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June 11, 2021 20 mins

Some good news on the coronavirus front as we might be closer herd immunity than you think. More than 64% of adults have had at least one vaccine dose, and for those who haven’t had the vaccine, about half of them have natural immunity from prior infection. When you factor in natural immunity, the number of individuals protected is more than we think. Dr. Marty Makary, professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and author of “The Price We Pay: What Broke American Healthcare and How to Fix It,” joins us for why herd immunity is not so far off.


Next, tech companies are looking at ways of getting you over your Zoom fatigue and bringing holograms to the office for your next meeting. Projects at WeWork and Google are working on a new style of communication with holograms and avatars to make things feel more personal and allow you to read body language better. Ann-Marie Alcántara, reporter at the WSJ, joins us for how this tech is closer to becoming an everyday reality.


Finally, as we see the demand for Covid-19 vaccines drop, Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses are being left unused and they could be expiring as soon as the end of this month. The doses only last about 3 months in the refrigerator and hundreds of thousands or more could go to waste. States want to redistribute or send these doses abroad, but there are very strict rules on how the vaccines can be reallocated. Laura Strickler, investigative reporter at NBC News, joins us for these expiring vaccines.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Friday, June eleven. I'm Oscar Ramirez in Los Angeles
and this is the Daily Dive. Some good news on
the coronavirus front, as we might be closer to herd
immunity than you think. More than six adults have had
at least one vaccine dose, and for those who haven't

(00:20):
had the vaccine, about half of them have natural immunity
from prior infection. When you factor in natural immunity, the
number of individuals protected is more than we think. Dr
Marty McCarry, professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
and author of The Price We Pay, What Broke American
Healthcare and How to Fix It, joins us for why
herd immunity is not so far off. Next, tech companies

(00:44):
are looking at ways of getting you over your zoom
fatigue and bringing holograms to the office for your next meeting.
Projects that we Work and Google are working on a
new style of communication with holograms and avatars to make
things feel more personal and allow you to read body
language better. And Marie al Kantara, reporter at The Wall
Street Journal, joins us for how this tech is closer

(01:07):
to becoming an everyday reality. Finally, as we see the
demand for COVID nineteen vaccines dropped, Johnson and Johnson vaccine
doses are being left unused and they could be expiring
as soon as the end of this month. The doses
only last about three months in the refrigerator, and hundreds
of thousands of doses or more could go to waste.

(01:27):
States want to redistribute or send these doses abroad, but
there are very strict rules on how the vaccines can
be reallocated. Laura Strickler, investigative reporter at NBC News, joins
US for these expiring vaccines. It's news without the noise.
Let's dive in. So we have more follow up data

(01:48):
on natural immunity than vaccinated immunity and guess what. So far,
natural immunity is strong, durable, and many scientists believe it's
long lasting and it may be lifelong. John guess Now
is Dr Marty McCarry, professor at the Johns Hopkins School
of Medicine, Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Carry Business School.
He's also the author of The Price We Pay? What

(02:09):
Broke American Healthcare and How to Fix It? Dr McCarry,
thank you very much for joining us. Great to be
with you. I wanted to talk about some good news
when it comes to coronavirus in the pandemic, something you
might not have heard. We keep talking about vaccination rates
and how some people don't want to get the vaccines anymore,
and how we might not hit that magic number for

(02:30):
her community, you know, seventy of the population being vaccinated.
But when we take our current vaccination rates and you
factor in the natural immunity that a lot of people
have who have already been infected with COVID, we might
be a lot closer to that number that people think.
So Dr McCarry tell us a little bit more about this. Well,
one of the big failures of our medical leadership has

(02:52):
been ignoring natural immunity from prior infection. And those are
people who had the infection and their body developed an
immune response similar to that of a vaccine. And so
when you've got almost half the population or so roughly
based on the California data, that has natural immunity, and
there's lots of other data that suggests it's a lot

(03:12):
of Americans, it's probably half, and it's probably half of
the unvaccinated Americans today, that changes the calculus. It changes
everything because now getting to eight to immunity is something
where we're already there. We've already got Look, we've got
sixty four percent of adults vaccinated and of the remaining
thirty six, about half have natural immunity. So that means

(03:36):
eight to eight seven of adults in America today are
walking around with community. That makes a big difference. Yeah,
and there's been studies done anybody screenings that have been
done that show that there's a lot of a lot
more cases, probably than confirmed cases that we know of,
So that boosts that number up of those people that
have the natural immunity. And for a long time, the

