Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

FDA Could Authorize Vaccine; Charter School Night School; Azar Met with Transition Team; Biden Cabinet Picks. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 09, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:53]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. GUSTAVE PERNA, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: Upon EUA, Emergency Use Authorization, which will be determined by the FDA, we will start moving vaccines within 24 hours.

We will start to have shots in arms within 96 hours of EUA. That's what I believe with all my heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, that's Operation Warp Speed's timeline once the FDA authorizes Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. Elderly people in long term care facilities and health care workers will be the first to get the shots.

Joining us now is Rick Gates, he's the senior vice president of pharmacy and health care at Walgreens, one of the pharmacies tasked with disputing these vaccines, or I should say injecting the vaccines.

Mr. Gates, thanks so much for being here.

So help us understand this. If tomorrow all goes well and the FDA authorizes this emergency use, then they send out the vaccine supply to governors and to the states. O what day are you planning for Walgreens to begin injecting people?

RICK GATES, SENIOR VP OF PHARMACY AND HEALTHCARE, WALGREENS: Yes, first of all, thanks for having me on this morning. It's certainly a pleasure to be here.

We've been working very closely with the states, who, as you stated, are the ones that will determine prioritization and where we're going to go. So we're working very closely with the governors and their staff to really say, where do you want us to go when you get the vaccine and then how do we ensure that we're getting to the well over 30,000 long term care facilities that have signed up for Walgreens to administer vaccines.

CAMEROTA: But, I mean, if I do the math, in 96 hours, are you planning to do this on Monday?

GATES: Well, it will be following the approval from the FDA. Obviously, when states have it, we'll be in long term care facilities within one to two days tops to start vaccinating those that are in need, obviously.

CAMEROTA: OK, so you're ready to go next week.

And does this require beefing up employees and your staff? Do you have to hire people in order to do this?

GATES: You know, we've been working on a plan, obviously, to support all the different states that we're working with. You know, with so many long term care facilities that have selected Walgreens, we have to, obviously, work through logistics of getting the frozen vaccines, as an example, out there. We do -- very commonly do about off-site clinics, I'm sorry, about 150,000 we've over the last five years.

[08:35:02]

So off-sight clinics to long term care facilities are things that we do very consistently. So we may have to beef up in certain areas, but we do feel very confident in the plan that we have to support the states in the long term care facilities that we've agreed to participate with.

CAMEROTA: OK, but you're saying that at the moment you feel you have enough employees?

GATES: I would say that there are areas that we are absolutely staffing up to ensure that we can appropriately and safely administer vaccine to the long term care facilities.

CAMEROTA: OK. So you guys are tasked with the nursing homes, long term care facilities --

GATES: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Not getting them to the health care workers. The hospitals will handle that part?

GATES: You know, for the most part, I think the states are determining where we're leaning in or not. I think that, by and large, you're hearing us working with long term care facilities. There are some states that are asking for assistance with health care workers. So, obviously, we're working in coordination with them to -- to assist where we can.

CAMEROTA: OK. When you game this out, and we just heard from the secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, that it's possible that the general public, people in the general public, could even start getting the vaccinations as early as March, how many people do you think will be coming through Walgreens a day at that time and is that how it will work, you go up to the pharmacist's counter, as we do now with the flu shot, or will it be, you know, in a tent outside or how will that work in March? GATES: You know, we're, again, working with states to understand the

allocations that they're going to receive. I think Secretary Azar said that there's going to be vaccine coming out very consistently over that timeline. Once they have vaccine available, we will work with the states on the prioritization that they have made. And, obviously, then make sure that we are scheduling appointments with those that are eligible for the vaccine when it does become more widely available.

So we will have to still work through ensuring that we have a safe and effective way to vaccinate Americans, but it's also following state guidelines that they would have for prioritization.

CAMEROTA: You're imagining that people would have to call for an appointment first?

GATES: Yes, it would be a call. It would be a -- we're creating online apps, ways that we can actually have them sign up online. We can verify their eligibility and then schedule them times, not only for their first shot, but also for the subsequent shot to ensure they have serious completion where it's necessary.

CAMEROTA: OK. It's going to be a big undertaking. Thank you very much for explaining to us what we're going to see in we hope the next few days.

Rick Gates, thanks for being here.

GATES: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: There's a solution now for students who cannot log on for virtual classes during the day because their parents are at work. We'll show you what they've come up with, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:41:38]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Remote learning can be such a challenge for parents, especially essential workers who can't be there to monitor and oversee their children online during school hours. One New Jersey charter school has now developed an unusual solution.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL HODGE, ENROLLED DAUGHTER IN KINDERGARTEN NIGHT SCHOOL: It's been really hard doing this on my own.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice over): For single mother Rachel Hodge, every day is a juggling act.

