Dr. Fauci On India's Covid Situation

Brut India

The US's top medical expert weighed in on India's Covid crisis, the government's decision to extend the gap between two doses of Covishield and the upcoming Sputnik vaccine rollout.

Transcript

00:00India is one of the best, if not the biggest, vaccine producer in the world.

00:05So you've got to use some of those resources for your own people.

00:10You can get the military to put up field hospitals the same way they would during time of war.

00:19Now, government of India just hours ago has agreed to extend the gap between two doses of

00:24Covishield from six to eight weeks to 12 to 16 weeks now. As an expert, what do you think that

00:30this extended interval is beneficial from the efficacy standpoint, or like the critics suggest,

00:36that this might be might be just another cover up since there aren't enough vaccines in India?

00:41I would not refer to it as a cover up. When you don't have enough vaccines,

00:46what you've got to do is try to get as many people vaccinated as you possibly can. And for that

00:52reason, when you have a shortage of vaccine, extending the duration between the first and

00:58the second dose in order to get more people to at least get a first dose is a reasonable approach.

01:06The fact that you delay it that long, it is very unlikely that it would have a negative effect

01:12on the efficacy of the vaccine. So in many respects, when you are in a very difficult situation,

01:20the way you are in India, you have to try and figure out ways to get as many vaccines into

01:26people as quickly as you can. So that I believe is a reasonable approach to do.

01:32I wouldn't call that a cover up at all. Still sticking on to the vaccines. Now,

01:37Dr. Fauci, there are what are your views on the efficacy of the vaccine in India,

01:41which is made in India, and also India will start rolling out the Sputnik in a week's time from now.

01:47What are your views on that vaccine? You know, I don't have much information

01:51on the COVAX. But what I do know is that the reports that I've heard about the Sputnik

01:57is that it seems to be quite efficacious, you know, at a high level close to 90% or so.

02:04But I don't have enough information on the COVAX to really say anything that would be helpful.

02:08Back in the United States, just last year, especially in New York, we did see the

02:13Department of Defense take control of the pandemic hands on. You suggest that the military

02:18in India should step up at this point? Well, obviously, that decision is going to

02:23have to be made by the Indian authorities. But I do know that, particularly the thing I had

02:29suggested in another conversation with Indian journalists, is that you can use the military

02:36sometimes to get things done quickly that you otherwise in the private sector would not be able

02:42to. For example, I know that there's a shortage of hospital beds right now that people who need

02:49to be in a hospital are not getting into a hospital because of the shortage of the beds.

02:55You can get the military to put up field hospitals the same way they would during time of war,

03:01that could serve as a substitute for the classic hospital. In the United States,

03:07we have used our military to get the distribution of the vaccines to various locations throughout

03:15the country. In fact, the person that was put in charge of that is a four-star general,

03:21General Gus Perna, who is responsible for efficiently and effectively

03:27getting doses to multiple different locations throughout the country.

03:31Regarding resuming the travel, you know, what threshold would you like to see established in

03:36order to determine whether it's safe to resume travel to India? It really is going to depend

03:41on the level of infection. Right now, India has a very, very, very high level of infection.

03:49And that would mean that it would be very, very difficult to resume travel there right now.

03:54From a public health point of view, how did India really get to where it is today? And

03:58what can India do right now so that things start getting better in a much meaningful way than what

04:04it is right now in India? Well, you know, there's the immediate issue that needs to be addressed

04:09is taking care of the people that are already infected. And that's getting better supplies

04:14of oxygen, oxygen cylinders, oxygen generators, PPEs, therapies like remdesivir, and things like

04:23that. The intermediate and long run, you've got to figure out a way how to get as many vaccinations

04:29administered to the people of India as possible. You mean, obviously, you know, it's a very, very

04:34large country with a population of about 1.4 billion people, you only have a couple of percentage

04:40of the people who are fully vaccinated and know about 10% or so that have at least one dose. So

04:46you've got to work out arrangements with other countries, other companies at the same time as

04:54ramping up your own capability of making vaccines. Because as we all know, India is one of the best,

05:01if not the biggest vaccine producer in the world. So you've got to use some of those resources

05:08for your own people. Right. Now, like you said, India is one of the best manufacturers in the

05:13world, you know, but things are very, very tight and dire right now. B.1.617 has now been found in

05:21more than 30 countries, including the United States. You've repeatedly said that the global

05:25pandemic requires a global response. Do you think it's time for America and other countries to turn

05:31over to global vaccinations quickly, since a lot is at stake, not just in India and other countries

05:37like Africa, which are so dependent on India for vaccinations? Well, yes, I mean, I believe that

05:42the rich countries and the countries that have the capability of making and distributing vaccines

05:49really do have a moral responsibility to assist those countries that don't have

05:53the capability of doing that, particularly low and middle income countries. We did this

05:59with HIV, with the PEPFAR program, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief,

06:04which at first was directed to Southern Africa. I think that we need to try everything we possibly

06:12can. You see a realistic timeline for this rollout of vaccines from America to India?

06:17No, I don't. I can't predict that. I'm sorry.

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