WEBVTT - Delta Variant May Warrant a New Covid Vaccine 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.160 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:08.200 Quick Takes Tim Stenovic on Bloomberg Radio. So we talked 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:10.240 earlier with our Cynthia Coons about how we need to 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:13.480 be ready to deal with more COVID variants coming Jane 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.640 sequencing is what we got into. Our Bloomberg Intelligence Farmer 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:18.880 team has come out with some new research noting that 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:21.520 the delta variant may warrant a new COVID vaccine to 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:26.200 combat the higher infectivity and potentially worst disease outcomes of 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:28.720 the variant. So let's get to it. Because when I 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:30.000 read in this morning, and when I look at the 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.160 Bloomberg right now, the most read stories in the past 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:37.440 eight hours, seven out of twenty have to do with 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:40.560 the delta variant and COVID. Six of them are related 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.960 to this Bloomberg intelligence research. Let's get to it. With 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:46.760 Bloomberg News is h Drew Armstrong. He's a senior head 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.519 editor for US Healthcare and he joins us in our 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.280 Interactive Broker studio. I can't read my own writing. That's 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:54.560 really bad. It's been that kind of a day. This 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.960 research is pretty phenomenal. Reading in um Drew I'm not 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:00.000 surprised because we're all kind of nervous and trying to 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.040 understand the delta variant. Tell us a little bit about 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:05.400 what we need to understand about it right now, Yeah, 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:07.000 I think you know a couple of kind of just 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.800 fundamental points. We know that these viruses evolve over time, 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:13.319 and some of these ways that they involve can be 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:18.080 you know, not particularly consequential virus. Yeah, everything. These virus 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.120 viruses are mutating every single time they replicate in your body. 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.199 They are a highly highly highly you know, they muted 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:26.160 very fast up until the time. Very few of these 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:28.600 mutations actually matter. A lot of them make the virus 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:30.680 so it doesn't even function properly, and you know it 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.040 just you know, this is random chance. You're basically spinning 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:35.880 the Roulette wheel every time from a genetic standpoint. But 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:37.360 some of them do matter, and we have these things 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:39.440 that are called variants of concern. The delta variant is 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:41.279 kind of the the you know, one of the latest 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.200 and greatest of these. And if you're a you know, 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.000 viiologist or epidemiologists, one of the things you're talking about 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:50.880 is this concept of vaccine escape. Does something about the 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:54.080 virus change in a way that it makes it so 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.280 that the immune response that's kind of sitting there in 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.000 your body ready and waiting is no longer you know, effective, 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.480 or is no longer as effective. And keep in mind, 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:05.680 all this stuff is kind of on a spectrum, you know, 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.360 against you know, a certain type of mutation of the virus, 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:10.200 and then does that allow the virus to you know, 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.840 that version that mutation and strain of the virus to 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:15.600 kind of spread and be more fit and capable in 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:17.760 a in a in a in a population. And so 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:19.520 that's really what you're worried about now, you know. The 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.440 good news when we talk about that is it. You know, 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:24.639 just as viruses can evolve, so can vaccines. I mean, 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:27.160 we come up with new flu vaccines every single year. 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.399 You know, there's already been talking about will we need 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:33.880 some kind of you know, variant booster for uh for 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.160 for this particular coronavirus, And so I think that's a 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.880 discussion that's underway right now. And looking you know, how 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.080 good is the protection and do we need to tweak 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.720 things in some way or another to attack this particular 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:46.440 variant or what is the virus gonna look like in 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.440 the future. Can a variant in a virus. You talk 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:53.680 about a spectrum. So can someone who's gotten a vaccine, though, 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.200 I mean, it can affect all of us differently, right, 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:00.400 even as a mutation or is it can say this 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:02.359 is the mutation, this is how it's going to affect you. 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.519 That's that's exactly right. I mean, I think the way 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.639 to think about it is that this is not a 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.320 binary question where a vaccine either you know, works or 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.520 it doesn't work. Um, It's more of a question of, well, okay, 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:19.360 this vaccine, let's say, was protective you know, against symptomatic 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:23.079 illness or you know, anything anything worse than mild illness 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.040 in the original strain. Well, the strain evolves, and now 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.760 that vaccine is protects still, which is still good, but 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:32.160 you know, it may be less protective or it maybe 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.120 that for example, hey, you have a larger number of 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:37.880 people who you know, they get they get infected, but 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.320 their infections are very mild. I just had a friend 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.200 in Los Angeles, he had both do as a fiser. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.760 Back in April, he got COVID. He doesn't know what 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:46.400 varying it was, but you know, I mean it wasn't 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.040 He was sick and it wasn't fun, but he was 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.080 over written a week or something that wasn't in the hospital. No, 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:52.640 it wasn't not in the hospital. And so I think, 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.080 you know, and and who knows if this is the 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.200 variant or some original strain, But I think, you know, 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.120 we really do have to think about this as a 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.560 spectrum of protection where it's never going to disappear entirely, 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.720 it's never gonna be perfect. And where are you on 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.520 that on that range, you know, both against protecting against 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:10.920 infection entirely, protecting against more severe diseases, and so on 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.120 and so forth. How quickly are they tracking all the 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:17.560 data about the variant to understand whether or not the 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.560 vaccines are going to kind of stand up against it 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.799 as it continues to mutate, like well, they know instantaneously 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:26.559 because they're tracking populations or will there be a lag 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:28.760 or no, This stuff takes a while. And that's one 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.839 of the real challenges here is that viruses mutate faster 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.680 than vaccines evolve. And so one of the reasons that 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.240 I think the flu vaccine tends to be relatively you know, 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.240 I mean, it's it works, but you know, it's obviously 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:42.840 people still get the flu. It tends to be about 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.240 sixty protective is something you're looking for generally with the flu. 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.480 That's kind of what you can expect there. Part of 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.960 the reason is that you know, when you're making vaccine, 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.320 and you're making vaccine and a mass scale, as we 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.760 saw with the covid vaccines, you're doing this months and 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.160 months in advance. And so with flu vaccines, for example, 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.880 you're trying to predict, hey, what strains of the flu 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:05.440 are going to be circulating most predominantly by the time 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:06.839 you know, we have to They have to guess a 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.160 year or so out and say, okay, we think it's 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:11.120 going to be these four strains. And sometimes they guess 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:13.120 really well, and the flu vaccine is great. Sometimes they 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.120 don't guess so well. Man, it's only moderately protective. The 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:19.680 same dynamic may eventually come to play with this, but 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.200 we don't want that miss on covid right right exactly, 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.240 And so you know, I mean, listen, the flu and 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.240 covid are very different viruses. It's it's worth keeping in mind. 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.039 You know, this is you know, a virus that it 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.720 may be that we you know that one. You know 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:34.680 that a vaccine these m R and a vaccines, they 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:36.479 might be very effective. It might be that, you know, 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:38.640 if you end up doing a booster shot or something 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.600 like that, you end up with very long lasting protection, 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.320 you know, against almost all strains of US. I think 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:46.680 this is a question that is one it's it's being 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.599 looked at, but it's still an open one exactly on 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.560 whether we truly will need a new type of vaccine 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.760 or a slightly modified vaccine, if we'll need a booster, 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.560 or if we'll just be you know, say, hey, we've 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.080 got against all the strains out there with the MR 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.080 and A vaccines. That's pretty good. We don't know if 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.039 we can get any better by giving more shots or 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.000 modifying the shots. So we don't know yet about a 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.160 booster Like I keep thinking, do I have to circle 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.320 some date on a calendar? No, I think we really 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.080 don't know. I know, you know, Fiser has been talking 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:15.920 it up, the US government has been talking it down. 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.400 I think the reality is that, you know, the question 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.560 is still out there from a data standpoint in terms 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.920 of you know, how much does immunity wayne. The immunity 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:26.840 has a lot of different parts to it, you know, 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.520 is it just these antibodies which are kind of the 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.760 like live active defenses that are circulating versus kind of 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.000 the immune memory cells that are a little bit more 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:38.000 deminant but a little bit more permanent. You know, I 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.760 think we really do not know yet exactly what long 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.360 term immunity for these vaccines looks like, because you know, 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.080 they've not been out there for that long. They've only 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:49.720 