MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Raja Krishnamoorthi

Interview

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O`DONNELL: As millions of Americans continue to refuse to get vaccinated, less than 1 percent of people in low income countries have received the vaccine, more than 6 billion people around the world have yet to receive COVID vaccine. Today, a group of 70 Democratic members of Congress joined in support of accelerating the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine around the world.

In a statement they said, no investment in the fight against COVID-19 is more urgent and cost effective now than an investment in getting the world vaccinated as quickly as possible. Joining us now is Democratic congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. He is a member of the House Oversight and Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, as we try to convince people in the United States to get the vaccine, people who absolutely refuse to do it. Billions of people around the world are desperately waiting for.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): That`s right, Lawrence. That`s why I and others introduce something called NOVID. This NOVID Act which is a play on words, no more COVID would set up a system to basically help to vaccinate 60 percent of the population of the world`s 92 poorest countries. It`s not only the right thing to do, but it`s also the smart thing to do, because, unfortunately, the variants that we saw abroad, for instance, the Delta variant which sparked this initial NOVID Act four months ago, has come here and it`s ravaging us.

And epidemiologists tell us that it`s only a matter of time before variants appear on the landscape that defeat our first generation vaccines.

O`DONNELL: Let`s listen to what the Secretary of State said about this on Morning Joe, today.

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ANTHONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: We had vaccines in our stockpile, 80 million that we`re making available to countries around the world, we started doing that about a month ago, of the 80 million, 60 million had been distributed. The other thing that`s happening is because of our leadership, other countries are stepping up. The G7 countries, our European partners, Japan, are also committing additional vaccines. And production is increasing, what we have to do is get to a place where we`re getting as many vaccines as we possibly can, to as many countries as many people as fast as we can. If we do that, we can get ahead of the variants and win the race.

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O`DONNELL: Congressman, that`s 80 million in a need that as we say goes into the billions.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes, I don`t think we should be talking about millions anymore, Lawrence. We should be talking about billions. The need is about 8 billion doses of vaccine. And although, I applaud the Biden Administration for this down payment, if you will, and its commitment to helping other countries, at this point, we`ve got to hustle. We can`t wait any longer.

Four months ago, I and some others pointed out that the Delta variant which was ravaging in that case, my home, my birth country, where I lost three of my family members to COVID. And basically saying, look, that Delta variant is going to make its way over to here to the United States very shortly if we don`t vaccinate people abroad, unfortunately, that came to pass. And now a Lambda variant has arrived on the landscape. And what`s next.

Already in Israel, they`re seeing the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine go down significantly, even in response to the Delta variant. And so, we have to be at this point, vigilant, and we`ve got to hustle and get money out there - get vaccines out there and spend the resources to do so.

O`DONNELL: The only thing I was surprised about in your group`s announcement is that there were not more members of Congress joining this effort.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: We wanted to put something together quickly to make sure that we could get this into the reconciliation package quite frankly. We think that it`s absolutely crucial to allocate this money as quickly as possible, because, to me, this is cheap insurance compared to the trillions of dollars that we`re going to be spending on the economic recovery. And of course, with regard to the health aspects of the pandemic.

I am confident that the majority of our caucus is behind this. And I think that we`re going to get this into the package, but we`ve got to push as hard as quickly as possible right now.

O`DONNELL: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you very much for joining us.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you, Lawrence.

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