Anderson Cooper: You've recently apologized for criticism of the the UK’s speedy authorization of the Pfizer vaccine. Can you just talk about your initial concerns about that and the speed at which this is happening? Dr. Anthony Fauci: We here in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration, no doubt, really is the gold standard of really careful scrutiny of all of the data, all the minutiae of the data of the clinical trials, that's just the way our FDA works. Some may say, it's a bit too careful, a bit too slow. But it really isn't. It really makes very much the front burner safety an ..read more

Anderson Cooper: Personally, Biden is saying, “there is no detailed plan from the Trump administration about distributing a vaccine.” Have you seen a plan what's going on? Dr. Anthony Fauci: There clearly is an organized approach, that's right from the military component of Operation Warp Speed. General Gus Pirna, who's responsible for the actual transport, the planes, the trucks, the trains, that take the material, in this case, the candidate vaccines from the store houses, the warehouses where they are, after they've been filled and finished to the local places of distribution, namely the st ..read more

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: We got another question. This one's from Jim in California who wants to know how confident are you that the federal and state governments will maintain the appropriate level of urgency in planning and preparing for a potential next pandemic, when this one has passed? Is there too much politics in disease control for it to be effective? Dr. Jeffery Koplan (Former CDC Director): There is politics and disease controlling it's part and parcel of public health. Public health is a community based population based activity, emphasis on prevention and politics is a part of that we ge ..read more

Anderson Cooper: Casey in Wisconsin sent in this question, "Can you please explain the 6% statement about deaths that came out, 6% of death certificates only had COVID listed on them. It's caused a lot of misunderstanding among many. It has people thinking that the death numbers, we see that only 6% actually died from COVID". Dr. Tom Frieden (Former CDC Director): If you die from cancer, and you also have diabetes, you still died from cancer. If you died from COVID, and you also had diabetes, you died from COVID. COVID does affect older people much, much more than younger people, and many olde ..read more

Anderson Cooper: This is a question Nancy sent in from Utah. It reads, what supplements do you recommend people take to keep their immune system strong during the pandemic? Dr. Julie Geberding (Former CDC Director): I don't recommend specific supplements. But I do think that the old fashioned good advice that grandma gave about trying to eat a healthy diet, get a lot of sleep, and believe it or not exercise, which helps our well being in all kinds of ways. Those are really the foundations to try and to stay healthy. And that is something that, you know, in my opinion, is a far more practical a ..read more

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Amelia in Illinois sent in this video Amelia (viewer): If the US implements measures to control the spread of COVID, will we be able to get it under control now? Or have we passed the point of no return? And what measures need to be implemented immediately? Dr. David Satcher (Former CDC Director): Well, it might be difficult, but I don't think we're at a point of no return. We are pursuing some very important things as it relates to new vaccines. And there's a lot of hope there, that we're going to be able to come up with a vaccine that will really make a difference. So I thi ..read more

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: I’ve got another question. This one comes from Ron Woo sent from Virginia, which reads, how would you respond to those who think COVID-19 is not that dangerous after seeing President Trump out of the hospital just two days after testing positive and continuing to play down the severity? Dr. Tom Frieden (Former CDC Director): I think we have to get past false dichotomies. It's not the case that this is the worst thing ever, or that it's overblown. The fact is that for kids, it's usually a mild illness, similar to mild to moderate influenza. But for many other people, it's quit ..read more

Anderson Cooper: Katie in Idaho sent in this video. Katie (viewer): Hi, my question is, would you or do you send your kids to school right now, given the current numbers and trends? And what's your reasoning? Anderson Cooper: Raise your hand if you would send your kids to school right now. Dr. Koplan, you didn't raise your hand. Why? Dr. Jeffrey Koplan (Former CDC Director): Because she didn't give me any other options in that one. And I don't think it's as easy as what you're going to do right now. It depends where you live, what the school district is doing, what's going on in the community ..read more

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Vaccine companies haven't recruited a sufficient number of African American and Latino participants, as I understand it to enroll in clinical trials, how concerning is that? And what might it mean down the line? Dr. David Satcher (Former CDC Director): I think this is quite concerning, because obviously, African Americans and other persons of color are at greater risk for some of the serious complications of this disease. So I think it's very concerning if African Americans are not sufficiently represented in the trials. So we're working very hard to try to change that. And ..read more

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: If you look at the numbers right now from the latest CNN poll, they say about half the country--51% of Americans--said they would get a coronavirus vaccine. Once it became available that numbers actually dropped. As you probably know, over the last few months, you were a couple of different hats. I mean, you were CDC director. But now at Merck. How do you think the CDC should combat that misinformation about a vaccine once it is ready? Dr. Julie Gerberding (Former CDC Director): I think others have sort of put this into perspective, it is about regaining trust and trust depen ..read more