Transcript Quote - Remarks: Joe Biden Tours the Viral Pathogenesis Lab at the NIH in Bethesda - February 11, 2021 | Factbase

Unidentified

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So you're at that red X.

Joe Biden

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Hey, everybody.

Kizzmekia Corbett

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Hi, how are you?

Anthony Fauci

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This is doctor -- This is Dr. Barney Graham, who's the chief of the group that made the vaccine.

Joe Biden

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Anthony Fauci

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And this is Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett --

Kizzmekia Corbett

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Nice to meet you.

Anthony Fauci

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-- who is very much involved in this process.

Joe Biden

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Anthony Fauci

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Barney's going to tell you a little bit about what I was alluding to just a moment ago.

Joe Biden

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Barney Graham

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I'd like to tell you the 20-year history, but I'll just go back 10 years.

Joe Biden

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Mm-hmm [Affirmative]

Barney Graham

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Tell you a little bit about the kind of proteins we study. This is a representation of the virus, and these spiked proteins are what help the virus get into a cell. What we've learned over these last, uh, 10 years is that, uh, not just for this virus, but for other viruses. Uh, if you can control this spiked protein, and this is -- Uh, the scale of this is about 10 million of these can fit on the head of a pin.

Barney Graham

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And this is about 10 million times larger than the actual protein. But we can see it in this kind of detail.

Barney Graham

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The antibodies recognize the surfaces and shapes of this. So what we've learned is that you have to not only know the structure that hold it together, by creating mutations inside, that hold it in the right shape. If you hold it in the right shape, it becomes a better vaccine antigen. That, and since we knew that for other viruses.

Barney Graham

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Since we learned that from MERS coronavirus, we were able to rapidly apply those, uh, techniques to this virus, and get off to a fast start with Moderna. And Dr. Corbett's going to tell you a little bit, a bit about this year that we've gone through.

Kizzmekia Corbett

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So well he just gave you the history for the last 10 -- 10 years, I'm going to history for about the last year. Where, um, as Dr. Graham and Dr. Fauci like to say, all we needed were the sequences. And the reason for that is because we knew exactly what to do, based on what Dr. Graham and us have been doing for the last 10 years.

Kizzmekia Corbett

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So this is a timeline of what we did. We got the sequences around January the 10th of last year. So that is the sequence of the virus that was spreading very rapidly in China. When we got those sequences, because we knew how to make that protein, as a very good vaccine, we did that really quickly over the weekend and by the 13th --

Joe Biden

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Over the weekend. [Laughs]

Kizzmekia Corbett

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Over the weekend. [Laughs] [Crosstalk]

Kizzmekia Corbett

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You can tell us something about working on weekends. Right? [Laughs]

Joe Biden

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Not like that. Not like that.

Kizzmekia Corbett

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Joe Biden

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Just over the weekend, we had [Inaudible]

Kizzmekia Corbett

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Listen, you'll have plenty of time do all the things over the weekend, those next four years.

Joe Biden

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Kizzmekia Corbett

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So we decided, very quickly, with Moderna, that we were going to make this vaccine and we were going to use --

Joe Biden

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Uh, when did Moderna get into this? Did you guys --

Barney Graham

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Joe Biden

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-- contact Moderna?

Barney Graham

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We worked with Moderna during the Zika outbreak.

Joe Biden

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Barney Graham

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And so we helped them with some of their animal studies. We were making one kind of vaccine. They were making an mRNA vaccine.

Joe Biden

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Barney Graham

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We learned that their technology was good. So we made a deal, in 2017, to work on Paramecium viruses with the prototype, and with coronaviruses, with the prototype, which is that MERS coronavirus I mentioned.

Joe Biden

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Barney Graham

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We've been working with Moderna in a form of collaboration since 2017.

Kizzmekia Corbett

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Yes. And -- and -- and this coronavirus team, in particular, has been working with them in, how we call it here, in an academic for-, uh, fashion, where we were asking really basic questions about how to make vaccines for coronaviruses, the other coronaviruses, like MERS or SARS. So that's why we were trusting in our collaboration.

Kizzmekia Corbett

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And it allowed us to move very quickly to make an mRNA vaccine for this coronavirus that was spreading.

Kizzmekia Corbett

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And so what our team does is, in order to go to the clinic, you have to say, "Does this vaccine at least do what you think it might do in person, in a very small animal, like a mouse?" And so, we got the vaccine here. Um, I think actually, I was told that I was one of the first people to open a vial of the vaccine.

Kizzmekia Corbett

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And we immunized about 200 mice. And then about two weeks later, on February the 18th, we got our first results back from a mouse. So what you see here --

Joe Biden

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What did the mouse have to say?

