What A Day - Moderna Medicine

Episode Date: July 28, 2020

Pharmaceutical company Moderna entered phase three trials of its Covid-19 vaccine, and plans to test the efficacy of their drug on 30,000 healthy participants. The director of the NIH said they plan to reach out to communities that have been hardest hit by the virus to form that sample group. Major League Baseball has already announced that it’s postponing two games after players and coaches tested positive for Covid-19. Vietnam moved to evacuate 80,000 tourists from one city after a man there tested positive for the virus. And in headlines: Kyrie Irving commits to cover salaries of WNBA athletes, Chainsmokers wreak havoc in the Hamptons, and Melania Trump’s goth rose garden.

It's Tuesday, July 28. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What The Day, where we are organizing the first ever boat parade for Joe Biden. Yeah, I won't be in attendance, but I will definitely be watching all you people with your boats. Go off. I have a Zoom link ready to go for those who want to participate. It is joebiden.com slash boat party. On today's show, vaccines and a handful of other pandemic news from the MLB to Google, then some headlines. But first, the latest.

I've always wanted to lose weight for ages and ages. And I like many people, I struggle with my weight go up and down. But since I recovered from coronavirus, I've been steadily building up my fitness. Johnson launching a new anti-obesity campaign yesterday, which he hopes will help protect his country against coronavirus. Okay, a real just random thought. But Johnson opened up about his own fitness routine, which includes a, quote, quiet, gentle run with his dog. Quite a turnaround from his pre-corona self. But in other news, while Republicans are presenting their very delayed coronavirus relief package in Congress, which is something we'll follow up on later this week, the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine hit a critical step yesterday as the company Moderna entered its phase three clinical trial. So, Gideon, what does that mean? Basically means they're going to be a lot of human guinea pigs for Moderna's vaccine. The plan is to get 30,000 healthy people in around 89 sites

across the country to enroll. And according to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the NIH, which is working with Moderna, the first shot was actually given to a person at 645 a.m. yesterday in Savannah, Georgia. And from that shot onward, it's going to work like this. Half of those 30,000 people they sign up are going to get two shots of the vaccine administered four weeks apart, and the other half are going to get a placebo with the medical staff and volunteers both not knowing who is getting what. Scientists are looking, of course, for a number of things, including side effects from this, whether the vaccine prevents infection, whether it reduces the severity of infection and deaths or dampens the spread of COVID-19. And crucially, the director of the NIH said that they're going to be reaching out to communities that have been hardest hit by the virus, including Black and Latinx communities, older populations, and people with pre-existing conditions. According to the AP, more than 150,000 people so far in the United States have filled out a registry indicating

that they want to participate. But scientists are really, really stressing the importance of pulling in a wide, diverse net of people as they proceed. Already, people like Reverend Anthony Evans, who is the president of the National Black Church Initiative, have met with officials at Moderna. That's according to Scientific American, and he emphasized in that meeting the importance of these trials incorporating Black Americans who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Yeah, and historically, drug trials have left out racial and ethnic minorities, which are at the center of this crisis. Important that doesn't happen in this instance. But how soon will we know what the next step is? Yeah. So Fauci said it's possible that results for the full trial could be known by November. And Moderna's is not the only vaccine moving into this final stage

trial soon. There are at least three others, including vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca. And Pfizer's trial is actually beginning today, and it's going to include subjects in the United States, Germany, Brazil, and Argentina. Yeah, experts have said we'll likely need multiple vaccines to meet the global demand. But let's remind people what we know about the Moderna one so far. Yeah, so it went pretty quickly here. Just a couple of weeks ago, we talked about results published from a phase one study of their vaccine. They found that all 45 adult participants in that developed antibodies akin to people who had recovered from COVID-19, which was obviously really great news. And per the New York Times, over half of the people involved did have side effects that included chills, headaches, fatigue, and muscle pain,

but none were considered serious in this case. But one of the outstanding questions even after the completion of these new trials is going to be how long will immunity last? So big picture, the glass half full way of looking at all of this is that less than a year into the pandemic, there are already several vaccines that are entering phase three trials, which is pretty crazy given how slowly this process typically takes. But the glass half empty view is that this is still going to take a lot more time and the level of immunity is unknown as well as distribution, availability, and more. Yeah, right. There's a lot of variables here. And as you point out, the level of immunity and effectiveness is going to be the most important thing. That's true. Yeah, yeah. So a recent article in The Atlantic pointed out one of the

