WEBVTT - Things to Get Right Before the Next Pandemic

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Carol Masser and I'm Tim Sentovic. The cover story

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<v Speaker 1>of Bloomberg Business Week this week the five things to

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<v Speaker 1>get right before the Next pandemic. Every infectious disease expert

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<v Speaker 1>knew something like the novel coronavirus was coming sooner or later,

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<v Speaker 1>just as they know today that COVID nineteen won't be

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<v Speaker 1>the last pandemic. That is so true to him. The

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<v Speaker 1>world cannot eliminate emerging diseases. In the twenty one century alone.

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<v Speaker 1>Humanity has contended with outbreaks of stars in two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>three h one and one in two thousand nine, mers Ebola,

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<v Speaker 1>and now, of course COVID. But what we can do

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<v Speaker 1>is prepare for the next one, and we can do

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<v Speaker 1>it now, because there will be another pandemic, and then

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<v Speaker 1>another one after that. Of course, pandemic response as well,

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<v Speaker 1>they require foresight. To that end. Prioritizing just a handful

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<v Speaker 1>of initiatives could help stave off the disaster inflicted on

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<v Speaker 1>the world this round. A five point planned stop the

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<v Speaker 1>next pandemic. The fight against COVID isn't over, but we're

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<v Speaker 1>already learning lessons for the next epidemiological crisis and the

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<v Speaker 1>one after that. By Robert Langreth. In January, a lengthy

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<v Speaker 1>proposal showed up at the offices of the Biomedical Advanced

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<v Speaker 1>Research and Development Authority in Washington. Running a hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>twelve pages, the document described a strategy for stopping future pandemics.

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<v Speaker 1>It outlined a number of vaccine technologies to pursue, including messenger,

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<v Speaker 1>RNA and adinavirus vectors, and recommended that a team of

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred and eighties scientists, doctors, and other experts be

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<v Speaker 1>created to carry out the plan. There were intricate technical details,

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<v Speaker 1>an org chart, and an estimated cost five million dollars

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<v Speaker 1>over ten years. Congress created BARDA, a division of the U.

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<v Speaker 1>S Department of Health and Human Services, in two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and six, for precisely this kind of thing. It's charged

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<v Speaker 1>with developing and procuring drugs and vaccines, and ensuring that

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<v Speaker 1>the country is researching countermeasures to combat bio terrorism and

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<v Speaker 1>chemical warfare, as well as pandemic influenza and other emerging

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<v Speaker 1>infectious threats. The agency has historically been small, though, and

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<v Speaker 1>the proposal, which came from the pharmaceutical company Glaxo Smith Klein,

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<v Speaker 1>would have entailed one of its more ambitious efforts Following

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<v Speaker 1>the massive fourteen Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which killed

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<v Speaker 1>more than eleven thousand people, Glaxo researchers wanted to identify

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<v Speaker 1>virus is likely to cause major epidemics and tackle several

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<v Speaker 1>of them at once. The idea was to just make

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<v Speaker 1>vaccines against all the viruses, says Monsef Sloughi, who was

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<v Speaker 1>then chairman of the company's vaccines unit and later served

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<v Speaker 1>as chief science adviser to the Trump administration's Operation warp Speed.

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<v Speaker 1>Glaxo owned an underutilized lab and a decommissioned biotech plant

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<v Speaker 1>in Rockville, Maryland, and it was already relocating vaccine researchers

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<v Speaker 1>there as part of a corporate reorganization. Under its bar

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<v Speaker 1>toa proposal, the mo MANY would have provided scientific staff

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<v Speaker 1>and facilities at the Rockville site, while government agencies and

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<v Speaker 1>nonprofits funded vaccine development for multiple platform technologies through early

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<v Speaker 1>human trials and manufacturing. That way, if an outbreak happened,

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<v Speaker 1>Glaxo would have prototype vaccines ready for final stage trials.

