Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: Earlier you heard our David Weston catching up with Dr
Speaker 1: Anthony Faucci talking about him about Dr Facci actually getting
Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen vaccine and talking about that experience a
Speaker 1: little bit more about where we are when it comes
Speaker 1: to the coronavirus. Great to have with us once again.
Speaker 1: Also a really smart voice in one of our go
Speaker 1: to voices when it comes to COVID is Bruce Farber.
Speaker 1: He's chief of Infectious Diseases at north Well Health massive
Speaker 1: hospital and healthcare system in New York State that has
Speaker 1: seen so much when it comes to the virus and
Speaker 1: also was where the first vaccination happened last week. I
Speaker 1: believe it was the Visor vaccine at the north Well
Speaker 1: Health System. Dr Farber joining us on the phone from Inhasset,
Speaker 1: New York. Dr Farber, nice to have you back with us.
Speaker 1: How are you. I'm well, Thanks for having me. Well,
Speaker 1: tell me a little bit about the vaccine rollout, how
Speaker 1: it's going at your hospital system. It's going well, It's
Speaker 1: going to take a while. It's a massive effort. Um
Speaker 1: So far, we have vaccinated a fairly large number of people.
Speaker 1: I believe it's approaching I don't know, two thousand or so. UM.
Speaker 1: We're rolling it out to priority groups, nurses on the
Speaker 1: front line, UM, custodians on the front line, UM, your workers, hospitalists,
Speaker 1: pulmonary critical care people, people working in the COVID units,
Speaker 1: and it's going well. It's just a time consuming process,
Speaker 1: and then eventually we will roll it out to the
Speaker 1: general community. Do you say time consuming, what do you mean?
Speaker 1: Just you mean in terms of the administration of it
Speaker 1: and keeping track of it, and and just finding the
Speaker 1: right people to make sure that the the priority people
Speaker 1: are getting it or what. All of those things gone
Speaker 1: by appointment only people cannot walk in. There has to
Speaker 1: be social distancing. The patients are the people being vaccinated
Speaker 1: have to be observed fifteen minutes, they have to be
Speaker 1: observed for thirty minutes if they've had a history of
Speaker 1: a severe allergic reaction to UH another product. And that
Speaker 1: all just takes time because and and as you know,
Speaker 1: this vaccine is very unforgiving. The the Madura vaccine is
Speaker 1: only good for six hours after it's been thought and
Speaker 1: the Fiser vaccine for a little bit longer, but has
Speaker 1: the horrible freeze chain associated with it. So all of
Speaker 1: these factors make this totally different than you know, influenza
Speaker 1: at a at a drug store. Yeah, very different. Um,
Speaker 1: have you gotten the vaccine? Yes, I have I got
Speaker 1: last week. And what was your experience in getting it?
Speaker 1: That was one of the things that we were kind
Speaker 1: of intrigued listening to Dr Anthony Fauci kind of to
Speaker 1: talk about the process and how it felt. Well. Quite frankly,
Speaker 1: I was delighted. I couldn't wait to get the vaccine.
Speaker 1: I um can't wait to get the second dose. To me,
Speaker 1: it's an amazing vaccine. The efficacy is much better than
Speaker 1: any of us had anticipated. And as you know, living
Speaker 1: in New York or anywhere in the United States, COVID
Speaker 1: is all around us, There's no question about it. So
Speaker 1: vaccine itself was much less painful, and my side effects
Speaker 1: were trivial. They left in six hours. I took tail
Speaker 1: and all I felt a little, you know, malaise, and
Speaker 1: that's it, right, And if you take a singles vaccine
Speaker 1: or some other vaccines, you can feel that as well,
Speaker 1: if not worse. Um. What's interesting is, though we were
Speaker 1: having kind of internal discussions here around our newstable in
Speaker 1: our studio of just this whole idea. This was off air,
Speaker 1: but just it's kind of staggering how what we've had
Speaker 1: to endure the last nine ten months because of COVID
Speaker 1: and yet there are a lot of people and even
Speaker 1: members of the medical community who are hesitant, especially in
Speaker 1: the black communities, that are hesitant about taking this vaccine,
Speaker 1: no question about it. I mean, that's a big problem,
Speaker 1: and we need to communicate very well. As I have
Speaker 1: said before, there are many loud voices against the vaccine
Speaker 1: and there have not been enough voices pro vaccine UM.