downsides of going quickly here is that you might not end up with something that totally stops COVID in its tracks. It might be more like a traditional flu shot in terms of partial effectiveness. For instance, Fauci said of the Moderna trials that they're looking for at least a 60% effective rate, meaning that the vaccine would either prevent or reduce illness for just over half of the people in the trial, which would be extremely significant significant but not spell the end of the disease. That doesn't even take into account if everyone ends up taking it. Worldwide, though, at this stage, more than 165 vaccines are in development and 27 are in some form of human trial already. That's per a tracker from the New York Times. So hopefully something works and soon. But until then, some companies

are continuing to reassess how long they will allow workers to remain remote. Akilah, I'm sure you remember, announced that 50 percent of their workforce will be remote forever in the future. And in who could have predicted this news? I mean, sports. Major League Baseball has been back for five minutes and already two games have been postponed after pandemic. The Miami Marlins announced that at least 11 players and several coaches had tested positive for COVID-19 just 12 hours before their scheduled game against the Baltimore Orioles. Today's game has also been canceled with the MLB commissioner not making any promises for their game tomorrow. I personally am not holding my breath. Yeah, this is not trending in the right direction.

But what else is happening around the world? All right. So Vietnam is moving to evacuate thousands of tourists after the first case of COVID-19 in months was reported in the country. Around 80,000 tourists, mostly from other parts of Vietnam, are being moved out of the resort town of Da Nang after a 57-year-old man with no international travel history tested positive and a handful of other people tested positive yesterday. The evacuation will take several days and all people returning from Da Nang will be required to stay at home for 14 days. Unlike America, the prime minister there had a plan, what a concept, to ramp up contact tracing, distancing measures, and put out clear public health instructions. Oh, to have a leader. And infections are spiking in Hong Kong after months of keeping the spread of coronavirus under control. With that,

restaurants are closed to all dining and public gatherings are limited to two people at a time. This is after 73 people tested positive there. And meanwhile, here in America, where 73 people testing positive in a small, unpopulated state is a beautiful, miraculous day, you know, like a major improvement, we're still debating if teachers should risk their lives in a few weeks in classrooms. And that's the latest for now. It's Tuesday WOD Squad. And for today's temp check, we're actually doing a Tenet check because we got more details on the release of Chris Nolan's movie Tenet. It sounds like the movie will have a staggered release like we expected.

So Warner Brothers plans to debut it in 70 international territories starting on August 26th before it comes out in a city-by-city basis in the United States starting on September 3rd. So Giddy, are you mad you aren't going to be the first person to see Tenet? I mean, I got my Latvian passport ready to go. You know, I got plans. I'm moving to Latvia to catch Tenet. I don't think that this movie exists. I think they deserve it.

They do deserve it. I mean, listen, any country at this point, go ahead and have your fun at a movie theater. You have progressed past us. You're watching sports. You might be going to concerts soon. I'm seeing pictures of people in bars and other countries. You know, God bless if you guys have it under control. Go watch the new Nolan movie.

We clearly don't deserve it. I'm not convinced that this exists or that the United States will ever see it. I look forward to watching on a bootleg that somebody films in a Chinese theater and gets torrented here. That's my plan for now. Honestly, not a bad plan. Like, I think it's about as viable as any other plan at this point. Yeah. I mean, the only thing I'm concerned about is, you know, somebody posting spoilers about it from another country. And then, you know, somebody that wants to get content here does a like clickbaity headline that's like, this is what Tenet actually means. And then I click on it because I'm a sucker.

But what is your excitement level for Tenet, Akilah? I mean, pretty like middling i have this sense of dread about everything in 2020 that like any expectation for like beautiful art or goodness on earth you know i like to i like to go ahead and just cut that out yeah i would rather be surprised that it's good than build it up any further in my own head but i i am a little worried i'm more worried about the actual spoilers. Like you said, I am on Twitter all day. And Lord knows that finding out what happens in a movie that maybe won't meet my expectation is just another kick of sand in my eye.

