[Tapper:] In our health lead today: The NFL is warning teams that, if they don't follow coronavirus guidelines, they could suffer suspensions and even forfeit draft picks, after some coaches have been seen on the sidelines not wearing masks and not practicing social distancing during games. The NFL postponed the Pittsburgh Steelers-Tennessee Titans game set for Sunday, after the Titans had four players and five staff members test positive for the virus. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now to discuss. And, Sanjay, masks were a hot topic of the debate last night, among many other topics.
[Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Cnn Senior Medical Correspondent:] Yes.
[Tapper:] Take a listen to this quick clip.
[Biden:] If we just wore a mask between now if they're everybody wore a mask and social distanced between now and January, we'd probably save up to 100,000 lives. It matters. It matters.
[Trump:] And they've also said the opposite. They've also said the opposite.
[Biden:] And no no serious person said the opposite. No serious person...
[Trump:] So we'll look at look at Dr. Fauci Dr. Fauci said the opposite.
[Biden:] He did not say the opposite.
[Wallace:] I want to ask you...
[Trump:] He said very strongly...
[Wallace:] ... we've got a little bit longer than a minute left in this segment.
[Trump:] ... masks are not good.
[Tapper:] I mean, it's such a it's just so insane. Look, let's be clear. Fauci did advise against wearing masks in the early days of the pandemic, in February and March, when other health experts were saying that same thing. But he, like other health experts, quickly changed course and started strongly advocating for them, once science proved their effectiveness. But here's Trump trying to muddy the waters. Why even do that? What does that achieve?
[Gupta:] I don't know. The masks are one of the most confusing things about this whole thing, Jake, because shutting down businesses, I get it, the economic sort of impact of that. Wear a mask. I mean, it's really simple. And the 100,000 number that Vice President Biden was quoting was from the IHME model, a model that the White House uses. That's one of their models that they go to on this. The effectiveness of the mask, as well as something else that happened in late March, sort of late February, early March, I think, really changed Fauci's mind on this. And I really want to make this point. Listen to how Dr. Fauci put it.
[Dr. Anthony Fauci, Niaid Director:] Back then, we were not aware that 40 to 45 percent of people were asymptomatic. We need to put that nonsense behind us about, well, they keep changing their minds. Masks work.
[Gupta:] So, Jake, I think, typically, when you think of a respiratory virus, someone who's coughing or sneezing and having symptoms, those are the people that are usually contagious. What became very clear during that early spring time frame, February, March, was that people could spread asymptomatically, and that that was a significant source of the spread. So the idea that you were the masks so that you're not the spreader, I think, really became the key. That's the important thing, is that you wear it to protect those around you. You have to behave like you have the virus. That's what changed, I think, in Fauci's mind, and that's what the science showed.
[Tapper:] But let because people are dying of this, I just want to take another beat on this, OK? So Joe Biden was making the argument, everybody should wear masks, and Trump makes fun of them, he belittles them. Now, Trump knows that the health experts say people should wear masks. His family showed up at this debate wearing masks, the first lady, his daughters, et cetera. They were wearing masks. And yet, instead of saying, I do support wearing masks, everybody should wear a mask, just like my family is wearing tonight, he muddies the waters to score a political point, as if Joe Biden is wrong about masks. That's dangerous.
[Gupta:] Yes.
[Tapper:] That is continuing to put out information that confuses people.
[Gupta:] There's there's no question about it. And like I said, this will be one of the mysteries. I guess probably it's exactly what you say, Jake. It's just political points, because it doesn't make sense. We know the president's worried about the virus. People around him are tested. He may have said it was a hoax, but he's certainly worried about it. Why he doesn't encourage people who are his supporters to wear masks, why he'd belittles it, I guess it's just I have not been able to say that something was purely political. Politics entangles into all these matters of science that we talk about. But this issue on masks sounds like it's just purely political.
[Tapper:] Yes. And it's misinformation. And it's dangerous.
[Gupta:] Yes.
[Tapper:] The president also said, the vaccine will be ready in a few weeks. Is that possible?
[Gupta:] It's not going to be ready for you and me and the general public. I mean, that's the perception that I think people take away from that, ready, we're ready to go, the pandemic is over. As you know, even after the vaccine comes out, it's going to take some time to distribute it and to actually have it take effect. And we're talking next summer, possibly, for that a lot of that major distribution to take place. What strikes me though, Jake, again, to your earlier point is, he's at odds, contradicting the very people that he hired. He brought in Moncef Slaoui to be the chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, which is doing an incredible job. I mean, they're moving along really fast. But even he doesn't believe that you're going to have that much vaccine ready. I talked to him about it. Take a listen.
[Dr. Moncef Slaoui, Chief Adviser To Vaccine Effort:] If it's shown efficacious in November or in December, we don't have enough vaccine doses. We'd have a few million in November and maybe 10, 20 million of each in December. That will be enough to vaccinate certain populations, start vaccinating certain populations, but not the whole population.
[Gupta:] He said he disagreed with Moncef Slaoui last night at the debate. So, what are we to do, Jake? I mean, these are the world experts. That's what they're saying. And then you hear what the president says.
[Tapper:] Yes. And, look, the president should be praised for Operation Warp Speed. It's great. But then he undermines his own experts. It's befuddling. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. We don't know the president's COVID response plan, but we now have an idea of his three-pronged plan to win reelection. And that's next.