HODGE: Trying to make ends meet and being able to go to school to further my education.

GOLODRYGA: In addition to raising two daughters, Hodge works full-time as a housekeeper in a hospital and is studying online to be a social worker. So when both of her daughters' schools in Newark, New Jersey, announced they would continue fully virtual instruction for the fall semester, Hodge knew something had to give.

HODGE: I really didn't know how I was going to do this.

GOLODRYGA: Five-year-old Vanessa was due to start kindergarten at the Kip (ph) Thrive Academy, but with her mother at work all day, the only available child care came in the form of a day care center. Logging into class was not an option.

HODGE: At the end of the day, education is what really matters. I was upset with myself that I had to sacrifice her education so I could be able to work.

GOLODRYGA: Vanessa missed school almost every day. And she wasn't alone.

MEREDITH EGER, KINDERGARTEN TEACHER: We had a few scholars that were absent majority of September and almost all of October.

GOLODRYGA: Meredith Eger is a new kindergarten teacher this year at the Kip Charter School System. She has yet to meet her students in person.

EGER: Vanessa, can you come off mute and tell us our Zoom classroom rules.

GOLODRYGA: At the start of the school year, she still hadn't met many online, either.

EGER: They needed something to help those kids that were absent.

You got it.

GOLODRYGA: So Kip launched a kindergarten night school, a separate class from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., in addition to teaching kindergarten during regular school day hours.

EGER: So, good evening.

GOLODRYGA: For those students, or scholars as they're called at Kip, who couldn't be online during the day. Eleven have signed up so far, including Vanessa.

EGER: Vanessa, can you tell us who you wrote hello to?

GOLODRYGA: Even if the hours aren't normal --

EGER: I see you're in the car, so don't worry about it.

GOLODRYGA: The instruction is.

EGER: Does anyone remember? Vanessa, what is it?

GOLODRYGA: And it's made a huge difference for families like Hodges. HODGE: It kind of alleviated a lot of the stress and anxiety and also

my worries of, is she getting the adequate quality education that a kindergartner should be able to get.

GOLODRYGA: With crucial life skills beyond just academics.

EGER: It's how they're learning how to go to school, how to make friends.

GOLODRYGA: Studies also show a quality kindergarten education can have a big impact on college attendance and earnings later in life, which is why declines in kindergarten enrollment across the country during the coronavirus pandemic are especially alarming, and forcing schools to think outside the box to get kids online for class.

GOLODRYGA: So nine, ten weeks in, how is this experiment going so far?

EGER: I think it's going great. The second we started evening learning program, they have not missed one day.

GOLODRYGA: It's been an adjustment having kids do their schools when they would usually be getting ready for bed.

EGER: And it's getting close to time to bedtime and everything, so I definitely want to try and keep them moving.

GOLODRYGA: But there are also some silver linings.

EGER: I see a lot more parents sitting with their scholars at night because they're home.

[08:45:01]

HODGE: So it works out really well. She's really independent. All I have to pretty much do for her is log onto the computer.

GOLODRYGA: While Hodge is anxious for schools to reopen, she's grateful that thanks to some creative, unconventional thinking, her little scholar can still attend kindergarten.

VANESSA (ph): I'm fine doing it on the computer because I get to stay home. Well, I'm learning a lot more in kindergarten.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA (on camera): Just proof that kids are so quick to adjust.

And, you know, John, we wanted to do this story because we've spent months focusing on the struggles that families have had logging into school, logging on when the parents are at work and trying to manage everything at once. Now we wanted to focus on some of the solutions. And this was one of them. Yes, it's mostly parents who typically go to night school, but, look, kindergartens can do this, too. We found a school district in Georgia that is doing similar things. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but these kids thrive when they are with their peers. And if we can think of ideas as a country that can help get them there, that's going to make it all that much better.

BERMAN: You are so right, Bianna. And I have to say, focusing on the solution is so important. We have to figure out a way to make this work.

Thank you so much for your reporting.

GOLODRYGA: Sure. Sure.

BERMAN: So, moments ago, Alisyn Camerota breaking some very important news, a big step from a key member of the Trump administration toward the presidential transition.

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:32]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: And I've already met with the Biden transition team. We want to make sure they get everything that they need. And, of course, I will be in touch with him, as is appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That was news. As far as we know, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar is the first cabinet level official to meet with the Biden transition team, or at least the first to admit it out loud.

