- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

NJM Insurance Group.

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The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

Georgian Court University.

PNC, Grow Up Great.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The jobs of tomorrow are not the jobs of yesterday.

- Look at this.

You get this?

- Life without dance is boring.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- Do you enjoy talking politics?

- No.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

- Our culture, I don't think has ever been tested in the way it's being tested right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Steve Adubato.

Thank you so much for joining us.

If you know our series, you know, that we have had the First Lady of the great state of New Jersey Tammy Murphy on many times.

We're honored to have her again.

First Lady, Tammy Murphy.

Thank you for joining us.

- Thank you so much for having me always great to see you Steve.

- Absolutely listen so much ground to cover.

Can we start with Nurture NJ, where is it?

What is it?

Remind people.

We talked at Drumthwacket last time about this.

Remind people, what is it and why it matters right now?

- Okay.

First of all, let me give you a little bit of framing.

The United States is 55th in the world for maternal mortality rates.

New Jersey is 47th in the country.

When Phil, first day of Phil's administration I felt like this is something I wanted to tackle being a mom of four.

And really I didn't know what I was getting myself into I have to admit.

But what it really is, it's centuries of systemic racism, its implicit bias.

A black mother in New Jersey is seven times more - Seven times?

- Seven times.

- More likely to?

- To die from maternity related complications than a white woman.

And a black child is over three times more likely than a white child in New Jersey to die before his or her first birthday.

So that just gives you the context in which we're operating for the last three years.

My awesome team and I have spread out across the state, met with stakeholders.

We have coordinated family festivals bringing together thousands and thousands over 6,000 different families with resources at the state county and local level in different hotspots around our state.

We have held live interviews during times of COVID so that we can bring resources to people in need like lactation consultants and you know doulas and things like that.

To explain what resources are out there.

We started this out with two agencies working together with us, obviously the department of health and also family and children's, we now have over 18 different agencies who work with us and meet, work with us daily.

But we have a quarterly meetings.

We have an annual maternal and black infant health summit.

The legislature has been working with us very closely.

I think in the last several years they've passed over, Phil's signed over 35 pieces of legislation, just dealing with this.

We announced our strategic plan two weeks ago and that is it's going to be transformational.

It is great timing.

- First Lady Tammy Murphy, let me ask you this.

If people want to find out more, as you say we'll put up the website in post-production, what is it?

- It's NurtureNj.nj.gov.

- Say it again please - NurtureNJ.nj.gov.

- Got it.

You know, this is a related topic and you and I have talked about this before.

I've told you several times that we're involved in an initiative a public awareness initiative around childcare access to quality affordable childcare.

Re-imagine Childcare.

That website will be up as we talk right now.

A priority for you as well.

How has COVID a year into this we're taping on the 16th of February it'll be seen after.

How has COVID exacerbated the childcare crisis in this state and nation?

- Listen, anywhere where there was an equity and inequity or a fault line prior to COVID, it has been completely surfaced over these challenging times.

So for example, if someone was already having trouble accessing childcare, if someone was already having trouble meeting their financial requirements, whatever they may be whether it's (inaudible) or you pick it COVID has made this problem even worse.

People have lost their jobs.

People are having to socially distance, childcare can only take so many people at a time.

In many instances, they're being shut down.

In many instances, there wasn't enough childcare to begin with.

So the problems have been exacerbated just like the inequities.

It's the inequities across our state and our country that are being brought to the surface.

And President Biden is focusing on this.

So it's something that we all understand.

It's the inequities.

- You know, a lot of this is related to the question of ACEs adverse childhood experiences, a top priority.

If you remember, we actually sat down with you at a conference that was held in Princeton around this topic almost two years ago, as it relates to adverse childhood experiences, there's an action plan that's been put together.

What, explain to folks, Tammy, if I can call you Tammy.

- Obviously can.

- What adverse childhood experiences are and what action plan is being put together to address those very important issues.

- Sure.

So first of all, adverse childhood experiences are myriad.

They can be physical, they can be emotional they can be social, they could be abuse.

You could suffer from child abuse.

You could have drug substance abuse.

You could be, go without food.

