WEBVTT - We're Not Hunting Hard Enough For Variants

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day three and

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's main story.

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<v Speaker 1>Despite plenty of resources, the US is way behind the

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<v Speaker 1>UK and other countries when it comes to identifying dangerous

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<v Speaker 1>new variants of the coronavirus, and that has serious implications

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<v Speaker 1>for fighting the pandemic. But first, here's what happened in

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<v Speaker 1>virus news today. Snafi made an unusual deal to produce

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<v Speaker 1>millions of doses of the Fighter and bio Ntech coronavirus vaccine.

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<v Speaker 1>The French drugmaker set in a statement today it will

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<v Speaker 1>give bio n Tech access to a production facility in Frankfurt,

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<v Speaker 1>which will start to deliver doses this summer. The deal

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<v Speaker 1>will produce more than one million doses for the European Union.

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<v Speaker 1>Sanafi's own effort to develop a COVID vaccine has stumbled.

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<v Speaker 1>The deal with bio n Tech allows Europe to make

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<v Speaker 1>up for some of the loss. The pact also raised

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<v Speaker 1>hopes that more pharma giants would throw their manufacturing and

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<v Speaker 1>distribution weight behind the few coronavirus shots that have proved effective.

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<v Speaker 1>A standoff between the EU and drugmaker Astra Zenica over

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<v Speaker 1>vaccine delivery delays turned from bitter to chaotic on Wednesday,

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<v Speaker 1>with the two sides disagreeing over whether a call to

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<v Speaker 1>discuss drug delivery would take place. Later, both confirmed that

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<v Speaker 1>talks will in fact resume as planned. It was just

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<v Speaker 1>the latest in a series of clashes between the EU

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<v Speaker 1>and the drugmaker. Finally, the Biden administration said it intends

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<v Speaker 1>to increase orders for the two approved vaccines by the

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<v Speaker 1>US government will order one hundred million more doses each

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<v Speaker 1>of Fiser and Moderna's coronavirus vaccines. It will also speed

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<v Speaker 1>up shipments to states, at least temporarily. And now for

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<v Speaker 1>today's main story, the US is struggling to monitor COVID

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen variants, a key part of watching for the emergence

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<v Speaker 1>of dangerous mutations that might spread quickly, evade vaccines, or

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<v Speaker 1>kill more infected people. Currently, the US ranks thirty second

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<v Speaker 1>in the world for the number of tests it's done

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<v Speaker 1>to detect mutations per one thousand good cases. I spoke

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<v Speaker 1>to health reporter Kristin V. Brown, who reports that other

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<v Speaker 1>countries like the UK have established robust nationwide surveillance programs

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<v Speaker 1>to identify new covid genomes and track the spread of

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<v Speaker 1>existing ones. The emergence of specific variants of COVID nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>have been known for a while now, and obviously scientists

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<v Speaker 1>always knew they were a possibility. But let's talk a

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<v Speaker 1>bit about what mutations of viruses can do. How do

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<v Speaker 1>they impact how infectious of viruses? And you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>big question, will they impact the efficacy of a COVID

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen vaccine? So viruses muta It's just something that viruses do,

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<v Speaker 1>you know. That's why the flu vaccine is a different

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<v Speaker 1>shot every year. So it might seem like a kind

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<v Speaker 1>of arcane thing, right, Why does this variant that it's

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<v Speaker 1>just a little bit different from another version of COVID

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen matter? But it actually could potentially matter a lot

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<v Speaker 1>depending on what the mutation in the virus is. So

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<v Speaker 1>the current mutations that hob scientists concerned have to do

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<v Speaker 1>with the way the virus actually gets into a person's body,

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<v Speaker 1>and that is why they believe that these variants might

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<v Speaker 1>be more contagious. But that could also potentially interfere with

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<v Speaker 1>therapies that are being developed um or vaccines. Right, there's

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<v Speaker 1>a big question right now, about whether these emerging variants

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<v Speaker 1>might interfere with the efficacy of the vaccines that we're developing.

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<v Speaker 1>And so you know what has specifically the US been

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<v Speaker 1>doing to track, identify, or even sequence these known variants

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<v Speaker 1>of COVID nineteen. So you brought up sequencing. How you

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<v Speaker 1>detect these variants is through genetic sequencing, Right. You have

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<v Speaker 1>to be taking samples from patients and you know, running

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<v Speaker 1>them through this machine that can decode the viruses genome

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<v Speaker 1>and tell you, okay, is this virus significantly different from

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<v Speaker 1>other ones that we know are commonly circulating in the population.

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<v Speaker 1>So the UK and many other countries have established really

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<v Speaker 1>really robust genetic surveillance programs to sort of be on

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<v Speaker 1>the hunt for this. The US does have a program,

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<v Speaker 1>but it is not as robust as many other nations.

