1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day three forty 2 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:12,000 Speaker 1: two since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's main 3 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: story a vaccine surge is on the way as drugmakers 4 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: ratchet up their production and more facilities become equipped to 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:26,639 Speaker 1: provide the drugs to US communities. But first, here's what 6 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 1: happened in virus News today. Visor and bio ent Tech 7 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: asked the US Food and Drug Administration for permission to 8 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: store their vaccine at lower temperatures that would allow the 9 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: drug to be stored for two weeks in the type 10 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: of freezers pharmacies use. Making storage easier in this way 11 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: could simplify distribution of the shock. The partners submitted new 12 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: data showing the vaccine is stable when it is stored 13 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:07,839 Speaker 1: at minus twenty five to minus fifteen degrees celsius. Current 14 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: protocol is to store the vaccine for up to six 15 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: months in an ultra cold freezer at temperatures up to 16 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: negative sixty degrees celsius and to ship them in a 17 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: special thermal container. This limits the number of facilities that 18 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,680 Speaker 1: have the equipment needed to store and administer the vaccine. 19 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: The European Union plans to double its cash commitment for 20 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: the KOVACS program. According to an EU official familiar with 21 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: the matter, the block will now contribute one billion euros 22 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: to the program, which provides vaccines to poorer nations. G 23 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: seven nations, including the US, the UK, and France, are 24 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: also expected to pledge donations of vaccine supplies. Finally, in 25 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: the US, there are early signs of a resurgence of 26 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: COVID nineteen cases in the Great Plains, the area where 27 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: the most recent nationwide surge started. The seven day average 28 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: of new cases in North Dakota has climbed by one 29 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: hundred and forty seven percent in the past week, the 30 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,359 Speaker 1: most in the US. According to COVID Tracking Project data. 31 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: Nebraska's cases are up to the period and South Dakotas 32 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: are up seventeen. The move is a reminder that while 33 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: the overall trends have improved vastly, the pandemic continues and 34 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: hotspots are likely to keep popping up. And now, for 35 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,679 Speaker 1: today's main story, the US vaccine supply is poised to 36 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: double in the coming weeks and months, according to an 37 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: analysis by Bloomberg, allowing a broad expansion of doses administered 38 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: across the country. Currently, the US is administering one point 39 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: six million doses a day, constrained by the recent supply 40 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: of about ten million to fifteen million doses a week, 41 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:20,079 Speaker 1: but COVID nineteen vaccine manufacturers and US officials have accelerated 42 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: the production timelines. I spoke to Senior editor Drew Armstrong, 43 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: who leads Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker. Drew said the spigots are 44 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: about open, providing hundreds of millions of doses, just as 45 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: pharmacies and mass vaccination sites become more equipped to administer them. 46 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: Let's start with some numbers. How many COVID nineteen vaccines 47 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: is the US currently distributing, and more importantly, how is 48 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: that number expected to change over the coming months. That's 49 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: a really good question. Um. So the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, 50 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: which is the product that I run here, we look 51 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: at every day how many shots going to arms around 52 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: the US. And what we see right now is that 53 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: you know, about one point six one point seven million 54 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: doses a day are administered in all fifty states and 55 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: across some federal entities, um and some territories. And that's 56 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: a number that's been really constrained essentially by supply. The 57 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: US distributes anywhere from ten million to fifteen million doses 58 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: a week, and if you do the math on that, 59 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: you know, with a couple of little variances, one point 60 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: six you know, give or take a couple hundred thousand 61 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: is where you get. So we've been in this environment 62 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: now for a few weeks where you know, just about 63 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: every dose that gets sent out is more or less 64 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: being you know, doses are being used at the same 65 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: pace that they're that they're sent out, and that is 66 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: not a pace that's been fast enough to cover the 67 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: United States in any kind of timely fashion. We have 68 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: a calculator on our website that shows, you know, at 69 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: the current pace, how long would it take to cover 70 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: scent of Americans with a two does vaccine? And I 71 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: think right now that number is up to about nine months. 