WEBVTT - Voices From the U.S. Vaccine Program 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:09.200 Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day two seventy 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:14.520 seven since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's main 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:19.520 story healthcare workers at some of the country's most overwhelmed 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:24.959 hospitals finally have reason to celebrate what it's like to 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:31.040 be among the first inoculated against the deadly virus. But first, 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:47.400 here's what happened in virus news today. In the US, 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:52.720 Congress looks closer to passing a coronavirus relief deal. Two 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:57.440 people familiar with the negotiations say it includes stimulus payments 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:03.880 to individuals and supplement to unemployment insurance, but not liability 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:09.560 protections or direct aid for state and local governments. Leaders 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.880 are rushing to finalize the package in time to attach 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:17.000 it to crucial government spending legislation and pass it by 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.480 the end of the week. Four people briefed on the 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.240 discussions said it is expected to be less than nine 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:29.440 hundred billion dollars. Some of the first doses of the 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:33.839 fies are incorporated bio n Tech. COVID nineteen vaccine were 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.200 held up from delivery in the US this week and 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:42.119 sent back to the company because they were colder than anticipated. 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.520 Gustav Parana, the Army general who serves as Operation warp 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:52.000 Speeds Chief operations officer, said that two trades of vials 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:59.160 at two California locations reached degrees below zero, colder than 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.480 they are supposed to be stored. The same thing happened 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.360 at one location in Alabama, Paranah said at a news 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:15.280 briefing on Wednesday. Finally, Germany recorded nine ten coronavirus fatalities 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.440 in the twenty four hours through Wednesday morning, the most 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:24.520 since the pandemic began. A strict shutdown designed to stem 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:28.919 the surge of infections is being put in place. Chancellor 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.280 Angela Merkel has warned that the country faces a new 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.920 peak of COVID nineteen infections next month, suggesting that the 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:46.840 tougher restrictions will remain in place beyond January. And now 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:51.760 for today's main story. Just a month ago, Iowa experienced 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:57.520 its worst COVID nineteen surge yet. Coronavirus cases began soaring 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.959 there in early November, as they had have throughout the 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:04.959 United States. By the middle of the month, Iowa was 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:10.560 recording about four thousand new cases every day, But this week, 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:15.040 staff at a University of Iowa health Care System finally 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:19.640 had reason to celebrate. The first doses of Viser's vaccine 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:23.960 arrived at the Iowa City location Monday morning in tiny 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:29.280 vials packed in dry ice. Angelica Levito spoke to healthcare 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.520 workers there just after they became some of the first 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:37.200 Americans outside of clinical trials to get immunized against the 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:41.480 deadly disease. I spoke to her today about how it 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:55.560 went so, Angelica, you spoke to someone who is among 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:57.920 the first in the US to be given the COVID 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:02.320 nineteen vaccine developed by Fiser and Bio n Tech, Chitana Daniels. 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.480 I was wondering if you might just tell us a 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.240 bit about her. Chitana Daniels is a staff nurse in 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:11.480 the Medical Intensive Care Unit at the University of Iowa 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.920 Hospitals and Clinics, and so at her hospital in Iowa City, 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.800 she sees some of the most complex critical care patients 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.679 in the state. The University of Iowa is really the 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.159 only academic medical center in the state, and so they 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.560 see patients from all over Iowa and even in parts 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:34.839 of Illinois who are coming in with the coronavirus. And 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.520 so she's been working in the i c U since 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.039 the pandemic started, and her experience has been a little 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.400 bit unique in that in the spring, when cases were 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.760 exploding in New York City, it was pretty quiet in Iowa. 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:52.240 But then, unfortunately, as the year progressed, and especially during 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.680 the fall, she started seeing more and more patients and 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.520 caring for some of the sickest people in the state. 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:02.320 In beginning middle of November, we had like lists of 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:06.039 patients just waiting to get to bed, even from Illinois, 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:10.000 like the hospitals on the Illinois Iowa border. We're calling 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.760 places like Chicago and St. Louis trying to send their 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:18.840 patients and there was nowhere for them to go. You 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:22.800 mentioned Iowa City seeing an increase in an uptick of 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.160 COVID nineteen patients throughout the year. So how does this 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:31.360 play into how Iowa City was chosen or was able 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.000 to be one of the first place to begin administering 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:39.120 the COVID nineteen vaccine. So states are able to choose 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.039 where they want to send the doses that they're being 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.880 allocated from the federal government, and really across the country, 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:50.320 what we're seeing is states sending their doses to the 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.719 people who are really on the front lines dealing with 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.119 COVID patients all day, every day. And what that means 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:00.440 is that a lot of health systems, the large health systems, 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:04.040 including the University of Iowa, are getting the very first doses. 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:10.880 What was the process of getting the vaccine like for Chitana. So, hospitals, 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:15.320 including the University of Iowa, are creating algorithms and formulas 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.760 to determine who should get the first few doses because 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:23.080 there are a very limited um quantity at the beginning 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:27.040 that we see ourselves in right now. And so Titana, 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.360 given her role as a staff nurse in the medical 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:34.040 Intensive Care unit, UM was among the first at the 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:38.120 University of Iowa health system to get vaccinated. And she 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.919 got a call late last week asking her if she 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.680 would want to come in on Monday to get her shot. 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.440 And you know, at first she said she just thought 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.400 it was something normal. The next step in the process. 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:51.600 I think I got to call at the very end 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:56.719 of last week, um my manager said, we're scheduling people 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:01.200 to get vaccinated. We're trying to do it UM when 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.120 they have a little bit of a stretch off, a 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.120 few days off, so that if there are any side effects. 