WEBVTT - The Career Problem-Solver Taking on the Pandemic 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:08.680 Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day three, twenty 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:14.240 six since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's main story, 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.759 Biden's new covids are is known among Democrats as a 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:23.479 problem solver. But will that be enough for the job ahead. 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:38.000 But first, here's what happened in virus news today. Astra 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:40.640 Zeneca and the University of Oxford are planning to have 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.760 a re engineered shot that protects against new mutations available 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.760 by the fall. The more protective vaccine would come just 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.199 in time for another round of immunizations that may be 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:58.400 required before next winter. Andrew Pollard, chief investigator of the 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:03.360 Oxford Trials, said switching out the genome sequence, manufacturing and 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.920 completing new studies for a vaccine against variants should be 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:12.679 fairly quick. A new study shows promising signs for the 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:16.120 immunity of people who have been infected with COVID nineteen. 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.440 According to a report by UK Biobank, a major biomedical database, 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.080 some eight percent of participants who tested positive for previous 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:32.440 infection retained antibodies for six months. At three months, the 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:39.319 number was The results follow other smaller studies that indicate 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:43.480 some level of immunity for at least six months after 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:51.800 a natural infection. Finally, Mexico's Health agency approved Russia's spot 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:56.320 Nik five vaccine for emergency use. That's according to Deputy 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.760 Health Minister Hugo Lopez Gatell, who spoke at a press 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.720 con Frinds today. The country has secured one point for 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:09.280 million doses of the vaccine through March. Mexico is betting 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:13.040 on close to fifty five million total vaccine doses by 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.640 the end of April. The nation was the first to 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.280 start vaccinating in Latin America, but fell behind others in 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:29.600 the region after a delay in visor shipments. And now 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:34.440 for today's main story, Joe Biden's new COVID nineteens Are 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:39.440 is a former business executive and Biden ally named Jeff Zience, 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.680 who was little known to most Americans. Zience doesn't have 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.080 a medical or military background like the two men who 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:53.040 ran Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration's vaccine delivery program. 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.639 I spoke to reporter Anna Edney, who says the posting 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:01.480 will test sciences reputation with Democrats and Washington as the 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:09.400 go to guy when things go. There's a new face 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.240 to the Biden administration's policy to beat COVID nineteen in 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:17.160 the US. But to many Americans it's not exactly a 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.600 familiar one. I was wondering if you might just tell 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:26.640 us who is Jeff Science? Sure, UM, you know, he's 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:30.320 somebody who has worked behind the scenes UM a lot 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:34.079 in government actually, but hasn't really been kind of the 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.840 main face of some of his efforts. UM. Like he 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.920 is now out in front on this COVID response for 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:45.920 the Biden administration. UM. But Jeff Science actually started his 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:49.600 career on the business side. UM. He was doing some 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:55.360 consulting and stepped into the Obama administration actually UM after 0:03:55.640 --> 0:04:01.120 a pretty successful business career, and he was Bamba's first 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.440 Chief Performance Officer. UM. It was a new position that 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:08.520 the administration had created to try and UM get government 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.880 running a little more smoothly, tackle big things like the 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:16.440 hiring process, the procurement process. UM. Dian's ended up also 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.920 doing some work at the Office of Management and Budget 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.640 UM for the White House, and he had left government 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.520 for a little bit very shortly, and then in healthcare 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:32.760 dot com dot gov, which was Obama's signature domestic issue UM, 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:36.000 trying to get health insurance to more people This was 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.080 the website that let them sign up. It launched in October, 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:45.279 it crashed and Science was called in to come and 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:48.080 and fix it, to get the people together to fix it. 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:52.960 He doesn't have experience really in kind of the medical world, 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.320 but he's known as somebody who can pull people together, 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.360 um find the right people to do the job, get 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.479 the motivate, did keep people on time, and get it done. 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.200 And that's why he's been called back at this point 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:10.279 now that Democrats are back in the White House. You know, 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.240 hearing the term covids are one might be forgiven to 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:18.920 think that someone would need a medical background for this role. 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.800 But of course, as you mentioned, Jeff Science does not 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.320 have a medical background. I was wondering if you might 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:27.800 outline some of the responsibilities he's going to be involved 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:32.080 with in being the COVID's are so as the COVID's 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:37.920 are he is going to first off be tackling the 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:43.159 the vaccine issue. I talked to Andy Slavitt, who also 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.800 worked in the Obama administration and now has come back 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:50.719 as an adviser to Biden's COVID Response Task Force, who 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:55.240 said that vaccines are the biggest focus right now for 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.640 the team. Obviously there's a lot of other things they 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:01.080 need to work on, but getting backsineans out two Americans 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.280 will be will be number one, and so science is 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:08.840 going to have to focus on things like ramping up manufacturing. UM. 