TRANSCRIPT
The Inside Story: Fighting the Pandemic
Episode 11 – October 28, 2021
Show Opening Graphic:
Voice of CAROLYN PRESUTTI, VOA Correspondent:
Closing in on getting one dose to half the world’s population ….
COVID vaccine boosters are the next step — and perhaps, mix and match:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease:
If you boost the people who have originally received J and J with either Moderna or Pfizer, the level of antibodies that you induce in them is much higher than if you boost them with the original J and J.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
A new pill holds promise for already infected patients …
And COVID concern at the zoo — especially for the endangered species …
All on today’s The Inside Story: Fighting the Pandemic.
The Inside Story:
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Hi, I’m Carolyn Presutti reporting from a windy Washington, DC —
At the Department of Health and Human Services —
“Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America” is the motto of HHS, charged with decision making about the pandemic.
Much of it happens right here, on the 7th floor of this building, in the offices of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
More than 700 and 30 thousand (730,000) Americans have died from COVID-19.
Worldwide — we’re closing in on five million COVID-related deaths.
But vaccines and other treatments are helping the worldwide battle against the virus.
These pills carry hope for those who catch COVID.
The drug manufacturer Merck says Molnupiravir prevents the coronavirus from multiplying.
Taken early, clinical trials show the pill reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by half. And it’s easy to use.
Dr. William Schaffner, Vanderbilt University Medical Center:
They could go to their pharmacy and take their medication the way they do other medicines.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
If the Food and Drug Administration approves Merck’s request for emergency use, the pills could be available in the U.S. before the end of the year. The company plans similar emergency use applications worldwide.
But financing and distributing this drug and other treatments, including vaccines, to underdeveloped parts of the world remains a challenge.
The U.S. has pre-purchased one-point-seven million courses of the drug.
To help get the drug to the rest of the world faster, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is putting up 120 million dollars to push makers of generic drugs to produce Merck’s drug for developing countries.
Money is at the heart of any COVID treatment. Dr. Caleb Hernandez is an emergency room doctor who also researches COVID drug discoveries.
He says three other drug treatments have been studied, including one that rivals Merck’s claims for Molnupiravir. He says they lack the financial backing to seek FDA approval.
Dr. Caleb Hernandez, Coney Island Hospital:
Our government isn’t set up to do these, spend the 500 thousand dollars to do these studies. We rely on private companies to bring things to the FDA. And that’s why you’re not going see as much innovation as you could see.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
And there is concern about relying on the Merck pill instead of getting a vaccine, which experts prefer since it teaches the body to make its own antibodies.
Jeffrey Zients, White House Coronavirus Coordinator:
It can prevent you from getting COVID in the first place, and we want to prevent infections, not just wait to treat them once they happen.
Dr. Caleb Hernandez, Coney Island Hospital (audio is him singing):
All I can think about is that look on your face
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Dr. Hernandez sings a tribute to a colleague who quit the profession — burned out from COVID.
Dr. Caleb Hernandez, Coney Island Hospital:
We’ve been going for almost two years now fighting every day, watching people die, and I, and I think it’s difficult when people in the community don’t believe you. They think that you’re part of some conspiracy or you’re exaggerating and making things up, and then you go to work, and you have to pronounce multiple people dead.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
The World Health Organization endorsed the world’s first-ever malaria vaccine this fall.
The move marks a major advance against the mosquito-borne illness, which kills more than 260,000 children across Africa every year.
VOA visited one father in Nigeria, who is hoping to get his family vaccinated as quickly as possible – as Timothy Obiezu tells us in this report:
TIMOTHY OBIEZU, Reporting for VOA:
Bitrus Yusuf’s three-year-old daughter and grandson recently came down with malaria.
He says the mosquito-borne parasite that causes the disease is all too common at this Abuja camp for internally displaced people.
Bitrus Yusuf, Father of Sick Child:
We went to bed, all was well everybody was well. But toward midnight I heard him shivering, as I touched his body (it was) very hot, so I woke him up.
TIMOTHY OBIEZU:
Yusuf took the children to a local dispensary, bought some antimalarial drugs and is now administering them at home.
More than 90 percent of malaria cases and deaths worldwide occur in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Nigeria accounts for more than a quarter of the fatalities. Children under five years old and pregnant women are mostly affected.
Last week, the global health body endorsed the rollout of the world’s first malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, after more than three decades of development.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the vaccine could potentially change the course of public health history.
Walter Kazadi Mulombo is the WHO representative in Nigeria.
Walter Kazadi Mulombo, WHO Nigeria Representative:
You know before the vaccine could be introduced in the country, it has to be cleared by NAFDAC for the case of Nigeria and there are steps to be taken for the country to approve the vaccine so that introduction can start.