It's also coming out right around my birthday. So I'm like, that seems like the birthday gift, right? Like I can read between the lines. Someone's going to spoil it for me and then I'm going to not have a good time. Yeah. This is a message to everybody in Azerbaijan that is going to see this movie around your birthday. You better not post or we're coming after you. Okay. Don't post. Moratorium. If the people at Twitter can just like quiet all of those social channels until we get just a little bit, a little bit cleaner in America so we can see it. That'd be great.

Yes. All right. Well, we have checked our temps. We've checked our tenets. And you know what? We're still waiting, but maybe someone you know will get to see it. Stay safe, and we will check in with you all again tomorrow. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. North Korea declared a state of emergency over the weekend after reporting a case of COVID-19.

According to government officials, a man started showing symptoms after he crossed the border from South Korea. Yesterday, South Korea confirmed that the man did in fact cross the border, but they said that he did not have COVID-19 based on their very comprehensive contact tracing data. The man in question had defected from North Korea three years ago and is currently under investigation in South Korea for an alleged rape. Health experts from South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. doubt that this is the first and only case of COVID-19 in North Korea, though it is the first one the country is admitting to. A coronavirus outbreak in North Korea could spell serious trouble for a country with a poor health care system that is struggling under the weight of economic sanctions. Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving said he's committing $1.5 million to cover

the salaries of WNBA players who choose to sit out this season. The supplemented salaries would allow the players to opt out of games for COVID-19 or social justice reasons without having to worry about their finances. The funding is going to come from Irving's KAI Empowerment Initiative, which he launched yesterday. Right now, the highest salary in the WNBA is just above $200,000 compared to the tens of millions that the biggest NBA players make in a single year. Irving said he got help from Natasha Cloud of the Washington Mystics and Jewel Lloyd of the Seattle Storm in coming up with the idea. Cloud and two other WNBA players have already announced

that they will be using their time this season to fight for social and racial justice. Also, just this past weekend, players on the New York Liberty and Seattle Storm walked off the court and headed back to their locker rooms before the national anthem played. Earlier this year, a lot of wealthy New Yorkers fled to the Hamptons to escape COVID-19. At least that's what it seemed like they were doing. But new footage from a Chainsmokers concert that was held there this weekend makes it look like they actually wanted to see the virus up close. The minimum $850 show was called a drive-in event, but clips circulating on social media show Chainsmoker fans packed pretty tightly together. If the risk doesn't seem worth the reward, keep in mind that the show also featured DJ Desol as the opening act, also known as David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, fresh off his hit single,

settling a $3.9 billion fraud lawsuit with the Malaysian government. And that is true. It happened last week. Truly, if you built a computer to calculate the worst possible event, I think it would blow up before it came up with this. And it's bad to have this in New York, but it's worse that, according to flyers posted online, the Chainsmokers' next targets include COVID hotspots like Miami and L.A. If you want to know who backs a show like this, the presenting sponsor of this weekend's event was the tequila brand Haha, owned by Fuck Jerry's founder who helped market Fyre Fest.

He has found his calling and it's concerts that symbolize the end of times. Imposing a travel ban on Fuck Jerry's founder and him alone. First Lady Melania Trump announced yesterday she's doing a renovation of the White House Rose Garden. And if it's anything like her yearly goth Christmases, we can expect a haunting nightmare zone with bushes that are planted upside down and grass that yells. Melania's main design inspo is new metal album art, and it's her most enduring quality. Actually, though, Melania is expected to stick closely to the Rose Garden's most iconic design, which was unveiled in 1962 by then First Lady Jackie Kennedy. 2020 editions include a new limestone walkway plus

electrical infrastructure that will make it easier to televise Donald Trump. As a taxpayer who's funding this project, I think that they should make it harder. The renovation is expected to take three weeks to complete and is seen by some as a way to protect Melania's legacy as First Lady, since right now her legacy is mainly wore a very inappropriate jacket once. Yeah, be bester. And those are the headlines. Quick announcement before we go today is National Vote by Mail Day. Yes, this holiday is real.

And if you've never celebrated before, it is not too difficult to start right now. Head to votesaveamerica.com slash every last vote to request your vote by mail ballot and volunteer to call young voters in battleground states about voting by mail. That is all for today. If you like this show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, check out our EDM album, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just rude words on the first lady's jacket 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 please stay away, chain smokers. Please. It's the end of times. This is the last horseman we need right now. Baby, do not hold me closer. Yeah, no way. What a Day is a Crooked Media production. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis.

Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kishaka.