Speaker 1: But this disease is affecting the African American community in
Speaker 1: a disproportionate manner. They have more cases, higher mortality UM
Speaker 1: and many more cool mobidities that make the prognosis worse.
Speaker 1: So I think it's essential that we gain their trust
Speaker 1: and I think we need to reach out to them,
Speaker 1: and we are in the process of doing that UM
Speaker 1: at north Well, and I think more and more needs
Speaker 1: to be done. And you're absolutely right, well what are
Speaker 1: you doing in terms of of reaching out? And I'm
Speaker 1: just curious because there is as you know, because of
Speaker 1: the history that we've seen with the Black communities in
Speaker 1: the past, UM with syphilis in terms of really being
Speaker 1: treated poorly UM by the medical community. So I'm just curious,
Speaker 1: how is that outreach going. I was talking with the
Speaker 1: head of more House Medical College yesterday and she said,
Speaker 1: you know, there are studies out there that show that
Speaker 1: black individuals and Black Americans want to be treated by
Speaker 1: black doctors and that that's where they find it, you know,
Speaker 1: their comfort level, their efficacy in terms of treatment. So
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, how is that outreach going and what are
Speaker 1: you guys doing to to make sure that everybody who
Speaker 1: needs to get this vaccine really gets it. Well, it
Speaker 1: just started, and the initiation is with community groups with
Speaker 1: leaders in the black community. A lot of them are
Speaker 1: in churches and other community groups. And the concept is,
Speaker 1: you know, we're starting there, UM. So it's going to
Speaker 1: take time, but there will be UM an outreach in
Speaker 1: those communities. We will make it easy for people in
Speaker 1: those communities to get vaccinated. Uh. They will be physically
Speaker 1: near them. There's transportation issues, UM, and and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of work ahead of us to to do that
Speaker 1: right right exactly, to to do that outreach. UM. Just
Speaker 1: got about a minute here and then we'll take a
Speaker 1: break and come back and talk somewhere. What are you
Speaker 1: seeing in terms of COVID cases right now? There's a
Speaker 1: lot of them. Quite frankly, our census is uh slightly
Speaker 1: more than a thousand at Northwell Health. Um, that's dramatically
Speaker 1: higher than it was. It's you know, as close to
Speaker 1: ten times as high as it was two months ago.
Speaker 1: It's not as is the whatever number that we hit
Speaker 1: in March, but it's very alarming and quite frankly, it's
Speaker 1: it's a huge problem again. So Dr farber Um, I
Speaker 1: was getting ready for a weekend show, kind of planning
Speaker 1: for it, and it'll go out, um, you know, between
Speaker 1: the holidays. And one of the things I wrote in
Speaker 1: the introduction was, you know, we've been all predicting this
Speaker 1: long dark winter, and it's really upon us, isn't it
Speaker 1: when it comes to the vaccine, and really rather when
Speaker 1: it comes to the virus. Yeah, there's no question about it.
Speaker 1: And I think we better double down on on the options,
Speaker 1: the few options that we have until large segment of
Speaker 1: the population gets vaccinated, hopefully by the spring. So I
Speaker 1: think we should be very careful. It's dangerous out there
Speaker 1: well and when it comes to you said, you know,
Speaker 1: you're seeing a lot more cases. You said, I think
Speaker 1: a thousand at north while still below the peaks that
Speaker 1: we saw in the springtime, but nonetheless a big jump
Speaker 1: in cases. What kind of cases are you seeing? Is
Speaker 1: it younger people, is it more manageable cases? What do
Speaker 1: we know about kind of what kind of COVID cases
Speaker 1: we're seeing at this point? Yeah, I mean, on a
Speaker 1: positive note, UM, the mortality is much lower than it
Speaker 1: was in the spring. Um our leape of stay is
Speaker 1: much lower than it was in the spring, which makes uh,
Speaker 1: which makes us have more bed capacity. We have not
Speaker 1: had to shut down our essential services. UM. People are
Speaker 1: doing better and I think a lot has changed since
Speaker 1: the spring. We're smarter, UM, more knowledgeable, have better protocols
Speaker 1: to take care of these patients. That's not to say
Speaker 1: that it's a different virus. It is not UM and
Speaker 1: the patient population is slightly younger than it was in
Speaker 1: the spring, but not dramatically. Okay, that's interesting, but it's
Speaker 1: still as lethal correct or has the potential to be. Oh,
Speaker 1: certainly has the potential to be. Our death rates are
Speaker 1: much lower than they were in the spring. But yes,
Speaker 1: it certainly can be lethal in terms of the death
Speaker 1: rates being lower. Is that because as you said, you know,
Speaker 1: you guys, we've talked about this a lot on air
Speaker 1: with with you and with others. You know, we didn't
Speaker 1: have a playbook. We didn't have a medical playbook, and
Speaker 1: so everybody was kind of learning as we were going.