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:08.160 There's not a huge volume of people trying to call 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.480 off work. So I said, sure, I'll do Monday. I'll 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:15.160 do Monday morning, Monday afternoon now. But I didn't really feel, 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.800 I don't know, any excitement about it. Um. I was 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:21.880 just like, Okay, yeah, this is like just the next step, 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:24.920 the next thing I do. But now that it's so close, 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.160 and I saw a picture of my friend getting one 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:32.040 of the first vaccinations this morning, like I'm I'm so excited. 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:35.480 And so she went up and they were hosting the 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:40.200 clinic in the Children's Hospital. And this hospital is right 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.320 across from the University of Iowa's football stadium, and so 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.160 they have this room what they call the press box 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.920 because it's glass and you can see over the football 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.320 field and up there on the twelve floor is where 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.840 they have this clinic. And so she went up there, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.440 and she said the energy was amazing. You know, people 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:01.840 weren't as a the really cheering, but it just felt 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:05.920 like everybody was kind of bouncing and and so excited 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.440 to get This is your vaccination card. You want to 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.200 hang onto your badge because they're gonna have you swipe 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.400 it more time. If you just want to hang out 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:17.680 right here. That it's interesting too, is that there was 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.400 a lot of security, because of course these are really 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.720 precious products. Right now, there's a security guard standing in 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:27.840 front of the one elevator that gets you there. You 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.880 had to scam me in and then get into the elevator, 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:33.480 scan his badge again so I could go up, and 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.040 then you know, there was somebody there who was checking 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.319 off names of people who were expected to get the 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:42.280 vaccine that day. She arrived a little bit early, and 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.280 people in line were just talking about how excited they were, 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.600 and there were some posters reminding people that just because 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.160 you were vaccinated doesn't mean you can stop wearing your 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.760 mask ppe And there were about two or three stations 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:59.160 where nursing and medical assistance were administering the vaccines. And 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.680 she sat with her back to the football field and 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:04.080 she got her shot. She said she didn't even feel 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:11.160 it go in reference day. I don't care left un that. 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:18.400 Just a second thing on three, alright, I'll go for it. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:22.760 I'm gonna sign your okay, thanks, And then they gave 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:26.119 her her card, these cards that the CDC is including 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.520 in the supply kits that everyone all of the vaccinators 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.600 are getting. And so she got her card with a 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:36.120 sticker on it saying which vaccine she got when in 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.840 reminding her to come for her second dose in a 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.720 few weeks. What is the next step for her? How 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.280 does her her work or even her daily life change 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.960 now that she's gotten part one of the vaccine. So 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.920 this vaccine is a two dose vaccine, and so she 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.760 will have to come back in in about three weeks 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.360 to get her second shot. And so far I haven't 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.240 heard her say that she's sket well that next dose. 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:05.120 And you know, the data from viser suggests that there 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:09.240 is some protection after the first shot, which is good, 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.120 but it's not nearly as much as that second shot, 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.880 so her life will not change overnight. But you know, 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:20.200 she is really excited about the possibility of maybe seeing 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.839 her parents after her second shot and returning to some 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.040 sense of normalcy because you know, a lot of healthcare 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:30.760 workers haven't done much since this all started. She says 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.320 that she's mostly seen just her husband, who she lives with, 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.480 and that's it. And you know, she's been tempted to 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:42.000 see some friends and and really engage in normal life 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.120 that so many people have resumed. But she hasn't felt 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:48.600 comfortable doing that given that she sees the sickest of 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.640 the sick patients every day, and so she's excited to 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:57.600 get some sense of normalcy back. So, as a nurse, 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.560 Titana was among the first received the vaccine, but it 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.840 obviously maybe several months before others can receive it as well. 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.719 What are some of her recommendations for those who may 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:10.480 have to wait a bit before receiving their own shot. 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.760 You know, her recommendation is that people should really know 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.280 that this virus is real and that they need to 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:22.160 take it seriously. That we have tried and true measures 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:27.000 that we know work. Wearing a mask, not attending extended gatherings. 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:29.760 So these are things that you know, they might feel 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.800 tiring or they might feel worrisome, but you know, she 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.600 herself has seen that since Iowa implemented a mask mandate 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.560 late last month that her own hospital census has started 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:45.040 going downward. So she just reminds people to be patient 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:49.080 and do the things we know work. While we're still 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.560 in this period where a very very small number of 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:56.679 people are vaccinated. I sort of take for granted how 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:00.640 lucky I am to be getting at this early because 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:06.160 even other you know, medical facilities don't have vaccines yet. Yeah, 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:10.480 I just feel really grateful to be where I am 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:15.320 and to like work for a hospital that protect the 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.680 people that work for them, And I'm just I'm just like, 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:26.680 for the first time in months, actually hopeful and maybe 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:28.960 seeing a glimmer of a light at the end of 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:37.400 the tunnel. That was Angelica Levito. And that's it for 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.920 our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.800 and twenty bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:48.040 slash coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:51.680 us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.480 It's the best way to help more listeners find our 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:59.040 global purporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by tophrah 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:04.880 foreheads in Gospora, Magnus Henrickson, and me Laura Carlson. Today's 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:09.080 main story was reported by Angelica Levito. Original music by 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.160 Leo Sedrin. Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesco Levi. 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:18.240 Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head of Podcasts. Thanks for listening.