COVID-19 vaccine safety pledge will make 'huge difference': Doctor

Rheumatologist Dr. Kanika Monga joins Yahoo finance's Kristin Myers to discuss the new joint safety pledge signed by COVID-19 vaccine makers, as U.S. cases surpass 6.3 million.

Video Transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: So we had pharmaceutical companies signing a pledge to quote, "put science first in the race for a coronavirus vaccine." So to check this and more, we're joined now by Dr. Kanika Monga, rheumatologist in Houston, Texas. So doctor, I want to start with that pledge. I'm wondering if you think that this pledge will go far enough to restore public trust in a vaccine that some fear is being rushed through right now. Dr. Monga, you're muted right now, so we can't hear you as yet.

KANIKA MONGA: Thank you. Better?

KRISTIN MYERS: Yes, we can hear you now, thank you.

KANIKA MONGA: Yes, so I said, I hope so. There's already so much mistrust, so much misinformation about vaccinations. There are people that know better. How good vaccinations are, they're always going to be wary and always skeptical of what's to come. So given this current situation, it gives them another excuse. If they're like, oh, this is not undergoing high standards, so why even use it. So I really do think this pledge and making this public is going to make a huge difference in at least gaining trust of a few people.

KRISTIN MYERS: Now this pledge comes right after a lot of people raised their eyebrows after the president said, hey, we're going to have a vaccine in time for the election in November.

KANIKA MONGA: Right, right.

KRISTIN MYERS: That caused a lot of concerns that perhaps this pandemic, and particularly the vaccine, was being a little bit over politicized, just frankly, that we were involving politics far too much. I'm wondering what your thoughts on are on that. Do you think politics have been too involved and play too large of a role in not just trying to get a vaccine out to the public, but just the fight in this pandemic in general?

KANIKA MONGA: Yes. I mean, unfortunately, given this pandemic, it really brings to light how much unfortunately, politics is influencing science. And that should never be the case. A lot of these vaccinations, medications, all of this, the center has to be science, and the center has to be safety and efficacy for the patients and the population. That's the only way to do it. That's the only way as doctors we've ever been trained. So this is really heartbreaking to see that it is getting so, there's so much politics involved with it. That should never be the case.

KRISTIN MYERS: So if not the end of October, then when in your mind does a vaccine seem most likely to actually make it to market?

KANIKA MONGA: So when I hear guidelines or a deadline saying, oh, we'll have a vaccination out by election day, why is that even, why are we discussing vaccination and elections in the same sentence? The number one goal for the vaccination should be that it's safe and the trials prove that it even worked for our population. So putting it in the same sentence of an election makes no sense to me. So my goal, especially looking at now the FDA even said that they're going to insulate the reviewers of the vaccination, protect them from any kind of political pressure, so now that really, and I don't think this is anything new.

I think they're just reiterating what they would have done anyways. But I think it's so important for them to vocalize that now, so that a lot of skeptical people can get on board. So perhaps not by the election. I can't predict when. But hoping at the beginning of next year. But whenever it does come out, whenever or whatever that date is, I want it to be safe for people. And I also want it to work. Otherwise, what's the point?

KRISTIN MYERS: So I want to switch now to the holiday weekend that we just had. We saw spikes after Memorial Day weekend, we saw spikes after Independence Day. Wondering what your concerns are if I were to ask you to be slightly predictive, if you had a crystal ball, what you think might be coming in the next two or three weeks after we had this holiday weekend. We saw stats out that travel actually upticked almost a million passengers a day on just airlines. So when I hear a number like that, I get very concerned that perhaps people were traveling, people were maskless, and we're going to see these numbers start to rise.

KANIKA MONGA: Yeah, I unfortunately, I do think that cases are going to go up as we've seen in the past with holiday weekend. Whenever we start getting a little more lax on the requirements, especially just wearing a mask or even maintaining that six feet of social distancing, you do see that risk. So I am predicting that cases will continue to go up, especially because of the weekend. Colleges, campuses having a lot of parties and gatherings now, and I think people are just frustrated at how long this pandemic has been ongoing. But the truth is, we need to hang tight, because this is very important for us to take, take into consideration, especially during the holidays, that we still need to make sure we're following all those restrictions and guidelines that are important to prevent spread.

KRISTIN MYERS: So you hinted at something that I want to talk about, especially big in your state, as I had mentioned to everyone. You are currently in Houston, Texas. So Labor Day I think is an easy date on the calendar that everyone marks as when school actually begins. College students, university students have been in college for a couple of days and weeks now already. And we are seeing news that surprise, surprise, college students are doing what college students do, which is party. And here having fun and they're gathering, which of course, is not good news for school officials that want to keep their schools open.

So two questions. One, do you think or are you concerned that schools, particularly universities, given that we know college students like to party and have fun, if they're going to become these super spreader locations. And then the second question, I guess, is from a public health perspective. How can schools govern student behavior that is happening off campus at frat houses, sorority houses? How do you prevent college students from doing what they want to do, which is get together and have a good time?

KANIKA MONGA: So a very good question. So I've been a college student before. I went to UT Austin. I know a huge part of being on campus and being a college student is to socialize. And that comes innately with being in college. Now it's unfortunate that the backdrop for a lot of these college students is this pandemic. So it makes it very difficult to figure out what's right and really how to be the most responsible that you can be, but not miss out on your college experience. So unfortunately, I do think if cases continue to rise and a lot of people are hosting parties with hundreds of students, no masks in a small area, then yes, they are going to become sites of super spreading. And that is a huge concern.

I know a lot of campuses opened up at least to limited classes in person, but still giving that option of online classes. I think if the cases continue to rise and students are not being responsible in the way that they're socializing and not really following guidelines or following sort of the restrictions that should be in place, then I worry that right now, yes, there are a limited number of classes in person, they may take those away altogether. And that would be very unfortunate if everything was turned to just online. And then I believe the second question you asked was, how can organizations, especially universities, really govern students? It's a "Catch-22" situation in my mind.

For universities, I think they can hold organizations accountable. They can hold any kind of affiliations with different organizations sponsored by the university accountable. But it makes it so difficult to be able to go into off campus settings and trying to ensure whether people are meeting guidelines there. That becomes so difficult. So I think what colleges or universities are going to do is, they're probably going to rely on restaurants, neighbors, perhaps different apartment complexes, to monitor their own rules and kind put into place their own guidelines for the residents of those places or people visiting those restaurants and hosting events.