'The threat of COVID is not gone," says Milwaukee medical director

Dr. Ben Weston, Milwaukee COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center Medical Director, talks about the process of approving the COVID-19 vaccine for children and the global fight against COVID-19.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: We have about 20 minutes to go until the closing bell, and we're looking at a mixed picture with the Dow and the S&P under pressure. The Dow falling for the first time in the last four trading days, now off nearly 200 points. So we're seeing some of the selling accelerate here in the final hour of trading. The S&P now off nearly 3/10 of a percent. The NASDAQ is holding on to gains. You can see the NASDAQ up 42 points. Microsoft and Alphabet, two stocks outperforming many of their peers following the strong results that we got after the bell yesterday.

Let's turn to the latest on the COVID-19 pandemic because we got news out that Pfizer's COVID vaccine for kids will likely get approved. The FDA panel suggesting that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine should be approved for kids ages five through 11, something that we have been waiting for now for quite some time.

So for more on that, we want to bring in Dr. Ben Weston. He's a medical director at Milwaukee's COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center. And Dr. Weston, me included, I think a lot of parents are very excited that we're starting to see at least some children qualify for the vaccine. So now we have the FDA recommending its use. When will we likely see this age group actually eligible for the shot?

BEN WESTON: Yeah, thank you for having me back. I'll include myself in that group of excited parents. Yesterday was a big day. It's nice to see this step forward for these younger kids. So I think the next step is going to be the FDA's formal emergency use authorization. That should come any day now. And then next week, we'll see the ACIP, that advisory committee to the CDC, reviewing it. I would anticipate-- I think most would anticipate that will be a positive review. And we could be seeing shots in arms for that 5 to 11-year-old age group as soon as the end of next week.

SEANA SMITH: Doctor, what's your advice to parents? Because some are still hesitant to give their child the shot. What would you say to them?

BEN WESTON: Well, I would say two things. I would say, first of all, these vaccines have been given to billions of people around the world and hundreds of millions of people in the United States. So we know that these are safe vaccines. We know they're effective. The second thing I would say is specific to that 5 to 11-year-old age group, the studies have been done. The experiments have been done. This isn't experimental anymore.

We saw an effective vaccine, and we saw a safe vaccine. There's going to be some side effects. There's going to be some sore arms. There's going to be some headaches, some body aches, some low grade fevers. But we didn't see any serious adverse effects. So I think parents can be comfortable getting this vaccine for their children to protect them, protect their families, and protect their community.

SEANA SMITH: Well, speaking on vaccines, we got some news out from Novavax. Shares are getting a bit of a boost today, up just around 6%. But the company filing for its first vaccine authorization in the UK. Our colleague, Anjalee Khemlani, spoke to the CEO, Stanley Erck, earlier about this. Let's take a listen to what he had to say, and then I want to get your quick reaction.

STANLEY ERCK: It represents just an enormous amount of work, particularly on the last remaining manufacturing data that we put together. And it allows us to prepare for not only this filing, but also for global filings with various regulatory agencies in Europe and Australia and Canada and other places in the US. And so this is a big day for the company.

SEANA SMITH: So, Erck there saying that Novavax plans to have its US package ready for filing by the end of the year. Is that going to make much of a difference in the US since we already have Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer?

BEN WESTON: Well, it is a different type of vaccine. It's a protein-based vaccine, so it's a different mechanism. But the short answer is, I don't think this is going to make a big difference in the United States. I think the folks who wanted to get vaccinated eagerly have gotten vaccinated. There's some folks who are very much against it still. But there's a lot of in between people who still have questions. I'm not sure this is what will tip the scales.

Now, that said, I think this is still a really important vaccine. We still have billions of people around the world who are unvaccinated. And having one more vaccine available, one more vaccine widely disseminated, will be critical to everyone in the world, even if they're not in that exact country.

SEANA SMITH: Doctor, you're based in Wisconsin. I was reading the numbers. Cases are rising, nothing like they were at the peak. But still, it's a slightly concerning trend. What are you seeing? And what's the current situation like at your hospital?

BEN WESTON: You know, it's concerning every time we see those little bits of optics. And we do see a little bit of an uptick right now. Hopefully, it won't be sustained. Our hospital capacities have been comfortable at this point. We've seen a declining number of patients in the hospital. So I'm hoping this is just a little bit of a shoulder on our downward trend, but we'll continue to watch it closely and see where it goes.

SEANA SMITH: Are you preparing for potentially seeing another wave this winter?

BEN WESTON: Well, I mean, we know that in Wisconsin, I'm looking out my window here. It's getting colder and colder outside. And when it gets cold in Wisconsin, people don't want to hang out outside as much as they used to. So this virus spreads more indoors in enclosed spaces. So I think we should be cautious. We enjoy the down trends, of course.

But we know that historically, over the last 20 months, every downtrend is followed by a bit of an uptick. So we'll continue to work on our vaccination numbers and continue to work on our mitigation strategies, our masking, our distancing, and as much as we can in the winter, our open air and ventilation.

SEANA SMITH: And because, doctor, when we look overseas, we're seeing a couple more lockdowns over in China. And I think a lot of people, once they see headlines like that, they wonder if we could potentially see that again here in the US. I know we're a long ways off when we take a look at the numbers now. But do you think that's something that the administration potentially should or will consider if we do see a large spike in the number of cases?

BEN WESTON: We've seen a variety of approaches on how different countries approach the pandemic. That's not to say the United States has done the best job of anybody. We certainly haven't. But I don't think the approach that we're seeing in China of strict lockdowns would necessarily work in the United States. So I think continuing to vaccinate as many people as possible, and then also continuing to hammer home the importance of those mitigation strategies, the importance of masking indoors, again, distancing, again, open air, until we can get a large, large portion of our population vaccinated and really drive down the burden of disease.

SEANA SMITH: Doctor, your biggest worry heading into the holidays, it sounds like you actually think that we're in a pretty decent place, just in terms of the number of people vaccinated. And of course, if you take some of those steps that you were just referencing of keeping your distance and masking in indoor areas, I guess, any more advice just in terms of what people should consider when they're trying to evaluate whether or not they should feel comfortable traveling this holiday season?

BEN WESTON: Well, I think people should remain cautious. Our trends nationally, our trends here in Wisconsin are promising. But again, we know that promising trends don't continue forever. We also know that our vaccination rate is not anywhere near as high as it needs to be to really keep that burden of disease low.

So COVID is not done. The threat of COVID is not done. The increases in cases, we will see more. Probably the variants, we will see more, potentially worse than delta. So I think we need to remain cautious. I think we can celebrate our wins, celebrate that the trends are moving in a good direction, but we need to remain vigilant.

SEANA SMITH: Dr. Ben Weston, always great to speak with you, medical director of Milwaukee's COVID-19 Emergency Operation Center.