- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by NJM Insurance Group.

Serving New Jersey'’s drivers, homeowners and business owners for more than 100 years.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

Wells Fargo.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Clean Energy program.

PSE&G, committed to providing safe, reliable energy now and in the future.

Choose New Jersey.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

And by Georgian Court University.

Promotional support provided by AM970 The Answer.

And by Northjersey.com and Local IQ.

Part of the USA Today Network.

- This is One-On-One.

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

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You get this?

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

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A block away from my apartment, it couldn'’t have been better!

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- (slowly) Start talking right now.

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

We kick off this very important, compelling program, with the First Lady of the great state of New Jersey, Tammy Murphy.

First Lady, thank you so much for joining us.

- As always, thank you so much for including me, Steve.

- We've had so many compelling and important substantive conversations with you, and I want you to update us on some things.

As we put up the NutureNJ.nj.gov site, tell everyone what that is, and why it matters so much.

- Sure, so Nurture NJ, Nurture New Jersey, is the program that I rolled out a couple of years ago now, actually, two-and-a-half years ago now, and that is the program that's gonna help us raise awareness to correct our horrific infant and maternal mortality rates, here in the state of New Jersey.

- And remind folks how bad their- I'm sorry for interrupting, remind folks how terrible those rates are- forget about rates, they're people involved, human beings involved, women involved, mothers, go ahead.

- Well, let me just say this.

The United States, it's 56 in the world, in terms of maternal mortality rates.

Within the United States, New Jersey is 47th, and that's out of 50.

When you look at those rates, you quickly understand that it has to do with systemic inequities in healthcare access.

And so women who are Black, are seven times more likely than white women to die, due to pregnancy-related complications.

And a Black baby is three times more likely than a white baby to die, before his or her first birthday, here in the state of New Jersey.

- Yeah.

The new initiative, the new law that creates universal newborn home visitation.

What exactly is it?

Because it's incredibly important and long overdue.

- Yes, the Universal Home Visitation Bill, which was signed into law by my wonderful husband, several months ago, is really groundbreaking.

It is a game-changer here in New Jersey.

It's the most robust in the country, in this space.

Essentially what it does, is it will ensure that anyone, no matter their income, their insurance, that they have the ability to have up to three in-person visits by a Registered Nurse in their home.

The first visit to take place within the first two weeks of delivery.

Now, why is that important?

First of all, you should know that 52% of maternal mortalities happen postpartum.

And it's estimated that two thirds of those are preventable.

So if you consider the fact that when a healthy baby is born, that baby is probably seen by a pediatrician three to four times in the first six weeks of its life.

And yet, if you are a mother having given birth, you likely will not see your provider again until after six weeks, beyond delivery.

So this bill will reduce the stigma, because it's available for everyone.

Which means we're not targeting people, and we're being more equitable, so that's really important.

It's also groundbreaking, because you know, when you- if you think about when you go to a doctor's office, it's- everybody's the same, you know?

Other than seeing what someone's wearing, or how clean they look, you're never gonna know what circumstances they might be living in.

You're not gonna know if they have food insecurity, or housing insecurity, or if there's some other challenge that they're facing on their home life.

And when you have a Registered Nurse who's able to go in, and actually check on you physically, that also means that they're able to see what other resources might be out there, that that individual, that family, might need, and we might be able to offer.

The other piece I would tell you, Steve, is that this piece of legislation in New Jersey is so robust because, we not only are the- the big point is that it's universal.

So it's not targeting, you know, a certain population.

There's no charge.

But the other two- the other pieces are, it's not only available to people who deliver healthy babies.

This is a service that will be provided to adoptive parents.

And it will also be provided to people, who sadly, might have a stillborn baby.

So it really touches so many things.

And when you see someone in their home, it's just gonna make our network of care, just that much greater across our state.

- And by the way, log on to the Nurture NJ site to find out more.

First Lady, let me ask you, we've asked you many times, and I've mentioned to you that we are involved in an initiative called Reimagine Childcare for many years now.