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<v Speaker 1>A team from the company spent months refining the proposal,

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<v Speaker 1>according to a person familiar with the effort, and had

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<v Speaker 1>reason to believe it might get funded. BARDA officials met

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<v Speaker 1>with Glaxo scientists on multiple occasions, toured the Rockville facility,

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<v Speaker 1>and urged the company to submit a formal proposal, the

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<v Speaker 1>person recalls after it was submitted, BARTA quietly considered it

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<v Speaker 1>for several months. Finally, in late seen, the agency suggested

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<v Speaker 1>that Glaxo come up with a scaled down plan focused

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<v Speaker 1>mainly on influenza. That proposal never got funded, either, leaving

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<v Speaker 1>the world without a key weapon against emerging viruses when

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<v Speaker 1>the pathogen that causes COVID nineteen was Discoveredvaccines have since

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<v Speaker 1>been developed using mr NA and a dinavirus vector approaches

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<v Speaker 1>similar to those originally suggested by Glaxo. Many of the

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<v Speaker 1>vaccines benefited from grants from BARDA during the pandemic and

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<v Speaker 1>from government sponsored basic research beforehand. Still, the failure to

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<v Speaker 1>put more extensive infrastructure in place ahead of time was

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<v Speaker 1>a lost opportunity to build up capacity that could be

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<v Speaker 1>bolstering its vaccine supply right now. It was a failure

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<v Speaker 1>even a refusal to fully plan ahead, a blunder that

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<v Speaker 1>ranks with the White House decision to disband the dedicated

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<v Speaker 1>pandemic Response Unit at the National Security Council in May,

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<v Speaker 1>and the inability of the Centers for Disease Control and

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<v Speaker 1>Prevention to quickly develop a COVID test for wide distribution.

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<v Speaker 1>In late every infectious disease expert knew something like the

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<v Speaker 1>novel coronavirus was coming sooner or later, just as they

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<v Speaker 1>know today that COVID won't be the last pandemic. As

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<v Speaker 1>depressing as the current situation is, though, the next one,

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<v Speaker 1>and there will be a next one, doesn't have to

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<v Speaker 1>be this bad. Shortly before his inauguration, President Biden proposed

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<v Speaker 1>spending twenty billion dollars to speed up vaccination rollouts. That's

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<v Speaker 1>a start, but a complete plan, one that can protect

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<v Speaker 1>the US from mass death, catastrophic economic damage, and let's

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<v Speaker 1>hope incompetent political leaders who squander the public's trust will

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<v Speaker 1>have to be more comprehensive. It will likely involve at

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<v Speaker 1>least five separate areas of research and investment. Most of all,

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<v Speaker 1>it will require careful preparation one pathogen surveillance. The world

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<v Speaker 1>can't eliminate emerging diseases. Too many people live near animals,

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<v Speaker 1>and there's too much international air travel. In the twenty

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<v Speaker 1>first century alone, humanity has contended with outbreaks of stars

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<v Speaker 1>in two thousand three h one and one in two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand nine, mers in Ebola, and now COVID. Candidates to

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<v Speaker 1>sicken the world in the future include highly virulent philoviruses,

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<v Speaker 1>which include the Ebola and Marburg viruses, rapidly spreading mosquito

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<v Speaker 1>born flavoviruses such as those that cause zica and dinge fever,

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<v Speaker 1>and bat born paramix viruses like NIPA and hendra. All

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<v Speaker 1>of these are scary. Marburg and Ebola can lead to

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<v Speaker 1>severe vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding, Hendra anipa to deadly brain swelling.

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<v Speaker 1>More a whereisome Still, we tend to wait for outbreaks

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<v Speaker 1>to kill a few dozen people before we do anything

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<v Speaker 1>about them. Our current strategy is we really do let

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<v Speaker 1>them happen, says Peter Dashak, a veteran virus hunter at

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<v Speaker 1>Eco Health Alliance in New York, a nonprofit research group.

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<v Speaker 1>Dash AC suggests we approach emerging viruses the way we

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<v Speaker 1>approach terrorist networks. Track them so we can intervene before

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<v Speaker 1>they reach havoc. Dash Ak, who spent years looking for

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<v Speaker 1>bat coronaviruses in China and elsewhere, estimates there are about

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<v Speaker 1>one point seven million unknown mammal viruses, many of which

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<v Speaker 1>could spill over into humans with just a few mutations.

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<v Speaker 1>He and his collaborators calculate that it would cost a

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<v Speaker 1>little more than one billion dollars to identify two thirds

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<v Speaker 1>of these pathogens by sampling wild animal populations around the world.