I mean, there are so many different pieces.

- You could be abandoned as a child.

- Yes it literally Steve, there's about I think 11 adverse childhood experiences.

So if you accept the fact that these bad things are happening to a child what ends up happening is that child grows up and the cycle repeats itself.

So by tackling these adverse childhood experiences which by the way, the cycle will repeat itself with mothers.

So for example, you know if you grow up and you've had these challenges as a child you're going to have babies who are preterm.

You're gonna have babies who have lower birth weight.

There's so many pieces of this puzzle that if we don't stop it in its tracks here and now, it's just gonna carry on as it has done historically.

So the ACEs plan is a two year plan.

It's part of Nurture New Jersey plan.

So this is all fundamentally related because, you know once we stop all of these inequities and we start looking at the person as a whole and dealing with people on a better level then we're gonna have healthy babies healthy moms, healthy families and and we can move forward like in that direction.

- Can you give us 30 seconds?

I wanna ask you about March 4th we're taping on the 16th of February but there's a lot of significance around March 4th.

I'm gonna ask you that but can you do the pandemic relief fund for 30 seconds?

Remind folks what it is and why it's so important now more than ever.

- Yes.

NJPRF.org is the website.

The pandemic relief fund was started.

I started it last March almost at the outset of the COVID pandemic.

It was brought together essentially to raise money and disburse to those most impacted by COVID pandemic.

We have to date raised nearly $65 million.

We have about 63,000 donors from every county in New Jersey every state in United States and foreign countries.

And we are really working hard in the areas of digital divide, education, healthcare, food security, mental health, there's a lot of different pieces here.

- By the way, our friends at New Jersey Manufacturers told us about an initiative.

They care deeply about Trenton.

Trenton's one of those cities where this digital divide is terrible, right?

What's going on there because I know you're providing the pandemic relief fund is really making a difference in terms of Wifi, real quick if you could Tammy.

- Yeah, so we decided, I think you all know in June of last year, 230,000 students across the state of New Jersey had no access to either equipment or to the dial up or you know access to the Wifi.

That gap has been brought down both by what the government has been doing, the administration and then the pandemic relief fund also jumped in and we went to about nine I think it's nine different school districts and work directly with the districts.

Trenton was the first one and we helped close the digital divide.

You know one thing about that though Steve is that people think about the digital divide just being for children who can't gain access to school which is horrible.

And we're leaving a whole generation behind on that level.

But on top of it, it's enabling families that don't have these resources.

It's giving the grandmother the access to telemedicine.

It's giving the dad the access to job listings so he can search online to find a new job.

I mean it's providing a lifeline for families.

- I'm Steve Adubato.

That is the First Lady.

Thank you, Tammy Murphy.

We appreciate it.

And give our best to the governor, by the way we're taping on the 16th of February March 4th an important date in New Jersey.

It is not only the first case of COVID in Jersey.

It was the day that governor Murphy was operated on and he was out there working immediately.

We're gonna talk leadership with Tammy Murphy on our sister program Lessons in Leadership with Mary Gamba.

But thank you, Tammy.

All the best.

- Okay.

Thanks Steve.

- We'll be right back after this.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- Once again, we are honored to be joined by Dr. Richard Besser, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, also the former Acting Director of the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Besser, great to have you with us.

- Thanks so much for having me on, Steve.

- Moving target, by the way, you can find Dr. Besser on so many national and regional broadcasts.

We're honored to have him with us, and also honored to have the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation support what we're doing in terms of public awareness around critical healthcare issues like this.

So Doctor, let me ask you a question.

Our teenage sons were pressing me on this question, and the truth is, they're not the only ones, and I'm not the only one who didn't know the answer.

"So, Dad, you get the vaccine, Mom gets the vaccine, we get the vaccine, so you guys'll be good, and then we can go back to normal, Dad?

We can be with our friends and hang out inside?

What's the deal?"

And I said, "I don't know.

I'll ask Dr.

Besser."

Go ahead.

This isn't just for me.

It's for millions of others.

Go ahead, Doctor.

