 So, when it comes to COVID-19, I'm gonna hit you with some really bad news, really, really terrible news, but we're going to end on a more positive note because I don't want you to come away from this video thinking that, you know, things are going to be like this forever. We'll remain in quarantine forever. Things will get better, but it's gonna take some time. So the first bit of bad news that I have to share is that the death toll for COVID-19 in the United States has surpassed 25,000. That is a number that's so large it is difficult to comprehend. 25,000 Americans died because of COVID-19. To think about this, to think about how many people are in pain right now because they lost a loved one or a fear losing a loved one. To think about the mass of scale of just suffering, it's really overwhelming. It's really, really overwhelming. And on top of that, prolonged social distancing may be necessary if we want to survive COVID-19. How long, you ask? Worst case scenario? 2022. Yeah. So as Leah Asmalash and Maggie Fox of CNN report, the U.S. may have to endure social distancing measures such as stay at home orders and school closures until 2022, researchers projected on Tuesday. That is unless a vaccine or better therapeutics becomes available or we increase our critical care capacity. In other words, 2022 is one scenario of many. That's according to researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who published their findings in the journal Science on Tuesday. Those findings directly contradict research being touted by the White House that suggests the pandemic may stop this summer. The Harvard team's projections also indicate that the virus would come roaring back fairly quickly once restrictions were lifted. If intermittent distancing is the approach that's chosen, it may be necessary to do it for several years, which is obviously a very long time. Dr. Mark Lipstick, an author on the study and an epidemiology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, told reporters, another important factor, whether people become immune to the new coronavirus after they have been infected. That's not yet known. Potential challenges include finding a reliable test to determine who has antibodies for the coronavirus, establishing the level of immunity conferred by previous infection and how long it lasts and the capacity of overstretched health systems to carry out reliable widespread antibody tests in the general population. There's also difficult social questions around immunity certificates which have been floated as a possibility in the UK. Would they create a kind of two-tier society where those who have them can return to a more normal life while others remain locked down? The study researchers say they are unaware that such prolonged distancing, even if intermittent, would likely have profoundly negative economic, social and educational consequences. They hope their research will help identify likely trajectories of the epidemic under alternative approaches, identify complementary ways to fight it, and to spur further thinking about the ways to get the pandemic under control. Though coronavirus cases in the US have been soaring, social distancing appears to be effective. Now, keep in mind that this study doesn't say we will definitely have to maintain social distancing until 2022. This is just a projection based on one model, kind of a worst case scenario situation, but it's a possibility. And I think that psychologically it would be healthy for us to prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario, but hope for the best. Now, the societal implications of this are just so broad, it's difficult to try to think through how this is going to affect society and culture, how it may give way to new forms of discrimination and prejudice. I mean, this really is going to change the world forever. Now, the good thing is that this doesn't necessarily mean that it'll change the world for the worse, it may change the world for the better. Maybe people actually demand Medicare for because they see how important it is during a pandemic. Maybe people value interpersonal relationships more, maybe we take more precautions. So this doesn't happen again. But this could also have negative ramifications. This could lead to another crackdown on civil liberties as 9-11 did. I mean, what happened after 9-11? We got the Patriot Act. We got the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War. And those wars, they have no end in sight. So this could go very poorly, but also it could go in a more positive direction. That's all to be determined. But I want you to know that the situation isn't entirely grim because the lead scientist at the National Institute of Health, her name is Kizmikia Corbett. She had a really, really encouraging message about the timeline for a possible vaccine. And what she says here kind of gave me confidence that 2022 is a less likely scenario. This is what she had to say in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN. So we're developing a vaccine for COVID-19. It is based on several of our previous projects where we were investigating vaccines for MERS and SARS coronaviruses, which are very closely related to the virus that causes COVID-19. So this vaccine incorporates the spike protein, which is the protein that is on the surface of the virus. And that protein is the reason, essentially, why the virus is able to attach to a cell and then get into a cell and cause an infection. So from our perspective, if we can incorporate that protein into our vaccine and essentially allow the body to create a response to that protein that may block an infection later, we've created a successful vaccine. The really interesting part about this is that we have a collaboration with Madonna, which is a company that uses messenger RNA, which is essentially just genetic material. And we're using their platform to deliver our vaccine spike. That's fascinating. Sanjay, I know