Addressing Future Pandemics and Vaccination

Nobody knew there'd be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion.

There may and likely will come a time

in which we have both an airborne disease that is deadly.

And in order for us to deal with that effectively,

we have to put in place an infrastructure,

not just here at home, but globally,

that allows us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly,

respond to it quickly. So that if and when a new strain of flu,

like the Spanish flu, crops up five years from now or a decade from now,

we've made the investment and we're further along.

To be able to catch it.

It is a smart investment for us to make

it's not just insurance it is

Knowing that down the road.

We're going to continue to have problems like this particularly in a globalized world, and if there's one message

That I want to leave with you today based on my experience, and you'll see that in a moment

Is that there is no question that there will be a challenge the coming administration in the arena of?

Infectious diseases both chronic infectious diseases in the sense of already ongoing disease

And we have certainly a large burden of that,

but also there will be a surprise outbreak

And I hope by the end of my relatively short presentation you

will understand why history of the history of the last 32 years that

I've been the director of NIAID will tell the next administration

that there's no doubt in anyone's mind that they will be faced with the challenges that their predecessors were faced with.

The Biden administration, Dr. Fauci,

we already have millions of kids around the country who have gotten vaccinated,

which means that if you're still thinking about it,

you know, get informed, talk to somebody you trust, your family doctor, your pediatrician,

a school nurse, get more information about it.

They'll tell you it's safe. It's effective.

This is this vaccine is tailored for kids and then come on down and find a spot to get vaccinated.

You can get it for free just by going to vaccine.gov.

It'll tell you exactly where. You can go to get vaccinated and,

you know, make sure to do it, as you said,

for your kids, your entire family, as well as for the community at

large. Did you say free fries when you get vaccinated?

I got vaccinated.

You're saying I could get this?

These delicious fries?

Wait a minute.

But there's also a burger element to this?

Let me check with Bill Neidhardt.

Is it too early in the day to eat a burger? No, you're good to go.

This could be breakfast? You're good to go. Okay.

I want you to look at this and think about, again,

Some people love hamburgers, some don't. Really want to respect all ways of life.

But if this is appealing to you, just think of this when you think of vaccination.

Mm, vaccination,

mm, look at that.

I'm getting a very good feeling

about vaccination right this moment.

We're gonna keep rolling out incentives.

We're gonna keep making it easy. We're

gonna keep making it fun.

We really, really need to get everyone vaccinated, so.