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<v Speaker 1>Doing this would give scientists clues about which viruses pose

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<v Speaker 1>the greatest risk to humans, allowing communities situated in potential

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<v Speaker 1>hotspots to focus on reducing spillover risk and helping governments

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<v Speaker 1>and research institutions allocate resources for further study. If we

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<v Speaker 1>had a better handle on what was happening pathogenically, we

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<v Speaker 1>could work to identify the outbreaks that have the most

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<v Speaker 1>potential to become severe, says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at

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<v Speaker 1>the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Imagine a kind

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<v Speaker 1>of national weather service for pandemics that would predict the

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<v Speaker 1>course of emerging pathogens. These official forecasts would be more

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<v Speaker 1>authoritative than the hodgepodge of competing disease models out there now,

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<v Speaker 1>making it easier for governments to undertake potentially unpopular mitigation measures,

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<v Speaker 1>such as closing borders or ordering lockdowns before an outbreak

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<v Speaker 1>takes hold during the COVID pandemic. The opposite happened in

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<v Speaker 1>late February, right before its hospitals were overrun. Milan's city

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<v Speaker 1>government unveiled a campaign called Milan Does Not Stop, which

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<v Speaker 1>encouraged people to visit tourist attractions and go out to dinner.

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<v Speaker 1>In the US, many local leaders hesitated before imposing harsh

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<v Speaker 1>social distancing measures. Had restrictions come only one week earlier,

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<v Speaker 1>according to research from Columbia, thirty two thousand lives would

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<v Speaker 1>have been saved by early May. It's about giving decision

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<v Speaker 1>makers enough confidence so they feel comfortable acting, Rivers says,

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<v Speaker 1>and an epidemic forecasting center would be a relative bargain,

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<v Speaker 1>costing the US only one million to one hundred fifty

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<v Speaker 1>million dollars a year. She estimates. The Biden administration is

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<v Speaker 1>planning to create one two, repairing and augmenting the w

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<v Speaker 1>h O. Pandemic surveillance and response almost by definition, are

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<v Speaker 1>global efforts, which means it's time to consider a new

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<v Speaker 1>global partnership to oversee them. The World Health Organization's structural

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<v Speaker 1>shortcomings have been well documented. The main international body charged

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<v Speaker 1>with fighting disease, it's been criticized by the U S

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<v Speaker 1>and others for being overly deferential to China and for

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<v Speaker 1>being slow to declare the outbreak a global emergency. The

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<v Speaker 1>agency responds that it has to remain diplomatic while collecting

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<v Speaker 1>information and that it can't force member states to reply

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<v Speaker 1>to it. Still, the spat led the US to announce

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<v Speaker 1>last year that it was withdrawing further weakening the body

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<v Speaker 1>at a key moment. This dispute, like so many aspects

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<v Speaker 1>of the COVID catastrophe, was predictable. The current pandemic response

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<v Speaker 1>system relies on transparency. Governments are supposed to alert the

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<v Speaker 1>international community at the first sign of danger, but of course,

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<v Speaker 1>leaders worried about damaging their national economies or their personal

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<v Speaker 1>political prospects often clam up at the crucial moment and

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<v Speaker 1>withhold data the rest of the world needs. China was

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<v Speaker 1>slow to admit the magnitude of the problem in Wuhan

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<v Speaker 1>early last year, and didn't immediately let international health experts

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<v Speaker 1>into the city to assess the threat. In the U S,

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<v Speaker 1>President Trump confronted the looming crisis by dismissing it repeatedly,

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<v Speaker 1>assuring Americans that COVID would simply go away. One day.

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<v Speaker 1>It's like a miracle. It will disappear, he said on

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<v Speaker 1>February twenty seventh, just as the virus was taking off.

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<v Speaker 1>Thomas Boiki, who heads the Global Health Program at the

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<v Speaker 1>Council on Foreign Relations, points out that none of this

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<v Speaker 1>is new. This is a repeated problem. He says, China

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<v Speaker 1>was slow to acknowledge the tsar's outbreak in two thousand three,

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<v Speaker 1>and in twenty fourteen, officials in West Africa took months

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<v Speaker 1>to recognize that mysterious illnesses in remote areas were being

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<v Speaker 1>caused by the ebolavirus, allowing it to travel from rural

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<v Speaker 1>areas where it probably could have been contained two cities.