The Universal Pre-K Initiative, connected to that initiative, Reimaginined Childcare, and frankly, the larger economy, and having people be able to go back to work.

Not to mention, give our children, very young children, a fighting chance.

- Yeah, it's all of these things.

I mean, we have to rethink the way we treat people, across the board.

And that is one thing I'm really proud of, of that, which my husband's been doing.

'Cause I think that making our state more equitable, and giving people, you know, a chance to, you know, achieve the American dream, and live a good life.

If you're not healthy, and you're not educated, it's really hard.

So these are all transformational, and I'm really thrilled.

- I want to ask you about this, the New Jersey Council on the Green Economy.

What exactly is that?

- So the council is something that my husband created that is- it's to develop a roadmap, to ensure that we are building New Jersey's clean energy and green economy out, in such a way, that we are- you know, it's going to be an engine for job creation, for economic growth, and, you know, inequitable investments across our state.

The Green Council is comprised of a whole host of experts in their area.

It's not only got people from different representatives, from different state departments, but in addition, we've got people representing labor, we've got people representing the utilities, we've got people representing the energy sector, manufacturing, and it's- you know, chambers of commerce.

So it's a real compilation of some very, very experienced people, and people who have a stake in the green economy.

And making sure that we roll it out with social justice in mind, and making sure that we are doing all we can to help our labor brethren as well.

So it's really exciting.

We've had four convenings thus far, and I can tell you that we always set aside several hours for these meetings.

And it's- I mean, we have some serious people who are dedicating their time to this.

We actually did a- we went on a tour, a bus tour, with this entire group, through the Ironbound.

Understanding- - Ironbound in Newark?

Correct, the Ironbound in Newark, to understand the challenges on the ground, and the opportunities as well.

But there's a lot of challenges.

And we had, you know, we had commissioners, and some of the different secretaries in the administration, alongside, you know, climate advocates, and labor representatives.

And it's really been an incredible experience.

And just last week, we had our meeting at a manufacturing facility, Weiss-Aug, and they walked us through all that they're doing here in New Jersey, and their challenges, and how they are so sustainable.

It's just is- and I will tell you, we've never- we have very, very robust conversations in these meetings.

There's never a moment where people aren't really excited about what they're seeing, and the juices flow.

And, you know, I think that our goal, is that by April of next year, that we are able to present the governor with this roadmap, so that he is able to make sure that we are, in fact, becoming the green economy we want to become by the year 2050, and we're not leaving anybody behind.

- Tammy Murphy, who is the First Lady of the great state of New Jersey.

I wanna thank you so much for joining us, once again.

And we look forward to future conversations, all the best.

- Thank you so much, Steve.

Thanks for having me.

- You got it.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back right after this.

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

- We're now joined by Brian Sabina, who is Chief Economic Growth Officer at the New Jersey EDA.

That's the Economic Development Authority.

Good to see you Brian.

- Great to see you Steve.

- By the way, you are at the Gateway building in Newark, right?

- I am, we're on the way back into the office full time.

We're excited.

- And NJ PBS has a great studio there, that we'll be using soon.

Hey, what's over your shoulder?

- That right over there is the Prudential Center.

So, heart of a economic redevelopment for the city, along with a lot of the work that's going around it.

So it's a pretty exciting time in Newark right now.

- A lot of great stuff going on there.

Hey, I'm going to jump right into this.

The EDA is one of our underwriters and we talk a lot about economic development activity in the state.

One of the issues I want to talk about right out of the box is the New Jersey Wind Port.

What is it exactly?

And why does it matter to New Jerseyans?

- Thanks Steve, the New Jersey Wind Port is the first purpose-built offshore wind port in the country.

And it's important because we have a brand new industry that's going up off of our shores.

$150,000,000,000 in investment over the next 15 years, 83,000 jobs that are going to be created.

And to do that, we need new port infrastructure to be able to, to support these supersized components that the industry is demanding.

- Where's it going to be based.

- The wind port's in Lower Alloways Creek, which if you haven't heard of it is in Salem County.

