We shouldn’t get too excited about Russia's COVID-19 vaccine: Doctor

Dr. Adrian Burrowes, Family Medicine Physician & CFP Physicians Group CEO, joins Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers to break down the latest coronavirus developments, as skepticism grows over Russia’s approved vaccine.

Video Transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: Russia says that they've now approved a new coronavirus vaccine, of course, as that worldwide case count tops 20 million or more on the coronavirus, both abroad and here at home. I want to bring on Dr. Adrian Burrowes, a family medicine physician and CEO of the CFP Physicians Group. Dr. Burrowes, we got this news about the new vaccine out of Russia. It seems fast. They haven't completed this phase three yet. How skeptical are you about their timeline, the safety of this vaccine, or you know, any positive news that we've gotten there?

ADRIAN BURROWES: Very skeptical. You know, the reality is that COVID-19 now, the vaccine is an arms race. Everyone wants to be first to market. Russia has developed a vaccine, and they're releasing it before phase three has even started. You know, phase three trials is when we see if the vaccine actually works. We see if it has safety. They haven't done any of that, and they're releasing it because they want to be first to market.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right, well, leaving that skepticism aside, what does this news mean, you know, for the world, at least, in the global coronavirus fight? I mean, is this-- is there still room for some optimism here that we might have a vaccine, even if it's coming out of Russia?

ADRIAN BURROWES: So there is going to be a vaccine, you know, before the year's end. Russia, of course, like we just talked about, has made one that the-- Moderna-- America is making one as well-- AstraZeneca. So I'm very optimistic that there will be a vaccine. And so I-- so yes, I do have some optimism regarding that. I just don't feel like this particular vaccine is one that we're-- that we should get too excited about because we don't know the safety or efficacy of it.

KRISTIN MYERS: So if-- let's bring it back stateside. Obviously, you're talking about more globally. Dr. Fauci had said that even under the best projections of a coronavirus vaccine that most Americans won't be able to get access to that vaccine until well into 2021, of course, because the vaccine is going to go first to first responders or the people that are most at risk. So then if most Americans won't be able to get the vaccine until well into next year, does that mean that we're not going to be able to get the coronavirus under control until then? Because it seems as if everyone is saying that this fight against the pandemic really hinges on most folks getting access to the vaccine.

ADRIAN BURROWES: Oh. So again, if we're looking for optimism, I do believe that what Dr. Fauci is saying is correct, that it would be probably until the middle of next year before most Americans are vaccinated. That being said, I anticipate towards the end of this year, beginning of early next year, you'll start to see a lot of vaccinations. Health care workers will go first. The vulnerable, elderly, and people will have chronic conditions will probably be right in that first wave. And once you have those people protected, I think you're to see significant decline in the rates of COVID-19.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right, and in Florida, the state reported another single highest batch of coronavirus deaths, so that's the bad news. But the state continues to decline in positive case totals, and this is a trend that we are actually seeing across the US, as the new deaths continue to tick upward but the positive case numbers continue to trend downward. Is it too soon to view what's happening in Florida, or perhaps even across the country, as sort of a positive sign or a fight against the virus? You don't have to feign optimism. [INAUDIBLE]

ADRIAN BURROWES: I'm a realist. And so the reality is that I do take some positivity in the fact that Florida, which has led the nation in COVID-19 cases, is now starting to see a declining of that. You know, we have had a peak in hospitalizations, which happened over the weekend. And it's hard because as soon as you start telling people that, you know, the cases are going down, they start doing silly things like stopping the social distancing, right? So as long as we keep doing what we're doing, I feel optimistic that we are making some headway.

KRISTIN MYERS: So speaking about those doing silly things, you know, Governor DeSantis has rejected the plan from Tampa schools to essentially hold all classes online only, just for the first month of the fall semester. Obviously, the number of positive cases continues to trend downward. But still, Florida is a hotspot right now. I mean, is that the right call? What are, you know, politicians or government officials getting wrong--

ADRIAN BURROWES: Sure.

KRISTIN MYERS: --in this fight with the virus?

ADRIAN BURROWES: Yeah, so it seems that Governor DeSantis had a plan. And regardless of what information he has, he has decided he wants to go forward with that plan. The reality is, on July the 9th, there were 16,000 kids in Florida under the age of 17 with COVID. On August 9, there were 40,000. So that was a significant increase in children acquiring COVID-19.

If we were acting based on data, then certainly, we would not be pushing for school reopening. But again, I feel like the governor has enacted a plan. And regardless of the data, he has elected that he wants to go forward with that. And I do not agree with that decision.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right, we'll have to leave that there, clearly a lot of politicization of this virus Dr. Adrian Burrowes, family medicine physician and CEO of the CFP Physicians Group. Thanks for joining us.

ADRIAN BURROWES: Thank you.