The Daily - The Beginning of the End of the Pandemic

Episode Date: December 9, 2020

In Britain, news that the country had become the first to start administering a fully tested coronavirus vaccine was met with hope, excitement — and some trepidation.Amid the optimism that normal life might soon resume, there is also concern. Has the vaccine been developed too fast? Is it safe? On today’s episode, we examine how Britons feel about the prospect of receiving a shot and attend a vaccination clinic in Wales.Guest: Megan Specia, a story editor based in London for the New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.Background reading: For the first recipients of the vaccine, among them older Britons and hundreds of doctors and nurses who pulled the National Health Service through the pandemic, the shots offered a glimpse at a return to normalcy.Dr. Chris Hingston was one of the first health care workers in Britain to receive the vaccine. He was clearly aware that the simple act had a greater purpose: protecting not only himself, but hopefully his family, colleagues and patients from a potentially life-threatening virus.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Good afternoon and welcome to the latest number 10. It is almost a year since humanity has been tormented by Covid. Across the world economic output has plummeted and a million and a half people have died. All the time we've been waiting and hoping for the day when the searchlights of science would pick out our invisible enemy and give us the power to stop that enemy from making us ill. And now the scientists have done it. From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Tomorrow is V-Day when we roll out the coronavirus vaccine across the whole of the UK.

And it's the beginning of the end of this pandemic. It's being called V-Day in Britain, and it's hoped the vaccine will mark the beginning of the end in the war against the virus. After enduring months of infection, death and lockdowns, the United Kingdom has made history, becoming the first nation to administer a fully tested vaccine for the coronavirus to its citizens, starting with healthcare workers

and those over 80. You know, it's been such a tough year for so many people and, you know, we can get on with our lives. We're no longer resting on the mere hope that we can return to normal, but rather the sure and certain knowledge that we will succeed and together reclaim our lives and all the things about our lives that we love. Today, my colleagues were there as it happened. It's Wednesday, December 9th. Okay, so have you heard the news? Of course, yes, I have heard the news. Fantastic. Really quite amazing what they've managed to do in such a short time and I'm very excited to take it. Have you heard the news about the vaccine? Yes it's coming and how are you

feeling about it? I'm feeling really positive about it. I am hoping this will change everything. I think it's amazing that they've managed to develop a vaccine in just 10 months whereas we've all been told it usually would have taken them years so it's just astounding so I'm really relieved. I mean I don't feel at risk, but I'd want to take the vaccine because I want to get back to normal. How do you feel about the existence of a vaccine and the fact it's being rolled out? Very hopeful.

Before that, it sort of felt like this was never going to be over, the way the government's been dealing with the whole quarantining and stuff like that. So it's sort of, you can see an end to it which haven't had before this whole year has just been a bit like demoralizing i haven't been able to redo anything except go to work and go home now it's i don't know yeah it feels good i just can't wait to get it really i know i'm at the bottom of the queue because of my age but my parents aren't and i'm hoping they'll have it as well.

You don't want to know my opinion on the vaccine? Yes, you do. Seriously, you don't want to know? I am. I'm curious now. No, no. What is your opinion? Unless Boris Johnson takes it, unless the Cabinet takes it, unless prominent people take it before I have to take it,

then I think I'm being let up a garden path and you feel confident in the process that's brought it to the public I'm not going to say worry about it but obviously there's um if it's not been used before and all of a sudden it's going to be used in more people than perhaps even the flu vaccine it's uh sort of an element of I don't know slight apprehension but I mean if I was told I could take it tomorrow, I'd take it. So have you heard the news about the vaccine? Yeah. And how are you feeling about it?

Well, confused. Don't really trust the system. So what else can I say? Do you think you'll be taking it if it was offered to you? If everyone will, why not? But let's see. I don't mind taking it, to be honest. but i still need to do some more research about it and then take it from there how do you feel about taking it yourself yeah i'll take it yeah no skepticism no no are you excited about it yeah i am like

really hoping like all goes really well and then it's just like we just look back at this as this awful time that we managed to get through eventually. I'm excited to look back at it as the past, rather than living it. So there's kind of a priority queue of older people first, nursing homes and then working down the list. I wonder what you thought about that. Well, yeah, that's a good idea, isn't it?

