly in the past few days. And now that the Taliban has settled into the country's capital of Kabul, they've been speaking more publicly, and we're starting to learn a little bit more about their plan. Okay, got it. So tell us what is going on at the moment. Yeah, I will do my best. So right

now, people in Afghanistan and in the international community are very afraid that the Taliban's return to power will be similar to what we saw when they had control of Afghanistan 20 years ago. They led a brutal regime that violently suppressed the rights of women, girls and ethnic minorities. Nobody has forgotten that. The Taliban is claiming that this time will be different. When they first arrived in Kabul a few days ago, they promised a new era of peace in Afghanistan, which obviously that would be great, but everybody is really, really skeptical. Yesterday, their leaders held a press conference, but they tried to reassure people saying that they won't be seeking revenge against anyone who

opposed them or assisted the U.S. and NATO forces. But Taliban fighters reportedly have lists of people who did this and are seeking them out, which obviously terrifying. Right. And did they say anything about their plans in regards to forming a government? So the spokesman at the news conference said that talks were in progress, but he didn't really offer much more detail than that. We're getting a few details from other sources saying that they're trying to bring non-Taliban leaders in and bring women into their government. But obviously, this all remains to be seen. Yeah. And speaking of women, as you mentioned, the treatment of women and girls under the Taliban has obviously been a major, major concern. So what do we know about that aspect so far?

Right. So again, Taliban officials are doing a lot of reassuring right now. In the press conference yesterday, the spokesman offered some loose assurances saying there will be no violence against women, that their rights will be respected, and that they will be allowed to work and study really just the basics. Yeah, but there are a couple of catches. First, he added that this would happen, quote, within the bounds of Islamic law, which could be interpreted any number of ways. There also have been reports of women being sent home from work and not returning to school in Afghanistan. So, you know, we have to see what happens here. Back when the Taliban was in power in 2001, women lived under extreme restrictions. And if they defied in any way,

they faced violence like stonings and amputations. It was a horrific time. So it's understandable that returning to anything like that is a huge concern for everybody. We'll link to an op-ed by Malala Yousafzai in the New York Times that outlines a few more of these concerns from somebody who experienced this violence firsthand. Yeah. And as we reported yesterday, President Biden is standing by the decision to have U.S. troops withdraw, which was one of many, many factors that led to where we are at this moment. But how is the world reacting to the latest statements by the Taliban? Yeah, this is happening really quickly. So policy-wise, it seems like everybody

is still figuring it out. Yesterday, President Biden spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about coordinating with allies. They also agreed to have a virtual meeting with G7 leaders next week. We're just hoping that by now they've all figured out how to Zoom properly, not be unmuted. But the European Union foreign ministers held an emergency meeting yesterday, too, and they made human rights and terrorist prevention preconditions of any cooperation with the Taliban, and the UN Security Council has very similar concerns. There also continue to be concerns about evacuations and refugees. We will keep you updated as we continue to learn more, but that Squad, and for today's Temp Check, we are talking about everybody's favorite international meatball purveyor.

It is IKEA. The home furnishing company announced Tuesday that it would be expanding into the renewable energy field with their new program Stroma, named after a locality in Stockholm, Sweden, the name of which I'm probably butchering. The program will initially only be offered to its Swedish customers, but the company plans to roll out the program globally. Stroma customers will be able to source clean energy source through solar and wind, track their own energy production through IKEA solar panels, and sell back any surplus energy produced in their own home. Honestly, it all sounds pretty rad to me. So Priyanka, how complicated do you think those IKEA solar panel pictographic instructions are going to be? Yeah, so as you listed every cool thing about this, I was like extra hour, extra hour, extra hour. Right, right. You know, I don't have a lot of faith in this being that doable.

But then again, these are for Swedish people. So maybe like IKEA is naturally easier for them. I don't know. What are you thinking? I think that they're giving a lot of faith to Americans in their ability to just be on the roof and be constructing safely. Like I feel like that's just like a classic situation in which something bad is going to happen disaster also like these are pretty huge items right like each part of the panel we imagine is going to be like pretty large based on like you know other

equivalent solar panels that we've seen so i'm just imagining like this is a many person job you know like you sometimes have like a friend come and do the one part of the bed Ikea construction. Yeah, your handy friend to your like, you know, it would be so great if you could come help. Yeah, this is asking so much more of the handy friend. It's like getting on the roof, like holding a big part of the solar panel. Yeah, it logistically sounds intense. Just like that, we have checked our temps, install all your solar panels safely with your friends,

and we'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines headlines david sackler testified in bankruptcy court yesterday that he and his family will not contribute billions of dollars in a legal settlement unless they are freed from all current and future opioid related lawsuits right now all suits against the Sackler family have been paused since their company, Purdue Pharma, filed for bankruptcy two years ago. Purdue was found to play a major role in the opioid crisis, which has taken over 500,000 lives.

