What A Day - Giving Vax And Taking Names

Episode Date: March 11, 2021

Today marks one year since the World Health Organization officially called the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. The US vaccination effort offers a glimpse of hope, though, with the total number of fully vaccinated Americans now exceeding the number of reported cases we've had nationwide.We spoke with Sana Khan, a PhD student at the University of Arizona who is also a vaccination site volunteer, to get a better sense of what things look like on the ground, and what the 1-year mark means to her.And in headlines: Arkansas outlaws abortion in all cases except when the pregnant person's life is at risk, Russia slows down Twitter domestically, and celebs are living the good unmasked life in Oz.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday.

It's Thursday, March 11th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is what a day where we are finally ready to admit that it was us and not Major Biden that bit that Secret Service agent. Yeah, honestly, we were hungry. We didn't know. We're sorry. Yeah, I want to deeply apologize for my behavior and for the fact that I am an anamorph. I'm admitting that now. On today's show, a conversation with someone who's been working at a vaccine site in Tucson, Arizona, then some headlines. But first, it's been one year since this all started. We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.

To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. Fans, due to unforeseen circumstances, the game tonight has been postponed. You are all safe. And take your time in leaving the arena tonight and do so in an orderly fashion. We don't know how much of a cost it's going to have on businesses, everything from retail to restaurants to airlines, you name it. We just don't know the cost. Is the worst yet to come, Dr. Fauci? Yes, it is. Oh, wow. Yeah, seriously. I mean, wow.

If we only knew. If only we knew. All right. Well, that was a glimpse at the chaos of March 11th, 2020, when the World Health Organization first officially called the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, which, yeah, it definitely ended up being. Globally, over 117 million cases have been identified with over 2.6 million deaths, and in the U.S. alone, over 527,000 people have died. But there is also some reason to feel like we're starting around the corner, hopefully. And here's a big one.

Over 32 million Americans are now fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, which is more than the number of reported cases that we've had in the U.S. Even still, there is a long way to go. Yes, and public health officials are still keeping their eyes on variants. Millions of Americans are still out of work, and there are deep scars, to say the least, from this past year. But looking forward, tonight President Biden is going to deliver his first primetime address, focusing in part on the $1.9 trillion economic relief bill he is set to sign tomorrow.

It's part of a messaging campaign, which is going to include travel across the country to actually sell the plan to voters and explain how it can improve lives and improve the effort to get the country vaccinated. On that note, we wanted to check in with someone who is working in that effort. Sana Khan is a PhD student in epidemiology at the University of Arizona, and she's also a volunteer at a vaccination site on campus. We spoke to her yesterday about how it is all going. Here's that conversation. Sana, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today. Thanks for having me. Like I said, I'm a huge fan. I'm excited to be here and spread all the joy that I'm getting from being at the pod. We appreciate it so much. Joy is a good thing to have, especially after all this time. So you've been working at this drive-thru vaccination site on the University of Arizona campus that does around 800 shots a day.

Can you just describe your role and tell us what a typical day is like for you? Yeah, we've actually ramped up to around a thousand shots a day. And yesterday was awesome because we passed our 50,000th vaccination. And so it's really fun. Yeah, that was exciting. We've had this whole time. We've had like these temperature like things where we add like we like color it in and we actually like started all over again yesterday. My role at the pod is to be a scribe at the pod. And there's a bunch of different, there's a bunch of different roles. But what I do is I stand next to the vaccinator, take their ID cards, check their date of birth, make sure that they're in the medical charting system, give them the go ahead and give them like the little vaccination cards that you're seeing all over social media. So that's my role. A typical day, our pod runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. right now. So right now, all of the volunteers and the incident command system, we all gather at 9 a.m. every morning for our morning briefing. Then at the morning briefing, all the volunteers get their

assignments for the day. There's several different places you can go. So we have people in traffic directing people where to go. We have people in observation, which is the area after you get vaccinated, you have to wait 15 or 30 minutes. And so we have folks in observation watching people. We have people in greeting. We have runners. We have people that give out snacks. So it's just,

that's where you get your morning briefing and then you go to your assigned station from there. And for everybody listening, POD stands for point of dispensing, not podcast. We're not talking about podcasts. But okay, so Sana, what is the conversation sort of like when people roll up? Are there any good stories from interactions? Are people like nervous? Are they pumped? Are they putting on a show? Have you seen anybody dress like an old woman trying to scam a vaccine? No, I have not seen anyone dressed as an old woman or anything like that yet.