So in the Southern part of our state, it is right just north of the Delaware Bay with great open access to the Atlantic ocean, no vertical restrictions, which is really important because as we move components out from the New Jersey Wind Port, they're actually vertical.

They're so tall that they are about the size of the Statue of Liberty.

So making sure we're outside of all bridges and power lines was really important when we selected that site.

- Yeah, I want to switch gears and talk about the Zero Emission Initiative, NJ ZIP, by the way, let's put on the screen, the EDA's website.

So people can find out more about what's going on there.

By the way, the EDA is not a for-profit entity.

It is of government, but not in government and has its own governing operation.

The New Jersey Zero Emission Incentive Program, NJ ZIP.

What is it?

- So, NJ ZIP is at its core, a voucher program for small businesses to help convert their fleets over to from, you know, gas or diesel vehicles to electric vehicles.

So if you are a bakery or a plumber or other sorts of small businesses, it allows you to make the decision to go electric sooner.

As you think about transforming your delivery vehicle or your commercial vehicle into the 21st century.

- You know, the term environmental justice is thrown around a lot, but from a practical point of view, a, what does it mean?

And again, I know I ask this a lot.

Why does it matter?

- Environmental justice is an incredibly important topic, not just for NJEDA, but for everybody in the Murphy administration.

At its core it's a realization of the reality that when we've gone through an industrial development and we've built great things like ports and, you know, factories, and places that create jobs, transportation, we have to do that somewhere.

And often the communities that are around that critical economic infrastructure, bear the brunt of the emissions that are related to those activities.

So if you think about, you know, all of the vehicles that go in and out of the port.

They have emissions and that causes asthma.

And the communities that are around those assets tend to be disproportionately impacted by economic activity.

So environmental justice is about how do we think purposefully about addressing those concerns and making sure that folks who live in those communities have both health outcomes that are better, as well as economic outcomes that are better.

- Let me ask you this Brian, Governor Murphy, and by the way, we're doing this program at the end of September, we also just conducted an in-depth interview with Governor Murphy and his Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli.

This'll be seen before and after that election on November the second, but a big part of that discussion was about the whole question of clean energy.

The governor has a clean energy plan.

Governor Murphy talking about 100% clean energy by the year 2050.

What exactly does that mean?

Because no one's against clean energy, but then you talk about what it means it's more complex.

- Yeah, so %100 clean energy means making a series of big strategic decisions and then a series of small tactical decisions to transition our economy from power that emits hydrocarbons and pollution to a economy that's based upon clean energy.

And that means creating new jobs.

It means making technological transitions.

It means building out our grid infrastructure to support a smarter way of running electricity through our communities and into our businesses.

So, it's a comprehensive approach to addressing the climate crisis that we see in front of us.

- Yeah, before I let you go, let's try this.

Let's play this little game, except it's not a game.

Come on.

It's not me saying it.

Devil's advocate.

Climate change.

Seriously?

All right it's real, but it's not that big a deal.

Talk to folks, Brian.

- Steve, I would encourage you to tell it's not that big of a deal to the New Jerseyans who were impacted by Henri, to the New Jerseyans were impacted by Ida, to the folks who were living on the shore communities who are now worried about coastal flooding, riverine flooding, climate change is real.

It's a reality.

What we need to do is, and what smart government does is get ahead of it.

And good climate change policy is good economic policy, it's good capital investment policy, and it's good social justice policy.

- Is it too late?

Is it too late, because for so long we have not done enough or we've done virtually nothing in some cases that climate change is what it is and you're playing catch up.

But in some ways it's too late you say.

- So I don't think I would say it's too late.

I don't think a Governor Murphy, others would say, it's too late.

It's too late for nothing to happen.

Clearly there's change that's going on.

But, Americans, humans are incredibly resilient and able to take on big challenges.

And if we address this head-on, as the Murphy administration is.

We have the opportunity not only to mitigate damage, but also to make sure that we are benefiting economically and socially from the transformation that needs to happen.

And that's our job here at the NJEDA is to make sure as we go through these transformations.

As offshore wind is this brand new industry that we benefit from that on our shores and in our communities.