TIMOTHY OBIEZU:
Some 2.3 million doses of the vaccine were administered to children in Malawi, Kenya and Ghana during a large-scale pilot program that began in 2019.
The WHO says the vaccine could help prevent four in ten cases of malaria, but Mulombo says widespread availability may prove difficult for now.
Walter Kazadi Mulombo, WHO Nigeria Representative:
There may be some supply issues so, it may not be in the quantity we require to reach all those that we need to reach. But we understand that GSK, the manufacturer, is working already with some African countries to decentralize production.
TIMOTHY OBIEZU:
The new vaccine will not replace other malaria preventive measures, says Abuja health official Ndaeyo Iwot.
Ndaeyo Iwot, Abuja Primary Healthcare Board:
If you don’t combine it with sleeping under insecticide treated nets and also taking care of your environment, where the vectors can breed, then you’re more likely to continue to have the scourge of malaria in this country.
TIMOTHY OBIEZU:
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline says it will manufacture about 15 million doses yearly, but experts say at least 50 to 100 million doses will be needed every year in areas with moderate to high transmission.
In the meantime, Nigerian parents like Yusuf are hoping to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible. Timothy Obiezu, for VOA News, Abuja, Nigeria.
About 58-percent of the U.S. population has been vaccinated— that means two shots of either Moderna or Pfizer … or one shot of Johnson & Johnson.
Now, work is underway for booster shots to maintain protection against COVID.
People may be able to choose which shot to get as a booster.
President Biden’s top COVID adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, explains the science behind mixing and matching vaccines:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease:
If you boost people who have originally received J and J with either Moderna or Pfizer, the level of antibodies that you induce in them is much higher than if you boost them with the original J and J, but the data of boosting the J and J first dose with the J and J second dose is based on clinical data. So, what’s going to happen is that the FDA is going to look at all those data, look at the comparison and make a determination of what they will authorize.
Once an authorization is made, then the ACIP, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that advises the CDC, will then make a recommendation of what people who have been receiving and have received the J and J should do.
What we’re dealing with we’re dealing with data rolling in real time, not only from the cohorts that the CDC is following, but also in real time we’re getting very important data from Israel. because as I’ve said so often, Israel is about a month or a month and a half ahead of us, temporally, with their vaccination and with the data that they’re seeing about the waning of immunity, as well as the advantage of boosting people at different age groups. so the data we’re starting to see from Israel, indicates that even in the somewhat younger group for example, from 40 to 60, there’s a real benefit in getting the booster shot.
So, what we’ll be doing here in the United States, both trough the FDA and the CDC will be to following these data, as they accumulate in real time. And any modification of the recommendations will be based on the data as they come in.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
While some Americans are lining up for their booster shots, a spike in Covid-19 infections among zoo animals is causing concern.
VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports on the vaccine rollout and which species will get their first shot.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS, Reporting for VOA:
Nine big cats at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo tested “presumptive positive” in September for the virus that causes COVID-19. Fortunately, they are now eating and behaving normally after receiving treatment for secondary bacterial infections.
Craig Saffoe, Smithsonian’s National Zoo Curator:
There’s no treatment for COVID itself so our veterinarians started treating with antibiotics, there were pain meds given, anti-nausea and appetite stimulant.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
How the felines got infected is still unknown.
Craig Saffoe, Smithsonian’s National Zoo Curator:
The most likely scenario was that an asymptomatic staff member passed it along. It’s an airborne virus so things do get out around your masks.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
Other species, such as primates, are testing positive for COVID-19 in zoos across the U.S.
The Washington D.C. and Baltimore zoos are among those gearing up to use an available experimental Covid vaccine to boost the immunity of their at-risk animals.
Cheetahs are one of the endangered species that will get vaccinated against COVID-19 before the end of the year at the Maryland Zoo.
It should be a smooth process since many of the animals at this facility are already trained by technicians to receive injections on a routine basis.
Ellen Bronson, Maryland Zoo in Baltimore:
Something like a stick at first to just push a little bit on the animal for some pressure and then they’ll move to something like a needle with a cap on it. Then they’ll move up to an actual injection. So, there are multiple steps to get them to the point that they are voluntarily training for that procedure.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
The pharmaceutical company ‘Zoetis’ is donating over 11,000 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to zoos nationwide. The company says the vaccine has proven to be safe in dogs, cats and minks. But since it hasn’t been tested in zoo animals, it’s hard to say yet if they’ll be protected, particularly against the delta variant, and for how long.
Mahesh Kumar, Zoetis Vice President of Global Biologics:
Giving them two doses, you at least reduce the risk of exposure. /The groups that receive the experimental vaccine have an obligation to report back to us and the USDA the disposition of those vaccines and what happened to those animals.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
On October 7th, a snow leopard who had shown COVID-19 symptoms died at The Great Plains Zoo in South Dakota. A necropsy will determine the cause of death.
