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Moderna: Promising Results In Phase 1 Vaccine Trial; Alabama Sides With Trump In Republican Primary Fight; Poll: Biden Leads Trump In Pennsylvania Among Registered Voters. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 15, 2020 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: -- at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Offit, it's good to see you again. So we've talked about this before, but in this particular case, it was peer reviewed. It's in the New England Journal of Medicine. What is your take on where Moderna is and where we are in terms of the vaccine race?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, it's a small but important first step. I mean, you have basically 45 people who were tested. They were divided into three groups. One of the groups received the dose that will be the final dose.

So therefore, it's been tested in 15 people. And been shown to have, you know, a kind of immune response, so called neutralizing antibody response, which is at least compares favorably to the kind of neutralizing antibody response that you see after people are naturally infected. That's all good.

But, again, its 15 people who got the dose it's going to be the final dose. Let me tell you, let me take a step back and sort of tell you what worries me the most about this. This is a bat coronavirus that just made its debut in the human population. And already it's caused a series of clinical syndromes one would have never imagined.

I mean, this was a winter respiratory virus it now is raging in the summer months, raging in hot and humid climates. It causes this unusual multi organ, multi system disease in children. It can affect our ability to smell or affect our ability to taste through weeks, human coronaviruses don't do this or is in MERS didn't do this. And it also affects the lining of our blood vessels, so called endothelial cells which causes this hyper clotting syndrome that leads to things like COVID toes, you know, which looks like frostbite.

And that's only a few of the things that we've been surprised about to try and control this virus. And the only way to control this virus in the end is with a vaccine. We're using a number of vaccine strategies like the messenger RNA of Moderna or Pfizer, or the with J&J and AstraZeneca, the so called replication, defective, simian, and human adenoviruses for which there are no commercial equivalence in the United States. We have no experience with these vaccines in the population. So here we've tested this vaccine in essentially in 15 people that are going to get this dose. And we're talking about 500 million doses. I mean, can't we assume that over the next year or two, we are going to learn some things about this vaccine and this virus that we don't know now that we wish we knew now. So I wish we were just a little more cautious in our language.

KING: That's why and it's important because of the advice and the expertise you've given me over the last several months is to be very careful when a company starts bragging about a company, its own product. We have to be careful about that.

I want you to listen here. You just mentioned a year or two. This is a novel virus. You have experience working for decades trying to develop a vaccine. I want you to listen here to Dr. Fauci, who remember, Dr. Fauci was saying he was hoping by the end of this year by Christmas or early next year, we would have a workable vaccine. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: What we hope is that with a combination of people having already been exposed and a vaccine that's anywhere from 70, 75 percent effective that there will be a enough herd immunity. And I hope at that time will be reasonably soon. And when I say soon, I say within the next year to year and a half.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Walk us through this, the combination of, quote unquote, herd immunity and a vaccine that is at least moderately to hopefully better than that effective. Where are we?

OFFIT: So, I think Dr. Fauci is likely to be right. I mean, I think that we can get a vaccine that is 70 to 75 percent effective at preventing moderate to severe disease and at least in the short term, meaning for a year or two or three.

If that were true, if we had a vaccine that was 75 percent effective, there's actually a formula for this. Meaning, how much of the population do you need to immunize to stop spread and that depends on one, the contagiousness of the virus and two the effectiveness of the vaccine.

If we had a vaccine that was 75 percent effective, you would need to vaccinate about two-thirds of the population to stop spread. This is a population of more than 300 million people so you'd need to vaccinate about 200 million people plus in our country with a two dose vaccine. But I think with that we could stop spread.

KING: It could stop spread, but he says a year, year and a half.

OFFIT: Right. So I mean, it's obviously a distribution issue, it's a matter of getting that vaccine out and making sure that it's safe. And also remember, when we do a phase three trial, which will be a 30,000 person trial, we'll be able to say that at least it doesn't have a relatively uncommon side effect.

And we'll be able to say that it's effective to some extent in the short term, but we're only going to learn how long and how safe I think after these vaccines are already approved.

KING: Dr. Offit, again, appreciate your context and expertise as we walk through this one. Everybody wants a great answer. We're going to have to wait a little bit for it. And that context is important, Sir. Thank you very much.

It's a short time ago, the President walking a pretty fine line here public spat between his top infectious disease expert and the President's top trade adviser. Peter Navarro says in a new op ed published in "USA Today" that you at home should just not believe Dr. Fauci. Never mind Navarro has no personal medical experience. The President, well, he says this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:35:07]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I get along very well with Dr. Fauci. I have a very good relationship. Well, that Peter Navarro. But I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Read into that, as you wish, I guess.