(03:57):
discussion was we don't know how long immunity the last,
whether you're vaccinated or whether you've had COVID previously. But
we're starting to get some of that data in now
and we see that that natural immunity does last for
quite some time. It seems like it's powerful. And as
a matter of fact, the data that have come out
in the last few weeks from the Cleveland Clinic and
Washington University are showing that natural immunity is durable. We've

(04:20):
had it around, by the way longer than we've had vaccines.
So we have more follow up data on natural immunity
than vaccinated immunity. And guess what. So far, natural immunity
is strong, durable, and many scientists believe it's long lasting
and it may be lifelong. Public health officials keep saying,
you know, everybody should get vaccinated, even those that have

(04:42):
previously had it. How does this factor into that. I mean,
should those that have previously fallen ill with it still
get vaccinated? I don't think so. I mean public health
officials are basically just making stuff up as they go.
They don't know about the power of natural immunity, so
they just say, know what, if you've had the infection,
I don't know, just get the vaccine. Anyway, the data

(05:04):
are out now, they're very compelling. We've had this for
a while and we're trying to make a solid case
that if we follow the science, the science would tell
us there's no benefit to the vaccine after you have
natural immunity. And and and just remember I'm not just
talking about you tested positive. I'm talking about you had symptoms,
you were sick, and you tested positive. If you know

(05:27):
you've had COVID, the data from Cleveland clinic shows no
added benefit of the vaccine. Yeah, you even said. And
in some cases maybe people could benefit from one shot
because we already know that it starts boosting up those anybody.
So at the very least, if you wanted to, you
can maybe just do one or something that's right. And
that's what I've been recommending to people because they say, well,
should I just get it anyway? Is there any downside?

(05:49):
And the reality is no, not really. And you can
almost think of your COVID infection in the past as
a first dose variants. Those are always pop up in
converse aasitions like this, things that can evade the immunity
that it's given to you because of the vaccines all that.
How should we proceed thinking about those? Well, we've had
hundreds of variants and none have evaded the protective effect

(06:13):
of vaccines in saving someone's life or preventing serious critical illness,
So that says a lot. Now. I am very mindful
of what we're seeing overseas because in England there's been
a little bumping cases that I expect there to be
some rolling increases over the summer in the fall, but
we're not going to see spikes we're gonna see maybe
the delta variant, which is more contagious, kind of move

(06:37):
quickly through the younger populations that are still unvaccinated, and
it's something to be aware of and not be surprised by,
right exactly. Dr I didn't want to ask you because
you are a surgeon and you deal with transplant patients
as well, and we had been hearing that in some
studies some transplant patients people who are amino compromised aren't

(06:57):
getting the full benefits of the vaccine. Have you have
you found that to be true, And people who are
immune compromised, they may want to get their unibody level check.
Since it's not high enough, go ahead and get a
third dose in some cases. And that's just the byproduct
of the drugs that they're taking to prevent their bodies
from rejecting those organs. That's right. Their bodies are not

(07:19):
mounting a strong immune response because their immune systems may
be suppressed. So those are things now where we're having
conversations with lots of doctors nationwide to say, go ahead
and get your third dose if you've had an organ
transplant or emuno suppressed and you don't see any antibodies
after the after your second dose. So I mean, this
is some of the good news that you know, really

(07:39):
don't hear about too much. You know, factoring in that
natural immunity is very important. And a lot of places
are opening up, you know, California specifically where I live
is opening up next week. I mean that's good news.
So so we're getting there, which is very important. So
thank you on all that front and kind of helping
us with all that. Doctor. Before we go, I did
want to mention your book The Price we pay, what

(08:00):
broke American healthcare and how to fix it. It's a
look into what's going wrong with the health care system
right now. Tell us a little bit about it. You know,
we need to treat more diabetes with cooking classes instead
of just throwing insulin at people. And we need to
treat more back pain with ice and physical therapy than
just surgery and opioids. This is the movement that we
are watching right now in the United States, and it's

(08:23):
good and it's exciting, and it's finally addressing over treatment,
over medicating, and price gouging on the financial side. These
are things that we can address through increased awareness and
promoting the types of clinics that advanced this kind of stuff,
and people can vote with their choices in terms of
where they go for their healthcare. And it's a very
good movement right now. And that's what I profile in

(08:45):
this new paperback book. Dr Marty McCarey, Professor at the
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Bloomberg School of Public Health,
and Carry Business School, Thank you very much for joining us.
Great to be with you. Thanks for having me. Want