Given the large number of visitors at zoos nationwide, questions have been raised over whether Covid-19 infections among the animals could pose a public health risk.
Luis Schang, Cornell University Professor of Chemical Virology:
Probably not, because the population is small, so the infection will self-extinguish, meaning the animals will recover or they will die. /At the end of the clinical trial if there are infections in unvaccinated zoos and not in vaccinated zoos, we will have some evidence of the potency of the vaccine.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
Staffers at the Maryland zoo are hopeful the vaccine will indeed provide an extra layer of protection against Covid-19, especially for several species which are already listed as ‘endangered’.
Ellen Bronson, Maryland Zoo in Baltimore:
Losing an animal in a zoo, there’s always an impact. They are valuable to the breeding programs, they’re valuable to the troupe that they are in, the group they are in, so obviously it would have a big impact on us.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
Veronica Balderas Iglesias, for VOA News, at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Just a few blocks from here is the National Mall —- a beautiful expanse of greenspace.
Earlier this month, that greenspace was dotted in white to commemorate the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died from COVID.
Amy Hybels goes inside the exhibit and the artist’s motivation to create it.
Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, Artist:
This is the hardest part of the day, is having to change these numbers.
AMY HYBELS, Reporting for VOA:
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center tracks COVID-19 deaths worldwide. The U.S. toll continues to rise.
Maryland artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg does more than change numbers, she hopes to change minds with a 20-acre public art installation on the National Mall.
Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, Artist:
By creating this physical manifestation of this art, maybe I will break through the consciousness of some who are choosing not yet to get a vaccination, or who are upset about having to wear a mask.
Firstenberg and volunteers from a local landscaping company spent three days planting more than 600-thousand white flags near the Washington Monument.
Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, Artist:
I’ve been a hospice volunteer for 25 years, and I wanted to help reclaim the dignity of each person who has died in the United States from COVID.
AMY HYBELS:
Charonda Johnson sings in honor of her late father, retired Master Sergeant Kevin Taylor of Dover, Delaware. Johnson says her dad died of COVID-19 last year on August 17th. The night she was invited to sing on the Mall — September 24th — would have been his 65th birthday.
Charonda Johnson, COVID-19 Victim’s Daughter:
I wanted to be here to process my own grief, but also to help other families who are hurting figure out how do we rebuild, how do we put our worlds back together?
AMY HYBELS:
Amber Spencer is mourning the loss of her friend Brinae Whatcott, a young wife and new mom from Fort Smith, Arkansas.
According to her family, Whatcott, who had contracted COVID-19, gave birth by cesarean section in August. She died soon after seeing her child for the first time while in hospice, on September 23rd.
Amber Spencer, Friend Died of COVID-19:
They brought her baby, India, in to meet her — to say hello and goodbye at the same time.
AMY HYBELS:
Whatcott, who was only 28, had lost her father to COVID-19. His flag is planted right next to hers. Spencer says the number of flags displayed helped her to comprehend the magnitude of loss.
Amber Spencer, Friend Died of COVID-19:
I feel like we should trust the people who dedicate their lives to studying infectious diseases and believe what they say and listen to what they say to help stop the numbers from rising.
AMY HYBELS:
More than 3,000 flags have red stickers, signifying the loss of a health care provider.
Shama LeFevre, Lost Father to COVID-19:
This is wonderful, just to come and have a moment, and just ‘remember.’
AMY HYBELS:
Shama LeFevre says dedicating a flag on the National Mall in honor of her dad — Yogi Dumera of Arlington, Virginia — is important for her daughter.
Shama LeFevre, Lost Father to COVID-19:
I wanted her to understand what all this meant and what the last 7-8 months of our lives have really meant, kind of grieving and going through all this.
AMY HYBELS:
Born in India, her father moved to the U.S., where he raised a family and opened a restaurant. He survived a heart transplant but lost his battle with COVID-19 on December 30th.
The interactive exhibit gave families the opportunity to write personal messages for loved ones.
Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, Artist:
I do hope that when we conceive of a permanent memorial that part of it will be looking inwards and figuring out how to never let this happen again.
AMY HYBELS:
After 17 days, the installation closed after taps at sunset on Sunday. Firstenberg says any flag with writing on it will be cleaned, documented and archived. She says she learned that the experience has allowed visitors to understand they’re not alone in their grief. Amy Hybels for VOA News, Washington.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
We have all had moments of frustration during this pandemic. But it has been especially exhausting for health providers.
VOA’s Anna Rice has the story of one nurse and her heroics on the front lines and behind the scenes.
ANNA RICE, VOA Reporter:
When the coronavirus pandemic hit the US, ICU nurse Lee Harper-Chen dedicated her time to helping her community in Arlington, Virginia even after long exhausting shifts.