So I described like the scene. It's like we're on a drive-thru vaccination on the mall. And so people pull up and we've kind of perfected our process. So it's a minute 30 for the whole interaction, for them to give us their license, appointment confirmation, for us to look them up, for us to actually give them the vaccine and have them like go to observation that whole process is down to a minute 30 which is great that we're so fast but tough because we like everyone wants to be really like chatty and tell you like plans which is great um yeah I love when people like come through with signs that are like thank you health care workers which is great um I love asking people what their post-vaccination plans are and when we were doing K through 12 teachers, they like unanimously were like, we cannot wait to be back in the classroom. And I can't wait to see like this one specific student.

So that was really, it's just so meaningful. Like it never gets old. Like my first person I did and like the thousandth person that I did like it's the same level of joy for each interaction yeah and so like since you've been working there for the past few months or so how have things changed like since the site got up and running um what was it like when you started versus now you're mentioning like uh upping the amount per day, but like, are there any other noticeable changes? Yeah. So when we started here at the University of Arizona, we were a pod for Pima County. We were doing such a great and efficient job that the state of Arizona actually took our site over as a state pod. So what that meant is we were able to expand our hours to, we were only doing 10 to 5 before.

We've now moved it to 10 to 10, which is great. Yeah, it gives us a lot more time. We've upped our vaccinations per day to almost 1,000. I think we have reached 1,000 per day now, which is also wonderful. We've just been able to offer so many more appointment times because, um, yeah, we have those extra hours. So that's great. Um, yeah.

And more people can come. That's like the beauty of it is like, you know, some people do work nights, like it might be easier to come earlier or later. And that's, that's just great. And yeah, my, yeah, my team's really involved in and interested in vaccine equity too, especially within Tucson. And that opening up of the hours has really made a difference in who's able to come. You're kind of getting at this,

but I'm curious, like, how do you think things are going to change when states get even more doses soon? Or, you know, for that matter, like money that's in this relief bill? Have people started talking about that at all? Like What that impact is going to be? Yeah, I think we're just really excited and ready for the next group to be eligible. We're mostly still doing people over 65 and teachers, educators at the moment. I'm so excited for when we can see restaurant workers, bar workers, farm workers, grocery store workers, like that's a massive group of people. And once they become eligible, I cannot wait to see those people at the pod because I mean, I guess I shouldn't say this, but like Arizona has not been the best at

enforcing any sort of mitigating behaviors. I know a lot of states have relaxed at this point. But when we were surging, like we were the worst in the world for a very long time. And yeah, and our governor was not thrilled about doing any sort of mitigating behaviors. And so those folks that I just mentioned in that one C group still had to go to work. They didn't really get a break or any sort of relief. And so hopefully with this new relief bill, when we get more vaccine, we can open it up to that one C group.

And I'm really excited about that. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, do you encounter people who are hesitant, you know, once they're there, or do you encounter it in your life more generally? Like, have you had people say like, I'm not getting it? I'm scared? Yeah, it's the vaccine hesitancy is so interesting to me. And again, like, this is like my area of

research, too. So I'm really interested in it. But for the most part, people are so excited to get the vaccine. For people that are hesitant, it's not for like most of the reasons you would think like no one who's hesitant is like, I hate all vaccines. I think there's a microchip in it. Like that's not really what's driving hesitancy at the moment. What's driving hesitancy, I think is more like a lack of information about it. And people just want to have like a conversation with somebody they trust about it. And usually like, once you have that one on one conversation with somebody like they are usually going to decide to get a vaccine, I think. And maybe this is an obvious question, but what made you want to volunteer for this specific role?