(09:08):
a better way to yeah, read someone's by lang, which
see how they actually heel about something, or in the
case of company wide events like all hands, it's a
very compelling use case for you know, a CEO to
deliver any any news in a holographic form than on zoom.
And everyone's like a little square ing us now is

(09:28):
a Marie Alkantara, reporter at the Wall Street Journal. Thanks
for joining us, and Marie, thank you for having me.
I'm gonna talk about a cool little thing happening with
a lot of tech companies right now. They really want
to make holograms part of routine life in the office.
Everybody's got this zoom fatigue. It's kind of mentally draining
being on a lot of video conference calls throughout the

(09:50):
day as a lot of people are working remotely, hybrid
remote work kind of going back to the office. Things
still happening right now. But some companies from Google to
we Work are working on these projects to put holograms
in the office. You know, think two Pocket, Coachella or
Michael Jackson even on stage these types of holograms, but
in the office space. It's a pretty cool idea. So

(10:12):
and re tell us a little bit more about what
we're seeing. Yeah, so the hologram situation is more reality
than we think it is. If any thing, um we
Work is bringing hologram technology to a hundred we Work
buildings in sixteen locations around the world starting this month,
so be prepared to see them sooner than you think.

(10:34):
And Google's own projects seems to still be in the
testing stage, but it's it's happening. It's here. It's not
back in the future sort of idea. It's it appears
that we might be interacting with them more sooner than
we think. Yeah, Google's is called Projects star Line. They
want video chats with kind of this more three dimensional depth.

(10:56):
Obviously you mentioned the we Work ones, you know, It's
funny because as it's starting off here right now in
these companies, but as it picks up there, you know,
things get a little cheaper than they started coming down
to us in our homes. So it's kind of exciting
to think of a future when we're video chatting with
holograms at home. But this is kind of where it starts.

(11:16):
And you know, for their part, these companies really say
that they want this new style of communication. It helps
people pick up on body language, all that stuff. They
just think it's a more effective way of communicating. Yes,
that's what some workplace experts that have spoke to said.
You know, you mentioned earlier that there's new fatigue. I
think that's a big part of why companies are trying

(11:39):
to test new technologies like holograms. You know, people want
a better way to yeah, read someone's body lang, whage,
see how they actually feel about something, or in the
case of company and wide events like all hands. It's
a very compelling use case for you know, a CEO
to deliver any any news in a holographic form and

(12:00):
on zoom and everyone's like a little square. Tell me
a little bit about costs and how this would work
because we Work for their part, are kind of a
little further along on all of this. So far, they're
going to be projecting things on a big hollow pod,
which is what they call it. So tell us a
little bit about that and the cost for this. Yes,
so the price they will definitely vary, according to we Work.

(12:22):
They said, it can be anything from as low as
for like a single hologram, you know, for single location,
like you know, like one event, but it could be
as much as if you want to like bring multiple
holograms of people in on a virtual stage together. So

(12:43):
it can be really somewhat affordable or somewhat really expensive
depending on the type of experience you want to create
for people. And that hollow pod thing that I was
talking about is kind of cool. It's a big eight
foot tall screen, it's a structure and itself. It's got
a camera, microphone, then projector you can get that hologram
on there. So it's all pretty cool the way it
seems like it's going to come together. There are limitations, though,

(13:06):
they said this type of stuff would probably work for
a prerecorded event more so than a live thing. Yes,
I spoke to a few analysts and experts about the
actual viability of using this type of technology, and the
consensus sort of seems to be that for now, you know,
especially with Zoo, and when people are still forgetting that
they're on mute or or you know that they need

(13:28):
to like speak clearly or whatever it is, that a
hologram might be better for like a recorder training or
seminar where you can work out those kinks and potentially
make sure that either's no a logistical issue that's like,
you know, your Internet is not good enough, whatever it
might be. And Marie Alkantara, reporter at the Wall Street Journal,

(13:49):
thank you very much for joining us. Thank you for
having me. When people come in to get their vaccines,
they're asking for madarronat or sides were vaccines, they're not
asking for the Johnson and Johnson's. And this is a
big issue because the vaccines have just three months shelf.