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<v Speaker 1>In a recent report, Boiki and his colleagues recommended developing

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<v Speaker 1>a system that bypasses central government bureaucrats and monitors anonymized data,

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<v Speaker 1>such as rising cases of unexplained pneumonia, gathered directly from

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<v Speaker 1>hospitals around the world. It was a locally run project,

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<v Speaker 1>the Seattle Flu Study, that first spotted community spread of

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<v Speaker 1>COVID in the US. In January, an independent panel convened

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<v Speaker 1>by the WHO blasted the current epidemic alert system as slow, cumbersome,

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<v Speaker 1>and indecisive in theory. The who which Biden has said

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<v Speaker 1>the US will rejoin, could be given more teeth, but

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<v Speaker 1>some argue that the world might need a new coalition

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<v Speaker 1>of countries to more effectively coordinate response. Richard Hatchett, chief

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<v Speaker 1>Executive officer for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations c

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<v Speaker 1>e p I, an organization that's worked to accelerate the

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<v Speaker 1>development of COVID vaccines since it's it up in ten,

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<v Speaker 1>has suggested an alliance committed to a less cautious approach

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<v Speaker 1>a biological NATO to defend the world against developing pathogens.

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<v Speaker 1>This group could help countries respond much more rapidly to

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<v Speaker 1>future threats. It's not part of the world against any

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<v Speaker 1>other part of the world, but the world against the viruses.

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<v Speaker 1>Hatchet says. A muscular global health coalition could further provide

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<v Speaker 1>funding to eliminate wet markets where wild animals are sold

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<v Speaker 1>for food, and to discourage jungle deforestation, which pushes animals

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<v Speaker 1>and the virus as they carry into closer proximity with people.

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<v Speaker 1>And it could help train more field workers in far

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<v Speaker 1>flung places instead of relying on the current ad hoc system.

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<v Speaker 1>In which a mix of nonprofits, universities, and volunteers, along

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<v Speaker 1>with the w h O, addresses emerging threats. Infectious diseases

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<v Speaker 1>are like wildfires. You need to stomp them out when

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<v Speaker 1>they are containable, says Anne Ramoyne, an epidemiologist at u

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<v Speaker 1>c l A. In both cases, time is of the essence.

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<v Speaker 1>Remoyne has worked on Ebola for years in the Democratic

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<v Speaker 1>Republic of Congo. There, the megacity of Kinsasha abuts the

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<v Speaker 1>world's second largest rainforest, which teems with virus laden animals.

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<v Speaker 1>She's been trying to build up an infrastructure to respond

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<v Speaker 1>to outbreaks, relying mostly on individual private donors. Sometimes she

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<v Speaker 1>scrounges for basic gear herself, tracking down donated lab equipment

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<v Speaker 1>in the US, then checking dozens of extra bags on

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<v Speaker 1>her flights to Africa. Three Genetic sequencing Tracking and tracing

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<v Speaker 1>a virus has typically been thought of as a labor

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<v Speaker 1>intensive process that involves building lists of patient contacts and

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<v Speaker 1>then calling those people one at a time to see

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<v Speaker 1>who else might have become infected. Gene sequencing, by contrast,

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<v Speaker 1>offers the tantalizing prospect of tracking of viruses spread with

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<v Speaker 1>molecular precision, frequent intensive viral sequencing would help us or

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<v Speaker 1>questions such as how widely a given strain spreads within

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<v Speaker 1>a community like a school, and whether the strain might

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<v Speaker 1>mutate to become resistant to existing vaccines. Thanks to the

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<v Speaker 1>ubiquity of high speed gene sequencing machines, it costs only

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<v Speaker 1>fifty dollars or so to sequence a virus's whole genome.

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<v Speaker 1>This information provides clues for contact tracers about the pathogen's

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<v Speaker 1>path and allows the large scale tracking of mutations. Unfortunately,

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<v Speaker 1>in the US, only about three in one thousand COVID

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<v Speaker 1>patients have had their virus samples sequenced, and much of

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<v Speaker 1>the work has been done in academic labs, which are

0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:39.640
<v Speaker 1>removed from the front line facilities that have access to

0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.200
<v Speaker 1>detailed patient data and do the day to day contact tracing.

0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.600
<v Speaker 1>One of the current leaders in virus sequencing is the UK.

