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Ellen DeGeneres Says She's Tested Positive for COVID-19; FDA Meets on Pfizer's Vaccine as U.S. Reports Deadliest Day; NYT: Trump & Friends Received Medical Treatment Others Could Not. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired December 10, 2020 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:33:26]
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: We are getting more breaking news on the COVID front. Comedian and talk-show host, Ellen DeGeneres, just announced she has tested positive for COVID-19.
Let's go straight to Stephanie Elam in Los Angeles.
Stephanie, my goodness, Ellen was lovely enough to have me on her show after I was sick back in April. She was warm and generous. To hear this, we wish her and Portia well.
What are you hearing about how bad it is and the impact on the show?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. It's scary when you hear someone that is so beloved gets sick. Everyone wants everyone to be well.
But let me tell you exactly what Ellen tweeted out. And this is how we got the news, from her Twitter.
She wrote, quote, "Hi, everyone. I want to let you all know I tested positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, I'm feeling fine right now. Anyone who has been in close contact with me has been notified. I am following all proper CDC guidelines. I'll see you all again after the holidays. Please stay healthy and safe. Love, Ellen."
We know she has been broadcasting her syndicated show since September, and they've been using COVID protocols to do so.
What we don't know at this point is whether or not her wife since 2008, Portia de Rossi, has tested positive or not. It is unclear about that.
What I can tell you is that a statement from Telepictures - and I should not here that Warner Brothers Television is part of Telepictures, just like CNN is.
They did give us a statement saying, following Ellen's announcement this morning that they've paused production on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" until January.
The last original episode aired yesterday. They're going to be in repeats until January.
[13:35:01]
So hopefully, that gives Ellen plenty of time to recover, get back on her feet, and resume life as normal as you have -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: Yes. Rest, hydrate, Tylenol. Hopefully, she has it. My lungs were OK. So many people fared so much worse.
ELAM: Yes.
BALDWIN: We wish her and Portia well.
Stephanie Elam, thank you.
Breaking news. In a couple of hours, an FDA panel will vote on whether America's first COVID vaccine will move forward. What's at stake and the challenges that remain? We'll break it down next.
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BALDWIN: Right now, a major day towards possibly seeing an end to the pandemic. A critical FDA meeting is taking place right now to consider granting emergency use authorization for the first coronavirus vaccine for Americans.
Once the vaccine is ready to go, a CDC official said during today's hearing, a new system will be in place on day one to monitor the safety of those who get the vaccine.
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DR. NANCY MESSONNIER, DIRECTOR, CDC NATIONAL CENTER FOR IMMUNIZATION & RESPIRATORY DISEASES: CDC has set up a new system called Be Safe. It is an active surveillance tool that uses text messaging to monitor vaccine recipients' adverse events. Recipients complete intermittent surveys for six to up to 12 months following vaccination.
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BALDWIN: Let's get to internist and E.R. physician, Dr. Amesh Adalja, who is also a senior scholar at John Hopkins University Center for Health Security.
Dr. Adalja, nice to see you again.
In terms of the big historic meeting today, what specifically are you listening for after the recommendation?
DR. AMESH ADALJA, INTERNIST & E.R. PHYSICIAN & SENIOR SCHOLAR, CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY, JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: I'm listening to see if there are any concerns they have regarding the data. If everything looks complete -- and it does on my analysis but I would like to hear what the vaccine advisory group thinks.
I'd like to hear how they're going to address the issue of whether we should try and exhaust our supply of single doses and then come back to second dose or just vaccinate everybody with two doses. That's a big debate.
I want to see what kind of guidance they may offer regarding allergic reactions we heard about in two cases from United Kingdom. Is there going to be specific guidance for doctors to use when talking to patients about that.
There are a lot of little intricacies about how this decision will be made, what kind of guidance the FDA and the CDC will issue that I'm really looking to see.
BALDWIN: Those are two great points.