It's the people at the front line should get it first. Then the elderly, because they're going to die. And then follow on from there. Police, you know, people in the front line. Will you be taking the vaccine? No. So you're not going to take it? No.

Not interested at all. Do you think you're not going to take it because you think it's unsafe? Yes. I guess it's good. I just, why are we the first country to have it? That kind of scares me a bit. But that's just a lack of faith in our own government. But, yeah.

Germany hasn't done it. France hasn't done it. Italy, the biggest pandemic in Europe, hasn't done it. Spain, second biggest, hasn't done it. Do I trust Boris? No. I, for one, don't believe anything he says. Hi, guys. We're from the New York Times

and we're interviewing people on the street today about the vaccine for Covid that's just been released. Can we interview you just for a couple of minutes? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all right. Have you heard the news that the vaccine's been approved by the government? Yeah, but that's a bit daunting because it's a bit scary. A person my age, because we always have to have the flu vaccine every year, even me, I'm nervous about having the flu vaccine this year

because you hear so many stories that it just frightens you. But, like, I know it's terrible, but it is, it's just scary. Everybody's scared about the vaccine because it's been approved too quickly. I know that, like, lots of tests have been done because I've been listening to it, but even that, it just scares you, doesn't it, really? It's frightening. I've just lost my brother last week, so it's just, you know, we've been...

Two people this year we've lost to it already, so, yeah. I'm so sorry to hear you've lost people in your family. What happened? Why did they pass? My brother passed in... He's had an ongoing problem with his lungs anyway he was when he was young he was in the building trade and he got asbestosis so his lungs have been bad for about 20 years but he was told to stay at home and then he's come down with it, do you know what I mean? And within five

days he was gone. My brother was 73, he's just the one above me, I'm 71, but it's scary. How do you think you will react if you're offered the vaccine? I won't have it done. No, I won't have it done. Because like I say, I refused the flu injection this year as well. So I don't think it's been approved properly. How do you think the government has handled coronavirus? That's a big question. Well, I'm a bit of a lefty. So I'm not thrilled with the government. I don't think it was the government's fault that they didn't know what we were dealing with but I think they locked down too late.

Look, I'm no fan of this government. I think they were handed a very difficult task. I don't think they've handled it well. On the other hand, we're not as bad as America. There's not been denial, there's not been bowing their head and it is a difficult thing to handle. Do you think this is it? Do you think we're heading back to normal life

or what do you think is going to happen next? I don't think it'll be normal for ages. I think we might have a bit of a patch in the summer when the weather gets better and people stop getting quite so poorly and then I'd be really interested to see what happens next autumn. I think it might come back again and who knows it might mutate. I think we could be in for a pattern of this happening in the winter, every winter. Does it feel like this whole COVID time is coming to an end now? Not yet. I think we're starting to see the end, the light at the end of the tunnel.

Exactly. But I think another few months of this at least. I mean, I wouldn't expect things to go back to normal fully until 2022 I guess but maybe that's being a little pessimistic I just hope that come the summer we can come back and at least get together and see people because I think we're we're a funny lot Brits we're very insular we we have our special little groups that we like to mix with and I think we're all missing each other and actually weirdly sitting I've been sitting in the park this morning people have spoken to me and and that just doesn't normally happen so I actually think everyone's desperate to have the social life

back again hopefully we'll get there We'll be right back. So, Megan Specia, you set out to document what it was like for those who received these first doses of this vaccine in the United Kingdom. So tell us about that. Yeah, so on Tuesday morning, I left my home in London and I traveled two hours northwest on a train to Cardiff, Wales. Do you prefer to be called Chris or Christopher? Chris. Chris, okay, great. I went there because a doctor named Chris Hingston, who works in the ICU of the largest hospital in Cardiff, had invited me to come along and see as he got his vaccine. Are you nervous? Are you excited?

and see as he got his vaccine. Are you nervous? Are you excited? I think I'm excited for, you know, the world, really. It's quite a strange thing. I never thought I'd be, you know, nine months ago, one of the first to have the vaccine. It hadn't even occurred to me that, you know, we'd have one so quickly.