- That's Brian Sabina, Chief Economic Growth Officer at the New Jersey EDA.

Hey Brian, thanks for joining us.

- Thanks so much Steve.

- Stay with us, 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 are honored to be joined by Dr. Amisha Malhotra, a Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist at the Bristol Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson, University Hospital, and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Good to see you, Doctor.

- Same here, good to see you, Steve.

- You know, so interesting, we're doing this on the 28th of September, being seen later.

Pfizer, lots of things going on, as it relates to vaccines for children, 5 to 11.

Tell us exactly not only where we are, but more importantly, where you think we're going, as it relates to vaccinating our children.

- So as you all know, just a couple of months ago, we actually, Pfizer, had actually gotten an EUA, which is an emergency use authorization, to vaccinate children, ages 12 and older.

So we've had our approval for people who are 18 and over.

And we just got- we recently got in, what we call an emergency use authorization.

So the emergency use authorization was given to the Pfizer vaccine to vaccinate children, ages 12 and up, and that was a couple of months ago.

And so then we're asking, "Well, what about our younger kids?"

You know, "When will we have a vaccine available for them?"

And one of the issues, I think, that many of these companies deal with is, "What's the right dose for children under 12?

So how do we get the most effective, or the most efficacious vaccine, and give them the right dose?"

You know, children are not young adults, so that's where- - And they're all different sizes.

And our daughter is 11, she's tall.

She just got her checkup, you know, all good, but she's tall, she's bigger than most 11 year olds, in terms of size, and whatever.

But I'm sitting there going, "So how do you measure the amount of vaccine?"

Because some kids, 11, 10, are bigger than small adults.

- Right.

I don't think it's all just about weight.

It's also about the immunity and the immune response.

And we know it's not just height and weight.

Really- so that's actually why there's been a lag with vaccines coming out for children under 12, because that's what these companies have been doing.

They've been trying to figure out, "What's the optimal dose?"

And I think many of you may already have heard that Pfizer has actually, probably within a couple of days, is ready to submit their data.

- As we do this program?

- As we do this program, to the FDA, for at least emergency use, if not approval, to get the vaccine available for these children under 12.

I think the dose is probably a third of the adult dose.

- Okay, I wanna follow up on this.

By the way, check out NJ Spotlight News, our former colleague at the caucus educational corporation, Joanna Gagis, did a great report talking about different views of parents on this.

But one of the parents she spoke to speaks for a lot of parents.

Many of whom said they can't wait for their children- us as well, my wife, Jen and I, when our daughter is eligible, we will, that's what we choose.

But there are a lot of parents who are like- and this was in the report, some of the parents are like, "No, it's been too soon, it's not enough, it's only been a few months."

Talk to all the parents who are saying, "Yes, whether the government approves it, the FDA or not, I'm not doing it for my kid."

What would you say to them?

- (sighs) So, you know what?

I think it's important for parents to be advocates for their children, no question.

As a pediatrician, as a mother, I understand that.

But then, you know, I hear this a lot, "Oh, it's too quick, it's too soon."

And you have to understand, that vaccine development, and specifically, COVID vaccine development, wasn't just something that they whipped up, and went through, and said, "We're not gonna follow protocol and policy," that never happened.

Yes, it was an emergency because we had a global pandemic.

So things that normally, maybe take years, were done- were prioritized.

That means- that doesn't mean steps were missed, that doesn't mean safety wasn't looked at.

It doesn't mean an adequate number of people, volunteers, people, volunteers, that studies were not done.

Same with children.

- No shortcuts, Doctor?

- No shortcuts, no shortcuts, but priorities, okay?

So it- you know, 10, 20 years ago, when you probably had, I don't know, 30, 40, 50 different items on the docket, saying, "We need approval for this."

We, you know, stay in line.

This was, "Hey, look, this is a global pandemic.

This has to be the number one priority."

And we have to go through all the steps, and that's why it came done, you know, it was done sooner.

It doesn't mean that there were shortcuts taken.

- But Doctor, you've seen this, tell folks exactly what you're seeing.

