Dr. Shereef Elnahal, University Hospital CEO joins Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani and the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the latest COVID vaccine news.

Video Transcript

- But we begin this hour with the vaccine breakthrough, the UK government giving the green light to Pfizer and Biontech's coronavirus vaccine. Shares of Pfizer up in a big way in the session today. Regulators saying health care workers will begin vaccinations within a few days. Here in the US, we've got a CDC panel voting to give health-care workers and those in nursing care facilities the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine, once it's approved.

Let's bring in Dr. Shereef Elnahal. He is the CEO of University Hospital. And Doctor, you're one of the hospitals in New Jersey that can store these vaccines, when we're talking specifically about Pfizer with the cold storage that's necessary. Walk me through the steps right now, what you're doing logistically to prepare for this distribution.

SHEREEF ELNAHAL: Well, it's a really complicated process. First of all, the vaccine has to be stored at very cold temperatures. We're talking about negative 70 degrees Celsius, which is negative 94 degrees Fahrenheit, at every stage of its distribution, transport to points of care where it will eventually be administered. And we also have to make sure that our storage capacity is able to take it and to monitor the temperature the entire time that we have it. Even short periods of time where the temperature is off compromises the effectiveness of the vaccine. And we also have to make sure all of our staff are trained to administer it and also transport it to regional players who are going to give the vaccine.

So we've been preparing very diligently with the state and with the federal government and Operation Warp Speed. And we're actually going to be stress testing our ability to transport and deliver this vaccine in the coming days.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Dr. Elnahal, Anjalee here-- we know that one of the things that has been discussed-- and we heard it a lot yesterday at that ASIP meeting-- was nursing homes and the needs that they have. How do you envision the support that you're going to need to give these homes, not just with the vaccine distribution, but also, as I understand, the relationship between the hospital and nursing homes, when it comes to discharging patients? That seems like it's all wrapped up in one.

SHEREEF ELNAHAL: It really is, Anjalee. We're going to have to be supporting many points of care [AUDIO OUT] for our patients. Nursing homes were devastated by this pandemic. Some of the most vulnerable people in the country to this disease are residents of nursing homes, but also the staff. And in fact, the staff are known to have contracted the disease and actually given it to other facilities and other residents in other facilities, because many of these direct care workers have to have multiple jobs, based on their wages.

And so I'm not surprised at all that the CDC identified nursing homes as the first cohorts to get the vaccine. And we stand ready to assist. Again, we're going to be getting the first tranche of the vaccine in New Jersey, only one of several hospitals in the state. And we've already made contact with many of them and struck close coordination with state authorities.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: And of course, just receiving the vaccine prior to its authorization is obviously a big deal. But walk us through sort of what you envision. It's a really heavy lift to be sort of a central hub. What are some of the things that you anticipate or are very concerned about?

SHEREEF ELNAHAL: Well, you're right that it's amazing that, less than a year ago, only the science was beginning for these vaccines. And now we're talking about distribution concurrent with emergency use authorization from the FDA. It's a very complex process. So you saw that American Airlines had to put 15,000 pounds of dry ice just to ship the initial allocations to the United States. Then you have to make sure all other points of distribution are, again, keeping it at the very cold temperature.

And finally, if you actually look at the complexity of how the vaccine is stored, we're talking about multiple layers of insulation. We're talking about very complex packaging. And all of that training has to be given fast to our staff, which is why I think it's a very wise idea that the Health and Human Services Department wants to stress test this, to see if there are any hangups, issues, mistakes, and human error risks that we can identify. But I think the planning has been excellent. And I'm optimistic that it will go well, but we'll see in the coming days.

- Yeah, Doctor, I mean, when we're talking about that aspect of it, it was interesting to see one dissent in that CDC panel. When you think about rolling it out for people in nursing homes first, the dissenter noting that safety had not been studied in that particular population to the extent that she would have liked to have seen. When you talk about how quickly this is rolled out, obviously trust in the vaccine's going to be a key question, once you get past health care workers into the more general public. But talk to me about that, and how some of these things with mRNA vaccines, particularly-- the first of their kind-- what questions still remain?