And so I met up with him in a coffee shop just up the road from the center where he was going to be getting vaccinated. And he has a really interesting story. He's been treating some of the sickest patients who end up in the intensive care unit. They're really, really sick, intensive care patients. I know it sounds a bit silly. A lot of intensive care patients are sick, but these are kind of at our, really at that edge of the spectrum where they're really poorly with multiple organ failure.

So often they're intubated. Often they have really severe complications from the virus. And so he is really the definition of a frontline healthcare worker. And so where do you two go from there? So after I met up with him in the coffee shop, we walked five minutes up the road to a converted rehabilitation and therapy center that was being used as a vaccination center. And we sort of walked through the front door into this, what looked to me like a high school gymnasium. So we've just come into the vaccine hall with Chris. It's sort of an auditorium, almost like a high school gym setup.

And all around the room, chairs are spaced out more than two meters apart. There are a handful of people in here at the moment who are going to be getting vaccinated. And around the room, chairs are spaced out more than two meters apart. There are a handful of people in here at the moment who are going to be getting vaccinated. And around the perimeter of this gym, there were these little curtained cubby holes where nurses were stationed who were going to actually administer the vaccine. Chris, what are you scoping out on that paper? So it's just the usual sort of information. So Dr. Hingston was ushered over to a chair and was handed a piece of paper that had all of this government information about the vaccine on it. I've actually already read it because it's online. I think they've taken it from the government website. So yeah, which is great. And then he was called into one of these cubicles with the blue curtains. was called into one of these cubicles with the blue curtains.

So he sat down in the seat in front of a nurse who asked him again for verbal consent for the vaccine. And she takes out a syringe and very quickly injects his upper left arm and pushed the plunger in, and that was it. It only took a few moments. And just like that, he was done. Chris, while it's still fresh in your mind, what are you feeling?

I didn't even notice it. She was excellent. What was that? I didn't even feel it. Okay, fantastic. I've given a few vaccines in my time. But don't tell Sister March. It was a pretty cut and dry experience for him, I think.

Fill your name out. There's that. Need to bring this back in 28 days. We've already got an appointment. Thank you for your time. Lovely. Great. Nice to meet you.

Thanks for your work. Sounds like a pretty un-big deal to him, which I guess is maybe the point. Yeah, I think for him, it was very straightforward. I think he was used to getting flu vaccines in years past. He sort of saw it almost as a duty in some ways

as a healthcare worker. So, you know, in addition to protecting himself and protecting his patients and protecting his family, he really felt that it was important to be out there at the beginning of this whole thing to show what it looks like and also to maybe make people feel a little less unsure about the process.

Can I just get your first and last name? It's Sean Kelly. So I talked to other healthcare workers who were also being vaccinated on Tuesday morning. And you're a nurse at Senior Staff Nurse Intensive Care at UHW. And a lot of them felt similarly to Dr. Hingston. How was the whole experience? Fine. No problem. Very professional. Very quick. Very easy. Very simple. That it was a pretty straightforward thing. They didn't necessarily feel too emotional about it. But not everyone reacted like that.

I think that people, some people have been more emotional than others. I was speaking with one nurse, Betty Spear, who was actually administering the vaccines. And have you had much experience with the COVID treatment yourself? I retired last year from pediatrics as a specialist nurse in allergy. That was my job for 30 years. And she had just finished vaccinating another nurse. And the nurse actually wept in the chair as she was being vaccinated. That last lady was very emotional.

I think part of it was because she has worked in a COVID ward, so she has seen the outcomes, which is, I don't know, I didn't ask, but I presume she has seen a lot. Yeah. She's been traumatized by it. She was just so overcome by her emotions. And she had worked on a COVID ward and Betty Spear was saying, you know, she'd obviously had a reaction because she had seen some things on that ward. And so is that more or less how it went across the UK on Tuesday? Yeah. So I think there was sort of a range of emotions across the UK on Tuesday.

