WEBVTT - Vaccine Plan Changed, Operation Warp Speed to Release All Available Doses

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, January four. I'm Oscar Mrrors from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>The Trump administration has changed its vaccine rollout plans. It

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<v Speaker 1>is now recommending for people over sixty five and those

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<v Speaker 1>with high risk conditions such as heart disease or diabetes,

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<v Speaker 1>to get the vaccine immediately. They also want to send

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<v Speaker 1>out more first doses without reserving the second shot, hoping

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<v Speaker 1>more people can start the process. Dan Vergano, science reporter

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<v Speaker 1>at BuzzFeed News, joins us for the rollout changes and

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<v Speaker 1>concerns from the Biden administration about the new plan. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us, Dan, glad to be with you. Operation

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<v Speaker 1>warp Speat officials have changed course on their vaccine rollout plan.

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<v Speaker 1>They want to broaden the amount of people that can

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<v Speaker 1>get this right now. I know we're going through these

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<v Speaker 1>kind of tiered phases and all, but they want to

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<v Speaker 1>open it up to all people over the age of

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<v Speaker 1>sixty five and anyone that has high risk conditions such

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<v Speaker 1>as diabetes, heart disease, obesity. And I think they also

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<v Speaker 1>want to kind of just throw all the available doses

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<v Speaker 1>out there. I know we were saving some for a

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<v Speaker 1>second dose, you know, which is supposed to be taken

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<v Speaker 1>about three weeks four weeks apart. They just kind of

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<v Speaker 1>want to open the floodgates right now. So Dan tell

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<v Speaker 1>us a little bit about the plan from Operation Warp Speed.

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<v Speaker 1>So from Operation Warp Speed to viewpoint, what they have

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<v Speaker 1>done is they've assured themselves that the manufacturers are producing

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<v Speaker 1>enough vaccine on time, so that if they do instead

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<v Speaker 1>of holding back a reserve shot for the second dose

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<v Speaker 1>for everyone, they get a first shot too, but instead

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<v Speaker 1>they can just sort of send out all the shots

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<v Speaker 1>they got and be reassured that there will be a

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<v Speaker 1>second shot around instead of hanging around for it. And

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<v Speaker 1>this is an effort to increase the supply of shots

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<v Speaker 1>out there for the people to get. What they're finding

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<v Speaker 1>also is that they're not getting good reporting back on

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<v Speaker 1>who's gotten a shot and when the states jurisdictions are

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<v Speaker 1>supposed to reply within seventy two hours, Yes, we gave

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<v Speaker 1>somebody a shot. They're used to do in that in

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<v Speaker 1>thirty days. And there's the sense that a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>states aren't, which might explain the low rate of vaccinations overall.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, they said they sent out about twenty nine

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<v Speaker 1>million shot and only about nine million people have gotten one,

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<v Speaker 1>so there's only about a third of people have gotten

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<v Speaker 1>the shots they sent out, so there's some frustration there.

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<v Speaker 1>So they're trying to use a stick like you know,

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<v Speaker 1>don't report and you don't get any more vaccines. The

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<v Speaker 1>allocation was just done by state population. Now the allocation

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<v Speaker 1>is going to be done by over sixty five population.

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<v Speaker 1>This is an attempt to get more doses to more

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<v Speaker 1>people who are at higher risk. There's also as well,

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<v Speaker 1>sorry to give you the entire rundown, but also they

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<v Speaker 1>promised that they're going to do more outreach to set

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<v Speaker 1>up mass vaccination sites and help states with the vaccinations.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a recognition that operation more speed while it was

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<v Speaker 1>making factories to make these vaccines before they proved out

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<v Speaker 1>and sort of compressing the testing timeline, which you know,

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<v Speaker 1>although still using all the same safety measures, were still

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<v Speaker 1>sort of compressed in terms of how they usually do it.

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<v Speaker 1>That they did not actually assist the states in setting

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<v Speaker 1>up places for people to get shots. Where uh, it's

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<v Speaker 1>clear that the states need more help than they can

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<v Speaker 1>do by themselves, and so the FEDS are offering them

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<v Speaker 1>some assistance, right, and We're starting to see that in

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of places in California where I'm at, Dodger

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<v Speaker 1>Stadium is being turned into a vaccination site. Disneyland is

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<v Speaker 1>being turned into a vaccination site. So these big centers

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<v Speaker 1>are going to start opening up. What does the Biden

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<v Speaker 1>administration said about this plan? Because I know they had

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<v Speaker 1>a similar plan where they wanted to get more people

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<v Speaker 1>their first doses and just so we can start getting

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<v Speaker 1>as many people vaccinated as possible. But I know that

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<v Speaker 1>there's some concerns from them, and they're coming into power

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<v Speaker 1>next week, so things will change slightly. I'm assuming what