been in people's bodies for around a year. I mean, 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:54.800 you know, so, yeah, exactly, So we don't know, and 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.080 I think that's very, very important. There's gonna be a 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:58.640 lot of data that is going to come out over 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:00.800 the next couple of months. Someone's to go in one direction, 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:02.880 someone's going to go in another. What I would encourage 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.200 people to do is, you know, try to take the 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.640 totality this information as it comes out, because you're going 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:09.520 to see headlines at the point one direction and then 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:11.360 owns the point the other. It's not that it is 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:13.320 changing back for it. This is the argument of science 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:15.760 happening live in real time. You have been covering all 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.720 of this stuff in real time, and I know how 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:19.840 exhausted you must be over the past year and a half. Well, 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.320 we start to see, though l A wear a mask. 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:24.760 We have conversations here in the office, like throwing a 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:27.280 mask it doesn't hurt. How are we as the general 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:29.800 public supposed to read that when you also say these 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.000 vaccines are really effective and they do protect us. I 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.560 think the mask debate in this country is really interesting 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:39.240 to watch. I don't think anybody really wants to go back, 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:41.160 you know. I mean, if you're listening, you know someone 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.440 who's vaccinated, Like, I hate wearing a mask. It sucks. 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:46.600 Do you wear it? I do on planes, on the 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:48.320 subway and things like that. I wear where I have 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.360 to wear it. Um and I wear in a couple 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.240 of situations, you know, when I'm around people I don't know, 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.880 or something like that. You know, yes, but not very often, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:57.520 and like and I don't want to you know, I 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:59.520 don't want to have to go back to that. It 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.040 is you, it is not. It's not something I want 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:03.920 to keep having to do. And so I think and 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:05.840 and and trust me, I'm very much on the like 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.120 pro public health measure side. As I follow this stuff 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.640 and I wore my mask diligently, I think it's going 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.040 to be very hard from a political standpoint and a 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:18.920 public health messaging standpoint to reenact mass mandates again because 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.920 you know, like it's hard to go back to that 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.280 world for people, especially if they've been vaccinated um, you know, 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.240 and people are gonna have a reset risk calibration. I 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.760 would expect a little bit and and figure out what 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.400 their level of comfort is. I feel like we keep 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:38.559 hearing um drew increasingly from global leaders that in order 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:39.880 to get through this, we have to have a global 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.640 solution and there's going to be sharing of information, sharing 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.840 of data. It isn't really happening, is it. No? I mean, 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:49.000 you know, I think one of the really challenging parts 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:50.760 of the vaccine roll out within the context of the 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.640 pandemic is that you've seen programs like COVACS that's the 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.280 w h O and GAV organized program to kind of 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.920 buy vaccines and distribute them, you know, equit will be 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.000 across the globe, but really lead you know, trying to 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:03.440 figure out a way of getting vaccines to lower incombinations. 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.560 It has just abysmally, you know, it started, has been 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:11.199 a busmoine has has not worked, has gotten very few vaccines, 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.240 has done you know, has not been able to get 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:17.200 them to lower income countries, particularly in Africa where you know, 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:20.480 listen to people are complaining about a fifty percent vaccination 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.240 rate in the United States. It's one percent in in Africa, 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.920 and they're having death spike in those places. We need 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:28.640 to be concerned about these hotspots. Like I think there 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:30.800 are people listening, like that's far away from me, but 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:35.240 I also remember back in December January, where like China, 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.440 that's far away from me, it's never going to touch us, 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:39.319 And here we are. Yeah, I mean, you know, listen, 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.160 unvaccinated populations are pretty effective breeding grounds for new variants. 