0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:51.120
<v Speaker 1>It's processed more than two hundred thousand samples, about five

0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.360
<v Speaker 1>percent of its caseload. That helped Britain catch the B

0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:58.800
<v Speaker 1>one one seven variant, which epidemiologists say could be more

0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.640
<v Speaker 1>transmissible because it was found in dozens of countries. It's

0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.720
<v Speaker 1>expected to become the dominant strain in the US. The

0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.600
<v Speaker 1>lack of virus sequencing in the country is a huge

0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.080
<v Speaker 1>failing of our public health system, says Mark Lipsych, an

0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:16.000
<v Speaker 1>epidemiologist at Harvard. Hopefully this will be a wake up call.

0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:21.080
<v Speaker 1>Biden has recognized the problem, announcing plans to drastically build

0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:25.280
<v Speaker 1>up sequencing capacity and choosing as his science adviser Erik Lander,

0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.720
<v Speaker 1>a renowned genomics expert with the Broad Institute of m

0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:38.200
<v Speaker 1>I T and Harvard four. Developing more vaccines faster. Vaccines

0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.960
<v Speaker 1>have been the most spectacular success story so far in

0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:45.120
<v Speaker 1>the current pandemic. There are already two highly effective options

0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.600
<v Speaker 1>on the U S market, and a third vaccine from

0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.680
<v Speaker 1>Johnson and Johnson could be cleared within weeks after the

0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:54.520
<v Speaker 1>company reported Phase three results on January twenty ninth, showing

0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.680
<v Speaker 1>that it generated strong protection against severe COVID. Yet there's

0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.320
<v Speaker 1>clear opportunity for im movement. We need to have strategies

0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.080
<v Speaker 1>that allow us to move even faster, says David Hoe,

0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.720
<v Speaker 1>who leads the errand Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia.

0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.440
<v Speaker 1>Ho estimates we could have easily shaved four to five

0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.720
<v Speaker 1>months from the drug and vaccine timeline had more preparation

0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.880
<v Speaker 1>taken place. Early investment in mr NA technology by the

0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:23.360
<v Speaker 1>US government helped Maderna bring its vaccine candidate to human

0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.840
<v Speaker 1>trials in a record sixty six days, but it still

0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.600
<v Speaker 1>required more than four months of phase one and phase

0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:33.120
<v Speaker 1>two trials to confirm safety and find the right dose

0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.040
<v Speaker 1>before the crucial Phase three trial could begin in late July.

0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:40.600
<v Speaker 1>There's no available shortcut around this final stage, which focuses

0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:44.440
<v Speaker 1>on efficacy in humans. But Maderna could have tested candidates

0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:47.720
<v Speaker 1>for known coronavirus as ahead of time. But Maderna could

0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.640
<v Speaker 1>have tested candidates for known coronavirus as ahead of time,

0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.000
<v Speaker 1>which might have allowed it to start a large Phase

0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:58.000
<v Speaker 1>three trial months earlier. According to CEO Stephan Boncell, fall

0:16:58.040 --> 0:16:59.920
<v Speaker 1>would have looked so different if we had a AXT

0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:04.240
<v Speaker 1>scene in July, he says. Mancell figures it would cost

0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:07.160
<v Speaker 1>two hundred million to three hundred million dollars to bring

0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:11.160
<v Speaker 1>prototype mRNA vaccines for the ten most worrisome virus classes

0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.600
<v Speaker 1>through early human trials, so that with a few tweaks

0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:17.640
<v Speaker 1>they'd be ready for large scale testing. It might cost

0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.359
<v Speaker 1>another billion or two billion dollars to maintain a spare

0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.800
<v Speaker 1>manufacturing plant along with a stockpile of raw materials for

0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:27.600
<v Speaker 1>millions of doses. In January, in a small start towards

0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.359
<v Speaker 1>his goal, Maderna announced that it's begun work on a

0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.440
<v Speaker 1>vaccine for the NIPA virus, which has killed hundreds in

0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:38.679
<v Speaker 1>multiple outbreaks in Asia. Since Vancell's proposal is similar to

0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:42.160
<v Speaker 1>the concept Glaxo tried to sell Barda back in seventeen.

