WEBVTT - Inside a Vaccine Clinical Trial 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:12.039 Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day fifty six 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:17.520 since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Our main story. 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:22.560 The world is watching closely as drug companies rates to 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.720 make a vaccine at warp speed. What does that race 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:30.920 actually look like? Close up? A participant in one of 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:35.320 the earliest vaccine clinical trials tells us what he's learning. 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:54.000 But first, here's what happened today. President Donald Trump says 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:58.320 the US must reopen for business, even if more Americans 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:02.440 get sick and die. The president said at an event 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.240 in Arizona that he knows restarting state economies will cause 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:10.880 more illness and death from the pandemic, but insists it's 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.839 a cost he's willing to pay to get the economy 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:19.480 back on track. As governors across the South and Midwest 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:23.360 have begun returning people to work, Trump said he's pivoting 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.320 to phase two of the nation's response to the pandemic. 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:33.839 Phase two originally included disbanding the White House Coronavirus Task Force, 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.120 something the White House said in statements Tuesday it was 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:43.720 considering doing, but today Trump reversed himself, saying the task 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:49.240 force will continue indefinitely. In a series of tweets this morning, 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:52.040 the President said the task force will continue with a 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.560 focus on reopening the country, as well as the development 0:01:55.600 --> 0:02:01.639 of vaccines and therapeutic treatments. Des Trump's desire to hasten 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:05.200 the end of lockdown rules and analysis by Bloomberg News 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.000 found that many states are doing so before they're ready, 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:15.240 even by Trump's own standards. Twenty states that have already 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:19.120 lifted restrictions don't meet the guidelines for reopening that were 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.840 set out by the White House last month. Many are 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:28.320 moving ahead with reopening businesses despite not having declining cases, 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:33.080 a declining percentage of positive tests, or hospital systems that 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:38.120 can withstand the strain of an outbreak. The UK is 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:42.640 likely to start easing it's coronavirus lockdown starting Monday, according 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:47.440 to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson promised to announce details 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.520 this weekend. Johnson said he will set out the next 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.960 phase of the coronavirus strategy in a public statement on Sunday, 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.680 because it would be a good thing if people know 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:02.200 what to expect before they changes come into operation the 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:17.640 next day and now our main story, dozens of research 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.919 teams across the world are racing to deliver a vaccine 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:25.600 for the coronavirus. People around the world are closely watching 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.120 the race because they see a vaccine as the key 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:35.200 to allowing the world to return to something like normal. Developing, testing, 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.400 and bringing a vaccine to market is a process that 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:43.440 usually takes years, even decades, but that process is being 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:47.560 ramped up to superspeed as the virus ravages the globe. 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.680 Some have promised we may see something as soon as 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.520 the end of this year. Most medical experts believe that's 0:03:55.600 --> 0:04:01.480 highly unlikely, but the races on a small group of volunteers. 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:06.280 It's already receiving an experimental vaccine. Jason Gale spoke to 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.040 one of the first to get a dose. He gives 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.840 us a peek inside the fast moving world of coronavirus 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:22.919 vaccine development. When the University of Oxford recently sought volunteers 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:28.200 to test an experimental coronavirus vaccine, thousands signed up. Another 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.920 Australian was one of the first two people to roll 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:34.200 up their sleeve for the shot. I am Dr Edward O'Neill, 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.800 a post doctoral researcher in the Department of Oncology at 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.880 the University of Oxford. Not a medical doctor, but a scientist, 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:48.240 and I'm a trial participant of the COVID nineteen vaccine. 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.440 It is thirty. He lives in Oxford, where he's doing 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:56.640 post doctoral research on nuking cancer with radiation. He heard 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.440 about the COVID nineteen vaccine study in an email from 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.719 the Universe City. He discussed the risks with his wife 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:05.720 and decided to give it a go. It turns out 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.200 he was lucky to get in. I myself am one 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.800 of over five thousand people who wanted to actually join 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.479 the study, so they actually had to stop enrollment. So 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:17.919 it's not for lack of willing volunteers. Everyone wanted to 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.200 be a part of this. It was an overwhelming vote 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:24.560 of confidence in the experimental vaccine, but also in the 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.120 track record of Oxford's Jenna Institute. The center was named 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:32.400 after Edward Jenner, a pioneer of immunization. I think eighteenth 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:36.760 century dairy maids and cow pox. Fast forward two years, 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.760 and vaccines have come a long way since Jenner made 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:43.720 his inoculation against smallpox. I was familiar with the generous 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.680 aitute because it was just was just fascinated to hear 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.160 about what's going on and we would actually get lots 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:50.920 of Facebook guards asking us to fox sign up for 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:55.200 other trials as well. Um, it's common for them to 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:59.520 actually the investigating other diseases because they haven't been primarily 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.880 just working on the stars. The generous that you actually 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.280 had a number of vaccines was developing. These included a 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:11.800 vaccine against malaria, but more important one to fight another coronavirus. 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:16.040 It's the one that causes Mer's or Middle East respiratory syndrome. 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.599 That virus made the leap from camels to humans several 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:21.840 years ago and has infected about two and a half 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.320 thousand people, mostly in the Middle East. It's lethal in 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.720 about a third of cases, but isn't as easily transmitted 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:33.280 between people as the coronavirus that causes COVID nineteen. Importantly, 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:37.680 Oxford's experimental MERS vaccine has already been tested in people. 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.280 Oxford researchers reported in the lance At Medical Journal last 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.800 month that the vaccine was safe, well tolerated, and that 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.360 a single dose could elicit a broad protective immune response 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:52.760 against the MERS virus. Ed says it's quaidest decision to 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:56.320 participate in the COVID vaccine study because the two vaccines 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:58.960 are very similar. Um, I didn't think it was going 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.960 to be um any particular risk because I was confident 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.840 based upon the science. It's being based upon a known 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.800 mers vaccine that I've already developed an already trial it. 