Still had for us, Republican voters in Alabama and Texas give the President some love, meaning they voted for the candidates he backed.

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[12:40:00]

KING: The President gloating last night on Twitter after Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn football coach and political newcomer defeated the former senator and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Alabama. So Sessions has lost his chance to win his old Senate seat back and the President will not be conflicted in a race that is critical to GOP hopes of keeping its Senate Majority.

With us to share her reporting and her insights, POLITICO's Laura Barron-Lopez. So the drama of Trump and Sessions on the ballot together in Alabama is gone. Is there any other major takeaway here? Or is it just Jeff Sessions won't get his seat back and Republican voters stuck with Trump in Alabama?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Well, the interesting bit in the fall about this Senate race is that Tuberville, Trump's preferred candidate who, you know, totally annihilated Sessions is going to be facing Doug Jones, the Democrat in the fall, who won in 2017 in the special election. And so that's going to be very tight race and could ultimately determine who controls the Senate come next year. So right now polling is showing that that fall matchup is going to be very tight with Tuberville a bit in the lead. But also Doug Jones just announced today that with FEC filings that he has nearly 8.8 million on hand. So he has more cash on hand heading into the general.

KING: It'd be fascinated to watch. Someone play another victory if you want to call it that for the President last night was his former White House position, Ronny Jackson, won House primary in Texas. It's a Republican seat so it's more than likely that Ronny Jackson will be a congressman from Texas come January.

However, Laura, we know that the coronavirus is going to be a huge issue in this campaign. We know the Texas is going through, one of the state is going through a summer surge that is at least alarming. We'll see how they deal with it. Ronny Jackson, there are a lot of people playing a doctor on T.V. right now. Ronny Jackson is a doctor. And listen to him this morning on this question of masks on "Fox News".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RONNY JACKSON (R), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think wearing a mask is a personal choice and I don't particularly want my government telling me that I have to wear masks. So I think that's a choice that I can make. And I encourage people, they want to wear a mask to wear a mask, but I don't wear a mask all that often to be honest with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We can have the government rights mandate versus recommendation, but it's the last part. That's a medical professional. I don't wear a mask that often, to be honest with you. Mind blowing.

BARRON-LOPEZ: It is stunning during that every public health officials for both infectious disease experts are saying that the public should be wearing masks when they are not able to social distance of more than six feet. And Texas itself, the governor even reversed his policy from earlier this summer and recommended or actually mandated in certain elements, whether in terms of businesses that mask need to be worn.

So this is definitely -- coronavirus as you said, John, is something that we're going to be seen really be a big part of these congressional races from the House all the way up to the presidential race. And in the other House primaries last night, you know, Democrats got a lot of the candidates that they wanted.

And so Texas is very much looking as though Democrats could win more House seats there, than they did in 2018. And Joe Biden is increasingly looking at that state as potentially a swing state.

KING: Approaching the 100 day mark, it's going to be interesting politics amid a pandemic. It's a fascinating year. Laura Barron-Lopez from POLITICO, appreciate your insights. We'll talk again soon. Thanks so much.

[12:43:36]

Coming up for us, international perspective including this, Canada set to respond to the growing case count here in the United States by keeping the northern border closed even longer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Hong Kong is now facing a third wave of coronavirus infections. Health experts there blaming this on relaxing, the relaxing of social distancing guidelines. So they say a lot of the new cross infections are coming from restaurants where people take off their masks of course, more of the international headlines now from our global correspondents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well here in Moscow, Russian officials say a mandatory two-week quarantine for riding visitors will now be lifted. The latest move aimed at opening up this country. Instead, according to a decree posted by the health authorities, international travelers can bring in a negative coronavirus test result to the border or take a test within three days of arriving in Russia. Quarantine of course remains for anyone testing positive.

Last week, the Russian government suggested it would gradually restore international flights to several countries a list of 13 recommended nations was posted by the health authorities. The U.S. unfortunately was not one of them. But for some time now the lockdown on major cities in Russia like Moscow has been lifted. And Russians encouraged to return to normal life.

All this is the actual spread of coronavirus in Russia continues up nearly 6,500 cases in the last recorded 24-hour period, bringing to nearly 750,000 the total number of cases in Russia so far.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Israel coronavirus case are surging as the country is very much in its second wave. And is struggling to contain now, what it thought it had under control in mid May. New cases on a daily basis have surpassed a thousand on average.