Let's start on the first one about, will everyone get one dose, therefore, more people can be vaccinated round one, or are you guaranteed a second dose? That would be fewer vaccines going around, depending on how many individuals they get to.
What do you think would be the smartest strategy?
ADALJA: It is a hard question to answer. There's a lot of debate going on about this. We're in a public health emergency. We had 3,000 people die yesterday.
There are some states, I'm already seeing some guidance from hospitals I am on staff, saying we're going to exhaust our supply of health care workers with a single dose and then we'll assume we have a second dose.
Because there is some data from the Pfizer vaccine that shows, after a single dose, especially after seven days, after that single dose, you probably have 80, 85 percent efficacy.
It may not last as long as getting two doses but it might be something we have to think about because we don't have enough doses to go around.
It will be scarce even with health care workers and nursing home residents.
So this is something that's on the table and should be on the table because we're in an emergency.
BALDWIN: The FDA, Dr. Adalja, could revoke the emergency authorization at any moment, like if something goes wrong.
What would have to happen for that to be the case?
ADALJA: Usually, there would have to be a safety signal that was really strong. You have to remember that there's this risk-benefit ratio, that we have a strong risk of COVID-19 in the community, killing people every day. It's putting hospitals into crisis.
Then you have the benefit of the vaccine. Then you have to weigh whatever the risk signal is.
Is it some generalized side effect that's occurring that didn't show up in trials? That's very, very worrisome. Is it occurring in a large group of the population or is it people with certain risk factors?
That type of thing would have to happen to revoke an EUA.
We haven't really seen EUAs revoked other than Hydroxychloroquine. And that was kind of a special EUA because it was already an approved drug.
So I suspect it will probably not see any revocation. I think this is a safe and effective vaccine, from all I have seen. And I think it will be one of the keys to ending the pandemic.
BALDWIN: Great.
What about pregnant women, Dr. Adalja? The panel today heard from a CDC official on how COVID impacts pregnant women. Listen to this.
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ARON HALL, CHIEF OF RESPIRATORY VIRUSES BRANCH, CDC: We have been closely monitoring impacts of COVID-19 in pregnant women and subsequently following up with their infants. The risk has been relatively low thus far.
The early indication is that there may be a higher risk of preterm delivery among pregnant women infected with COVID-19 relative to women without COVID-19.
But there's ongoing efforts to assess those and other potential pregnancy related risks and fetal outcomes.
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BALDWIN: Listening to that, for all of the pregnant women paying attention, is it unlikely any vaccine at this point would be given to pregnant women?
ADALJA: I do think it is not going to be in the first tier. We have seen mixed data on how pregnancy impacts COVID-19 but it doesn't seem to be as severe as influenza and pregnancy, where pregnant women are high-priority groups for vaccination.
[13:44:59]
And you have to remember that these clinical trials did not include pregnant women. Although some got pregnant, and there wasn't any kind of side effect or issue in that group. But they're going to study them more.
So I don't think pregnant women will be included in the initial tier of vaccination. There are likely going to be more studies that are done.
I think, based on the technology, these mRNA vaccines, I don't see a biological reason that pregnant women shouldn't be able to get them.
So I think it is important to get data, study this in pregnant women, and then to vaccinate pregnant women just as we vaccinate other individuals. Because there is some signal that they might be at higher risk for complications.
BALDWIN: All such important information we're all taking in.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, thank you for your expertise and the answers. Appreciate it.
ADALJA: Thank you.
BALDWIN: As hospitals across the country ration special COVID care, certain medications, the president's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is heard to be bragging about getting access to a coronavirus drug cocktail, calling himself a celebrity. We'll talk to an expert in medical ethics who says something is not quite right here.
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[13:50:25]
BALDWIN: As the nation is waiting for a decision today from the FDA about Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, the "New York Times" is drawing attention to people in President Trump's inner circle who have been treated for COVID, and specifically the type of medical attention they received, attention that most of us do not get.
Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was just released from the hospital yesterday after his COVID-positive diagnosis. He boasted about the drugs he got, some of the same ones as President Trump.
He told one radio station, and I'm quoting him, "If it was up to me, I wouldn't have been put in a hospital, frankly. Sometimes when you're a celebrity, they're worried if something happens to you, they're going to examine it more carefully and do everything right."
All right. So how did he and the likes of Chris Christie and Ben Carson get to the head of the line when hospitals across the country are literally rationing these specific drugs.
Art Caplan is the director of medical ethics at NYU's Langone Medical Center and he's a professor of bioethics at NYU's School of Medicine.
Art Caplan, good to see you, sir. How are you?
ART CAPLAN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Very good. Hey, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Listen, obviously, and I know for you, me, we want everyone in this country to get the best level of care when it comes to COVID, the latest and best medications. But when you read about certain states in particular are forced to ration these special COVID drugs that are in short supply, and yet you have good friends of the president who seem to be getting access to them, what do you make of that?
CAPLAN: It's wrong. It's flat-out wrong. It's unethical and it shouldn't be going on.
We could make the case that the president is an essential worker and we'll bump him up to the top of some list.
But when you have people rationing scarce drugs, antibodies, when you have people rationing beds in certain places around the country, and that's going to continue, being a celebrity shouldn't count, being a highly visible politician shouldn't count. It shouldn't count who you're connected to.
What should count is need. What should count is whether or not you're likely to benefit from the drug or benefit from admission to the ICU, not who you're connected to.
BALDWIN: Yes.
The other thing that struck me in reading this "Times" piece this morning is Giuliani appeared unaware of the scarcity issues with these particular drug cocktails.
He was telling in interviews that politicians have taken masks and business closures too far not that COVID-19 is, and I quote him, "a treatable disease." Treatable? Your reaction to that?
And also, what message is sending that to Americans, the kind of Americans who don't believe in wearing masks?
CAPLAN: There's two parts of that, Brooke. One is he ran around, unmasked, not socially distancing, showing up at parties, got people around him infected apparently. So he's been irresponsible. That ought to be condemned as well.
Then saying, well, I have the safety net. I can fall back in and get priority to drugs, which don't cure you but they may help make the disease be less severe, shall we say. It doesn't necessarily make it go away.
Again, you keep coming back to this fundamental point. If you want people to support rationing rules, if you want them to go along with the priority, say, in vaccine distribution that you were just talking about, then you have to make sure that everybody thinks they get a fair shot.
If rich people, celebrities, people who are wired in get privilege, then people start not to support it. Then what happens is we get black markets. We get the system falling apart.
BALDWIN: It just spotlighted the story today and reading it again today spotlights this crevasse, right, between the haves and have-nots when it comes to this virus.
My last question for you, sir --
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CAPLAN: If you have a fair system, when you have this virus jimmying the resources, it brings out how unfair the system has been all along.
BALDWIN: It's a system. It's also certain parents and schools and access, I think across the board. We have talked about that a lot.
Quickly, we could hear the FDA's recommendations, Art, on a COVID vaccine any moment. Do you think vaccine distribution will be fair and equitable?
CAPLAN: I think it will be pretty close to fair and equitable, initially, because the governments and states control the distribution.
As we get moving along a couple months in, and more and more people become eligible, then I'm worried we'll have to come back and talk about whether or not people are following the rules, whether private companies are starting to buy up supplies.
But initially, the next couple months, as we get the health care works and the nursing home residents, yes.
[13:55:01]
BALDWIN: And hopefully, the teachers as well.
Art Caplan, we'll talk again. Thank you.
CAPLAN: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Breaking news. All eyes on this critical FDA meeting on whether to decide to authorize the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use for Americans.
This is all coming today as the U.S. is starting to see that post- Thanksgiving surge in COVID cases. We have the new numbers. This grim new forecast is ahead.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