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.240 And I also thought would be really interesting experience to 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.400 see the patient perspective on the clinical trials. And so 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:17.920 at some point if you trial keen to have some 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.040 of my research progress to a clinical trial, so I say, 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:22.920 I wanted to see what that would be like as well. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.920 So what was it like getting the JAB? Being a 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:36.320 volunteer means that they firstly have to you have to 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.800 meet the criteria just by an online questionnaire, and then 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.680 they bring you in. If you meet the criteria that 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:44.680 you're eligible for the study, and they want to do 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.760 a full medical to make sure that you're it and 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.400 healthy and also willing to take part. That you can 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.560 travel to their for regular blood tears after the vaccination, 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.480 and then they will call you up if you're eligible. 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.000 I only found out maybe like a week before the 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:04.080 actual injection. It involves a lot of care, a lot 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:07.520 of paperwork to make sure that they have healthy volunteers first, 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:09.880 and then the end goal is to actually then enroll 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:12.880 older people, but first we have to figure out what 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.640 works and healthy young people to then figure out if 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.480 older people can also create an immunity using the vaccine 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:21.880 that is sufficient to protect them as well. So that's 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.680 there the most vulnerable groups, so we're targeting that will 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.840 the end goal. It has no idea whether he was 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.960 randomly selected to receive the candidate COVID vaccine or a 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.640 control shot that protects against manager cockal disease. The study 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.040 will look to see whether COVID was less common in 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:44.079 participants who got the experimental shot versus the control I mean, 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.160 there's the chance that I have the coronavirus that could 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.520 easily have got the control vaccine, but I feel perfectly fine. 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.360 But it's more important that I mean, i'm I'm I'm 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.880 only one person as well that this trial has expanded 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:01.080 to many, many people, and so now they're giving daily 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:06.080 temperature checks and daily symptoms sort of diary that's uploaded 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:10.280 every evening so that the study can know what's happening 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.520 with all the patients. The sad fact is is that 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.160 there's an outbreak and that's quite prevalent in the uk 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:17.920 UM and I think that Unfortunately, it's going to be 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:21.920 statistically likely that that's what they're counting on, that members 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.160 of the study will get infected, and hopefully it will 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:30.160 be the control group that actually have symptoms versus the 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.680 the Canada group. It says gauging the effect means a 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.720 lot of blood tests, so they are very interested in 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:43.400 a scientific analysis of the vaccine. They don't just give 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:45.199 you a shot and then send you off in the world. 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.720 They want to follow how your body is responding to it. 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.320 If all goes as planned, research is running the trial 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.680 so they'll have preliminary data to tell if it works 0:09:55.720 --> 0:10:00.040 by September. Regardless, productions ramping up on the assumption that 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.839 it will work, so they'll have enough vaccine to use 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.960 in a larger clinical study. At least a half a 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:10.640 dozen vaccine candidates have entered human studies, including an experimental 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.559 shop being developed by the National Institutes of Health and 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:18.720 Massachusetts based Maderna That trial started in March. Vaccine research 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:22.280 is being accelerated, but it says he sees no corners 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:26.080 being cut. I have a fear that people might be 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:30.800 concerned about the vaccine, that it's maybe being rushed. We 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:33.680 know that there was one vaccine that's already injected in America. 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:36.240 But I know that this one has been as cautious 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:38.920 and as quick as it possibly could. In the Oxford 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.840 study had to do the animal trials non human primates 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:47.000 before that was their design to be as cautious as possible, 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.280 but as fast as possible. UM, So they had a headstart, 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:52.959 it says he likes being part of the race to 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:58.200 produce a safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus. I 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:01.679 think a vaccine is the safe this way to develop 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:05.400 a herd immunity response that we can therefore protect our 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:07.400 friends and family and the people in the street. We 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.559 don't even know. Um. What we've found with this coronavirus 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:14.320 in particular compared to the Merse and the First Stars 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:18.480 outbreak is that it was they were very intense diseases, 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.920 but this one has a lot of unsybdematic carriers. It 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.280 doesn't mean that it's not a nasty disease. It has 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.120 terrible side effects and terrible effects that we're still learning 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.679 about the long term effects. So I think vaccine is 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:33.679 the safest way to have her community that we can 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:39.440 then introduce to the population. It's a goal that dozens 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.160 of research teams across the world are pursuing well each 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:46.120 is vine to be first. They're also competing with the 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.160 fast spreading pandemic that each and every one of us 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:53.240 has a stake in. Ending. Researchers say that solidarity is 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:58.199 driving a global effort that's resulting in an unprecedented spirit 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:11.679 of collaboration. That was Bloomberg's Jason Gail, and that's our 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.599 show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one D 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:18.520 and twenty bureaus around the world, visit bloomberg dot com 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:22.719 slash coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:26.359 us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.600 It's the best way to help more listeners find our 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:34.200 global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is hosted by Me 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.720 Laura Carlson. The show was produced by Me Topher foreheads, 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:44.360 Jordan Gospoure and Magnus Hendrickson. Today's main story was reported 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:50.000 by Jason Gail. Original music by Leo Sidrin. Our editors 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:55.200 are Francesco Levi and Rick Shine. Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.840 head of Podcasts. Thanks for listening.