Let's get "The Bottom Line" with CNN political analyst David Gregory.

It was very interesting to hear that Azar, just a couple days ago, with Chris Wallace, was still speaking in the conditional, like, oh, well, if Joe Biden wins, we're not quite sure yet. Today he was like, oh, yes, I met with the transition officials. It's a step.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, and it's a relief. And it's shocking that we have to pay attention to it to the extent that we are, right, because we're in the middle of a pandemic and the fact that a senior cabinet official responsible for dealing with the pandemic is finally meeting with the transition, the fact that that's news is shocking. But it's important for two reasons to me. One, it's the critical work of the transition, especially as you're now moving to this incredible next phase about the vaccine coordination, how the government is going to roll that out. That becomes very important work.

And all of the liaison work with the states around measures, response measures, testing, et cetera, when we're in the winter with cases going up at such an alarming rate, all of that's really important.

I think the other thing that's important is that it's happening really despite the president. You know, the president is off, very irresponsible, acting in a way that is -- shows such disrespect for the presidency, for the office of the presidency, by carrying on with this absurd attack on the election, while those, you know, more responsible members of his administration are doing the work of transition, which just has to happen for the American people.

CAMEROTA: Here's a graphic of the cabinet picks of Joe Biden as we know them thus far. The big question mark we see there is for attorney general. We expect that might come next week.

But, in the meantime, the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, seems to be possibly encountering a bumpy road ahead. What do you see?

GREGORY: Yes, I mean, I see it -- you know, you always see this in cabinet picks. We're kind of getting back to regular order where there's controversy around cabinet picks and not something more startling that we've been dealing with in the Trump world.

But, you know, for General Austin to get that waiver since he was recently in the military, now seems like kind of a, you know, a small point, but it's not a small point. The idea of civilian leadership at the Pentagon is considered a bedrock foundation. The waiver was given so easily to Jim Mattis because, I think, Democrats and Republicans felt like, oh, my gosh, you've got to have somebody with that kind of experience around Donald Trump. And so they rushed to do it.

I think here you're even seeing Democrats like Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who said at the time that should never be done again. We'll see if he sticks to that under this case. But there doesn't seem to be a critical reason to do it.

He also has ties to Raytheon, the defense contractor. I think there's a lot of people in Democratic circles who celebrate the fact that this is, you know, an amazing note of diversity to have an African-American man run the Pentagon. At the same time you have someone like Michele Flournoy, a woman, who's been passed over several times. And I think there's some feeling among the allies of the president-elect and Democrats who are just looking at the full landscape and saying, hey, you know, women are not getting their due here completely, as there's also attention toward other kinds of diversity, which will make the AG pick even more important.

BERMAN: Yes, you know, it turns out, when you put that up on the screen here, all the picks, I mean this is becoming quite complicated. It often does, David. You've noted it's never easy to assemble a cabinet. But there are some challenges here. The Lloyd Austin thing's not a done deal. It's got to now pass both the House and the Senate and be confirmed. The AG pick still unknown.

Marcia Fudge to be secretary of Health -- Housing and Urban Development isn't the place that Jim Clyburn and others wanted to see her. They wanted to see her in agriculture but there was a need to get a African-American woman in the cabinet and Marcia Fudge clearly qualified for many things given her role in the House. But this is a delicate balance. They're having some issues here. GREGORY: Well, they're also have to think about who can get through

the Senate, right? And I think that's not an easy deal. And I think this will be -- you know, we've talked in recent days about, you know, the strength of Biden as a legislative tactician and a Washington hand, can he -- can he work with McConnell and others?

[08:55:08]

This will be an early test of that on how these cabinet picks go. And, you know, I think they -- they didn't do a great job in waiting on the big four, you know, that we've -- we've spent time on. They named Tony Blinken as secretary of state, but clearly attorney general and at defense there was a lot of thinking going on. And I think they should have been ready to roll that out because that's where a lot of the attention will be on diversity.

And, you know, the AG pick is always complicated for a president because as much as we think that Donald Trump went overboard in trying to pick somebody who would only protect him, the truth is that presidents do want somebody who is going to be an ally, even though the AG is independent. So there's a lot of thought going into that and you would have to presume there's different camps, shall we say, who are doing a lot of lobbying right now about who should get that job.

BERMAN: David Gregory, thank you very much.

GREGORY: You're welcome.

BERMAN: A lot going on this morning.

CNN's coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:00]