0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.480
<v Speaker 1>A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services

0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.440
<v Speaker 1>says that at the time, Barda's funding from Congress was

0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:53.800
<v Speaker 1>focused on defending against influenza and biological, chemical, and radiological weapons.

0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:59.560
<v Speaker 1>It's now soliciting proposals for coronavirus countermeasures, including vaccines. Some

0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.720
<v Speaker 1>people also saw the proposal as too tightly linked to

0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.760
<v Speaker 1>one company and in competition with groups such as C

0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.359
<v Speaker 1>E p I, which has backing from the Bill and

0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:12.760
<v Speaker 1>Melinda Gates Foundation and others to develop vaccines against emerging threats.

0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:16.359
<v Speaker 1>Glaxo declined to go into detail on why it couldn't

0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:19.560
<v Speaker 1>attract funding, but in a statement, it said it's committed

0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:23.959
<v Speaker 1>to pandemic related research efforts. One tantalizing area for future

0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:28.840
<v Speaker 1>investment vaccines and drugs that offer protection against multiple viruses.

0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.439
<v Speaker 1>The existing COVID vaccines spur antibodies against the unique spike

0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:37.720
<v Speaker 1>protein the virus uses to enter cells. Researchers could instead

0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.600
<v Speaker 1>create a shot that triggers an immune response against the

0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.360
<v Speaker 1>stem of these spikes, which varies much less between strains,

0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:49.200
<v Speaker 1>allowing protection against numerous COVID like illnesses at once. According

0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:52.720
<v Speaker 1>to Venete Minicheri, a coronavirus specialist at the University of

0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.600
<v Speaker 1>Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, it's tricky and it might

0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:00.760
<v Speaker 1>not work, but the potential payoff would be immense. In November,

0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:04.119
<v Speaker 1>the National Institutes of Health announced plans to fund research

0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:08.280
<v Speaker 1>into broad acting coronavirus vaccines. Something similar should be done

0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.480
<v Speaker 1>with antiviral drugs, says Ralph Barrick, a coronavirus researcher at

0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:16.119
<v Speaker 1>the University of North Carolina who did crucial research before

0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:20.400
<v Speaker 1>the pandemic showing that rimdesseevie, an antiviral developed by Gilead

0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:26.359
<v Speaker 1>Sciences to phidibola, was promising against coronaviruses. Rimdessevie got cleared

0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:28.840
<v Speaker 1>for the u S market on May first, in part

0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:32.240
<v Speaker 1>because it had already been tested extensively in patience during

0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.760
<v Speaker 1>a twenty eighteen outbreak in the DRC so only phase

0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:40.000
<v Speaker 1>three trials targeting COVID were required, but Rimdessevier must be

0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:42.920
<v Speaker 1>administered through an i V, which has limited its use

0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:47.160
<v Speaker 1>to hospitalized patients. Mirk is working on a coronavirus drug

0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.560
<v Speaker 1>that could be taken as a pill, but unlike Gilead's medicine,

0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:53.240
<v Speaker 1>it hadn't yet started phase one trials at the start

0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:57.320
<v Speaker 1>of the pandemic, putting it on a much slower path efficacy.

0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:05.360
<v Speaker 1>Trial results are expected by April five. Ironing out distribution

0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:10.240
<v Speaker 1>and logistics. Getting tests and vaccines to people isn't rocket science,

0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:14.040
<v Speaker 1>it's not even regular science. But adapting logistics in a

0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.720
<v Speaker 1>medical system as large and complicated as that of the

0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.680
<v Speaker 1>US can take months of advanced planning and coordination, and

0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.800
<v Speaker 1>databases must be developed to keep track of everything. Not

0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.840
<v Speaker 1>enough of that work happened in twenty twenty, as the

0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:31.320
<v Speaker 1>Trump administration insisted on having state governments handle testing, acquire

0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:36.000
<v Speaker 1>and distribute personal protective equipment, and implement vaccine distribution protocols.

0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:40.720
<v Speaker 1>This has arguably been in retrospect, the most unfortunate and

0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:45.399
<v Speaker 1>most easily avoided failure a national and international crisis needs

0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:48.840
<v Speaker 1>the full intervention of the federal government, says Peter Hotez,

0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.960
<v Speaker 1>a vaccine researcher and dean of the National School of

0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:56.000
<v Speaker 1>Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. It's

0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:58.399
<v Speaker 1>one of the major reasons we've lost four hundred thousand

0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:03.159
<v Speaker 1>American lives because of this bizarre insistence. Biden's plan to

0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.240
<v Speaker 1>have the federal government set up mobile clinics and community

0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:10.560
<v Speaker 1>vaccination centers and gymnasiums and stadiums could spur things along.