72 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: I don't think that makes anybody happy. That would be 73 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: sometime in the fall um heading towards the beginning of winter. 74 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: But you know, we do know that more vaccine is coming. 75 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: So what is going to lead to this increased supply? 76 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,479 Speaker 1: So I think when you think about manufacturing in this case, 77 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: what is a new and complicated product. You know, these 78 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: vaccines they're actually quite high technology. They're very challenging. To 79 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,039 Speaker 1: spin up large scale manufacturing. You need to think about 80 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:45,039 Speaker 1: a manufacturing ramp, which is what we you know, what 81 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: everybody calls this where basically supply tends to start out 82 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: at a trickle. More factories get broad online essentially, or 83 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: the manufacturing lines in those factories they add new ones, 84 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 1: or they make them more efficient. You look for processes 85 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 1: and you begin to see re increases in production closer 86 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: to what a maximum is. We took a very careful 87 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:09,359 Speaker 1: look at all of the public statements by the companies, 88 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: you know, they have made commitments to saying we will 89 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: deliver you know, X number of doses under our existing 90 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: contract by this month, another hundred million doses of doses 91 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 1: delivered by the following month, and combine all of those 92 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: things together with some additional more granular timetables to show 93 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: that there's actually gonna be quite a bit of vaccine 94 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,480 Speaker 1: supply coming in the next few months. Taken together, you know, 95 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: the Fiser vaccine moderna vaccine that's likely to be authorized 96 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,039 Speaker 1: for use by J and J. We go from a 97 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,719 Speaker 1: place where we're at around you know, fifteen million doses 98 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:48,840 Speaker 1: a week now too. By the time we get to March, 99 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,599 Speaker 1: you know, we're really looking at more like twenty million 100 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: doses a week by the time we get to April, 101 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: may million a week, by the time we're in June, 102 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: thirty million a week. That starts to really really add up. 103 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: You're talking about, you know, by April, enough vaccine to 104 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,600 Speaker 1: cover a hundred and nine million Americans. By Junior, get 105 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: to fifty million by July, we have more vaccine, you know, 106 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: doses than we have people to give them to. Although 107 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: those projections require companies to hit their targets, so it's 108 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: a major caveat now to meet these deadlines, they need 109 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: to actually succeed in making the stuff. But we're basing 110 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: this on the numbers that they are promising, and certainly 111 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: hoping that they get those right. Obviously, these numbers sound fantastic, 112 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: and and the question of if they're feasible targets is 113 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: a big one. I mean, we've already seen delays and 114 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: production delays and shipping um obviously even right now going 115 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: on with the weather, we've seen problems in getting vaccines 116 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: out of communities. So I mean, even in your opinion, 117 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: how how overly optimistic are these targets. Well, I don't 118 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: know if I would call them overly optimistic. I mean, 119 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: I think one of the things that's worth remembering about 120 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: these companies is that these are very large corporations that, 121 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: in my experience dealing with them, tend to be quite 122 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: conservative in what they promised. That said, a lot of 123 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: the promises that you know they are making recently, I 124 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: think can get conflated with some of the promises of 125 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: the prior administration, where there was kind of a lot 126 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: of overpromise and under deliver on vaccine numbers, um. You know, 127 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: but these companies are actually you know, they don't say 128 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:32,400 Speaker 1: this stuff unless they think that they can do it, 129 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: because they know that if they don't that is a 130 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:37,959 Speaker 1: big disappointment and that they will be held to account, 131 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: hauled up before Congress, you know, made villains in the 132 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: eyes of the American public, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. They tend 133 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 