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.199 And we've seen what happens when very you know, variant 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:49.840 evolves that is successful and kind of leaping around a 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.120 vaccine or is a very effective hitting you know, unvaccinated 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.800 or vulnerable populations. And so yeah, I mean, just from 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.800 like a purely selfish standpoint, it's a good thing. Like 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:00.520 we all get on airplane to travel around the world 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:02.120 and you know, go to these places or people come 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.640 from these places, and you know, virus doesn't really care 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:06.920 about income or borders or anything like that. We've got 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.280 the delta variant is much more contagious, right, That's certainly 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:11.080 something we hear. I was talking with a doctor yesterday 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:13.440 and they said, yeah, but it's not like your outcome 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:16.720 is worse, meaning if you've got the vaccine, you're likely 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.280 to get through it. Are we likely to get to 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.680 a stage, especially since a big part of the world 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:25.040 is still not vaccinated, they are available hosts to continue 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:27.960 the variations uh in covid. Are we likely to get 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.680 to a mutation that is not only more contagious but 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.679 more a killer. It's hard to know. I mean, I 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.200 think one of the general rules of viruses, you know, 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.880 in a big picture sense, is that like a very effective, 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:43.840 a virus that kills its host very quickly is not 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.520 a very good virus because it makes it harder for 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:48.520 you know, it makes it harder for her to spread. 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:51.080 I mean, a bola is really really scary, but as 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.240 a virus attends to the reason it tends to say 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.720 relatively self contained is because it kills people too quickly 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.360 before they can, you know, end up walking around and 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.000 spreading it to lots and lots of people. It's very 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.080 scary for healthcare workers. Is very scary if it's happening 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.080 in your village, you know, but there's much less risk 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:08.959 that you know, someone gets a bowla and then has 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:10.520 a mind you know, you don't have a mild case 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:12.640 of a bowla that you're walking, you know, walking around 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.440 with infecting lots and lots of other people. So, um, 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.920 you know, yeah, I mean this this, this question of 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.320 you know, the global issue is a is a real one. Um. 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.079 And and you know the failure of of richer nations 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.320 to effectively contribute to kovacs in other ways, you know, 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.480 and really help push vaccinations in in in other places. 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:33.800 I mean that is that is meaningful. And then you 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:35.600 mentioned some of this data sharing stuff. I mean, I 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:37.800 think another real issue that is going to come up 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.040 over and over again and is going to be I 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.360 I hope a point of consideration after this, you know 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.280 pandemic ends is you know, we do need probably a 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:49.160 better system of surveillance and monitoring and fast action from 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.000 a global standpoint, because I think you really saw and 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.480 have seen over the course of this pandemic. You know 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:59.240 what happens when information when countries don't share information um 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.640 as as rap with lye as they might otherwise. Um, 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:04.760 you know, and now we're trying to track variants and 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:06.360 you know, I mean that is still system that's kind 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:08.400 of in its infancy in terms of you know, growing 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.480 up and having global genetic surveillance of these viruses. When 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:13.600 you wake up every morning and there's a ton of 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.120 headlines when it comes to COVID and the vaccines and 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:17.839 the variants, I mean, what is it that you're always 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.760 looking for? Top of mind? I think, you know, we're 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.120 kind of at the point in this where it's you know, 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:27.000 I personally am really more thinking about the kind of 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.520 the long outcome here. I think there's you know, there's 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.480 new fresh headlines every day, you know, really, but though 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:34.600 you know, the main thing I think we're keeping an 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.080 eye on right now is, you know, where are people 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.640 getting sick and why are they getting sick? Um? You know, 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:45.720 and be they vaccinated or unvaccinated? What do we really know? Um? 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:47.920 And what can we find out more to learn and 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:50.720 add information about, you know, how effective these vaccines are, 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:52.880 how the virus is evolving. I mean, those are the 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.160 things that we're really paying attention to because all that 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.120 points to a time when you know, what is the 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.199 you know, hopeful end point of this of this pandemic mick, 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.000 you know, if there is one, or do we just 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:05.040 end up kind of in a long tail endemic situation 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.280 where we're dealing with this virus and living with it 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:08.920 in some way or another for the rest of our lives, 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.240 which is very possible. Yes, all right, gonna leave with her. 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:13.120 Thank you so much. It's what I wanted to do today. 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.280 So thank you so much. I know you're a busy guy, 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:18.959 Drew Armstrong. He's our senior editor for US healthcare right 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.360 here at Bloomberg News. Check him out his work on 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.160 the Bloomberg Terminal, also at Bloomberg dot com. To thank 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:25.760 you so much.