Videos were emerging throughout the day of people who were having really emotional responses and some having these more stoic responses. By any standard, Margaret is an extraordinary woman. She's 90, healthy, and only retired four years ago. There was a woman, Margaret Keenan, who was 90 years old. At 6.31 this morning, she became a little more remarkable. She was actually the first person vaccinated in the country. And she sort of exited her vaccination to a round of applause. Part of a moment of history, first to receive this vaccine.

How does that feel? It hasn't sunk in yet. I can't really answer that question yet. But then spoke really frankly about the experience. And what do you say to those who might be having second thoughts about having this vaccine?

Well, I say go for it. Go for it because it's free and it's the best thing that's ever happened at the moment. So do, please go for it. That's all I say, you know? Just as we were preparing for this live hit, we asked this gentleman whether perhaps he had just received the vaccination

and it turns out that he did, Mr. Kenyon. So CNN actually interviewed one guy. I said, what's this thing you're doing received the vaccination and it turns out that he did, Mr. Kenyon. So CNN actually interviewed one guy. I said, what's this thing you're doing the vaccination? He said, yes. Who complained about the lack of parking at the place where he was getting his vaccine. I couldn't damn well find anywhere to park my car, so I was late. So I think there really was this sort of range and variety of emotions that people were feeling. How do you feel that you are now one of the first people in the country

to have received the first dose of this vaccine? One of the first people in the world. How do you feel about it? I don't think I feel about it at all, except that I hope I'm not going to have the bloody bug now. You know, Megan, I watched that CNN clip of the man talking about finding parking. And for me, anyway, there was something kind of poetic about how normal the beginning of a return to normalcy ended up looking like. Yeah, I think there is sort of this sense of we're all just getting on with it. Megan, as you know, everyone around the world

watched what happened in the United Kingdom on Tuesday. And they watched it much in the way that we all once watched the virus slowly arrive in our countries, but now we're watching the vaccine slowly arrive in our countries. But you all were first. And it is glorious.

I mean, it is triumphant. But the reality for so many people, for me, perhaps for you too, is that nine months into this pandemic, it's just a handful of people who are getting this vaccine. And for so many people in the general public, it's going to be months, could be another nine months before there's enough vaccine to change our lives. And so this is complicated as a moment. Yeah.

I mean, for a lot of people, nothing really changed on Tuesday. Nothing necessarily changed for me today or for you or for a lot of people in the general public. But I watched it and it was a huge moment. And we now have lot of people in the general public. But I watched it, and it was a huge moment. And we now have thousands of people who have been vaccinated. And I don't think we should minimize that. I think we may look back at this moment and see that this was the beginning of the end of this pandemic. Megan, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Thank you. If everything does go back to normal, what are you looking forward to doing? Oh, travelling. Spontaneous travel. That's great. Where would you like to go? Oh, everywhere. Like, whatever, just catch a train or a bus and just go visit friends in different countries.

So does it feel to you like this is coming to an end, this whole corona thing? Yeah, I think so. It finally feels like it. Hopefully, yeah. If things do go back to normal, what are you looking forward to doing? Oh, seeing and cuddling my friends. And what are you most looking forward to getting back to after you've had the vaccine? Work. I really want to leave the house. Yeah, I guess just having our freedom back because we're so confined to our spaces.

To get a normal drink. Normal drink. Alright, thanks so much. No worries, mate. No worries. Thanks. Thanks. On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that Pfizer's vaccine provides strong protection against COVID-19 within about 10 days of the first dose, and that the vaccine works well, regardless of a patient's race, weight, or age. The FDA may approve the vaccine for use in the U.S.

by the end of the week. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected a request from Republicans in Pennsylvania to overturn the state's election results, the first such case since November 3rd, to reach the High Court. The lawsuit, filed by allies of President Trump, challenged the legality of mail-in balloting. The ruling appeared to be unanimous, meaning that Trump's own appointees had rebuffed it. And a sweeping investigation into the culture at Fort Hood, a major military base in Texas, has resulted in the firing or suspension of more than a dozen Army officials.

The investigation was prompted by the murder of Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old Army specialist who had told friends that she was sexually harassed at the base. In the end, investigators found 93 credible accounts of sexual assault against women on the base. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.