WEBVTT - Can Biden's CDC Rehab Its Reputation?

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>The c d c s new director has two tough

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<v Speaker 1>jobs ahead, responding to the pandemic and restoring the organization's

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<v Speaker 1>battered reputation. But first, here's what happened in virus news today.

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<v Speaker 1>Johnson and Johnson's one shot vaccine generated strong protection against

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<v Speaker 1>COVID nineteen in a large, late stage trial. The news

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<v Speaker 1>raises hope that it can rapidly reshape a stumbling immunization campaign.

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<v Speaker 1>In a statement today, the company said that while the

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<v Speaker 1>vaccine was shown to prevent six of moderate to severe

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<v Speaker 1>cases of COVID nineteen, it was particularly effective at keeping

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<v Speaker 1>people from getting severely ill. The shot also prevented one

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<v Speaker 1>of hospitalizations and deaths. J and J will deliver about

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<v Speaker 1>two million doses of its COVID nineteen vaccine when it

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<v Speaker 1>receives an emergency use authorization in the US. That's according

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<v Speaker 1>to a government accountability report published yesterday. J and J

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<v Speaker 1>plans to file with the U S Food and Drug

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<v Speaker 1>Administration for that authorization next week. The European Union's Drug

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<v Speaker 1>Regulator cleared a COVID nineteen vaccine from Astra Zenica and

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<v Speaker 1>the University of Oxford for all adults today. A shortfall

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<v Speaker 1>and expected deliveries has raised tensions between the company and

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<v Speaker 1>the block. The Astra Oxford vaccine will be the third

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<v Speaker 1>available in the EU after shots from Fiser and modern Up,

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<v Speaker 1>and it could help alleviate the shortage of shots in

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<v Speaker 1>the region. The EU currently trails the UK and the

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<v Speaker 1>US in vaccinations. Finally, the spread of a new UK

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<v Speaker 1>strain of COVID nineteen stabilized or fell in most British regions,

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<v Speaker 1>with the country under a severe lockdown. That's even as

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<v Speaker 1>overall caseloads remained high. The news suggests the UK's restrictions

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<v Speaker 1>have helped arrest transmission of a strain officials have warned

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<v Speaker 1>is more deadly and easier to spread. And now for

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<v Speaker 1>today's main story for SHELL, Will Lensky, the new leader

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<v Speaker 1>of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, faces two

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<v Speaker 1>difficult missions at the same time, leading the agency's COVID

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen response and trying to restore the agency's stature post Trump,

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<v Speaker 1>I spoke with John Tazzi about the job ahead for

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<v Speaker 1>Wilenski and how she plans to achieve it. President Biden

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<v Speaker 1>recently tapped Dr Rochelle Wilenski to be the new leader

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<v Speaker 1>of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I'm just wondering,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, what do we know about her? What's her background? Sure?

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<v Speaker 1>Rachelle Wilenski is most recently was chief of Infectious Diseases

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<v Speaker 1>at Massachusetts General Hospital, prestigious hospital in Boston. She's a

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<v Speaker 1>professor at Harvard and basically has spent a career in

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<v Speaker 1>infectious disease care and research. She's done a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>work on HIV and AIDS and has advised national and

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<v Speaker 1>international organizations on HIV policy. UM So she's a well

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<v Speaker 1>respected and high profile infectious disease for position. And you know,

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<v Speaker 1>before going to c DC, she was actually treating patients

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<v Speaker 1>with COVID nineteen in in the hospital over the past year.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, what were some of the factors that led

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<v Speaker 1>the Biden administration to select her for this role. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's an interesting choice because she's not someone who's had um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, leadership roles in public health before. Um you know,

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<v Speaker 1>she hasn't run a city or state Health Department. She

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<v Speaker 1>hasn't worked at c d C, but we know from

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<v Speaker 1>reporting that she came highly recommended by a number of people,

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<v Speaker 1>including Dr Anthony Faucci, who, um, you know, it's obviously

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<v Speaker 1>a Biden advisor and top infectious disease official in the US.

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<v Speaker 1>So I think you know, from from what we've heard,

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<v Speaker 1>that fact she's sort of endorsement of Wilenski was an

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<v Speaker 1>important part of um, you know how she was chosen

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<v Speaker 1>for this position. You know, Dr Wilenski is stepping into

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<v Speaker 1>the leadership of this agency at a very troubling time.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, what are some of the big challenges and

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<v Speaker 1>issues she's going to be facing in her first few

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<v Speaker 1>weeks in the role. Yeah, I think it's really twofold. First,

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<v Speaker 1>there's obviously the COVID nineteen pandemic and trying to jump

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<v Speaker 1>into the US response, uh and really shift the response

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<v Speaker 1>in a different direction with a greater role for the

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<v Speaker 1>federal government under the Biden administration. Part of what face

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<v Speaker 1>confronting is new variants of the virus that are emerging

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<v Speaker 1>that the CDC is trying to monitor and understand. She's

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<v Speaker 1>also facing the vaccine rollout, you know, so all these

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<v Speaker 1>sort of things in progress UM operationally that the CDC