Several authorities, including nine states and D.C., have objected to the Sacklers' legal loophole, arguing that it gives legal protection to the entire family, even though none of them are declaring bankruptcy. If the settlement is approved as it is, the Sackler family, with its collective $11 billion net worth, won't face any charges related to the opioid crisis. Geez. Yeah, not good. Yeah, not good. Texas Governor Greg Abbott tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. He is fully vaccinated and will remain in isolation while receiving antibody treatments. Isn't it nice to have that as the option for him?

The Republican governor has been vocally against any kind of mask or vaccine mandate for his state, even going so far as to issue an executive order to prevent these safety measures. And even though Abbott is fully vaccinated, Texas lags far behind many other states in its vaccination numbers. The state is currently experiencing a COVID surge with an average of over 14,000 new cases per day. Yesterday, the state requested five mortuary trailers from the federal government in anticipation of a rise in the number of deaths. Health officials in the state also reported a record number of hospitals that are running out of ICU beds.

They're warning that there may soon be too many patients than hospitals can handle. Yeah, that is awful news for Texas. I mean, I hope he's okay, but I hope that's a wake-up call that, you know, he's fully vaccinated, is getting this, and, you know, that's not the case for everybody in his state. So, yeah. Yeah. You may have forgotten about the disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo, who announced his resignation last week amidst the New York Attorney General's office, releasing a damning 165-page report revealing that he harassed 11 female employees. I don't think you guys forgot about him. Well, his younger brother and CNN news anchor Chris Cuomo was conveniently on vacation last week, but he finally broke his silence regarding his brother's resignation at the end of his show Monday night. Here is a quick clip. I'm not an advisor. I'm a brother. I wasn't in

control of anything. I was there to listen and offer my take. And my advice to my brother was simple and consistent. Own what you did. Tell people what you'll do to be better. Be contrite. And finally, accept that it doesn't matter what you intended. What matters is how your actions and words were perceived. And yes, while it was something I never imagined ever having to do, I did urge my brother to resign when the time came. I love that he has like main character syndrome in this story. A thousand percent.

Like what? Anyways, he also mentioned having his brother on his show earlier in the pandemic, which many have called a conflict of interest. And he defended it by saying the appearances were, quote, short-lived over a year ago, long before any scandal. They also were about who mom liked more. Meanwhile, Governor Cuomo officially filed for retirement yesterday, which will be effective September 1st. As of Monday, New York state

lawmakers are continuing their investigation into the governor's sexual harassment claims, whether he used state resources while landing his multi-million dollar book deal, whether his administration granted special access to rapid COVID tests for the governor's family and other influential people, and if data on nursing home deaths had been misleading. Jeez, that is a lot of things. However, the state assembly is currently not moving forward with an impeachment inquiry once he leaves office. That's just my default.

This is exhausting. Yep, all of it. All of it. All of it. Yesterday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a nationwide lockdown after the government became aware of one confirmed case of COVID. Sorry if you're listening in the US where we are spiritually allergic to public health measures. I did not say one million or one massive outbreak at an indoor country music makeout session, but one confirmed case of a 58-year-old unvaccinated Kiwi contracting COVID.

This is New Zealand's first case since February, and the lockdown will last countrywide for three days. In Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula, where the man who tested positive had traveled, lockdown will likely last one week. The move may seem aggressive, but neighboring Australia, who handled COVID similarly to New Zealand, has been battling a much larger Delta outbreak for the past few weeks.

Moreover, New Zealand's vaccination rate is still less than 20%. And the proof is in the pavlova. Throughout the entire pandemic, New Zealand has reported under 3000 positive cases and only 26 deaths. So stay safe, New Zealanders, we will be over here in the US smiling through the tears. They'll be great. You know, I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about us. I'm not worried about that. Deeply worried about us as always uh and those are the headlines one more thing before we go this is the last week to take the cricket survey and share your opinions about the show if you love it tell us if you hate it still tell us just don't mention my name and uh thank you we are offering a 20 discount on any order from the cricket store for everyone who fills

out the survey you can mention my name it's totally fine find the survey at crooked.com slash survey today that is all for today if you like the show make sure you subscribe we review single-handedly assemble an ikea solar panel in your apartment and tell your friends to listen and if you're into reading and not just your cuomo apology of the day calendar like me what a day is also a nightly newsletter check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Gideon Resnick. And New Zealand, take us with you.

Oh God, please. I will learn how to tend sheep. I will also learn. And I'll do it better than Gideon. Take me. Yeah, there you go. It can be like a contest of sorts. That could be a new reality show.

I'd watch that. and Jazzy Marine are our associate producers and Kelly Satakun is our intern. Our head writer is John Milstein and our executive producers are Leo Duran and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.