By the way, as we talk, the twin-demic, if you will, COVID, the flu, other diseases that we have to be aware of, tell folks exactly what you're seeing in our hospitals as it relates to children and COVID.

Because this isn't someone's opinion, this is a reality, please, Doctor.

- Sure, so, you know, one of the things I always hear from families, from parents is, "Well, you know, kids don't get COVID, that's not something I have to worry about.

So why should I worry about this?

Because we're not hearing that children are getting COVID."

And I can tell you, as a practicing physician, as an infectious disease doctor, dealing with children, yes, children do get COVID.

Now I will say, though, that the hospitalization rates of children are probably not as high as adults, okay.

But that doesn't mean they can't transmit disease.

That doesn't mean they can't get disease.

And that doesn't mean that they can't get hospitalized and get severe disease.

There's a condition called multi-inflammatory syndrome in children.

That is- - I'm sorry for interrupting, Doctor, because of the time.

Long-term implications, if a child does have COVID, there may be, with certain children, longer-term issues, correct?

- Yes, absolutely, like there are in adults.

Now, again, like I said, we know the hospital- hospitalization rates aren't as high, but certainly we are seeing very, very ill children in our ICU's.

So, you know, from a medical perspective, I think it's important for people to realize that this disease affects anyone, everyone, across the board, young, small, old, whatever.

And we need to protect ourselves.

- Before I let you go, Doctor, I have to ask you this.

We're talking about physical health, medical health, in terms of, you know, the sickness, and what the potential implications are of children.

Please talk about our children for 19, 20 months, going into this pandemic and beyond; the emotional and mental health issues for our children, which you deal with as well, please.

- Yes.

Yes.

I think we have to understand that this has taken a toll on all of us, but especially our children.

Think about the social isolation.

I mean, these children- - My daughter walking around with a plastic shield, I'm sorry for interrupting, all day, she walks around with a plastic shield.

Yes, she wears her mask.

We thank our teachers and everyone in our school system.

But I just think to myself, "Yes, we have to protect her, but she's not seeing the kids, they're not- there's no facial connection.

That socialization is not the same."

That has implications as well, no?

- Absolutely, it does, we've seen that.

We have seen these children kind of suffer in silence.

We've seen children who are unable to go to school.

Many of these children get their meals at school, okay.

So they're now- they were home for about a year.

Many of these children who need services that they get in schools were unable.

Families were unable to get those services.

And in general, children need friends, they need to socialize, they were unable to do that.

There's only so much you can do in a Zoom meeting.

There's only so much you can- especially for a 6-year-old, I mean, they don't have the attention span to sit in front and wave to their friends.

So that's- - When they get vaccinated, I'm sorry, when they get vaccinated, will they be able, more able, to play together, in your opinion, Doctor?

- I think we are opening the doors to leading a more normal life.

The more we vaccinate, the less we see this disease, and the more normalcy will happen.

And that's exactly my hope.

And that's why I'm advocating for vaccination, not just for the adults, but for the children as well.

We need our lives back.

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

By the way, when I was talking about this large plastic shield our daughter carries around with her, it's for her protection, and the protection of everyone else.

I'm not, in any way, being critical.

I'm just saying that's just part of the- with the books, and everything else, and the mask, it has to be done.

But let's not kid ourselves.

There are implications of all- - There is a new- Do you know, there's a new study that just came out from the CDC just a few days ago, - Real quick, 20 seconds, Ami, go.

- Masks help decrease infection in schools, they do.

Bingo.

- That's not a political opinion, that's a medical fact.

- That's a fact, and we've shown it.

- How dare we bring facts out here on public television?

Hey Doctor, thank you so much for joining us.

Wish you all the best.

- My pleasure, thank you.

I'm Steve Adubato, thank you so much for joining us, 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 NJM Insurance Group.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

Wells Fargo.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Clean Energy program.

PSE&G.

Choose New Jersey.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

And by Georgian Court University.

Promotional support provided by AM970 The Answer.

And by Northjersey.com and Local IQ.