Yeah, this is totally my jam. Like this is public health in action. This is like why I got in public health. It's incredible to be able to see like this, like large of a public health effort take place. I've been working on contact tracing and case investigations like for a full year now. And those conversations are so difficult to have with people who have COVID. And when you're like trying to contact trace, and they're so sick, and, you know, they've lost a loved one to COVID, or their whole family is sick, like those conversations are so hard to have. And they're so draining on, like our whole team, like we just always talk about, like, man, I have like,

10 really rough phone calls today. So to be able to like after a full year of that every day, to be able to go out in onto the mall and like help people get vaccinated. It's amazing. Well, it's warm in my heart. Well, you did allude to this, but so it is when this airs tomorrow, it will have been a year since the pandemic started, or at least since the World Health Organization designated it a full-blown pandemic. It's obviously a pretty unbelievable time to be a public health student. But what has this year meant to you, even in a broader sense, I guess? Yeah, I cannot believe it's the one-year anniversary. I've seen everyone posting, like, oh, this is like a tweet from a year ago and we had no idea. It's wild to see. Yeah, I think this year has just taught me so much about like what public health can do and how compassionate people can be.

I feel very fortunate and privileged to be able to be in this university setting and be involved in so many different outreach projects, the pod, contact tracing. I feel like I've been in a really great position to be able to help and make meaningful change for people that have been affected by COVID. And like the best part is like when I started my PhD two years ago, no one knew what epidemiology was. Yeah. Now it's like, again, the hottest ticket.

No, and now I can tell people like, Oh yeah, I'm a PhD student in epi and they, they know what it is, which is exciting. There you go. It's you and Dr.

Fauci. Those are the, those are the two. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Sana, thank you so much again for taking the time to talk to us. And more importantly, thank you for volunteering.

You're doing great work. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to see more people get vaccinated. It's like every time someone tells me they get vaccinated, like my heart grows. And that's the latest. It's Thursday WOD Squad.

And for today's Tim Check, we're marking the official one year coronav Coronaversary by taking some time to reflect. So Giddy, none of us could have ever anticipated these last 12 months. How are you feeling about where we are now in the pandemic? Well, significantly better than how I felt when I first heard all those clips that we intro to the show with. That was a level of chaos, panic, and fear that I do not want to go back to. I am hopeful that we are on a very good trajectory. I do love the fact that people are getting vaccinated,

that that is actually a thing that is happening actively every single day, and that's like a yardstick that we can measure this by. So I feel I feel a lot better today than last March 11th. That might not be saying much, but it feels it feels like something. Yeah. I mean, those are all valid points. Also, that sound is Fauci drinking water. Yeah. He wasn't alive then.

So you're really helping fill in some gaps for him. But yeah, lots of emotions. Yeah. So how are you? I mean, my view also is I think once it's all over, there's going to be a long sort of tailwind of, you know, sorting through how we all felt and all the complicated emotions of being like excited and going back to things and the trauma and all that stuff. But you know, that's for a later date.

So for now, how are you feeling? Oh man. You know, I contain multitudes. Uh, I am. Thank you.

Fetchy. I am very disappointed. I think in just how, how bad it got, uh, how bad it still is. You know, it didn't have to be this way. So, bears repeating, did not have to be

this bad. Geez, Fauci's really upset. But I think I'm also, you know, to your point, very hopeful now that I know people are getting vaccinated. I've also encountered a lot less weird misinformation since Trump's no longer in

office about it. So it's like, I like to think that more people are just like, you know, accepting the fact that like vaccines are the way that we can beat this instead of kind of, you know, talking amongst themselves in unscientific terms. I miss so many people. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss leaving my house. So, so, you know, there's a lot, a lot that we lost, I think in the past year, and I'm still sort of dealing with all that. Um, but you know, I got some stuff to together that she, uh, uh, his namesake came into my life last year and, uh, uh, the dog got here, you know, a month, a few more days than a month ago. Um, but yeah, so I think that like like there have been things that came from the pandemic.