1: to be pretty conservative about how they talk about this stuff. So, 134 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: you know, I think that they would not be saying 135 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: this if they did not have a strong degree of 136 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: confidence that they will meet these targets. Now, I want 137 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:57,839 Speaker 1: to pause real quickly here and saying there's a lot 138 00:08:57,880 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: of other stuff that can go wrong. Look at this, 139 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: a storm that has more or less put vaccinations in 140 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: Texas on hold. If you dig into our vaccine tracker, 141 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:08,720 Speaker 1: you can actually take a look and see that Texas 142 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: took a huge hit on the terms of the number 143 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: of vaccines that it's been able to administer over the 144 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 1: last several days. You know, I mean things can go wrong, 145 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: whether UM shipping issues. We may get to a point 146 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: where you know, we've never we haven't distributed this vaccine 147 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: as much anymore. There could be distribution bottlenecks. We don't 148 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: know if there might be some you know, long term 149 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: side effect that we're not aware of that causes one 150 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 1: of these vaccines to either be pulled from the market 151 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: or limited in use. There's a lot of variables here. 152 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 1: This is not just manufacturing UM. You know, and I've 153 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,439 Speaker 1: been taught in this pandemic that you know, if stuff 154 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: can't go wrong, it will go wrong. So you know, 155 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: I really want to caution people. This is a model 156 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: of what companies are saying. There are many other moving 157 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: pieces in this big vaccine machine that have to all 158 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: keep moving and not breaking down and or or for 159 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: this to work. And you raise a really important point 160 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: that supply, just the quantity of vaccines is maybe not 161 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:10,959 Speaker 1: even half the battle, but only a piece of this 162 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: very complicated puzzle. So assuming that we will have this 163 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,560 Speaker 1: increased supply of vaccines going into the spring and even 164 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: into the summer, I mean what has been announced as 165 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:26,320 Speaker 1: far as plans on local, state, federal government lines to 166 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:33,160 Speaker 1: make sure this increased supply will get distributed and into arms. Yeah. 167 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: One of the really interesting things that has been happening 168 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: and actually gave us a little bit more confidence in 169 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: writing this story, was not just looking at in isolation 170 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:46,679 Speaker 1: the statements by the companies, but you know what is 171 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: actually happening on the ground in order to kind of 172 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: widen the you know, the pipeline, you know, for the 173 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:55,200 Speaker 1: last mile of getting these things from factory to arm, etcetera. 174 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 1: I think if you look around the country, there is 175 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: a building of vaccine and indistration capacity that's been going on. 176 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: Michigan's top health officials said earlier this month that we 177 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,720 Speaker 1: could be doing eighty thousand doses a day. We're only getting, 178 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: you know, but if you look at what they're actually getting, 179 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 1: the number of doses they're getting to be able to 180 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: administer it's you know, anywhere from thirty thousand to fifty 181 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: thousand doses a day less than that. FEMA has been 182 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,440 Speaker 1: opening up mass vaccination centers around the country. They have 183 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: a pop upsite in Delaware that's going to go for 184 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: six days and do three thousand people a day. Football 185 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: stadiums are being turned into mass vaccination centers. Um. You 186 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: know in San Francisco, the forty nine or stadium, they 187 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: say they can do fifteen thousand doses a day there. Um. 188 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: This is happening all around the country where there is 189 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: this building of administration capacity. You know, they've pulled retired 190 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: nurses and doctors back into service and said, hey, come 191 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: help out with this. Pharmacies are now beginning to be 192 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: shipped vaccine for use by the general public. Those are 193 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of locations. I think one of the 194 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,120 Speaker 1: things that have to remember, you know, a good comparison 195 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:04,599 Speaker 1: to this is like the Nursing Home program, where the 196 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: big drug store chains were contracted with to go out 197 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: and vaccinate people in the nursing homes and actually went 198 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: really really slowly. I think people thought that, oh, this 199 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,680 Speaker 1: will