WEBVTT - Britain Goes in Different Direction for Vaccine Rollout

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, January seven. I'm Oscar Ramiras 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>with a new strain of coronavirus spreading throughout the UK

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<v Speaker 1>and a very strict lockdown. Britain has taken a different

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<v Speaker 1>approach to vaccinating its people. Instead of following the two

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<v Speaker 1>shot protocol of the Fiser vaccine, taking about three weeks apart,

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<v Speaker 1>officials have said they will try to give more people

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<v Speaker 1>their first dose of the shot and delay the second

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<v Speaker 1>shot by as much as three months. Helen bron Swell,

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<v Speaker 1>senior writer at stat News, joins us for this modified rollout.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us, Helen Helly, thanks for having me.

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<v Speaker 1>We're all looking at the rollout of the vaccines right now.

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<v Speaker 1>In the United States. It's going a little slower than expected.

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<v Speaker 1>It's been pretty uneven right now. But in the UK

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<v Speaker 1>something interesting is happening. They're actually gonna be taking kind

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<v Speaker 1>of a gamble, I guess, with the way they're setting

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<v Speaker 1>out the doses right now. They have the Fiser vaccine

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<v Speaker 1>approved there, the astro Zenica vaccine approved there, and you

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<v Speaker 1>know it's two shot protocol, so you take the first shot,

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<v Speaker 1>I think three or four weeks later you take the

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<v Speaker 1>next one. But what they're trying to do is maybe

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<v Speaker 1>extend where that second dose gets administered and maybe try

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<v Speaker 1>to administer the first dose to as many people as possible.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's all sorts of questions that arise from this,

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<v Speaker 1>so Helen help us walk through some of what's going

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<v Speaker 1>on there. Right, So it is exactly as you have described.

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<v Speaker 1>The frisure vaccine is given three weeks apart the two doses,

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<v Speaker 1>and maderna vaccine is given four weeks apart. The astrogenic

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<v Speaker 1>A vaccine, which is also being used in the UK

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<v Speaker 1>but not yet in the US. The timeline and that

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<v Speaker 1>is a little bit different. They have some data suggesting

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<v Speaker 1>that if you actually space out the two doses longer

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<v Speaker 1>that you get a better response. So what the UK

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<v Speaker 1>is trying to do is deal with a huge problem.

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<v Speaker 1>Obviously everybody's got a problem. But as your listeners will know,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a new strain or variant of the virus that

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<v Speaker 1>has emerged in the United Kingdom that it appears to

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<v Speaker 1>be substantially more transmissible, about more transfers, and they're seeing

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<v Speaker 1>their cases skyrocket and in an attempt to try to

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<v Speaker 1>get on top of that. They decided to try to

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<v Speaker 1>get as many people as possible a first dose as

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<v Speaker 1>quickly as possible and worry about delivering a second dose

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<v Speaker 1>at a later interval somewhere like free latch or something

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<v Speaker 1>like that. And to add to that confusion too, they said,

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<v Speaker 1>well maybe if the uh you know, because you take

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<v Speaker 1>two shots of the fiser vaccine or two shots of

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<v Speaker 1>the astroseneca vaccine, if that dose is not available, maybe

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<v Speaker 1>you can switch to the other one, which hasn't been tested. Really,

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<v Speaker 1>So that was another wrinkle in this whole thing where

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<v Speaker 1>you know, a lot of people that were objecting to

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<v Speaker 1>this or saying, well, you're making the country a living

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<v Speaker 1>laboratory really. And some of the other criticism that popped

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<v Speaker 1>up was you could be fostering, you know, maybe some

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<v Speaker 1>vaccine resistant forms of the virus. As you mentioned, they're

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<v Speaker 1>battling a different strain already, and if people are only

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<v Speaker 1>getting half doses, will the virus be able to adapt

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<v Speaker 1>and mutate to be more resistant to that? So those

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<v Speaker 1>are some of the other big questions popping up, as

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<v Speaker 1>I said, with the astronetic ofvaccine which they're using they

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<v Speaker 1>do have some data, but on the issue of elongating

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<v Speaker 1>the interval between doses for the Fiser or the Maderna vaccine,

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<v Speaker 1>which they've just approved, those data don't exist. In theory,

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<v Speaker 1>people think that it might not be a problem, and

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<v Speaker 1>in fact, it's known in vaccinology that if you can

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<v Speaker 1>go a longer period of time between doses, you probably

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<v Speaker 1>get a more durable and more long lasting response later on.

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<v Speaker 1>But no one's clear with these new vaccines, the Fiser

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<v Speaker 1>and Maderna ones, how long or how how long the

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<v Speaker 1>protection between the doses lass or how strong the protection

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<v Speaker 1>engendered by the first dose is. And so the concern

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<v Speaker 1>is as you say that you're going to partially protect people,

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<v Speaker 1>but that might not be enough to keep them from

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<v Speaker 1>becoming infected. And if they become infected, there's a possibility

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<v Speaker 1>that they could effectively give rise to new strains of

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<v Speaker 1>the virus that are more adept at sidestepping the antibodies

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<v Speaker 1>that the vaccine creates. Now in the United States, the

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<v Speaker 1>FDA has kind of warned against this. They said that

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<v Speaker 1>they are not going to go with this type of protocol.

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<v Speaker 1>They're going to follow the rules that were already developed

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<v Speaker 1>and what they saw on the clinical trials. Has there

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<v Speaker 1>been any response from the manufacturers, from Viser or even

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<v Speaker 1>astro Zenica on this plan by Britain to go about

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<v Speaker 1>this way. I'm not sure about astro Zenica. I do

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<v Speaker 1>know that Viser has said that their vaccine should be

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<v Speaker 1>used the way it was tested, and you know, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>the FDA has said in this country that it will

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<v Speaker 1>not be modifying the schedules. Really, at this point in

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<v Speaker 1>the United States, the issue isn't trying to get first

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<v Speaker 1>doses into more people. It's trying to get the vaccine

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<v Speaker 1>that exists into arms in the first place. The distribution

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<v Speaker 1>system isn't working that well yet. I mean, that's kind

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<v Speaker 1>of to be expected. It's early days, but I think

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<v Speaker 1>people are thinking, like, let's not bite off that before

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<v Speaker 1>we even are able to administer all the first doses

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<v Speaker 1>that we have out. Well, it's an interesting approach to this.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, as we kind of said, we're gonna have

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<v Speaker 1>to see how it develops over the course of the

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<v Speaker 1>next few months. If this is the course that they're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna go with, more people will be getting that first dose,

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<v Speaker 1>but they won't get that booster for quite some time

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<v Speaker 1>after that, and We'll see you know, as this new

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<v Speaker 1>variant of coronavirus is spreading a lot more quickly, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>will these first doses offer enough protection in the meantime,

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<v Speaker 1>So something definitely to keep an eye on. Helen brand Swell,

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<v Speaker 1>Senior writer atstat News, Thank you very much for joining us.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks again for having me. I'm Oscar Ramires and this

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<v Speaker 1>has been reopening America. Don't forget effort 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 the Friday, so follow us on I Heart

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