- I mean, that's the big question, and that's the eventual goal, is to being able to have your kids' friends in the house, to be able to go out and do everything we want to, get rid of our masks, but it's gonna be a gradual, a gradual step-wise process, and so yes, when you get vaccinated, you know, after you've had your second dose of the vaccines that are out there, and it's two weeks past that, the chances are that you are protected, and that's a wonderful thing.

As I talk to people who've been fully vaccinated, their mood is lighter.

They feel better.

There's just less anxiety in their lives.

I would wait and follow the recommendations of public health in terms of how much you can liberalize your life, so getting together with other people who are fully vaccinated, I would expect that that's gonna be something that's recommended that you can do.

I think that what we're gonna see is hospitals and nursing homes are gonna let people who are fully vaccinated visit their loved ones, and you know, my parents are now, they've both received their two doses, and so I, yeah, I visit them, I wear a mask, but I feel much better about the whole encounter.

So the eventual goal is to get there, but it's not a you get the shot, and off you go.

- This is another real quick one, if I can get 30 seconds or less.

If you get the vaccine, whether, and Johnson and Johnson coming online, that's one, if I'm not mistaken.

- [Richard] That's right.

- One vaccine, one shot.

When we're protected, does that mean you're unlikely to get it and unlikely to give it?

Help me on that.

- Well, you're- - You can't give it if you don't have it.

- Yeah, the first part of that is true.

You are unlikely to get it.

At least you're unlikely to get COVID with symptoms because that's what was studied.

They didn't look to see does the vaccine prevent you from getting an asymptomatic infection?

So can it get in your nose, but it just doesn't spread throughout your body?

And then, so that's the critical piece as to why, you know, public health people aren't saying, "Yeah, get your shot, and off you go."

It hasn't been proven that people who are vaccinated can't spread it to others.

It's likely that they either can't spread it or they're much less likely to spread it, but until that question is firmly answered, that's why they're not, you're not hearing recommendations of just, "Get vaccinated and go."

- Doctor, I saw you on the "Today" show talking about this.

I want you to touch on it as well.

What does it mean to be an epidemic disease?

Could this be an epidemic disease, meaning it's with us for a long time, just mutating and changing?

- Yeah, so there's words we use in public health.

There's the pandemic, where it's spreading around the globe.

There's an epidemic, where you see a big rise in one place, and then there's something called an endemic disease, and an- - Oh, an endemic.

I apologize.

- Yeah.

An endemic disease is like the flu, where it's here.

- It's here.

- It's here, it's got a seasonal pattern.

We kinda know what it does.

There are a lot of infections there.

Rotavirus, the common cold, there are a lotta things that we see that are here, and we've come to live with them, and if they're not too bad, we likely haven't developed vaccines.

If they're like the flu, we have, and so COVID could end up being something like the flu, where each year, we're needing to get vaccinated because it's mutated and changed enough, and you know, the flu, we get vaccinated against three or four different strains at once.

It's possible that's a situation we could get into with COVID, if there's more than one strain causing problems circulating around the globe.

- Doctor, when you use the term vaccinated, is that different from getting, you get the two or the one, whatever it is, whether it's Moderna or Pfizer or Johnson and Johnson moving forward, et cetera.

The booster, is that the same as a vaccine, or is that in addition to the vaccine?

- So different vaccines require different numbers of shots to give you the highest level of protection.

So it used to be that, you know, when we were little, if you got one measles shot, one MMR, you were covered for life, and then it was found, wow, it drops down over time, so we now give two.

We give one at age one and one at age five.

For this vaccine, for the Moderna and the Pfizer, they're both vaccines.

The first dose primes your immune system, and it gives you some response, and then the second dose really jacks it up so you've got a much higher level of protection.

The J and J vaccine, which the FDA is gonna be considering soon for approval, that's one dose, and you're done.

- What's the booster?

- So a booster is just the same vaccine.

You're getting it again, and so, like the whooping cough.

We get a booster shot of pertussis.

We get a booster shot for that when we get older.

Pregnant women get a booster shot.

It's the same thing.

For some reason, we call it a booster just to say, "Well, it's boosting your immune system.