Speaker 1: But now we have a little bit of a playbook
Speaker 1: in terms of how to treat patients, how to treat
Speaker 1: patients differently and look at and look at the cases.
Speaker 1: Is that fair? Is that why maybe it's not so
Speaker 1: lethal lethal or the mortality rate is much lower. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's no question that there was a learning curve, not
Speaker 1: to mention the overwhelming demand and the terrible situation with
Speaker 1: the need to redeploy so many people UM and so
Speaker 1: keeping it under control, knowing about better management of the
Speaker 1: UM of the airway, avoiding the ventilator with high flow
Speaker 1: oxygen and bypath which we're now doing keenly now, proning
Speaker 1: uh DECCA drawn m dissevere uh ane coagulation. All of
Speaker 1: those things have significantly improved the way UM people are managed,
Speaker 1: and it's much more protocol driven than it was before.
Speaker 1: So your understanding of how maybe the next month or so,
Speaker 1: maybe a couple of months look for us in terms
Speaker 1: of k says and dealing with it. And then as
Speaker 1: your understanding of further rollout and distribution of the vaccine,
Speaker 1: what are your expectations for maybe what spring and summer
Speaker 1: or maybe summer is maybe more realistic for us to
Speaker 1: talk about what it looks like for maybe the New
Speaker 1: York metro earlier area, maybe for the country overall. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm hopeful that by the summer things will be dramatically better.
Speaker 1: I don't think that we're going to be rid of
Speaker 1: COVID anytime soon, and I still think people will be
Speaker 1: We will be wearing masks in the summer, and you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what percent of the population will be
Speaker 1: vaccinated by them, particularly with many people still afraid of
Speaker 1: the vaccine. So I think it will be dramatically better,
Speaker 1: but I don't think it's going to be gone. And
Speaker 1: I think, well, you know, we also have to watch
Speaker 1: these mutant viruses. Um This is an unpredictable virus, and
Speaker 1: I think every time we underestimate it, we get burned.
Speaker 1: Did the news out of the UK just got about
Speaker 1: forty seconds left or the variant? Did that scare you
Speaker 1: a little bit, Yes, quite frankly it does. Anytime this
Speaker 1: virus mutates, it scares me. I think we'll be able
Speaker 1: to handle this one. And it certainly doesn't seem to
Speaker 1: be more virulent. It may be more infectious, and you know,
Speaker 1: but you've got to watch these mutants. That vaccine may
Speaker 1: need to be changed someday, um, hopefully in the distant future,
Speaker 1: but who knows. Yeah, well, it's just kind of unbelievable.
Speaker 1: One headline after another. UM, thank you so much. I
Speaker 1: know your world is busy and crazy and you've been
Speaker 1: so kind to always find time for us. So thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Have a safe and healthy holiday season.
Speaker 1: Dr Bruce Farber his chief of infectious Diseases at North
Speaker 1: While Health, as I said earlier, a massive hospital and
Speaker 1: healthcare system in New York State. They have been dealing
Speaker 1: with this virus and uh situation from day one here
Speaker 1: in the New York metro area and kind of continue
Speaker 1: to do in this next wave. Uh so. Dr Farber
Speaker 1: joining us from Inhasset, New York,