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<v Speaker 1>has to respond to the second part of it, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>which is maybe as challenging or more, is that the

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<v Speaker 1>CDC as an institution has really been diminished over the

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<v Speaker 1>past year. They were often not at the kind of

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<v Speaker 1>forefront of the public response in the Trump administration. Their

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<v Speaker 1>briefings basically ceased very early into the pandemic in the US,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, and there was a lot of reporting about

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<v Speaker 1>how really political considerations interfered with their operations, and I

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<v Speaker 1>think so there's been a sort of a crisis of

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<v Speaker 1>um credibility of just visibility really at the c d C,

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<v Speaker 1>where this you know, renowned institution worldwide for public health

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<v Speaker 1>sort of suffered in some ways during during the response

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<v Speaker 1>to the pandemic that was so severe in the US.

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<v Speaker 1>We should also mention that, you know, the CDC did

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<v Speaker 1>make some mistakes in in the response UM, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>and most notably very early on, there were problems with

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<v Speaker 1>the test kids used to detect the coronavirus in the

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<v Speaker 1>US that sort of blind decided the whole country. We

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<v Speaker 1>didn't have enough testing early on to understand how the

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<v Speaker 1>virus was spread, and you know, some people we talked to,

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<v Speaker 1>including the former director of the CDC under President Obama,

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<v Speaker 1>have called for, you know, an assessment and accounting for

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<v Speaker 1>what happened and how that happened. So has Dr Lensky

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<v Speaker 1>given an indication about how she might go about trying

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<v Speaker 1>to get this agency's reputation, particularly with regard to COVID

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen and the rollout in the US. How can she

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<v Speaker 1>get the CDC back on track. I think what she

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<v Speaker 1>has said, and you know, it's consistent with what the

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<v Speaker 1>Biden administration has said broadly, is that they're going to let,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, let the science and the facts speak and

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<v Speaker 1>kind of be able to showcase the work of the

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<v Speaker 1>career scientists at CDC um to make sure that those

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<v Speaker 1>folks and their research are getting to the public, that

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<v Speaker 1>federal messaging around the c d C S guidance is

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<v Speaker 1>prominent and clear. And you know, one of the first

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<v Speaker 1>things she did on the day she took office when

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<v Speaker 1>Biden was inaugurated, was to order a review of existing

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<v Speaker 1>CDC guidance on COVID nineteen and to sort of assess

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<v Speaker 1>what the agency has put out already and you know,

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<v Speaker 1>revise it if if appropriate. So you know, that's UM.

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's it's too early to kind of have

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<v Speaker 1>a good sense of exactly what changes we might see,

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<v Speaker 1>but one of them certainly is, UM, you know, just

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<v Speaker 1>a higher profile for for the agency broadly and going

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<v Speaker 1>forward with that, you know, under the Biden administration, what

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<v Speaker 1>will be or what can we expect to see as

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<v Speaker 1>far as the CDC in terms of perhaps new roles

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<v Speaker 1>or responsibilities that might differ from what we saw the

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<v Speaker 1>agency doing under say, the Trump administration. Yeah, it's a

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<v Speaker 1>good question, UM, and I think you know, a big

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<v Speaker 1>part of it will be that kind of broader public

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<v Speaker 1>profile for the agency, for the director for career scientists.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, there are some specific things that Biden has

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<v Speaker 1>indicated he wants the CDC to do in the COVID

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<v Speaker 1>National Strategy that the President released early on. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's supposed to help expand testing with a sort of

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<v Speaker 1>testing support teams that will work in schools and potentially

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<v Speaker 1>other settings. It's going to create a testing plan for

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<v Speaker 1>the federal workforce. It's going to kind of update its

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<v Speaker 1>guidance and UM help you know, different UH stakeholders in

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<v Speaker 1>industry or in you know, states or other communities really

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<v Speaker 1>be able to monitor the spread of COVID and kind

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<v Speaker 1>of understand when you know, how to spawned if the

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<v Speaker 1>virus is increasing or kind of really metrics driven guidance

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<v Speaker 1>is what they've focused. I think there's also, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a big equity component that the agency is taking on

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<v Speaker 1>in terms of addressing COVID's impact in communities of color

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<v Speaker 1>or invulnerable communities, and particularly with the vaccine roll out

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<v Speaker 1>um you know, making sure that those communities are being

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<v Speaker 1>considered and being reached. So, you know, there's a lot

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<v Speaker 1>on the agency's plate. I think it's still pretty early

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<v Speaker 1>to understand exactly what role it will take further along

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<v Speaker 1>in the Biden administration. That was John Tozzi, and that's

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<v Speaker 1>it for our show today. For coverage of the outbreak

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<v Speaker 1>from one bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com

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<v Speaker 1>slash coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave

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<v Speaker 1>us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the best way to help more listeners find our

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<v Speaker 1>global recording. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Top

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<v Speaker 1>foreheads Magnus Henrickson and me Laura Carlson. Today's main story

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<v Speaker 1>was reported by John Tozzi. Original music by Leo Sidrin.

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<v Speaker 1>Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesco Levi. Francesco Levi

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<v Speaker 1>is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.