It's reminding your immune system of something that it had developed a response to before, but it may have started to fade."

- Let me ask you this.

So many parents, my wife and I, countless others, kids, school, COVID, does it depend upon when, where, et cetera, and what else?

- So the CDC put out, I think, some excellent guidance - I saw it.

- last week on that, and what they're saying is something that we've been saying over the whole last year, is that what's going on in the community really matters in terms of your schools, and so if you're in a community that really has COVID under control at the very low levels, you should be able to get most kids back in classroom learning in-person.

If you have higher levels of transmission, you may be able to get kids back into school, but probably not as many kids as you could if it's at low levels, but what we found over the past year through many, many different studies here in the United States and around the globe is that if you're able to provide schools with the resources they need, so all the children wearing masks, extra staff to be able to do screening and to do cleaning, if you're able to decompress your classrooms so that children aren't sitting right next to each other.

There's some space between them, and you can check your ventilation systems.

If you can do all of those things, you can get kids back into schools safely learning.

- I'm sorry, Doctor, without teachers, again, the whole question about vaccines for teachers, let's assume teachers, some are, some aren't vaccinated.

Make a difference?

- Well, I mean, those studies show that you could do it without vaccination.

I think that teachers should be in the group of essential workers who are getting vaccinated, and as supplies- - Seems logical.

- Yeah, yeah, I mean, I, you know, here in New Jersey, we're vaccinating first responders, but we're not vaccinating people who work in the supermarket.

We're not vaccinating people who are driving the buses.

- That's as of today, February 16th, but go ahead.

- Exactly, and it's gonna increase.

Those groups are gonna be included as the supply goes up, but I think they should be part of who's vaccinated now.

I mean, I have the luxury, I can work here from my house.

I rarely have to leave the house, and I'm very fortunate in being able to do that.

- But many are not.

We're not being smug about it, but we're maybe the exception.

- Many people have to go to work, have to leave the house in order to put food on the table and pay the rent, and we should be vaccinating those people.

They're helping keep society going.

They're teaching our children.

They're stocking our shelves in our supermarkets.

They're producing the food that we eat.

They're driving our buses.

They should be vaccinated as well.

- And by the way, they're also running our camera, like Scarlyn, who is here right now.

He's in our home doing this.

I'm in my home.

Just let's be clear: there's a difference.

Everyone has a different situation.

Dr. Richard Besser, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, also former Acting Director of the CDC, cannot thank you enough.

Every time you join us, Doctor, we learn important information, accurate information.

Thank you, Doctor.

- Thank you so much.

Be well.

- You got it.

I'm Steve Adubato.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We're now joined by Dr. David Adinaro, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Health in the area of Public Health Services at New Jersey and also the chair of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force.

Doctor, great to have you with us.

- Thanks.

Happy to be here.

- You got it.

By the way.

As you see our website, look at the interview we did with Commissioner Persichilli as well, and Department of Health.

We're taping on the 16th.

This will be seen later.

It's not a day to day report.

Big picture, biggest challenges, the Department of Health has faced to date as it relates to vaccine distribution.

- So, several things.

I think, first of all, just getting up an entirely novel network of vaccinators, to be able to handle these, both these vaccines that require honestly special storage in terms of the cold chain and ultra cold chain, making sure that our IT systems are able to handle the influx of information coming into them.

And then obviously just the communication with the public about where the vaccine's available, the information about the particular vaccines and then handling of course, all the unexpected weather related issues and everything else that comes along with getting the vaccine into New Jersey and then making sure people are able to access it safely on any given day.

- Doctor, let me ask you this.

As, as we are here on the 16th, say it's March 16th, April 16th.

If the vaccine supply from the federal government is dramatically improved, how much will that dramatically improve the distribution and their shots in the arms?

- Significantly.

I mean, right now we're able to get, every week, all the vaccine made available to us, allocated to the vaccinators.

And essentially into people's arms and all of our vaccine sites really are just crying for more vaccine.

They've matured a lot over the last two months and if the federal government is able to double our supply, we're gonna be able to, both, increase what we're doing through our current vaccinators and bring on a whole lot more groups of individual vaccination sites that are currently not being used because we don't have the supply for them.

