Dr. Steven Corwin, CEO of NewYork Presbyterian Hospital, joins Kristin Myers and Alexis Christoforous of Yahoo Finance to discuss the latest news about the coronavirus.
Video transcription
ALEXIS CHRISTOFORUS: Welcome back, everyone. Making an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine has actually gotten a lot easier lately. In fact, some vaccination sites are now saying that slots are not being filled. And experts now warn that vaccine supply is likely to exceed demand in the coming weeks. Here to talk about that and more, Dr. Steven Corwin, CEO of New York Presbyterian Hospital here in New York.
Dr. Good to see you again. So what do you see on the ground in your hospitals? Do you think we are approaching a tipping point here in terms of vaccine demand?
STEVEN CORWIN: First, I think the number of cases is declining across the country, which is very reassuring. And if you look at the vaccine data, I think the vaccine is having a real effect where it’s given globally, be it Israel, the UK, and certainly with the rapid rollout of vaccines here. So we’re starting to feel less pressure in our intensive care beds, and we’re seeing fewer admissions, which is great.
That said, I think we would always get to the point where demand would start to decline and supply would increase. And I think we need to redouble our efforts now to make sure everyone gets vaccinated. For whatever reason of hesitation with the vaccine, I think it will be important to educate people about the vaccine, depoliticise the vaccine, and get people to use it.
That’s why I think it was important for the FDA to stop the J&J vaccine, because I think people want to make sure the vaccine is safe. And while it was only a one in a million chance around the blood clots, I think it’s going to be really important to make sure we understand what’s causing it. So I’m hopeful we’ve hit a tipping point on the positive side, but we’re definitely seeing a lot more in the supply now.
KRISTIN MYERS: So doctor, I hear what you’re saying in terms of vaccine hesitation. For people who want to receive one of the vaccines, wonder if there is any hesitation in distribution, at least when it comes to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I know what you’re saying about those blood clots, which of course worried a lot of people who saw those headlines, but now I see other headlines that one of the factories that manufacture the Johnson & Johnson vaccine found to have contaminated doses of a range of failures and in terms of the plant. Of course, that made me think, Well, I wouldn’t want the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, especially if I have the options Pfizer or Moderna. Is there anyway, as the hospital administrator thought, that you might have to stick with some of these other vaccines to distribute instead?
STEVEN CORWIN: Big question. I’ll tell you that my daughter just had our first grandchild and she got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, so I’m pretty confident about that vaccine. I think you are right, which is why we have an experienced FDA. The data monitoring, the security counsel, the FDA’s ability to ensure that there are no supply chain failures or manufacturing defects.
So in an almost perverse way, I am comforted by the fact that they have noticed these defects in the supply chain. J&J is a great company. We can always have problems, but I think the vaccine is effective. I think the vaccine is good, and I think we’ll be okay with one of the three vaccines that have been approved so far, to be honest.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFORUS: What do you see in terms of younger people wanting to get vaccinated? Are they running for the opportunity? Do they think, you know what, maybe getting COVID isn’t that bad, or you know what, maybe I want to wait and see what those side effects are. What is the feeling of that population?
STEVEN CORWIN: Well, I certainly think there was a lot of enthusiasm among younger people who were done with the J&J vaccine. Now people are making sure it is safe. I think there is unfortunately a political divide around the vaccine, and you have seen the polls as well as I have. I don’t have any hard evidence for it, but I do think we need to make sure that this isn’t a republican or democratic issue, that everyone around it gets educated because we need to get immunity, and we can’t get immunity without the vast majority of people in the country are vaccinated. That’s the way we get out of this.
And as I said in my introductory comments, we really do feel like spring has started between the cases going down and the vaccine on its way. If we stick to it as a country, I think summer and fall will be much, much better than last year.
KRISTIN MYERS: Doctor, you said at the beginning of some of your comments that efforts needed to be redoubled to reach some of those people who were a little hesitant about taking the vaccine. But then of course we have also seen inequality, at least when it came to the distribution of vaccines among certain populations and certain communities. What efforts or what are you looking at to make sure the vaccine reaches as many people in the New York Presbyterian area as possible?
STEVEN CORWIN: We had a very strong and coordinated effort around the vaccination site that we had in Upper Manhattan. And for your listeners, that’s mostly the immigrant Dominican community, but Upper Manhattan, Northern Harlem, and so on, and we’ve spent a tremendous amount of time individually educating patients with community organizations, faith-based organizations, conversations with each of these communities , and we found it to be quite effective.
So our demographics in terms of, we’ve given about 200,000 doses of vaccines, first and second dose, and our demographics are excellent in terms of that. I think almost 60% are BIPOC communities, communities of color. But we now also see people in white working-class communities who are reluctant to take it. So this goes beyond color communities. It’s an equality issue across the country, but our efforts, especially in our communities, have focused on communities of color to begin with.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFORUS: That’s excellent and can certainly be seen as a blueprint for other hospitals across the country, Doctor. I just want your opinion on these variants, these new variants that keep popping up. Do you see in your hospitals that the existing vaccines are effective with these variants?
STEVEN CORWIN: Yes, very true. I think we see fewer diseases. I think the British variety is now the dominant variety in New York. We have some of the New York variety. We think the vaccine is effective against all of them and the number of serious hospital admissions has fallen. You see that dramatically in people who have received two doses of vaccine, especially in the over-60s.
On your earlier points, we need to make sure that people 18 to 49 years old get the vaccine and get it as soon as possible. And I would take personally … I had the Pfizer vaccine, but I would go Pfizer, Moderna or J&J. And like I said, my daughter had the J&J vaccine after she delivered our first grandchild. So I think they’re all safe and just getting shots in the arms, really.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFORUS: Excellent. Excellent insights, Dr. Corwin. Congratulations on becoming a grandpa too. Great news.
STEVEN CORWIN: Thanks. You know, considering everything that’s happened with COVID, it’s a great feeling to see a new life come into the world. I’m sure you understand.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFORUS: Definitely a blessing. Okay, thanks again for your time.
STEVEN CORWIN: Thank you very much.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFORUS: Bye.