[12:50:11]

In fact, the country hit a new record just two days ago of 1,780 new cases within a single day. And there have been a number of other days quite close to that number, according to the data from the Ministry of Health.

What's driving these new numbers? Well, according to the former public health director who resigned earlier this month, because she said the government was no longer listening to the health experts.

A lot of what's driving these new numbers, a considerable part, she says is the reopening of schools, which she says was done too quickly and without proper safety measures at the beginning of June. She says that's playing a big part in what's driving this surge this second wave of coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, there's bickering within the government over who's to blame. Is it Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has put himself front and center of trying to lead Israel through the coronavirus crisis? Or is it his coalition partners? What is clear is that according recent surveys public trust in the government and in Netanyahu is plummeting.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Ottawa, Canadian government sources tell CNN that the U.S.-Canada border will remain closed until at least August 21st.

Now it's already been closed since March. That's to all but essential traffic. It means that health care workers, truck drivers, flight crews, other essential personnel continues to cross back and forth without having to adhere by that strict 14-day quarantine here in Canada.

Now interesting here, Canadian public health officials say that they will be putting extra personnel at those land border crossings to make sure that people aren't showing any symptoms of COVID when they come in and to make sure that those that do have to adhere by that 14-day quarantine do so.

You know, the attitude here in Canada, the vast majority of people in poll saying that look, we want that border to remain closed. And Ontario Premier Doug Ford really echoing the thoughts have many saying, look, I love Americans. I just don't want to see them up here right now becoming very concerned about the reopening and the spiking cases in the United States.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Up next for us, the President intensifying his attacks on Joe Biden. This as some new poll numbers show a very big Biden lead in a critical swing state.

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[12:56:57]

KING: Joe Biden wishes the election were today. In a new Monmouth University poll out just today, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee holds a 13-point lead, look at that, 13-point lead over President Trump in Pennsylvania. That's among registered voters. President Trump, of course flipped Pennsylvania, from blue to red back in 2016.

Joining me now Matt Viser, national political reporter for The Washington Post. Matt, you look at these numbers, the election is not today, but this is yet another of the big swing states are not just that Biden has a healthy lead, but he's above 50 percent. The President is below that. And when you look at the fundamentals, especially handling of the coronavirus, the President at this moment is tanking.

MATT VISER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: And we talk a lot about independent voters. Biden has a 21-point lead in this survey. We talked about Trump's base and 12 percent of Republicans here are saying that they would vote for Joe Biden.

There's a lot for the Biden campaign to be excited about here. The warning sign I would say is that there were not all two different numbers for Hillary Clinton four years ago. Four months left in this election, the past four months have changed a lot and who knows what the next four months hold. So I think their challenge is to sort of keep this enthusiasm and this momentum going.

KING: Yes. And to do that at a time when you have to lay out more policies as the former Vice President did yesterday and that you have to make a giant decision. Let's start with the giant decision. I see, he said this about his search for a running mate.

And look, the guy was Vice President for eight years. He knows, he knows how this process works. And he knows what the job entails. We're getting closer he says. The background checks that have been done are coming to a conclusion within the next week or 10 days. We're going to go through all of that, narrow down the list and interview those folks who are left on the list.

So we are weeks away, right, from this critical decision.

VISER: Yes. And the convention is right around the corner for them. So it's certainly intensifying for the Biden campaign. He's not done a lot of interviews with some of these candidates. And I think that portion of this is going to be very important.

As he hinted last night, they're closing in on the background checks, those interviews and trying to figure out who he -- as he's put it is simpatico with, I think is the next big test for him in the campaign.

KING: And in a policy front, he was talking yesterday but he says, no, I'm not with the defund the police department movement. But we do need to have new priorities and new standards for policing to make it better for those, especially in communities of color.

And you wrote yesterday about his big speech on climate, which is Joe Biden's not known as a, you know, a liberal, per se. He's more from the centrist part of the party. But a very progressive plan that has the Republican saying today, it's all taxes, it's Bernie Sanders, it's AOC, et cetera.

VISER: I mean, it's a huge shift for Biden, who's been a moderate most of his career. And is now sort of responding to both the energy inside his party as well as what he views as an economic infusion that needs to be made come January when he walks me in the White House. So it's a certainly different Biden and we're going to be see -- interested in see how that plays out.

KING: Shifting through July. As you mentioned, the convention is around the corner. We do have politics to cover amid all this.

[13:00:00]

Matt Viser, appreciate your reporting and insights today. Appreciate your time today as well, this busy News Day. We'll see you back here this time tomorrow. Don't go anywhere.

Busy news day, Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage right now.