- Dr.

It's obviously not just how many, but who they are, meaning who's getting the vaccine, who's not.

In terms of the great disparity, in the African-American and Latino community, particularly in the black community.

The numbers are just way too low.

What is specifically being done to address this serious problem?

- So, several things, I think first and foremost, we are beginning to have some targeted sites that are within communities of color.

And we're excited about the fact that we're teaming up with, Some of the resources that are being provided by FEMA, and also working closely, with, the communities, including ministers in that community, to tie those two together for the vaccines.

And the other part is I think just increasing access.

We're excited about the fact that CVS and Rite Aid now, are getting vaccine directly from the federal government.

And we know that we have a lot of sites that are in people's neighborhoods that we really wanna increase the supply of vaccine to them, in order to make it easier for all communities, but particularly the ones that have been the hardest hit, access to vaccine.

- By the way, check out, NJ Spotlight News every night, for what is happening day to day in New Jersey.

But a followup to this, so much confusion around scheduling, around the website, around that as we do this.

Again, the telephone, the hotline number, not enough staff there, hard to get through.

So for someone who says, Hey, why can't the Department of Health and the State quote, "get it together."

Why isn't it easier and smoother?

Ain't that easy?

- Well, we certainly wish it would be easier and smoother.

I, first of all, we are creating things that happen.. - But some of that is to be expected.

It's not my job to make excuses for the department, but it's not that easy.

- No, these are actually very complicated things that we're putting together and we're doing things that we've never been called upon to do before.

Healthcare, unfortunately in the United States has always been very fragmented.

And so this is fragmented also, but I do think that we have a great set of vaccinators who really wanna do the right thing and are trying as best as possible to cooperate and see if we can get a little bit more unity and make it a little bit easier for people to access.

- In time we have left, vaccine resistance beyond distribution, beyond supply resistance.

Numbers, any better doctor?

- Yeah.

So, the surveys we're looking at, definitely show that people are more open to getting the vaccine.

And I think there is hesitancy out there.

I don't think it's so much resistance as people want more information.

And are a little bit hesitant and we know that as we move past the people who are very excited about receiving the vaccine, that we're gonna be, having to talk to people, honestly, and giving them robust information that will encourage them to consider the vaccine and be open to getting it.

I also think that as more people get the vaccine and they see that it's working and that there aren't a lot of side effects.

I think that's gonna make a lot of the people who are hesitant, more comfortable, with, receiving it themselves.

- Yeah.

And the minute we have, what did you, how do you define herd immunity?

What's the number?

- So, we don't know yet, right?

We know that any number is better, numbers that have floated around are 70 or 80 percent.

I think it's important to understand that.. - Excuse me, of the adult community or everyone.

- Well, that's the other part right now, we only have a vaccine that's available to adults or anybody over 16.

And we don't know how much, what the right number is.

We do know that if you get vaccinated, it will protect you.

And that we do think, that you getting vaccinated, will protect your loved ones around you.

But right now, I think we're really focused on, getting as many people as possible vaccinated because we know that's the safest way to end this and to end the risk for everybody.

- But social distancing and mask, not going away anytime soon.

- No.

I mean, I do agree with a lot of what people said that, the fall of this year should look very different than what's going on now.

We will have vaccinated a lot of people by summertime, but right now, if you've been vaccinated, you're still gonna need to mask up, distance, quarantine if necessary, and follow all the other precautions that are out there.

- By the way, we've had the Department of Health, COVID website up, the CDC as well throughout the segment.

Doctor, I wanna thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

- I'm Steve Adubato, we thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

NJM Insurance Group.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

Georgian Court University.

PNC, Grow Up Great.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Johnson & Johnson.

MD Advantage Insurance Company.

And by St. Joseph's Health.

Promotional support provided by NJ.com, And by ROI-NJ.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Being a kid is all about playing, laughing, and having fun.

Doing what they do best, from rolling in leaves to building a snowman.

But when illness or injury slows your little one down, you want the best pediatric care possible.

Turn to the experts at the St. Joseph's Children's Hospital to get your super hero feeling super again.

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