Doctor on positive COVID-19 vaccine news: 'We still need to look at all of the data'

Dr. Manish Garg, Emergency Medicine Physician & Co-Founder of World Academic Council of Emergency Medicine, joins Yahoo Finance's Kristin Myers to break down the latest coronavirus developments as the race for a vaccine continues.

Video Transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: We're joined by Dr. Manish Garg. He's an emergency medicine physician and co-founder of the World Academic Council of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Garg, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm going to start on the news about the vaccines, especially since Anjalee was giving us some updates there.

AstraZeneca, of course, has an average efficacy rate of roughly 70%. And they're trying to get it to around 90%, which would be more in line with what we've seen from Pfizer and Moderna. They both stand about 95%. So that essentially would mean we have three different kinds of a vaccine for coronavirus.

I guess I'm wondering, especially as folks are talking about all of the hurdles and all of the complications that could come along with distribution, if having three different kinds of vaccines from three different companies makes it a little bit easier, does that reduce any kind of worries that doctors and folks might have for a vaccine distribution?

MANISH GARG: Well, thank you, Kristin, and I want to wish you an early happy Thanksgiving. And I also want to just mention that the views expressed are my own. I think it does actually give us a sense of better security that there are more options that there isn't just a singular option. Interestingly enough when they looked at the AstraZeneca vaccine, they found that when they had a half dose as opposed to like the full dose started, they went from like, a low 60% to up around 90%.

So with like, you know, three vaccines that are up in the 90-plus percent range, that's providing a lot of optimism about its efficacy. Now, but here's the problem is that we really just got snippets. It's kind of like a movie trailer. You just know that you're seeing what their initial reports are, but we still need to look at all of the data and see what's happening so we can know better about how the vaccine is going to work in the general population. But it's promising news.

KRISTIN MYERS: I want to ask you now also about Regeneron. It began to distribute its antibody treatment today on Tuesday. I always forget what day it is. I don't know about you. I'm wondering how this is going to impact the fight against the pandemic now that we're seeing this, you know, emergency use authorization being able to be applied to this antibody treatment for folks who are, I guess, in the hospital because of this virus.

MANISH GARG: Right, so this would be another modality for treatment. And for just as a historical context, President Trump received this particular medication in October. And recently, Ben Carson received this particular medication. So they are saying with Regeneron that they're going to provide 300,000 doses of this antibody treatment. And they're ready to give 80,000 doses right now and then 100,000 doses afterwards.

It's another option and what could help us fight COVID for patients that are coming in. Presently when we are taking care of patients in the hospitals, we're escalating with different types of oxygen therapy. And then when people come in, then we have some better options for them, like steroids, potentially Regeneron.

So this provides at least another potential option. And the founder of this particular medication basically said that if somebody doesn't respond well to the vaccine, this may be an option for them. Or if there's somebody who doesn't want to take the vaccine, this potentially could be an option for them.

I guess I would-- you know, that's certainly possible. And if we're talking about 90% to 95% efficacy with the vaccine, they'll be that 5% to 10% that may not respond to it. But I hope that people don't think that they should just wait and only take the treatment as opposed to do something that would be prevented.

KRISTIN MYERS: Now, of course, we are hearing that that vaccine is not going to be a walk in the park. Folks might be experiencing some flu-like symptoms after they take it. I want to talk to you now about that seven-day record-- the seven day average, I should say, of 172,000 cases. That is a record that we are seeing in the United States-- almost 12 and 1/2 million positive cases in the US right now. That is all according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

Do you still think that there is a much higher peak up ahead? I know that we don't yet have a vaccine. We keep hearing these good news headlines. We don't have a vaccine being distributed yet. And if the peak is still way out up ahead, how high do you think that it could possibly get, at least, when it comes to those positive case numbers?

MANISH GARG: It's certainly difficult to know. The one thing that we've learned, Kristin, about this virus is that it's predictably unpredictable. And the challenge for us in health care is we're starting to see the upticks. I work at multiple hospitals in New York City. And we're certainly seeing more cases that are present there.