Kizzmekia Corbett

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The mouse had to say, "It looks like we got a vaccine." And that's what that yellow says.

Joe Biden

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Uh-huh [Affirmative]

Kizzmekia Corbett

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So those two, um, sides over here is our mice that do not have any vaccine at all. You can see their -- This plate shows they have no antibodies.

Joe Biden

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Kizzmekia Corbett

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Whereas, all of these mice have antibodies in their blood. So all you can do is you can put a spot of the antibody, or their blood on this plate. And this plate reads how much antibody is there. The brighter the yellow, the better.

Joe Biden

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Mm-hmm [Affirmative]

Kizzmekia Corbett

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So imagine how we felt --

Joe Biden

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Kizzmekia Corbett

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-- when we saw that bright yellow. Um, and I'll -- I'll let Dr. Graham tell you a little bit about what we're doing, kind of -- I -- I actually like to think that I'm responding to a second pandemic, with all of the variants. It seems like we're working just about as hard as we were last year.

Joe Biden

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Mm-hmm [Affirmative]

Kizzmekia Corbett

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But Dr. Graham is going to tell you a little bit about what we're in that regard.

Barney Graham

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Yeah. So I just want you to know that when we first made that protein, on January 31st, it was right here on this bench. And when that ELISA plate was run, it was done right here on this bench. So, you're in the place where some of this stuff happened. You heard a lot of these variants and we're all --

Kizzmekia Corbett

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Barney Graham

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-- concerned about them, and -- I showed you the spiked proteins. There's other spiked proteins on that screen. And they're just representative of where some of these things have come up, in the different countries. And what we mean by variances, this protein is made up of 1,200 amnio acids or more. And each time one of those things changes, it can be a new variant.

Barney Graham

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So this, uh, virus will accumulate changes. And you see the little red spots on the screen. Those are some of the amino acids that have been changed.

Barney Graham

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So as this thing accumulates, uh, changes, you can imagine some of these surfaces might change, and so antibodies may not see it as well anymore. But, uh, I -- I want you to look at the right side, because that is a spiked protein. And we're showing you multiple antibodies binding to it, in different places.

Barney Graham

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So it can bind on this knob over here. It can bind to this part up here, that reaches out and grabs a cell. And it can bind at different angles. And so when we give the vaccine, it's like this. It makes antibodies to the entire surface. So one red spot, or two red spots, or even nine red spots are not going to lose efficacy through those.

Barney Graham

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Antibodies have a lot of places to land.

Joe Biden

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Barney Graham

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It may eventually lose efficacy, but, uh, I think we're okay for now, until additional mutations accumulate.

Joe Biden

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And it's probable additional mutations will accumulate, isn't it? Or is it?

Barney Graham

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Unless we can keep people from spreading the virus.

Joe Biden

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Barney Graham

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Every time the virus enters a new person, it has a new chance to adapt and select. We have to get the virus lived in.

Anthony Fauci

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That's why we say we want to vaccine as many people as we possibly can, as quickly as we possibly can. That's why your 100 days of getting 100 million is really important. 'Cause if you don't allow the virus to replicate, it's not going to mutate.

Joe Biden

00:07:32 - 00:07:49 ()

Well, we're in a position now where we're just -- in talking with Jeff -- we've been pushing really, really hard with the manufacturing to significantly increase in the timeframe. Jeff, when will it be by? By June, we'll have -- how much will we have?

Jeff Zients

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We'll have 400 million does by June, which is enough to vaccinate 200 million Americans. And then you ordered another 200 million doses --

Joe Biden

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Jeff Zients

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-- to be delivered this summer.

Anthony Fauci

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That's the best way to stop the mutations.

Joe Biden

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No, I -- I realize that. And one of the things that -- you know, it's amazing how quickly things change in terms of people's perceptions, mine -- mine included. I know just a little tiny bit about this because I worked with that guy on cancer issues for a long, long while, [Inaudible] Cancer Institute. Anyway -- But what I didn't realize was just how much of the vaccine we're going to have to actually get produced.

Joe Biden

00:08:32 - 00:08:57 ()

And it's one thing to have the vaccine; it's another thing to have vaccinators to put it into people's arms. And it's really turned out to be a gigantic logistical issue for us. And I can say -- I don't mean it as a criticism, just an observation -- when we -- we've been in office now three years -- no, three weeks. [Laughter]

Francis Collins

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It just feels like three years.

Joe Biden

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[Inaudible] But what happened is that we were led to -- if you ever hear anybody talking about transitions between pres -- between presidents, it's really important, because we didn't have any access to the transition. And you know, Dr. Fauci, about it. And so we thought, and we were led to believe, there was a lot more vaccine available than there was.