Lee Harper-Chen, Intensive Care Unit Nurse:
I was scared, and I thought – let me fight my fear with facts; let me find good information to share and that way not only can I conquer my fear, but I can help educate others!
ANNA RICE:
Harper-Chen became an active member of a local Arlington Facebook group where she shared news and updates about the new coronavirus and fought disinformation.
Her efforts got the attention of local residents who nominated her for Arlington County’s Community COVID-19 Hero Award.
Heather Geldart, Arlington Public Safety Communications:
Arlington has done such an exceptional job in demonstrating that resilience, being together and taking care of one another. The 122 nominations – and as you can see there are at least three or four people who have gotten dozens of nominations, including Lee Harper-Chen.
ANNA RICE:
Harper-Chen – who spent so many months taking care of patients at work and her family at home – says she contracted the virus at work.
Lee Harper-Chen, Intensive Care Unit Nurse:
I got COVID at my hospital, I did not get it from a patient, I got it from another
nurse. That was a scary time, I had to isolate away from my two little children for 22 days. After I felt well enough, I would come outside and sit in the driveway and watch my children play.
Sam, Lee Harper-Chen’s Son:
I remember when she was really sick, and she just stayed in her room
the entire time. I never really got to see her.
ANNA RICE:
Her family worried about her continuing to work.
Lee Harper-Chen, Intensive Care Unit Nurse:
Almost a year after I recovered, they would get nervous if I would leave.
ANNA RICE:
Like many other heroes during the COVID pandemic, Harper-Chen has a stethoscope for a wand and scrubs for a cape. Residents say her main weapon is love and dedication – to her family, to her community, and to her every patient. For Liliya Anisimova in Arlington, Virginia, Anna Rice, VOA News.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
Before we go, a few moments to recognize the passing of Colin Powell.
The retired Four-Star General was battling cancer and died October 18th caused by compilations from Covid-19. He was 84.
VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb looks at Powell’s life and legacy.
Voices of unidentified soldiers:
NAT HOOAH! Yall Alright!
CARLA BABB, VOA Pentagon Correspondent:
Colin Powell was a respected military general, statesmen, and one of America’s foremost Black figures.
He served as national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush and finally, Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, the first African American to ever serve in the latter two leadership posts.
Colin Powell, Former Secretary of State:
I was sitting in my office and one of the senior members came in and closed the door and said, “Sir I have to ask you something, a lot of confusion in the building.” I said, “What’s wrong?’ He said, ‘Well what do we call you, do we call you general or Mr. Secretary?’ I said, ‘By all means it’s Mr. Secretary. Now drop and give me 10!’”
Michael O’Hanlon, Brookings Institution:
The passing of Colin Powell is the end of an era. He personified the great excellence and achievement of African Americans in our nation’s armed forces and in some ways, perhaps even paving the way for the Obama presidency.
In 1996, Powell considered a bid to become the first Black president, but his wife discouraged him out of fear of potential assassination attempts from extremists.
When Democrat Barack Obama made the bid years later, the moderate Republican broke with his party to endorse Obama.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the first Black U.S. Defense Secretary, called Powell a tremendous mentor and friend.
Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense:
He always made time for me. And I could always go to him with tough issues, he always had great, great counsel. We will certainly miss him. I feel as if I have a hole in my heart.
CARLA BABB:
Wounded twice as a young soldier in Vietnam, the war shaped his views of when and how presidents should and should not use armed forces.
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State:
I believe Secretary Powell’s years as a soldier are what made him such an exceptional diplomat. He knew that war and military action should always be a last resort.
CARLA BABB:
Powell received high praise for his overwhelming use of force in the Gulf War, which quickly pushed Iraqi forces out of Kuwait in 1991.
But critics have denounced his controversial presentation to the U.N. Security Council in February 2003. Powell made the case for the invasion of Iraq during the George W. Bush administration, citing Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that were never found.
Colin Powell, Former Secretary of State:
The facts on Iraq’s behavior demonstrate that Saddam Hussein and his regime have made no effort, no effort, to disarm as required by the international community.
John Isaacs, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation:
That’s probably the major blemish on his record, but it really wasn’t only his blemish. It was the whole intelligence community. I think they’re 13 different intelligence agencies, and 12 out of 13 said, ‘Iraq has weapons of mass destruction,’ and he studied and he came to agree. They were all wrong.
CARLA BABB:
Even Powell later called the presentation a “blot” in his career. Today, Republicans and Democrats alike uphold him as a man of honor, and a patriot to the end. Carla Babb, VOA News, The Pentagon.
CAROLYN PRESUTTI:
That’s all for now. Follow me for COVID and other news on Twitter at CarolynVOA. Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook at VOANews.
And stay up to date online at VOANews.com.
For all of us here and behind the scenes at VOA, I’m Carolyn Presutti
See you next week for The Inside Stor
