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First COVID Vaccinations Ship Out; South Korea And Japan See Third Wave Of Virus In Record Weekend Surge; Record Number Of Patients In U.S. Hospitals On Day Vaccine Ship Out; First Wave Of Vaccines Expected Today At Hundreds Of Facilities Across America; Live CNN Coverage: Electors Certify 2020 Results Today; Massive U.S. Vaccine Rollout Begins; California Marks Third Straight Day of 30,000 New Cases; Indian Farmers Intensify Protests Against New Agriculture Laws; Ivory Coast President to Be Sworn in for Third Term; U.K. and E.U. Extend Talks, Say Deal Looks Unlikely; TikTok Users Spreading the Love on COVID Vaccines. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 14, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
ROBYN CURNOW, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hi, I'm Robyn Curnow. You're watching CNN.
Coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh, we're just so excited. We were watching it on the news and we quick jumped in the car and said we're going to get down here right now.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It's all coming from West Michigan. Whoo hoo.
CURNOW: Excitement builds over the historic moment. Coronavirus vaccines are on their way to hundreds of facilities across America.
Plus, South Korea's third COVID wave. The president is warning of tougher measures ahead as cases soar again.
And India's farmers escalate their protests even as they're cut off from entering the capital. We'll have a live report from New Delhi.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: After months of the coronavirus raging across the U.S. and with nearly 300,000 Americans dead and more than 60 million cases nationwide, finally there is hope.
The first shipments of Pfizer's COVID vaccines will begin to arrive in all 50 states on Monday, with the first deliveries expected about eight hours from now.
And it is not a moment too soon. On Sunday, the U.S. reported more than 109,000 patients in hospital with COVID, another new record high for the country.
The head of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration is hoping that the vaccines will start right away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, COMMISSIONER, U.S. FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION: We've seen the vaccines go out, we've seen the press reports of hospitals waiting to vaccinate health care workers and those most vulnerable according to the recommendations of the ACIP and the CDC. So it would be my greatest hope and desire that occur tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: So the plan is for tens of millions of people to be vaccinated by the end of the month. And CNN is, of course, on the scene across the United States as shipments begin to arrive.
Pete Muntean is in Michigan at Pfizer's main manufacturing plant and Paolo Sandoval is in New York where hospitals are preparing for the vaccines to arrive.
I want to go to Pete first at ground zero for vaccine shipments. Pete.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What a moment, especially considering the fact that we only first learned of the virus less than a year ago. And now the vaccine is leaving from here.
This spot is critical to the vaccine distribution network. This is Pfizer's largest facility just outside of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
And what's so interesting is that the trucks carrying the vaccine from UPS and FedEx here left 8:30 Sunday morning in those trucks; 189 boxes of the Pfizer vaccine, 975 vials to a box, five doses per vial.
Now hundreds of thousands of doses are being delivered throughout the country. The lion's share of the deliveries began on Monday morning, the bulk of them though later on Tuesday.
They're going to 600 individual locations according to Operation Warp Speed. Those are places like hospitals and pharmacies, CVS and Walgreens.
And Pfizer's head of global supply says this was months in the making.
MIKE MCDERMOTT, PRESIDENT, PFIZER GLOBAL SUPPLY: I couldn't be more confident in the distribution of the vaccine.
We've worked incredibly hard over many months doing test shipments, improving our shippers, making sure that they can maintain temperature during the entire journey. And we're very happy with the solution.
MUNTEAN: This is not just a ground game. Also, a major air operation. Trucks left here bound for airports, flights took the vaccine to larger hubs where it could be distributed better throughout the country.
We saw some of those flights land today at UPS headquarters Worldport at Louisville, Kentucky.
This is just the start of a massive movement. It all begins right now.
MUNTEAN (On Camera): Pete Muntean, CNN. Portage, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hospitals across the United States have been preparing to receive, store and eventually administer shots of this ground-breaking Pfizer vaccine for months.
Here at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City they've been preparing well before the Food & Drug Administration issued that emergency use authorization over the weekend.
I had an opportunity to speak to one of the directors of pharmacy at another New York City hospital, Lennox Hill, telling me that the plan here is to have security actually receive the shipment of the vaccine at the front door, they will escort it to the facilities pharmacy where it will be stored appropriately.
Not long after that is when they expect to begin vaccinating many members of their staff here, obviously those who have close contact with patients. And even also those support staff, those who deliver the food, for example, those who clean hospital rooms will also likely be eligible for this first allotment of the vaccine.
[01:05:00]
That particular facility is going to be handling things in a specific way. They're going to stagger the vaccinations over about three weeks or so.
Basically, the example I got from the hospital officials at that facility is the concern is that if they were to vaccine the entire ER or their entire ICU staff in one day, there's always the possibility, albeit slim, that some of them could experience some of those minor side effects.
So the concern is if that does happen they could potentially encounter some staffing issues. And that's certainly something they do not want to see especially with hospitalizations on the rise, not just here in New York City but really throughout the country.
But for now, we have our hospital facilities now preparing for that first round. Here in New York alone, the governor's office saying that they do expect to have about 170,000 doses of this first vaccine possibly by the middle of the week. With hopefully many more to come. SANDOVAL (On Camera): Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: L.J. Tan is a vaccine expert who's also the chief strategy officer of the Immunization Action Coalition and he joins me now from Chicago.
Lovely to have you on the show.
What we're seeing now is the biggest vaccination drive in U.S. history. Has anything actually ever been done like this before?
L.J. TAN, CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER, IMMUNIZATION ACTION COALITION: No, no -- Robyn, thank you so much for having me on the show, I really appreciate it.
I think the word "unprecedented" has been used a lot but I think there's a reason for that. This is unprecedented.
This is going to be a huge, huge enterprise for the United States to get as many people vaccinated as we can as quickly as possible. So not only are we talking about capacity in number of people, we're talking about trying to do this fast so that we can get out of this pandemic.
CURNOW: How optimistic are you when you know that these vaccinations are going to start getting into people's arms in the next few days? As you look at the death rate, as you look at the infection rate, where do you see this ending?
TAN: So this is -- so I think we all are like looking at this and we know it's going to get us out of this eventually but I think -- I'm really optimistic about that.
I think what we want to do is temper that with a little bit of reality. We're not going to get all our vaccine at the same time so we're going to have to keep vaccinating through the spring and I would argue probably into the summer and in the United States, I think we'll be probably out of this hopefully by the fall.
I think we'll get -- in other words, sometime in the summer we're hoping that anybody in the U.S. who wants to get protected and get vaccinated will have access to vaccine.
But until then, I think we will still be having to do what we need to do to get through the pandemic. But we do now have the tools to get us out of it.
CURNOW: And how important is it for people who have already had COVID to also be vaccinated?
THAN: I think it's extremely important. But I think if we're thinking at the beginning when we have a shortage -- or not a shortage but we have a supply capacity buildup, when there's not enough vaccine to meet the number of people we need to get vaccinated -- I think we can move the people who have already had COVID lower down in the line or the queue to get vaccinated because they have had COVID.
But ultimately, the recommendation is that they get vaccinated.
And for the reason for that is we don't know the duration of the immunity from natural infection, right. So I think there's a general feeling that at least three months, yes, we still have that immunity from the natural infection but beyond that we don't know.
I think we need to keep reminding ourselves, as hard as it seems, we're not even at a year out from actually first discovering this virus, right. So I think we need to remind us of that.
And so we don't know a lot of the duration of immunity from natural infection and I think that's the reason why. We're going to see -- keep recommending people get vaccinated even though they might have had prior infection.
CURNOW: And with that in mind, it's also unclear if the vaccine prevents infection or just sickness. So there really is still so much to understand about the virus and also, as you are saying, the body's immune response just to the vaccine as well.
TAN: Absolutely. And I think this is something that I think we're all actively looking at, right. So the idea is there's immunization and then there's immunity.
So immunization is going to create immunity within us and that's what ends up and protecting us from getting sick. But our immune system's pretty remarkable.
And one of the things that we're beginning to make sure is that that immunity that's created by immunization will also prevent us from spreading the disease.
And the reason for that is because there's something that happens with a lot of respiratory infections that's called carriage.
And the carriage only happens in what we call the nasopharyngeal area which is your nose and your mouth. And so we need to make sure that when you get vaccinated, the vaccine will also prevent the virus from staying in your nasopharyngeal area.
And so that when you cough and sneeze you're not shedding virus still, even though you yourself aren't getting sick.
So that's something people are looking there, to make sure that the carriage is not there. And then if the carriage is not there, you're not transmitting.
[01:10:00]
Now I would be -- personally speaking, I would be surprised if we end up not preventing transmission.
And the reason for that is because the data from the two vaccines that we've got right now, the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, is that the immune response to the vaccine is extremely vigorous. In fact, it's better than what we get with people who had natural infection.
So I think I'm optimistic that we will also prevent transmission but we need to look at the science.
CURNOW: And who shouldn't get this vaccine?
TAN: Yes. So right now the only so-called -- what we call contraindication to not getting -- to getting the vaccine actually is just if you've had an allergic reaction to any component in the vaccine.
Now because of some of the experience, the very preliminary experience we've had with the Pfizer vaccine in the United Kingdom where we had a couple of allergic reactions -- and I remind folks that the allergic reactions were in people that were actually severely allergic because they were carrying EpiPens -- the recommendation currently is that those people should be deferred for vaccination as well.
But otherwise, everyone else can get vaccinated.
Now with pregnancy, we don't have a lot of data regarding the vaccine's effectiveness and safety in pregnant women. The general feeling is that pregnant women can choose to get vaccinated if they want to do that.
And there is a lot of ongoing research to continue to compile the data for pregnant women.
CURNOW: L.J. Tan, thank you very much for joining us, giving us your expertise. Vaccine expert, also the chief strategy officer of the Immunization Action Coalition.
Thank you, sir.
TAN: Oh, thank you, Robyn for this opportunity.
CURNOW: Well, I want to turn now to Asia where several countries are also seeing huge, huge spikes in COVID cases.
South Korea's infection total has climbed past 43,000 following a record surge over the weekend.
The country is now considering tougher measures including limits on gatherings and closing down facilities to try to slow the spread.
And Japan is also expected to discuss countermeasures in the day ahead. Officials there have confirmed more than 180,000 cases since the pandemic began.
And I want to go straight to Hong Kong where Kristie Lu Stout who's standing by with more on that. Hi, Kristie.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Robyn. A winter surge of coronavirus cases. That is what's happening here in East Asia with both Japan and South Korea setting records in daily cases.
Over the weekend, Japan surpassed 3,000 new daily cases of the coronavirus for the first time ever in this punishing pandemic. And the infections are worsening, especially as a dry and cold winter sets in particularly affecting northern regions in Japan particularly hard like Hokkaido.
Now, as you just mentioned, CNN has learned that the Japanese government is planning to hold a task force meeting in the hours ahead to discuss new counter-measures to control the pandemic including possibly excluding Tokyo and Nagoya from a domestic travel incentive scheme. So we're going to keep tabs on that.
Also, over the weekend, South Korea posted a new high in daily coronavirus cases reporting 1,030 new cases of the virus over the weekend, the vast majority of those cases in the Seoul metropolitan area.
On Saturday, the South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, mobilized the nation's military, police, and medical personnel to try to contain the outbreak.
On Sunday he declared that it was a quote, "emergency situation" and said that if the country is unable to control the outbreak it will have to issue its very first level three alert.
Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOON JAE-IN, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (Through Translator): It is a very serious and emergency situation. There is nowhere to back down.
It is a desperate time to devote all efforts to stop the spread of corona by focusing all quarantine capabilities and administrative power.