be great, We'll hire these big companies that have 200 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:19,599 Speaker 1: locations everywhere. They'll sweep across America and vaccinate all the 201 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: old people in the nursing homes who are the folks 202 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: who are most vulnerable to this disease and really need 203 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 1: these vaccines. That's not what happened. It turns out it 204 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: is way easier and more efficient to tell ten thousand 205 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 1: people to, you know, or fifteen thousand people, Hey, drive 206 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,319 Speaker 1: to the football stadium that every Sunday in the fall 207 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,440 Speaker 1: is used to handling a hundred thousand people getting in 208 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:41,599 Speaker 1: and out of this place. Line you all up and 209 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:44,480 Speaker 1: vaccinate you. That's easy to do, that's efficient to do. 210 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: What's really hard to do is to say, Okay, you're 211 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,200 Speaker 1: gonna have to go drive out to tiny, little essentially 212 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: you know, nursing homes all around the country and go 213 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: door to door vaccinating fragile ninety year old who have 214 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:58,679 Speaker 1: to be handled with extreme care and caution because of 215 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: their susceptibility to the ZA. We are moving into a 216 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: place where the efficiency on the administration side really begins 217 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: to ramp up. From the federal government perspective. You know 218 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: what has the ad Biden administration said as far as 219 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: their goals for having America vaccinated. I mean, have they 220 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:20,719 Speaker 1: taken into account this new supply line of vaccines and 221 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:24,559 Speaker 1: adjusted their timetable at all. One of the things it's 222 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 1: a very interesting contrast between this current administration and the 223 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: prior administration is that they seem to be quite conscious 224 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: about being conservative and not overpromising how they're going to 225 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 1: deliver these vaccines. And you see comments that kind of 226 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:47,480 Speaker 1: look like trying to talk both ways about this, where 227 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: on one hand they say, things are going great, We're 228 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: hitting all our targets. Look how wonderful we're doing, and 229 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 1: really trying to you know, count their own winds on this, 230 00:13:57,400 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 1: you know, on the other hand, they say, whoa wa, whoa, 231 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,079 Speaker 1: be careful, all we won't have all these vaccines until July, 232 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,800 Speaker 1: which is a month later than what we project. You know, 233 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:06,960 Speaker 1: we see them talking down production of the Johnson and 234 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: Johnson vaccine a little bit, saying, well, we expect that 235 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: to be a very very slow ramp. I think there's 236 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: a little bit of you know, both political and public 237 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: health expectations setting um going on here. If I had 238 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: to take a guess where, you know, one, you don't 239 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: want people to think, you know, yeah, you know, I'll 240 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: have a vaccine next week, so I can go and 241 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 1: give up all the good public health measures that I've 242 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: been practicing for a year now. Um, you know. You also, 243 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:35,520 Speaker 1: at the same time, I don't want to give people 244 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: the mindset they're like, hey, the vaccine is never getting here, 245 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: so why even bother I'm going to give up. For 246 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,120 Speaker 1: that reason, I think they're trying to walk a little 247 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: bit of a fine line from a public health standpoint 248 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: while also trying to control the narrative from a political standpoint. 249 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: You know, we'll see if they adjust those projections, and 250 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: and obviously we intend to you know, keep on the 251 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 1: companies that are manufacturing these and hold them to account, 252 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: um and call out if they don't hit their missed 253 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: targets um. You know, and we'll be keeping an eye 254 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 1: on the Biden administration as well. That was Drew Armstrong 255 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: and that's it for our show today. For coverage of 256 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: the outbreak from one twenty bureaus around the world, visit 257 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:19,240 Speaker 1: Bloomberg dot com slash coronavirus and if you like the show, 258 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: please leave us a review and a rating on Apple 259 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 1: Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more 260 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:30,360 Speaker 1: listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is 261 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:35,080 Speaker 1: produced by Tophur foreheads Magnus Henrickson and me Laura Carlson. 262 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: Today's main story was reported by Drew Armstrong. Original music 263 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: by Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesco Levi. 264 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.