We're up at around 2% to 3% now for cases. And usually, they've set the number or bar around 5% in a particular community before you start really worrying about having to, you know, start to do lockdown procedures. And I can certainly tell you that the numbers continue to rise. And so we're seeing an increase in number of cases. We're seeing an increase in number of hospitalizations.

And with the cold weather, with more people potentially inside, with the fact that we have Thanksgiving and some of the holidays that are coming up, folks may want to kind of go outside their bubble and be inside with other people that could potentially be contaminated. And this is a recipe for a challenge in the wintertime. So there is-- definitely we're seeing more cases. And I would say across the country, you're certainly seeing a rise. And this is not surprising to us in the kind of public health and medical field.

KRISTIN MYERS: Doctor, I'm really glad that you mentioned the holiday coming up. Obviously Thanksgiving is this Thursday. And I know that we've heard repeatedly, doctors, public health officials saying over and over and over again, do not travel to see your family and friends. This is not the year. 2020 is not the time to be trying to gather with your friends around the table for the holidays this year.

And, yet, we are seeing, however, travel numbers are really high. Up over a million people were screened by the TSA over the weekend, which is kind of actually a return back to some of the normal-- more normal levels that we have seen in pre-pandemic times. I'm wondering what you guys are anticipating or are worried about in, perhaps, the two weeks or three weeks after the holiday or even towards the end of the year because then we have Christmas coming up on the heels of this holiday.

MANISH GARG: Right, so we're certainly worried about that. And I think part of the issue here is that there's a heterogeneous messaging from different sites. Sometimes people don't believe that it's out there or that they could be at risk. There's a number of-- there's a lot of misinformation out there, Kristin.

And so I think it's really important that people observe the practices that we know that work-- wearing masks, making sure you're physically distancing from people at least 6 feet, making sure that, you know, you're trying to not be in rooms with a number of different people. You know, I think that having people travel as much as they are and we're seeing those numbers-- that's actually very scary for us as physicians.

I mean, we've been dealing with this since early March and April. And I can certainly tell you from a lot of my colleagues that it's just been a long haul in terms of taking care of patients. And it's been a little disconcerting to see that the numbers are starting to come up and that we'll have to get ready again for another wave.

KRISTIN MYERS: Now, Doctor, as I mentioned, I just want to remind everyone at home that you are an emergency medicine doctor. So I want to ask you now about hospitalization, because I'm hearing of some hospitals having to essentially move patients in order to accommodate more beds and in the ICU and accommodate more patients that might be coming in with COVID-related complications.

I'm wondering if you guys either, perhaps, in your hospital or just generally across the fields are anticipating, perhaps. And then the next month or so that hospitals really are going to start getting overwhelmed with the amount of folks that are coming in.

MANISH GARG: Well, Kristin, some hospitals already are getting overwhelmed. And so there are smaller type hospitals that are reporting-- and colleagues are reporting around the country that they are seeing very, very large numbers. I think one of the things that we learned early on in the pandemic after that March and April surge was that we need to be ready.

And thankfully, you know, many hospitals have disaster plans. They know exactly what they need to do to increase capacity with the number of beds, know how to like, you know, stop some services like elective surgeries and procedures and to be able to open up different areas of the hospital to make sure that they can accommodate the large volumes. If you look at what we did in New York City, the number of hospital beds was, thankfully, very much like increasing at a rate that was commensurate with the COVID surge.

And so, you know, it was important that we had the hospital beds, that we had the right amount of ventilators. And thankfully because we're getting better at treating, hopefully there won't be as many people that will require those ventilators now that we have a better idea of how to manage this disease process. But still, like I said, it's predictably unpredictable. And so we know that there'll be more cases, and we need to be ready.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right, Dr. Manish Garg, emergency medicine physician and co-founder of the World Economic Council of Emergency Medicine. Thank you so much for joining us and bringing us those updates. And, of course, have a happy holiday to you as well.

MANISH GARG: You too. Thank you so much, Kristin.