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New Day

Coronavirus Vaccines and Treatments; Georgia Secretary of State Rebukes Calls to Resign; Supreme Court to Consider Obamacare; Difficulties of Vaccine Distribution. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 10, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He's also a member of the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Committee.

So, Dr. Offit, you're the perfect person to talk to.

Do you agree with Dr. Fauci's timeline and when he says that this vaccine, if all goes well, could be available for some people even this year, before January 1st? Who -- who would be getting it? When would regular people be able to get this vaccine?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER AT CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, I think it is possible. I mean what you have is first that the -- the company is going to have to submit their data to the FDA. The FDA will then turn to the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Committee, which will make a decision about whether we would approve this vaccine. Then the -- the -- the data also go to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practice at the CDC, which will meet, I think, within a day of our making a decision. And then the vaccine technically could -- could roll off the assembly line into the arms of the American people.

I think the people who are going to be first line to get it are going to be health care workers, other -- other essential workers like those transportation, or education, or law enforcement, people over 65, people with certain high risk medical conditions. They'll be the first line.

But if you actually just add up all those people, it adds up to about 150 million people for a two dose vaccine, and that's three -- you know, roughly 300 million doses. The number of doses the company has said would be available by the end of the year is about 50 million.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Obviously 90 percent effective, if this turns out to be true, is -- is such a terrific number, it's such a terrific finding because it really can help push the virus out if enough people take the vaccine.

There are some characteristics of the Pfizer vaccine which make it more complicated. It is two doses. It does need to be kept at incredibly low temperatures. I know there is also optimism, although we don't have data yet, from

some of the other vaccine trials. How much of an impact would it have if these other vaccines show the same efficacy?

OFFIT: Right. I think actually the most important thing about the Pfizer data is it really validates the strategy. The strategy is that you take a gene, in this case the gene that codes for the coronavirus surface protein, the spike protein. You then inject the gene into the person. And then the person makes these coronavirus spike protein. And then the person makes antibodies to the spike protein. We've really never done that strategy before. But that's the strategy that's being used by Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca. So it validates that approach. It's not one we -- with which we have much -- or any commercial experience. So I think that's the best news here, that that does seem to work. The animal models were, as it turns out, predictive.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about the antibody therapy, that it sounds like really helped President Trump when he got sick. So Eli Lilly has this anti-body therapy. What we know about it, it's for patients with mild to moderate symptoms, one infusion for each patient, effective for at least one month, possibly eight weeks. So is this a game changer in that, you know, we're right now, when you have mild symptoms, you're told to just hunker down in your bedroom and not do anything and, you know, not go to the hospital until your breathing gets really bad. And so if you could take something right then and there, would that be a game changer?

OFFIT: I think the two game changers are hygienic measures and vaccines. I mean that's the most powerful tools that we have. I think, you know, as Ben Franklin said, an ounce of prevention is worth an pound of cure. You really would rather prevent this disease rather than try and treat it once it's happened because once it's already -- the virus is already replicating in you, then you develop an immune response. You really have to treat very fairly early in the disease process to make a difference. It's much better to just prevent this.

BERMAN: Yes, one of the thing that's clear, is for all the optimism we have about the vaccines now, we've got to get throughout these months. I mean this news is all the more reason to wear the mask and be careful over the next few months so that we can get to the point where we all get vaccines.

Dr. Offit, thank you for what you do. Thank you for your time this morning. Really appreciate it.

OFFIT: Thank you.

BERMAN: Developing this morning, long time Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat has died. He was suffering from coronavirus. He was being treated at a hospital in Jerusalem. Erekat served as chief negotiator for the Palestinians for decades of talks with the Israelis. He pushed for a two state solution to the Middle East conflict. He was secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and a close ally of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Erekat was just 65 years old. Georgia's Republican secretary of state says there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud there. None. The Republican lieutenant governor told us the same thing yesterday. But the Republican senators in that state who are both in tight re-election battles headed to runoffs are trying to get the Republican secretary of state to resign. Politics at play, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:41]

BERMAN: All right, developing this morning, Georgia's Republican secretary of state is rebuking calls from the state's two Republican senators. They want him to resign. Why? Because his office counted the votes in Georgia. That's all they did. They counted the votes in Georgia. And his office says they found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. But that's not what the Republican senators there want to hear.

Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, whose races appear to be headed toward a January runoff, they cite these non-existent failures in the election process, citing no evidence, and said the secretary of state should resign.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst Seung Min Kim. She's a White House reporter for "The Washington Post," and Brittany Shepherd, national political reporter for "Yahoo News."

Seung Min, I actually don't think the specifics in Georgia matter as much as the overall statement. You have Republican senators up for election now feeling like they have to condemn the vote count. If they don't condemn the presidential vote count in Georgia, they're worried they could get sideways with President Trump and that could cost them the election.

What are you seeing there?

