Russia Begins Phase Three Trials After Approving Sputnik Vaccine
BLITZER: Critical phase three human trials haven't even been completed yet, but Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is already being distributed to high risk groups. And a source tells CNN that India, Mexico and Brazil, they are all lining up to buy it for their citizens. Many scientists are expressing deep skepticism though. CNN's Matthew Chance has this exclusive report.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is what Russia hopes will be the vaccine that beats the global pandemic. We've been given access to the start of crucial phase three trials. And to volunteers like Andrey, to discover whether the Sputnik V it's called, really can save lives.</s>ANDREY OLSHEVSKY, TRIAL VOLUNTEER: I've been looking forward to this third stage of trials. I want this vaccine to come into wide circulation as soon as possible so that all citizens of our big country can be safe.</s>CHANCE: Russia has good reason to want this battle won against COVID- 19. With over a million confirmed infections, it's one of the world worst affected country. But Moscow has been accused of cutting corners, using spies to steal western research, which it denies, and after positive early results, proving its vaccine even before third phase trials had begun.</s>RICHARD HORTON, THE LANCET: What we can say is that this new Russian vaccine, the results are encouraging but it will be premature -- a premature to think that this is the basis for a successful vaccine for public use.</s>CHANCE: But at city hospital number two in Moscow, where we witnessed the first of an expected 40,000 trial volunteers being injected, doctors told me they're optimist that these important trials will help establish the Russian vaccine. It's why Catherina (ph), a nursery school teacher, says she volunteered to take part, despite the risk. It's necessary, she told me, not just for herself but for everyone else. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.</s>BLITZER: Matthew, thank you. And there's some breaking news coming into CNN about the race for a vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech have proposed expanding what are called phase three trials to 44,000 participants and including people, get this, as young as 16 years old. Joining us now to discuss, Dr. Patrice Harris, the immediate past President of the American Medical Association, and Dr. James Phillips, he's an Emergency Physician at George Washington University Hospital here in Washington, D.C. Dr. Phillips, what's your reaction to this news using test candidates, first of all, as young as 16 and they're hoping, by the way, to include people with HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, what do you make of that?</s>DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PYSICIAN: Well, you know, the importance of these phase three trials is to make sure that before any vaccine goes to widespread use, we understand the true safety profile of it. And includes not only for young healthy volunteers, it includes the elderly, the young, as well as those who are sick from other disease, including things like HIV and people who are on other medications that may affect their immune system to see that both they generate antibodies and also don't have untoward side effects that may make them sicker. So it is important and it's been expressed that not only do we have that variation in age and in medical conditions but also in race and gender.</s>BLITZER: What do you think, Dr. Harris, because they're increasing this phase three trial from 30,000 to, what, 44,000 people?</s>DR. PATRICE HARRIS, FORMER PRESIDENT, AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: Well, I certainly agree with Dr. Phillips, and have always stated that as in this clinical trial or in any clinical trial, diversity of the participants is important so that we can have the best information on the other side as to what is effective and safe.</s>BLITZER: You know, Dr. Phillips, even when we do get a vaccine and all of us are hoping and praying we'll have a safe and effective vaccine soon, Dr. Anthony Fauci, I spoke with him yesterday in THE SITUATION ROOM, he says it will still take months after there is a safe and effective vaccine. In fact, it could be at least another year before we get back to what we'd call the normal situation that existed before the pandemic. Listen to what he told me. Listen to this.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I think it's going to take several months before we get to the point where we can really feel something that approximates how it was normally before COVID-19. And for that reason, I made the projection of getting back to that state of normality well into 2021 and very unlikely before then.</s>BLITZER: What do you think, Dr. Phillips? He also said, because even a safe and effective vaccine, maybe only 70 or 75 percent effective, we're still -- all of us are still going to have to be wearing masks for most of next year, even with a safe and effective vaccine.</s>PHILLIPS: That's absolutely right. Not only is this vaccine not going to be available widely this year, and I mean widely to the entire general population in the United States. But there's going to be multiple vaccines that come along that fit the bill that have passed the test and have been approved by the FDA. Now, right now, we're on the -- we're all to the left (ph) of this vaccine, right? As soon as we have a single one that is approved, efficacious and is useful, we have an entire marathon ahead of us on the right side of this timeline where we've got to worry about logistics, the ethics of who gets it, which populations, ensuring that people aren't being discriminated against. The argument about immunity passports, we have so many more topics that are going to be so important to us to work through long after this vaccine comes along. So we're not going to be back to normal in any short period of time. People need to be in this for the long haul.</s>BLITZER: And right now, as you know, Dr. Phillips -- Dr. Harris -- I want to go back to Dr. Harris. If you look right now, 193,000 Americans have already died over the past six months and this new projection, this forecast from the University of Washington Medical School, says that number could double, maybe as much as 415,000 could be dead by January 1st unless certain actions are taken right away. Here is the question. Do you see those actions being taken here in the United States that potentially could save tens of thousands of lives?</s>HARRIS: Well, Wolf, certainly, those numbers are troubling and they point us all hopefully to highlight the fact that lives are at risk. The public health is at stake here. Now, I see in certain areas folks wearing mask and making sure they are keeping their physical distance and not gathering in large crowds. But, unfortunately, that is not universal. And so if we want those numbers could be as low as possible, if we don't want to get those numbers through the worst case scenario, we have that power to act and we have to act in order to keep those numbers down.</s>BLITZER: You know, Dr. Phillips, there's more disagreement right now emerging over testing. Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator, urged people to get tested after Labor Day weekend if they had relaxed their social distancing rules over the holiday. Doesn't that recommendation go against the latest CDC guideline that says, if you don't have any symptom, you don't have necessarily be tested?</s>PHILLIPS: It's incredible that we're six months into this and we're still having this debate. I would say what Dr. Birx has said is the safest option. And what we've learned this week is that the reports come out of the CDC may not be exactly what the true career scientist of the CDC believe. And so I would err on the side of what Dr. Birx has said.</s>BLITZER: You know, Dr. Harris, when I spoke to Dr. Fauci, he said specifically, getting a flu shot in October or even now, by the end of October, a regular flu shot is more important than ever given the fact that we're all dealing with this coronavirus pandemic. How important from your perspective is getting a flu shot?</s>HARRIS: It is so important, Wolf, to get a flu shot this year, even more so than in typical years. Certainly, all of us are worried about the twindemic of both the COVID-19 and the flu. We are entering flu season. And so I do encourage everyone to get their flu shot. We want to minimize risk for flu. Again, as we try to mitigate a potential tsunami of a twindemic of COVID-19 and the flu, certainly, the weather is getting cooler, we will be indoors more often. And so we really do need everyone to get a flu shot. And we really, also, Wolf, need to make sure and there is no political interference in the work from CDC and NIH and FDA. At this time, more than ever, we need clear, consistent messaging based on science and the evidence.</s>BLITZER: Important words indeed. Dr. Patrice Harris, Dr. James Phillips, thanks for everything, both of you are doing. We are so grateful. Thanks for joining us.</s>HARRIS: Thank you, Wolf.</s>PHILLIPS: Thanks, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, so coming up, California has been battling the coronavirus but it's also now facing truly historic wildfires that are raging across the straight. Now, the president, he is getting ready to head to California on Monday. We're going there live -- it's awful -- when we come back.