0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:13.600
<v Speaker 1>It probably should have been the plan from the beginning.

0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.639
<v Speaker 1>But once we're through the immediate crisis, the US needs

0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:21.160
<v Speaker 1>to take stock of its supply chains for basic drugs, equipment,

0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:24.960
<v Speaker 1>and testing supplies, and then to provide incentives for companies

0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:29.000
<v Speaker 1>to create more capacity where it's needed. Our federal government

0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:32.840
<v Speaker 1>has no idea what supply chains are vulnerable, says Julie Swan,

0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:37.120
<v Speaker 1>a health system's expert at North Carolina State University. When

0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:41.360
<v Speaker 1>Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico in it shut down

0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:44.000
<v Speaker 1>power to one of the biggest US makers of saline

0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:49.560
<v Speaker 1>ivy bags, exacerbating an existing shortage of an essential medical item.

0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.920
<v Speaker 1>This year to name one of many examples. A shortage

0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:56.919
<v Speaker 1>of plastic pipette tips needed for automated laboratory machines slowed

0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:01.280
<v Speaker 1>down COVID testing, forcing labs into a constant scramble for supplies.

0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:04.439
<v Speaker 1>Not only do we have no effective way to count

0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:07.960
<v Speaker 1>basic medical staples, but we're also unable to keep proper

0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:11.439
<v Speaker 1>track of public health data on patients and testing capacity.

0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:14.720
<v Speaker 1>It's all logged in a hodgepodge of outdated and often

0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:19.360
<v Speaker 1>incompatible federal, state, and local computer systems. Not knowing where

0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.280
<v Speaker 1>outbreaks are worst makes it difficult to identify where to

0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:27.680
<v Speaker 1>send supplies. We're flying blind. Swan says, State databases need

0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:30.800
<v Speaker 1>more integration so we know in real time where our

0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:35.520
<v Speaker 1>inventory is. During the current crisis, all of this has

0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:38.840
<v Speaker 1>been harder than it needed to be. That's because pandemic

0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:42.639
<v Speaker 1>response requires foresight, something that was in short supply the

0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:46.480
<v Speaker 1>past few years. Nobody ever expected a thing like this,

0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:49.560
<v Speaker 1>Trump said on March twenty four, in one of his

0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:53.800
<v Speaker 1>many false statements about the virus. Many experts had in

0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:57.359
<v Speaker 1>fact been predicting a pandemic for years, but they couldn't

0:22:57.400 --> 0:23:01.200
<v Speaker 1>persuade anyone to do enough about it. Slowy, the former

0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:05.320
<v Speaker 1>Operation Warp Speed Advisor says, policymakers seem to care about

0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:09.560
<v Speaker 1>fighting epidemics only shortly after they've happened. When the outbreak

0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:12.639
<v Speaker 1>is there, every government is all over you as an industry,

0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:16.280
<v Speaker 1>he says, and then when the outbreak dissolves, everybody looks

0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:19.560
<v Speaker 1>the other way. That's what happened in too much of

0:23:19.600 --> 0:23:23.679
<v Speaker 1>the world after Stars, Mirrors and Ebola, with two million

0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:27.199
<v Speaker 1>dead worldwide and a year's worth of economic devastation, it

0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:30.920
<v Speaker 1>should be harder to look the other way now with

0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:35.439
<v Speaker 1>James Patton and Riley Griffin, climate change is at the

0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:39.679
<v Speaker 1>center of everything. Bloomberg Green is at the center of

0:23:39.760 --> 0:23:43.879
<v Speaker 1>solving it. Backed by powerful data and a global newsroom,

0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:48.680
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Green is focused on solutions and the greatest opportunity

0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:54.320
<v Speaker 1>of our generation. Bloomberg Green Solutions for a Changing Climate

0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:59.159
<v Speaker 1>in partnership with GM and j l L. Visit Bloomberg

0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:00.840
<v Speaker 1>dot com Flash Green