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's hard to see what the strategy is. You're right, beyond, perhaps, the base stoking strategy in Georgia. I mean we know that the two Senate runoffs in Georgia, the Senate majority hinges on these two critical races.

[06:40:06]

And the race is instantly nationalized. What you're hearing from Democrats right now is that if you want President-elect Biden's agenda accomplished, then vote for the Democrats in Georgia. Republicans are saying, if you want us to be a firewall against Democratic policies, against what Republicans would call socialist policies, then vote for us. So it all depends on getting the base excited, getting the base motivated, getting those Trump voters who are -- who, you know, came out, you know -- you know, in droves for Trump in Georgia. The president has only narrowly lost that race. It's all about -- it all seems to be about keeping that base excited, even if it's going after your own Republican secretary of state, even if you are alleging fraud without any evidence. You know, Senator Purdue's race was very close. We saw that number go,

you know, above 50 at time. The level that he would need to avoid a runoff. And it ticked down, you know, a little bit until it reached -- until it reached below the 50 percent threshold. But, otherwise, I mean, the attacks on their own Republican secretary of state can't be seen as anything more than perhaps just a line behind what President Trump and what his campaign is doing right now.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, Brittany, that's how I see it is that they also take their tone from the top. And so we're in this period where, you know, never admit defeat, find a fall guy, even if it's a fall guy from your own party, blame somebody else if you didn't hit the threshold or you didn't win your election. I mean the things they say in the statement, I don't want to read the whole thing, but their -- their reasons are -- I mean here -- Georgians are outraged, and rightly so. Every legal vote cast should be counted. Any illegal vote must not. Yes. We know that. That's how they normally do it.

And even the statement from the secretary of state, the Republican secretary of state, he says, the voters of Georgia hired me and the voters will be the one to fire me. As secretary of state, I'll continue to fight every day to ensure fair elections in Georgia that every legal vote counts and that illegal votes down the count. As a Republican, I am concerned about Republicans keeping the U.S. Senate. I recommend that senators Loeffler and Perdue start focusing on that.

So, where are we?

BRITTANY SHEPHERD, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "YAHOO NEWS": I mean, Alisyn, that joint statement really does read like a Trump tweet, right? I mean I'm not sure if the Republican strategy in Georgia is as sharp as they think it is. It's a weapon that can very easily be brandished against them. It's very difficult for Republicans rite large to fundraise off of being a sore loser as opposed to any of the Republican wins they've seen nationally, putting in Amy Coney Barrett in the 11th hour.

And what's so head scratching to me is that for the last, you know, let's say four weeks, and especially in the last week, we hear from the president and from some of these Republicans that you can't trust the results. You know, right in Georgia, they're sowing disinformation about the vote count. Well, what happens if there's a runoff and there's a narrow win in their favor? So many folks in their own base who voted for Trump, we know Trump and Biden are within a percentage point in that national race, already are distrustful of the process. And it's going to be very hard to get those same folks to be heartened, to be trusted for the process if it goes within their favor.

And like I said, it's a weapon that the Democrats can very easily turn up against them. And, you know, I'm curious who's going to be going down to Georgia in these next couple of weeks during this lame duck period. Doubtful that the president is actually going to leave. We haven't really heard much of him in the last couple days. And I do wonder, without that support from the top, is this all just kind of flailing? BERMAN: Seung Min, you've covered Mitch McConnell for years. And one

of the things that's been explained to me over the last 24 hours is that Mitch McConnell's support of the president actually has to do with Georgia. Mitch McConnell is concerned about depressing support among the base for the president or turning the president off from being involved in the Georgia runoff. So McConnell's being careful there. McConnell also, I'm told, thinks that the courts are going to decide this soon.

But my question to you is, where does -- I'm not sure I fully understand where this does stop, where the Republicans giving the president a long leash now, where does it stop and how can they be sure it will?

KIM: Well, sources close to McConnell have told "The Washington Post" that once it becomes clear that Trump has indeed lost the election, that McConnell will make it clear that he believes Trump should move on, that vice president -- or President-elect Biden should go on with the business of transition and with governing. But when does that point come? When does that point come from Mitch McConnell and from most of the Senate Republican conference because what we saw yesterday, McConnell had been pretty quiet in terms of the president, you know, contesting the results and arguing over Twitter.

[06:45:07]

But yesterday's speech on the Senate floor really was an escalation of that rhetoric. And it's what we discussed earlier, he needs to keep that base motivated all -- it's all about January 5th and that date of the Georgia Senate runoffs. I asked several Republican sources yesterday whether Trump will campaign for Senator's Loeffler and Perdue in Georgia. The answers unclear. Does the president want to get involved when, you know, ultimately a Republican -- he's not going to be around to enjoy a Republican Senate. But it sort of -- Mitch McConnell, just think of it in the frame as January 5th. All about that Georgia runoff.