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<v Speaker 1>are some of the concerns from the Biden team. So

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<v Speaker 1>Biden's team last week said that they supported the one

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<v Speaker 1>part of Operation Work Speeds Change, which is to not

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<v Speaker 1>hold back the second doses, but to send them out

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<v Speaker 1>and figure that just in time, the manufacturing will be

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<v Speaker 1>there to provide those second doses. What you're reading and

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<v Speaker 1>hearing is that the Biden team is a little bit

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<v Speaker 1>nervous about them suddenly throwing the gates open. Everybody in

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<v Speaker 1>the country if you add up all the people in

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<v Speaker 1>Group one. This is the priority that the CDC's Advisor

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<v Speaker 1>Committee set up for which started with healthcare personnel and

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<v Speaker 1>people in long care nursing homes, and now it's everybody

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<v Speaker 1>over sixty five and anybody who has a high risk condition.

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<v Speaker 1>That added like a hundred nine million people to who

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<v Speaker 1>already were eligible. So you're talking about hundred seventy four

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<v Speaker 1>million people. That's half the country, right, So all of

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<v Speaker 1>a sudden, the Biden folks are walking in there with

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<v Speaker 1>half the country expecting them to get them a dose tomorrow.

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<v Speaker 1>And this doesn't add up. First, we aren't getting shots

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<v Speaker 1>to the people who we do send the dose without

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<v Speaker 1>for and there ain't a hundred seventy four million times

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<v Speaker 1>two doses anyway. The manufacturers have promised to deliver something

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<v Speaker 1>like a hundred million each shots, you know, in the

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<v Speaker 1>first quarter of the year. That's only enough for a

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<v Speaker 1>hundred million people. That's not a hundred and seventy four

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<v Speaker 1>million people. So they're worried that Trump is sticking them

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<v Speaker 1>with a promise that he doesn't have to deliver on

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<v Speaker 1>and that they're going to be sort of stuck with. Although,

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<v Speaker 1>of course Biden's campaign pledge was a hundred million shots

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<v Speaker 1>in the first hundred days of his administration, which looked

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<v Speaker 1>doable for the numbers that the manufacturers are promising, realizing

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<v Speaker 1>that a hundred million shots is just fifty million people vaccinated,

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<v Speaker 1>right because together by number and two. So of course

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<v Speaker 1>they're looking this gift horse in the mouth here that

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<v Speaker 1>Trump has left them with. Of course, how are we

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<v Speaker 1>looking with regards to people's willingness to actually take the vaccine?

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<v Speaker 1>Because we're talking about all these vaccines flooding the market,

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<v Speaker 1>let's say, right, more available for people. But I am

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<v Speaker 1>still hearing anecdotally at least a lot of people hesitant

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<v Speaker 1>to take these vaccines. It's clear that there's some hesitancy.

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<v Speaker 1>Typically only about eight percent of people in the healthcare

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<v Speaker 1>profession get the flu shot. You know, who should know better?

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<v Speaker 1>And here, you know, you do see these reports of

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<v Speaker 1>different healthcare personel refusing to take it. That's just part

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<v Speaker 1>of the human tapestry. In polls, something about two thirds

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<v Speaker 1>to more people say that they'd be willing to take

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<v Speaker 1>a shot now. But that still leaves you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>country's population isnty million people more than a hundred million

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<v Speaker 1>people who said they wouldn't get a shot. That's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people, right, and that's a drag because we

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<v Speaker 1>need to get what they call population immunity or sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>herd immunity. The wrong number in just the naive estimate

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<v Speaker 1>is at least they're about six of the population immunized.

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<v Speaker 1>So we're starting to play with that. If we have

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<v Speaker 1>people who won't even get it, this is what we're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna see. We saw this with H one and one

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<v Speaker 1>in two thousand and nine. There's going to be people

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<v Speaker 1>who refuse to take it. There's to be people who

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<v Speaker 1>want to take it. But you know, our complacent and like,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm pretty healthy, I'll look you do it some other day,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know, this kind of hesitancy is just going

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<v Speaker 1>to be, you know, along with waiting in line. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's going to be just part of our experience for

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<v Speaker 1>the next six to twelve months. The initial rollout of

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<v Speaker 1>the vaccines has been slow. As we know, we're starting

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<v Speaker 1>to ramp things up. I'm hoping nothing but positive things

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<v Speaker 1>happen with these continued rollouts and changes to the rollout,

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<v Speaker 1>so we'll see how all of it plays out. Dan Vergano,

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<v Speaker 1>science reporter at BuzzFeed News, thank you very much for

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<v Speaker 1>joining us. You bet, I'm Oscar Ramirez, and this has

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<v Speaker 1>been reopening America. Don't forget that. For today's big news stories,

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<v Speaker 1>you can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>every Monday through Friday, so follow us on I Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio or wherever you get your podcast