Like, I honestly don't think I would have gotten a dog had it not been for, you know, being at home and feeling like I needed something to take care of. But yeah, I relate to any emotion anyone's feeling because I've had all of them in this pandemic. I'm just like, wow, we have had the full human experience and I am ready to not have that much experience in the future. Yes. I think it's good to, to not, um, compress all of the emotions you might feel into your life into one year and have them wildly swing on a day-to-day basis. That could be a good feeling. Um, yeah, I think it's good to,

to know and feel that that aspect of it is communal, at least. And also to feel like it is sort of on us to get out of it. And people are sort of doing their part with these vaccinations and everything. So that that feels good. And that Fauci is there to encourage all of them. Absolutely. Uh, yeah. And Hey, we've been doing these tip checks for almost a year now.

So everybody's gotten to know us better. We've gotten to know them better. I know about your, uh, peanut butter thing. We won't talk about it anymore without lawyers present, but that's okay. Yeah, you're right.

Well, just like that, we've checked our temps, you know, wow. We are, uh, we are still out here.

Stay safe, please. And we'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Arkansas passed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country. It outlaws abortions in all cases except when the pregnant person's life is at risk. Performing or attempting an abortion is considered an unclassified felony and subjects could face fines up to $100,000 or even jail time. My lord. Arkansas joined several other Republican-led states that have passed controversial anti-abortion laws in recent years

with hopes that the issue will be challenged in front of the Supreme Court. If the court takes up that challenge, Republicans are hoping that the conservative majority bench might re-examine or even overturn Roe v. Wade. Even Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said that he passed his state's abortion ban for this reason, while admitting that he had some objections to it. Wow, real stand-up guy. Good luck going viral in Russia this week. The Kremlin announced yesterday that they're slowing down the speed of Twitter, especially for mobile users, and in transfers of video and photo content on the site.

Officials say the move was a response to the platform's failure to take down posts about drugs, suicide, and other things, but critics of the Kremlin argue that it might actually have something to do with journalists and protesters using the site to share information about the recent pro-Alexei Navalny protests. The lawmaker who helped write the law to slow down Twitter said that the move is a warning to other American internet companies to obey Russian rules on content or to lose the possibility of making money in the country.

The restrictions on the site will remain until all quote unquote prohibited content is removed. I thought my bots were not getting a lot of retweets

and this could be the reason. After a year when the hottest concerts happened inside video games and featured Travis Scott but in 3D, we're starting to hear about in-person music festivals again. Las Vegas' Life is Beautiful announced its 2021 lineup yesterday after making the not very difficult call to skip the event in 2020. 17th at a time when hopefully most concert goers will have Pfizer, Moderna or J and J vaccines pumping through their veins along with other

more good times oriented pharmaceutical innovations. Of course, general sales for the festival begin on Friday. Check it out. If you want to witness the biggest release of pent up stranger kissing energy in the history of live music. Well, I don't want to go now.

Scientists have discovered a new way for people to live their lives as if COVID didn't exist. It's called being in Australia and celebrities are obsessed with it. The island continent has basically stamped out coronavirus and that fact, combined with the generous subsidies the government has given to film studios, has made Australia an attractive destination to make movies. More than 20 international productions are either shooting there or are set to shoot there this year, drawing actors like Matt Damon, Idris Elba, and Kate McKinnon. Zac Efron has been there since March 2020 and now considers the country to be his home, giving Noah Centineo the window to become the most prominent golden retriever man in America. Of course, maskless pictures of celebs living glamorous COVID-free Australian lives has inspired jealousy online. Australians have also pointed out the double standard at play

when some citizens are stranded abroad due to harsh restrictions on who gets through the border. Personally, I'm considering sneaking in by hiding in a ruse pouch. Yep, I'm in there right now. It smells horrible. And those are the headlines. Well, not saying before we go this week on Hysteria, Aaron Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco have two amazing guests that are joining them.

Today, they're talking to Teen Vogue labor writer Kim Kelly about Amazon unionization efforts. Listen to Hysteria and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. Remember that life is beautiful like the festival and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just tabloid articles about Zac Efron's adventures down under like me,

What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And no disrespect to 3D Travis Scott. Yeah, I'm sure it's great. You can still go sicko mode when you're animated, you know. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis.

Sonia Tan is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our executive producers are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes, and me Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka