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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
FDA Advisers Recommend Authorization of Pfizer Vaccine; Biden to Announce More Cabinet Picks Today; Trump Tries to Overturn Election While Ignoring Pandemic; Government Shutdown Looms As Senate Struggles to Pass Bills. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired December 11, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:18]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Laura.
I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Christine Romans. Thank you so much for joining us today. It's December 11th, Friday, 5:00 a.m. New York. Always great to see you.
JARRETT: Always great to have you, Boris.
This morning, the United States is one critical step closer to the reality of a coronavirus vaccine, advisers to the Food and Drug administration recommending authorization of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. A final decision from the FDA is imminent but there is a long road ahead.
Here's the current situation: 2,768 new deaths were reported overnight. The five deadliest days of the pandemic all occurred in the last week.
SANCHEZ: And the number of Americans hospitalized continues to soar. That almost certainly means that more death will follow. According to data from Health and Human Services, one in three hospitals nationwide reached 90 percent ICU capacity last week.
Keep in mind that doesn't just affect COVID patients, it affects people who need emergency help, pregnant moms. The effects on our health system are far and wide.
Here's a sobering warning now from the director of the CDC.
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DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: We are in the time frame now that probably for the next 60 to 90 days, we're going to have more deaths per day than we had in 9/11 or we had Pearl Harbor. This is really, as I said, this is going to be a real unfortunate loss of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JARRETT: It's that time of year when normally the country would be coming together, getting ready for the holidays. Instead, states have to revert back to the rules of the spring that keep people apart for their own good.
Today, North Carolina is implementing a modified stay-at-home order from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. nightly. Pennsylvania enforcing a new mandate closing gyms, casinos and indoor dining. Ohio is extending its statewide curfew until January 2nd.
And Louisiana is worried about its health care system becoming overwhelmed. So, New Orleans will hold a free flu shot clinic today as a dry run for vaccine distribution.
So, what can we expect in the coming days?
Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, Boris, this was probably one of the most historic, FDA advisory committee meetings that I have ever reported on, and then at the end of it, basically vote in the majority to recommend that this vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech be authorized. Recommend because the FDA still has to make the final decision. But the FDA almost always goes with what the advisory committees recommend.
So, we'll see specifically what the FDA does, but I want you to hear how Dr. Paul Offit, somebody you may now, how he framed the events of the day after the discussion was over.
DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, THE VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER AT CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: The question is when you know enough, this appears to be our way out of this awful, awful mess. That's why I voted yes.
GUPTA: Now, I will say that there were some reservations and some discussion about some of the subgroups, certain people who maybe shouldn't take it or should take it only with certain warnings.
Take a look at the list there. This is going to come up again and again, I think, children under age of 16. Pregnant women, breast feeding women, this was a big point that also was discussed. Pregnant women were not part of the trial. But a lot of people who were on the committee, the way they described it, is look, we don't have data to show benefit, nor do we have data to show harm. So, that discussion point to be continued.
People who are immuno-compromised and finally as we heard in the last couple of days, people who have had a severe reaction to vaccines in the past are probably going to be recommended not to take this.
Now, if the FDA still does go ahead and authorize this under emergency use, which very much looks like will happen later today or maybe over the next few hours, certainly over the weekend, two more things are going to happen. CDC is going to have an advisory committee meeting on Friday, and then again on Sunday, and they're basically going to talk about the who, what, when.
We've already heard a little bit of this, health care workers, people who work in long-term care facilities, residents of those facilities are likely to be first on the list. Each state is going to sort of figure out how to allocate the vaccine when it arrives there. Who is going to be the next on the list? Is it going to be essential workers? Is it going to be people over a certain age? Those are open discussion topics which we're certainly going to follow.
As we get more details, we'll bring them to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[05:05:02]
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks for that, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Taking steps toward authorizing a COVID vaccine could already be saving lives. An influential model now projects that 502,000 deaths will take place in the United States by April. More than half a million, still a staggering number, but that's actually down slightly from last week's forecast. And here's why.
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DR. CHRIS MURRAY, DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: The news from the FDA filing by Pfizer that just after one dose of the vaccine you get 50 percent protection, and so that moves up the benefits of the scale up of vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The federal government says it plans to start rolling out vaccine doses within 24 hours of emergency authorization, and have the first shots administered within 96 hours. A huge question still looms, though, about how much distribution could be slowed by Congress's failure to help state and local governments trying to assist providers.
JARRETT: Meantime, the Biden transition team meets again today with members of Operation Warp Speed. The president-elect welcoming an FDA panel's recommendation of the coronavirus vaccine, it a bright light in a needlessly dark time and he stressed the need for a strong distribution chain, saying vaccines don't equal vaccinations. Our challenge now is to scale up manufacturing and distribution to distribute 100 million shots in the first 100 days of my administration.
Later today, Biden will formally announce his latest cabinet and top level nominees, including Denis McDonough as secretary of veteran affairs and Susan Rice to head the White House Domestic Policy Council, both served in the Obama White House. SANCHEZ: When it comes to the pandemic, President Trump is almost
exclusively focused on taking credit for positive vaccine news. Not really on promoting the guidelines set by his own experts.
Nevertheless, he is all in when it comes to trying to dismiss votes in four key swing states he lost. He's getting support from more than 100 Republican members of the House. In other words, a quarter of the entire chamber believes that millions of your votes should not be counted. Meantime, 18 states are either supporting or trying to join a lawsuit filed by the attorney general of Texas, one that's littered with falsehoods, to try and overturn the election outcome.
The four battleground states targeted by the Texas suit, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, filed their own blistering responses yesterday. The attorney general from Pennsylvania called it a seditious abuse of the judicial process.
And, Laura, what really stands out to me is that this lawsuit filed by the state of Texas, they're accusing these states of taking unconstitutional steps to count votes, actually some of those very states that are suing these other states took very similar if not the same steps themselves including Texas.
JARRETT: It's such a great point. And also, since when does Texas get to tell Wisconsin how to run its elections. This is supposed to be the party of federalism, the party that honors states doing their own thing. We'll see whether the Supreme Court weighs in on this at all. I imagine they may not want to touch this at all this was the whole point of the Electoral College.
We don't have a unified system of how states run their elections here. We'll see what happens on that. But it's certainly a breathtakingly bold effort by 106 Republicans. Just that sheer number alone I think is stunning.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, certainly.
JARRETT: Well, still ahead for you, Americans are on the verge of losing jobs and homes, but the government is on the verge of shutting down. We'll tell you why a completely dysfunctional Congress can't pass any of three critical bills right now.
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[05:12:57]
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
More states are moving to keep people at home as they prepare to roll out the coronavirus vaccine.
CNN has the pandemic covered from coast to coast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brian Todd in Washington. With the worsening coronavirus spikes now affecting the state of Virginia, the state averaging about 4,000 new coronavirus cases per day, a new order from Governor Ralph Northam attempts to limit the movement of people in the state of Virginia. Starting Monday at midnight, the governor's new order asks people to stay at home between midnight and 5:00 a.m. unless they are commuting to or from work. That order will stay in effect through January 31st. The governor calls this, quote, just plain common sense.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Simon in San Francisco.
California reporting 220 deaths on Thursday, the highest number since the pandemic began. Hospitalizations also at record levels and ICU capacity is now at less than 10 percent. Much of the state is living under these new stay-at-home restrictions, more than 90 percent of the state, no movie theaters, no hair salons, no bars. Those are among restrictions and indoor and outdoor dining is also banned.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alexander Field in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. In states across the nation, designated vaccine distribution sites are waiting for word that those vaccines are finally on the way. Holy Name Medical Center here in New Jersey is expecting to receive about a thousand doses of the vaccine in the first shipment. That will be enough to vaccinate about 500 front line workers, people who have exposure to COVID patients.
After that, Holy Name will learn how many doses of the vaccine they could be getting, and who they could be distributing vaccines to, next. But already, they are setting up sites like this one that could be used once the vaccine is available for the general public.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jean Casarez in New York.
Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is saying COVID-19 vaccine distribution could begin in her state as early as next week.
[05:15:00]
Initially, critical health care workers will get it, including those who work at the hospitals, first responders. She says it will take time for the public to get the vaccine.
Michigan is expected to get 84,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 173,000 doses of Moderna, once that it's approved which should be near the end of the month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: All right. Thanks to all of our correspondents for the updates.
The threat of a government shutdown looms as Senate leaders struggle to overcome last minute objections to several must pass bills. One is a short-term spending bill that would only fund the government for a week. Classic Washington, but Senator Bernie Sanders is demanding the Senate vote on a provision to give Americans $1,200 stimulus checks and Senator Rand Paul is standing in the way of the spending bill as well, over his opposition to a separate defense policy bill.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, the senator from Kentucky seems willing to hold up government funding and pay raises for the military over an amendment from Congresswoman Liz Cheney. Senator Paul believes the amendment would make it harder to withdraw U.S. troops from a war zone like Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Any serious advocate for ending the Afghan war should vote against this monstrosity. The neocon advocates for unlimited presidential war powers should own up to their hypocrisy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Liz Cheney apparently not amused tweeting this: Rand and I do have one thing in common, though, we're both 5'2".
Here's the thing, making fun of his height isn't going to get this bill passed. There's still a desperately needed one on the stimulus to get to. New U.S. unemployment claims just hit their highest level since mid-September, and food lines stretched for miles in cities like Los Angeles yesterday.
Sources say Mitch McConnell sees no path for bipartisan agreement on the sticking points here, and the house has already gone home until next week.
So if Congress doesn't act, 12 million unemployed Americans will lose aid by Christmas. Still families across the country are doing what they can to survive for the holidays, and beyond.
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich reports.
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ANGELA KEARNEY, FURLOUGHED FROM JOB DUE TO PANDEMIC: I would describe this as the last nice memory that I had.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Angela Kearney stands in front of her tree at home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, reminiscing with her aunt and longing for last Christmas.
KEARNEY: This was when I received the new job. I was going to be able to buy a home for my family.
YURKEVICH: The new job was as a paralegal after she put herself through school in her 40s while recovering from surgeries to fix a disability, racking up $63,000 in student loans. With a new salary of $55,000, she was finally able to provide for her children.
KEARNEY: That is more money than I've ever seen in my life. I promised them we would get a house. I promised them that they would be normal children, and then the pandemic hit. And I can't keep those promises anymore.
It looks like everybody is dancing.
YURKEVICH: Just four months after landing that job, Kearney was furloughed in March and her weekly unemployment of $300 does little to cover the bills of her and her children living at home.
KEARNEY: I have to take the bills and pick the ones and hope they total the amount that I have.
YURKEVICH: Her unemployment is slated to run out in January, along with 12 million other Americans and dozens of programs designed to protect them will too.
AMY CASTRO BAKER, PHD, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL POLICY, UPENN: Her student loan, you know, payments have been halted. So once that expire, that's a new bill that's going to hit people quickly. You have local eviction bans that will expire, and then of course the expansion of unemployment insurance as that's going away, we're seeing more people not go back to work.
YURKEVICH: For years, Kearny and her family were on several government assistance programs including disability and food stamps. Last year she finally got off them.
KEARNEY: A lot of it was determination on my part to climb this mountain and we got shoved off the mountain.
YURKEVICH: Which sent them right back on food stamps.
How much money do you get on that card?
KEARNEY: We get 400 a month.
YURKEVICH: Does that cover it?
KEARNEY: It has to, right?
YURKEVICH: Congress is negotiating a stimulus bill that could drastically shape the next few months for families like the Kearneys, but significant relief may not arrive until President-elect Biden is inaugurated in late January.
CASTRO: For a lot of families, waiting until the inauguration is just going to be too late.
YURKEVICH: Christmas will look different for American families, including the Kearneys.
KEARNEY: What do you think of our lives this year, huh?
YURKEVICH: This year, she's prioritizing paying the electric bill just to keep the lights and Christmas spirit alive.
[05:20:00]
KEARNEY: The bills won't be paid for December because Santa is coming to town. Santa will be here.
YURKEVICH: Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Vanessa, thank you for that.
Emotions running high in college sports. One football team deciding to end its own season, and two basketball coaches battling over whether games should even be played at all.
Your "Bleacher Report" is next.
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SANCHEZ: A lot of drama in college sports but none of it really on the court. Alabama's coach firing back at Coach K's call to pause college basketball amid the pandemic.
[05:25:03]
Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report".
A lot of drama, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, Boris.
Earlier this week, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, he just questioned, you know, whether anyone should be playing basketball right now, considering how bad things are with the pandemic. After Tuesday's loss, Coach K, you know, he said he's concerned about the mental and physical health of his players and staff.
And yesterday, Duke actually cancelled its remaining non-conference games out of the abundance of caution and to allow its players to be with their families for the holidays.
But Alabama coach Nate Oats is questioning Coach K's motives.
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NATE OATS, ALABAMA HEAD COACH: You think if Coach K hadn't lost the 29 conference games at home, if he'd still be saying that. A huge part of life for all of these guys I'm coaching is being in the gym playing basketball. So, I think their mental health is in a much better spot playing basketball, and I think the school, the SEC, the NCAA has done a really good job making sure that we're not putting any of them in danger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: The Duke is currently 2-2 on the season, their worst start in 20 years.
All right. Boston College, meanwhile, becoming the first school to opt out of playing a bowl game, the school saying yesterday the players are simply emotionally spent. Many of them haven't seen their families since June. Just one Boston college player tested positive for COVID since they returned to campus. The Eagles, they finished their season at 6 and 5.
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country, the Saints are reducing the capacity of their games, the team announcing they will have only 3,000 fans at their next game against the Super Bowl champion Chiefs on December 20th. The team had previously planned to have 15,000 people inside the Super Dome.
And one of the most impressive streaks in NFL history is now over. The Patriots getting steamrolled by the Rams, 24-3, snapping New England's streak of 17 consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins. Cam Newton, throwing for just 119 yards and an interception, before getting benched in the fourth quarter. Coach Bill Belichick squashing any rumors about quarterback saying after the game, that Cam is our quarterback.
And, Laura, the Patriots now 6-7 on the season. Their chance to make the playoffs right now, not very good. They haven't missed the playoffs since the 2008 season. One of the most remarkable runs in NFL history. It could finally be over.
JARRETT: Oh, no, not good news for John Berman at all.
SCHOLES: Yeah.
JARRETT: All right. Andy, thanks so much. Have a great weekend.
We'll be right back.
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