(14:13):
Joining us now is Laura Strickler, investigative reporter at NBC News.
Thanks for joining us, Laura, Thanks for having me. I
wanted to talk about these Johnson and Johnson vaccines. A
lot of these doses are set to expire pretty soon.
A lot of states are sitting on the stockpiles. They
can't really move them, they can't donate them. There's a
pretty strict rules surrounding this, so we're kind of just

(14:35):
stuck with them for right now. So Laura, what are
we seeing with Johnson and Johnson doses? Yes, so it's
exactly right. So basically, if you recalled back in April
the FDA so that there would be a pause on
giving out the Johnson and Johnson because there were some
concerned about safety, they you know, as you know, they
went ahead and said they are safe to be given out,

(14:55):
but that really caused the enthusiasm around getting the Johnson
and Johnson show to go down. So what state officials
have been telling me is that when people come in
to get their vaccines, they're asking for Ma Darronat or
Fiser vaccines, They're not asking for the Johnson and Johnson.
So it's piling up and this is a big issue
because the vaccines have just three months shelf life. So

(15:19):
the FDA, you know, is in talks and weighing the
science around this as to whether or not they should
extend the shelf life, you know, change the expiration date
on these Johnson and Johnson vaccines that are all over
the country and that will help, you know, if someone
comes in and says, yes, I want the J and
J vaccine. But what state officials are telling me is

(15:39):
that the real issue here is that there isn't that
much demand for these vaccines, specifically Johnson and Johnson. So
they there's about you know, CORDINYA to CDC, there's about
twenty one million that have been shipped out. Only about
fifty of those have made it into people's arms. The
rest are to be administered. Certainly, state officials have been

(16:01):
raising alarm bells about this with the White House for
the last three to four weeks, as you mentioned, for
the FDA to extend the time for it to expire.
The last three months in the fridge, I think up
to a year maybe if they're frozen, But can they
be in the frigerator then frozen then rethought. You know,
that's a lot of consideration to go through exactly, And

(16:23):
I think that that's why you see, um, you know,
just yesterday Ohio Governor Mike DeWine impouring people in Ohio
to come in and get the J and J vaccines
so that they do not have to just to put
them to waste. They now have until June two thousand
doses UM and that's that's very significant. So these states

(16:46):
are doing everything they can to continue to ramp up
interest in getting people vaccinated. As you said, like general
interest in getting vaccinated is going down because the folks
who are going to get it have made that decision
to go get it. And that's why we're seeing some
of these more creative efforts in like West Virginia. They
just announced a new vaccine lottery where they're getting away money. UM.

(17:07):
Hunting weapons very popular right now, Yeah, yes, yes, they are.
The United States just announced that they're buying five hundred
million fighter shots to share globally. So a lot of
these states are looking at these Johnson and Johnson vaccines
that they have in their stockpiles and kind of want
to do something similar, maybe share them abroad as well,
but some of the strict rules surrounding that really don't

(17:30):
allow for that you mentioned in the article, Haiti is
an opportunity here where they desperately need these vaccines. They're
getting some of the astrosenica vaccines, but you know, in
a pinch, these Johnson and Johnson vaccines could also be
helpful there. Yeah, and actually even just since our story
was published, I got contacted by Haitian Doctors Association asking,

(17:51):
you know, there's some way we can get some of
these Johnson and Johnson vaccines. And part of that is
because they are they do have some concerns around vaccine
hesitancy in the country, and so they really believe that
one shot would be ideal because you have a healthcare
infrastructure it's certainly nowhere near as developed as it is
in the US, and had he's only a two hour

(18:13):
flight from Miami, they would require a significant logistical effort
to get all of these Johnson and Johnson vaccines from
around the country and ship them to a place like Haiti,
whereas of today, they have not administered a single vaccine.
So are we seeing anything from the White House COVID
Response Team, anything from the administration that have signaled, hey,

(18:34):
this is an issue, we want to handle it soon.
Not yet. And what we have heard from state officials
is that they've been raising these alarms with the White
House for the last three to four weeks, saying, look,
you know, we have this expiration made on the horizon.
We'd like to see something happen. I do think that
the White Houses response in terms of this, five million
is a is a huge step forward for vaccine diplomacy

(18:59):
and for you know, the US to be able to
help other countries manage their COVID. But you know, the
Fiser vaccine is, like I said, it's two shots, So
it's a little bit more difficult for countries where they
don't have that kind of healthcare infrastructure where they can
text someone, you know, it's time for your follow up
appointment and things like that. Laura Stickler, investigative reporter at

(19:23):
NBC News, thank you very much for joining us, you bet,
thank you for having me. That's it for today. Join
us on social media at Daily Dive pod on both
Twitter and Instagram. Leave us a comment, give us a rating,
and tell us the stories that you're interested in. Follow

(19:45):
us on I heeart Radio, or subscribe where you get
your podcast. This episode of The Daily Divers produced by
Victor Right and engineered by Tony Sorrentino. Hi'm Oscar premiers,
and this was your Daily Dive as

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