Joe Biden

00:09:27 - 00:09:44 ()

And when I said "in the first hundred days" I guaranteed -- I promised that we would get 100 million shots in people's arms, everybody said, "No, that's -- you can't do that." It's amazing -- now I'm getting, "Why can't you get more?" Now we're getting a lot more on average, but it could be significantly more.

Joe Biden

00:09:44 - 00:10:12 ()

But to get to the place where -- and these guys legitimately always ask me -- is: "When will we have enough vaccine to have that 300-plus million people?" And even though we've increased by close to 600 million -- promises of the vaccine -- we're going to be in a position where it's going to be -- it's not going to be by the end of the summer.

Joe Biden

00:10:12 - 00:10:40 ()

And so all the Americans who are looking for it -- and that's why I keep listening to you talking about when we could theoretically reach enough of a saturation of access that we slow down the spread. And so, this is the -- it's an ama -- and, by the way, every department is jumping in. The Defense Department over there, they jumped right in like they did with dealing with Ebola before, in Africa.

Joe Biden

00:10:40 - 00:10:59 ()

They're probably going to have, literally, over a hundred thou -- I mean, excuse me, 10,000 vaccinators. They're picking people up all over, [Inaudible] out of retirement. You never know.

Question

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Mr. President, how worried are you about the variants?

Joe Biden

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Well, we talked about the variants, and I'll -- rather than Joe Biden, the lawyer, explain the variants -- I think I understand it -- but I think it's important that, Doctor, you talk about the variants and what we're anticipating and what we think the situation is going to be.

Anthony Fauci

00:11:23 - 00:11:47 ()

The 117 -- that's the UK variant that we feel the modelers are going to tell us is going to be dominant by the end of March -- the vaccines that we have now look pretty good against being able to prevent infection and certain disease. The South African variant is a little bit more problematic. It diminishes the capability of the vaccines to induce the virus's -- the antibodies that would suppress it.

Anthony Fauci

00:11:47 - 00:12:07 ()

But it doesn't completely eliminate it, and we know that from studies with other vaccines in South Africa, where it went down to maybe 50 percent efficacy. But it was very good in preventing severe disease. In fact, there were no hospitalizations or deaths. The bottom line is: We take it seriously. We're following it.

Anthony Fauci

00:12:07 - 00:12:15 ()

And if necessary, we're able to make boosts that reflect the variants in question.

Question

00:12:15 - 00:12:19 ()

Are you upset with the state of the rollout before you got here, Mr. President?

Joe Biden

00:12:19 - 00:12:48 ()

No, I'm not. I think -- look, these folks have been absolutely amazing. What I was upset with is not having all the facts that were available to the last outfit, that we did not know. So we were under the distinct impression there was significantly more vaccine available to begin to be distributed; that it was a distribution problem -- which it is and was, but that wasn't the main problem; it was having enough.

Joe Biden

00:12:48 - 00:13:09 ()

And then getting -- you know, there's a big difference -- the logistical difference between having a vaccine sent to the States in bulk and refrigerated, and having vaccinators with the paraphernalia to put it into a vial and stick it in someone's arm -- is a very different and logistical problem -- difficult problem.

Joe Biden

00:13:09 - 00:13:31 ()

So there's the vaccine. There is the access to the vaccine, in terms of how you get it where it has to be. That is a giant logistical issue, and we're solving that now. For example, we are, as of -- was it today, Jeff? We're doing -- we're making sure that all these federal systems, community --

Jeff Zients

00:13:31 - 00:13:32 ()

Community health centers.

Joe Biden

00:13:32 - 00:13:37 ()

-- community health centers that are federally run -- we are getting them -- what day are we getting --

Jeff Zients

00:13:37 - 00:13:39 ()

Starting next week.

Joe Biden

00:13:39 - 00:13:40 ()

Starting next week, they'll get --

Jeff Zients

00:13:40 - 00:13:41 ()

And pharmacies start today.

Joe Biden

00:13:41 - 00:14:02 ()

And the pharmacies start today. We thought, by listening -- at least my team did -- between the time we were elected and the time somebody recognized we were elected, that we thought that it was well underway; that the drugstores were beginning -- you know, all the places -- the Walmarts of the world -- were ready.

Joe Biden

00:14:02 - 00:14:23 ()

But it turned out they weren't. And so we -- it's been a hell of a learning process. But you have done an enormous, enor -- all -- every other scientist I've talked to across the board said the idea that it would end in less than a year -- you'd come up with a vaccine -- [Crosstalk] Tell me what you do? By the way, your taxes are doing very, very well.

Unidentified

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Guys, keep moving.