you've got some questions as well. Yeah. Dr. Thank you for being here and thank you for your work. People don't always realize that vaccines can take a long time to make. I mean, there's vaccines that have taken years and years to make. I think with SARS, it took 20 months, if I remember correctly, just under two years to get into phase one trials. I think you may have just talked about this, but why it's happening a lot faster now, I think, right? Correct me if I'm wrong on that. And how is it happening so much faster? You know, there are several layers to our rapid response, which is what we call it. Most of it is based on the work that we've done previously. So towards the goal of being prepared for a pandemic and ready and to aim and shoot. So to speak, we've researched coronavirus vaccine development for the last seven years, particularly under my direction, the team has researched this coronavirus development for five years. And so coming into the onset of this pandemic, we had an idea about what we wanted to do as far as the design of the vaccine. We already had our collaboration set in stone with Moderna, as we've been testing several other vaccine candidates, what we call preclinically or nonclinically. And so a lot of our work that we've done previously has essentially driven us into what we call a rapid response. And so, I mean, you probably are aware that we were able to go from getting the sequence online from the Chinese government at the same time as the rest of the world and essentially pushing for a vaccine to get into a human trial in 66 days. And when you go, what is the process? Pardon my ignorance on this. You have a human trial. That's a phase one trial. Is that right? Yes. So vaccine development is a very long process. And as Dr. Gupta pointed out, it is something that generally takes years and years to develop. Here in this first phase, we are testing the safety of the vaccine. That is just a simple question. Is the vaccine safe to use in people? And then there's a stepwise introduction of the vaccine for other end points, like does the vaccine work? Does it create an immune response? Does it protect people from infection? And those are second and third phase studies that are to happen somewhat simultaneously. But after getting data that is allows us to move forward in that process. So overall, our goal in the beginning was to go from sequence through to general population at best in 80 months. And it's looking like we're on track for that. So hearing her speak, it gave me hope because they're working quickly and there's a lot of pressure on them to act quick and get us back to normal as soon as possible, because nobody wants to stay in this predicament for a long time. Nobody does. Governments don't want to individuals don't want to because look, the economy is going to suffer, but we have to make sure that we take the proper precautions. So we protect human beings and this doesn't come back, we can't be irresponsible and end social distancing and self quarantine too soon because then we're just going to have to do it again. So it's important that we have a really strong efforts first so we don't have a relapse. Now odds are there will be a relapse in the fall if we return to some sense of normalcy, if not fully normal. But what she says here, it made me feel hopeful. Trials in 60 days, workers may get a vaccine as early as this fall and everyone could be vaccinated around the world by spring of 2021, assuming the virus is still a pandemic by then. So I think that's a more realistic timeline. I'm not going to automatically assume that the worst case scenario is the most likely scenario because there's a lot of different models that have variations in their predictions. So we don't necessarily know, but I think it's important that we pace ourselves. The world will adapt to this virus if we will have to remain in quarantine until 2022, like businesses will adapt. You'll see the market gravitate towards takeout options for food. You'll see more delivery options probably become available if we're to trust the market gods. There's a lot of local movie theaters around me who are selling candy packages with popcorn and soda and whatnot. So they're trying to adapt, they're trying to survive, and I think we're going to see more of that. But in terms of whether or not this will be over by summer, it's not like that's out of the question. But in my view, it really doesn't seem likely unless we're talking late summer. But I think that we have to take this little by little. We can't depress ourselves thinking that this is never going to end, because this will end. And I know it's difficult because we're in this moment currently, that it feels like it's never going to be over. It feels like there's no light at the end of the tunnel. But just know that this will pass. This will pass. We don't know how long, but it will pass. And this doesn't necessarily mean that we'll be the same after it passes. A lot of people lost loved ones. A lot of people are traumatized. A lot of people feel really even worse off. They're in a far, far worse economic situation. So my hope, if I can be a little bit optimistic, if you'll indulge me, is that people going forward will wake up, will take away some good out of this and actually grow and not regress as we did after 9-11. We'll actually have people demanding Medicare for All, a universal basic income, where we get a check monthly, right? And it stacks on top of our existing social safety net programs, because it's times like this where people should really think more about their fellow Americans, not to sound corny, but think about collectivism, think about how when some of us fall, we all fall. When the people at the bottom of the economic totem pole suffer, everyone suffers. So we all have a vested interest in making sure that all of us, as many of us as possible, come away from this as strong as possible. And I'll leave you with that. Hang in there.