SHEREEF ELNAHAL: Well, you know, her reasons for dissenting are very reasonable. Not having studied the vaccine in the nursing home population is certainly a factor to consider. And I'm sure that all of the panel members considered that. But you do have to weigh that against the actual risk to the residents and to the staff. Like I said, about 40% of deaths from COVID-19 in The United States have been nursing home residents. And so you always have to weigh these very difficult decisions with limited information on a risk-versus-benefit basis.

And so I do agree with the majority of the panel in their assessment that we should at least try first in one of the most vulnerable populations in the country. They did make clear that they are ready and willing to change these recommendations as we have data come in about side effects, adverse events, and other things that may happen in nursing homes. And the whole idea is not only to deliver and administer the vaccine, but to very robust post-market surveillance to detect any problems very quickly and to respond accordingly. And I'm encouraged that the CDC and ASIP are very keen on that.

- And I should point out we are getting some news here from Governor Cuomo here in New York, saying the first COVID vaccine delivery in New York is expected to be December 15. You of course are in New Jersey, preparing for that as well. Can you walk me through some of the pain points that you anticipate, at least within the hospital, as you look to the scale of the distribution? Maybe not the first round here, but when more come to market?

SHEREEF ELNAHAL: You're right in that the actual shipments are going to come fast after the first one. So we're talking about 100,000 in mid-December. And then really starting every week after that, similar shipments that may get even larger and larger. And so that's why it's really important to, again, stress test the distribution and storage system for these vaccines. If we find, for example, that a certain percentage of the vaccines fail to be kept at the reliably very cold temperatures in order for them to be effective, then we'll have to adjust, likely, the national timeframe for distribution of the vaccine.

But again, that's why it's so important for us to test this out first, to make sure that we identify unanticipated issues. But I can't tell you how impressed I am with the forethought at every level of government and every level of partners that are participating in this, ourselves included. We're very keen-- we've essentially done a failure-mode analysis of what could go wrong. And we're going to make sure that we follow that very closely.

There's also a human factors part of this. Our staff have to be trained on how to handle these vaccines. Every hospital is going to get the initial allocation. We'll have a vaccine coordinator that knows the most about what's happening, but also is reporting everything that he or she can to the state and ultimately to Operation Warp Speed. So I'm confident in the monitoring on this. But it is going to be complex. It's exciting, though, and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to administer the first doses this month.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Dr. Elnahal, when are you expecting that shipment for the stress test? And then following that, you know, a lot of-- you know, to your point of what's been impressive about the federal government's work, but what is your work in this, in terms of how to administer-- you mentioned that, but also the number of people that you're going to need to administer to. It seems like that's all part of it as well.

SHEREEF ELNAHAL: It's a great question, Anjalee. So we've essentially put together what we call a tiger team of folks from multiple parts of our operation-- so our pharmacy, we have somebody from legal involved to make sure that we're complying with all the guidelines and recommendations from the federal government. And also our chief medical officer, from a clinical standpoint, to be able to make sure that we are connected to the New Jersey Immunization Information System, which is a key part of information reporting. And that all clinicians involved with vaccine administration know the exact guidelines and are reporting any issues if they see it.

Every single person is going to be registered proactively in the state-wide immunization system, so that if there are any adverse events or problems clinically, we'll be able to report that. And all of that is going to be fed up to federal authorities to make sure that there aren't systemic issues across the country. So yes, at every level, including our own hospital, it's a multidisciplinary effort with strong coordination. We've been planning for this for weeks. And we anticipate that it will go well, but we'll see. And if there are any problems, we'll make sure to address them and to report it very quickly.

- Incredible to see the preparation that is under way now, especially speaking to the scope of this pandemic and the need to have these vaccines distributed in the safest way possible. Dr. Shereef Elnahal, the CEO of University Hospital, appreciate your time today. And our thanks to Anjalee Khemlani as well for joining in on the conversation.