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<v Speaker 1>At the time that we're talking, the US, I believe,

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<v Speaker 1>ranks thirty second in the world for the number of

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<v Speaker 1>sequences is completing per thousand COVID cases. And that's behind,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, countries like the UK and Iceland that are

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<v Speaker 1>really known for their genomic capabilities, but it's also behind

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<v Speaker 1>countries that you don't really think of as leaders in

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<v Speaker 1>that space. Like Latvia and Senegal. And so you know,

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<v Speaker 1>we know that about two hundred thousand people in the

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<v Speaker 1>US are testing positive for COVID nineteen every single week,

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<v Speaker 1>But are these tests being used to track or as

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<v Speaker 1>you mentioned, sequence these COVID variants. This week, the CDC

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<v Speaker 1>told me that the US is sequencing about three thousand

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<v Speaker 1>COVID nineteen samples every week. To put things in perspective,

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<v Speaker 1>right now, the UK is sequencing about ten percent of

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<v Speaker 1>its COVID cases and that number, that three thousand number,

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<v Speaker 1>puts the US at less than point five. So we

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<v Speaker 1>are not sequencing very much of the virus at all.

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<v Speaker 1>And I mean, scientists have said that this effectively leaves

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<v Speaker 1>us flying blind. We do not know what mutations of

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<v Speaker 1>the virus might be out there are that pose a

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<v Speaker 1>threat to to US and to our pandemic response. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>is this something that we're seeing in the US because

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<v Speaker 1>of say a lack of interest on the federal level.

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<v Speaker 1>What's some of the reasons here that the US is

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<v Speaker 1>is so lagging in this regard. It's kind of complicated

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<v Speaker 1>why the US has not had a robust sequencing program. So,

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<v Speaker 1>like many things in this pandemic, the nature of our

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<v Speaker 1>country has mean this a bit more complicated. Right, we

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<v Speaker 1>have fifty different states. Things happen at federal level, at

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<v Speaker 1>state level, local level, and that's what we've we've seen

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<v Speaker 1>with sequencing efforts. It's happening at a constellation of public labs,

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<v Speaker 1>of private labs, of academic labs, and there's not really

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<v Speaker 1>a national program that connects all these things. So if

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<v Speaker 1>you're a lab that wants to contribute to this effort,

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<v Speaker 1>you have to figure out how do you get patient samples?

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<v Speaker 1>You know, Script Research Institute, for example, they told me

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<v Speaker 1>that they were able to get their program to do

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<v Speaker 1>this work up and running because they already had a

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<v Speaker 1>good relationship with the local health authorities, with the Sandy County.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's a little bit of serendipity that has allowed

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<v Speaker 1>these operations to to get up and running. And the

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<v Speaker 1>lack of a national program that sets up protocols like

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<v Speaker 1>where do you get the samples, how do you uh,

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<v Speaker 1>what format does the data come in? All of that

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<v Speaker 1>has made it harder to have a robust national effort

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<v Speaker 1>in the US. And as we see the first days

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<v Speaker 1>of the Biden administration, is this something that the administration

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<v Speaker 1>has prioritized that we'll be seeing more sequencing going forward.

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<v Speaker 1>So the Biden administration has said that it plans to

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<v Speaker 1>prioritize this. It plans to up the number of samples

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<v Speaker 1>that are getting sequenced every week, But we haven't seen

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<v Speaker 1>any concrete plans discussed yet. And I think it's going

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<v Speaker 1>to be a really big challenge because, as I mentioned,

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<v Speaker 1>it is a constellation of efforts that are public, private, local,

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<v Speaker 1>uh statewide that are is doing this sequencing, and you

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<v Speaker 1>have to figure out a system that can connect all

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<v Speaker 1>of those things, and that will be a kind of

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<v Speaker 1>gargantuan task. What are some of the additional benefits or

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<v Speaker 1>the importance to this genetic sequencing, I mean specifically for

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<v Speaker 1>other diseases beyond COVID nineteen. One thing that this pandemic

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<v Speaker 1>has shown that I think is actually really sort of

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<v Speaker 1>awesome is that sequencing can be a really powerful tool. Right.

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<v Speaker 1>We saw very early in the pandemic. I believe it

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<v Speaker 1>was in January we saw the first full genome of

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<v Speaker 1>this virus published That allowed us to very quickly demonstrate

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<v Speaker 1>how this virus had moved around the world, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>what countries that had traveled from, and that allowed us

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<v Speaker 1>to create policies that helped make our response more more

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<v Speaker 1>intelligent and more efficient. Right, And I think that going forward,

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<v Speaker 1>that same idea can be applied to many things. It

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<v Speaker 1>can help us more intelligently respond to superbugs. It could

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<v Speaker 1>help us respond to other future emerging zoonotic threats like

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<v Speaker 1>COVID nineteen. It can help us to detect people are

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<v Speaker 1>concerned about bio terror. It could help us detect potential

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<v Speaker 1>bio terror threats too. So I mean, this technology is

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<v Speaker 1>really important and has great potential to help us respond

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<v Speaker 1>to future threats to our national security. That was Kristin V.

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<v Speaker 1>Brown And that's it for our show today. For coverage

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<v Speaker 1>of the outbreak for one and twenty bureaus around the world,

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<v Speaker 1>visit Bloomberg dot com slash Coronavirus and if you like

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<v Speaker 1>the show, please leave us a review and a rating

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<v Speaker 1>on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to

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<v Speaker 1>help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily

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<v Speaker 1>edition is produced by top foreheads Magnus Henrickson and me

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<v Speaker 1>Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Kristin V. Brown.

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<v Speaker 1>Original music by Leo Sedrin. Our editors are Rick Shine

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<v Speaker 1>and Francesco Levi. Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's out of podcasts.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, Alo,