CAMEROTA: I mean the interesting thing, Seung Min, is that if Mitch McConnell is waiting for it to be clear that President Trump lost the presidential election, it's clear. It's clear. I mean just buy a calculator, get an abacus. It's clear right now.

Seung Min, Brittany, thank you both very, very much.

OK, developing this morning, CNN has learned that many more migrant children than previously known have not yet been reunited with their families after the U.S. government separated them at the border at Mexico. The ACLU says their lawyers are trying, as they have been, to locate the parents of 666 children. That's more than the 545 children that we reported on because that is what was disclosed in a court filing last month.

We will stay on this story.

The U.S. Supreme Court takes up its most important case of the term today on Obamacare. Health care for millions of Americans hangs in the balance. We have a preview, next.

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[06:50:40]

BERMAN: In just hours, a critical moment at the Supreme Court with health care for millions hanging in the balance. The high court now with this clear 6-3 conservative majority will hear arguments on the Affordable Care Act.

CNN's Ariane de Vogue live in Washington.

Really, Obamacare does hang in the balance, Ariane.

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Right. It's the third time the court has heard a challenge to the Affordable Care Act. But, John, this time it's different because it's coming in the middle of a pandemic. And the health care of millions of Americans is at mistake. And make no mistake about it, the Trump administration and Republican- led states believe the entire law should fall.

Walk back just a minute to see how we got here. Remember, in 2012, it was Chief Justice John Roberts, he saved the law and justified it under Congress' taxing power. But then in 2017, Congress moved to bring that tax penalty down to zero. So long time critics raced back to court and they said, look, the whole law should fall. It seemed farfetched, but a district court agreed.

So now, today, we've got the Democrats who will be in court. Democratic-led states, as well as a lawyer for the House of Representatives. And they'll say, this is what's at stake. The individual mandate, they believe, is constitutional. But they'll say, even if you think that that should fall, severe it out from the rest of the law because this sprawling 900-page law, it has provisions to protect people with pre-existing conditions, it expands Medicaid. It even has smaller provisions, like allowing your child to stay on your health care program for longer into young adulthood.

So all eyes and ears today will be on Trump's nominees, particularly Amy Coney Barrett. Because, remember, during her confirmation hearing, the Democrats grilled her on her position on this law. And it's clear that when she was a law professor, she questioned the constitutionality of it. But what will be key today is to see how far she thinks the court should go. Should it just strike down this individual mandate and let the rest of the law stand? That's what we're going to be watching for or listening for in court today, John.

BERMAN: You say listening for. And you can hear it because, obviously, because of the pandemic, it's over the phone. You can dial in and listen to a Supreme Court case. Some day we'll get cameras in there for real.

Ariane de Vogue, thank you very much.

We will be listening for sure. State health officials pleading for guidance this morning as they prepare to distribute the most fragile vaccine in history. We're going to explain the difficulties of getting this coronavirus vaccine to millions of people, next.

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[06:57:28]

CAMEROTA: Developing this morning, state health officials are warning that they are overwhelmed and daunted by the handling requirements for Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more.

Elizabeth, that's a problem. I mean it's one thing to get great news about a vaccine, but if the people who have to distribute it feel overwhelmed, what's the -- what's the upshot here?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. That's a problem. And so that's why there is such intense planning going on right now, Alisyn.

Now, why is this such a difficult vaccine to distribute? It's because it is the most fragile vaccine ever used or currently used in the United States. So much more fragile than other vaccine that we have.

Let's take a look at the numbers that explain why.

This vaccine, the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer, has to be kept at minus 75 degrees Celsius. That's equivalent to minus 103 degrees Fahrenheit. That is a full 50 degrees Celsius colder than any other vaccine that's used in the United States. And doctor's offices and pharmacies don't have freezers that go that low. So the solution is these custom made thermal shippers. That's what they're being called. They're kind of the size of a suitcase. And that means that doctors and nurses have to be procuring dry ice and replenishing that shipper with dry ice, which is something that they are not accustom to doing.

So Pfizer, on October 15th, had a webinar where they laid out all of these requirements. One state health manager told me -- immunization manager told me that she texted a colleague who was on the webinar and said, how are we going to do this? And the colleague texted back just exploding head emoji.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, that's telling.

COHEN: It is.

CAMEROTA: Elizabeth, please keep us posted on that. Really appreciate that.

COHEN: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: All right, NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump refused to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden. Some in the president's inner circle are telling him to keep fighting.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): President Trump is 100 percent within his rights to look into allegations.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT ELECT FOR THE U.S.: This election is over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the U.S., this virus is spreading at record rates.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think that we are going to continue to go up in terms of the newly diagnosed infections and sadly people who will die.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: We're well over 100,000. And that is really something that is unfortunate. Having said that, it is not too late to turn that around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

CAMEROTA: All right, it's time for us to stop -- stop talking to each other and start talking to the viewers.

[07:00:02]

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

President-elect Biden is preparing for a legal battle against.