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:10.679 You know, there's a lot of concern that we won't 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.240 have enough of the vaccines soon enough. That's been kind 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.039 of a slow rollout. But there's other things that that 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:21.560 will be looking at two, and that's testing UM sequencing 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.839 of the virus because we're seeing all these variants coming. 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:28.760 So the US is trying to check for variants that 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.240 are happening UM and see if they can sequence the 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:36.520 virus many many times a day UM as samples come in, 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:39.120 and so he has a pretty big task. One of 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:41.640 the things people will be looking for is how he 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.800 might use the Defense Production Act to get a lot 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.000 of these things done. UM syringes are needed for vaccines, 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:52.680 more vaccines themselves are needed. Some people have criticized this 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:57.880 appointment because of sciences business background, specifically a group called 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.400 the Revolving Door Project, an arm of the Center for 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:06.560 Economic and Policy Research that scrutinizes Executive Branch appointees. Tell 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:11.800 me more about that. The Revolving Door Project took a 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.960 deep dive into some of his past work UM to 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:20.760 come onto the Biden administration. Science recently resigned from a 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:26.760 private investment firm called Cranmere that had a health care focus, 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.440 and so their their concern at the Revolving Door Project 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:34.440 was less about Science himself and more about UM, someone 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:38.880 who kind of has held his his business positions before. 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.920 They didn't really know as much about him per se, 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.560 But we're concerned that someone with those kind of ties 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.520 would not be able to kind of deal with the 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:52.000 business community in in a direct enough way UM. And 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:55.200 that obviously remains to be seen. But Science has been 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:59.040 pretty adamant that he will use the Defense Production Act 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:03.360 to get supplies where they're needed. And I mean, is 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:07.160 there any worry that he is he is too friendly 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.840 to businesses essentially that he will not kind of force 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:14.280 their hand in in doing something, certainly when it comes 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.840 to the pandemic for for the national good um rather 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.880 than state At the bottom line, Yeah, I think that's 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.880 the concern that the Revolving Door Project has is he 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:27.880 he won't want to ask companies to do things they 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:29.640 don't want to do, or he won't want to force 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.960 companies to do things they don't want to do. Obviously, 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.440 there there's a great need um for certain supplies to 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.280 address this pandemic, and it's hard on companies to make 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:43.800 a switch to making things that they don't normally make, 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.920 or to take some things offline that they make a 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:49.720 lot of money off of, to make things that they 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:51.480 might not make a lot of money off of for 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.120 the greater good. The concern is that he's he's friendly 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:59.679 enough with businesses that he won't want to force their 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:04.040 hand that way. What are some benchmarks that will indicate 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.800 whether or not Sciences is a success in the role? 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:15.120 You know, I the administration has targeted closer to really 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.800 more the the end of the year for everyone to 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:22.600 be able to get their vaccines. Um access would come sooner, 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:24.920 but just you know, given the time it would take 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.480 for everyone to get one will be closer to the 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.440 end of the year. And so I think we're looking 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.199 out further along those lines to see if something that 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:39.400 if there's a return to some sort of normal before 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:42.920 the year is out. Is probably his his main benchmark, 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.400 but there are other other things, other numbers that will 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:50.520 pop up along the way. Um the sequencing of the virus. 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.160 The US was not doing a lot of that under 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:58.640 the Trump administration, so they weren't potentially catching variants. UM. 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:02.199 As soon as they got to know US soil they 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:06.240 were UM. They're now trying to increase that so you know, 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:09.760 we can kind of track the number of samples of 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:13.800 the virus that are sequenced on a daily basis. UM 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:16.640 testing is another thing. You know, there's been a lot 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:20.640 of complaints about testing times, wait times once you do 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.920 get a test, so that's something that people are still 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:32.160 keeping an eye on. That was Anna Edney, and that's 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:34.440 it for our show today. For coverage of the outbreak 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:38.480 from one bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:42.560 slash coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:46.040 us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:48.960 It's the best way to help more listeners find our 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:54.160 global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Tophor Foreheads, 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:58.920 Magnus Henrickson and me Laura Carlson. Today's main story was 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:03.640 reported by Anna at original music by Leo Sigrian. Our 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:07.920 editors are Rick Shine and Francesco Levi. Francesco Levi is 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:11.160 Bloomberg's head of podcasts, Thanks for listening.