Unless the outbreak can be contained now, it has come to a critical point to consider escalating the social distancing measures to the third level.
STOUT: A level three alert in South Korea which, if it happens, will be the first time ever for the country during the pandemic. It would mean a ban on social gatherings of more than 10 people, it would also mean work from home for everyone except for essential personnel.
We're also learning that the government there is considering closing schools during this latest third wave of infection.
Now the struggle that Japan and South Korea are going through is only underscoring the wider challenges that the world will continue to face until there is a vaccine that is widely available.
But until then, governments like Tokyo and Seoul will have to recalibrate and readjust and come up with new ways to continue to fight back the virus. Back to you, Robyn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Thanks so much. Kristie Lu Stout there in Hong Kong.
So several European countries are taking further action to contain their surging outbreaks. This past week, infections rose by more than 10 percent in places like the U.K. and Germany.
[01:15:00]
The U.K. is now expected to roll up mass testing programs in some of its worst hit areas. The government says more than one and a half million rapid tests will be deployed.
Germany, meantime, says it will go into hard lockdown starting next Wednesday. All non-essential shops, services and schools will close until January the 10th while Christmas Day gatherings will be reduced to just a handful of people.
And still here on CNN. As the final days of Donald Trump's presidency wind down, U.S. electors will seal Joe Biden's big win in the coming hours. What you can expect from that vote.
Plus an update from California were one of the hardest hit states in the COVID pandemic is making plans for an urgent vaccine rollout.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, it's not over, we keep going and we're going to continue to go forward.
We have numerous local cases where -- in some of the states that got rigged and robbed from us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: That's President Trump there still spreading falsehoods about the election he lost. It's virtually a done deal though.
Hours from now U.S. electors from all 50 states and Washington D.C. will begin meeting to officially confirm Joe Biden's victory.
Now the president elect is expected to deliver remarks on Monday evening.
[01:20:00]
But as CNN's Boris Sanchez now explains, there's still time and opportunity for more political drama. Boris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The electors of the electoral college will gather in their respective states to cast their ballots and certify President Elect Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
Now here's how it's going to work. This is going to be happening all throughout the day.
These electors that have been selected since earlier in the summer, in the spring, they're going to gather and recorded their votes on writing on actual paper ballots individually for president and vice president.
Once they cast their ballots and count them, they're going to sign six copies of a certificate of the vote. Those copies are the actual official documents that certify their votes.
And they're going to wind up going to their respective secretaries of state, to the U.S. senate, to the national archives et cetera.
But the most consequential certificates are going to be the ones that go to capitol Hill because that's where they will be counted on January 6th, notably an event that Vice President Pence will be presiding over.
And there is a chance in that process for some drama, for Republican lawmakers who are supportive of the president, President Trump, to raise an objection.
Ultimately though, to sustain that objection and for it to be consequential they would need both chambers of congress to sustain that objection, to agree to it. And because Democrats control the house of representatives that appears extremely unlikely -- but there still may be some moments rife with drama.
Ultimately, the big thing to watch for tomorrow as the electoral college certifies the results of the election, certifies that Joe Biden won the election, how many Republican lawmakers, how many Republican senators, will finally come out and acknowledge the reality that Joe Biden won the election, that there was no widespread electoral fraud.
That, of course, is something that President Trump is not ready to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: CNN's political analyst, Julian Zelizer is a historian and professor at Princeton University and he joins me now from Sea Harbor in New York. Julian, lovely to see you.
So this week we're going to see the end, the official end, of the presidential race -- or are we?
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we are. We've already seen the end, this is more official. The electors are going to cast their vote and formally confirmed that the election has been a victory for President Elect Joe Biden. And it won't end President Trump's campaign against the election, it
won't end a lot of the Republicans attacking the election but there's a formality about the process, and this is almost over.
CURNOW: The president, as you say, still very much stuck in the notion that he won. He says the fight is not over. What do you think this means?
ZELIZER: Well, it still has to go to congress in January and congress has to tally up the votes and accept them. And obviously, he might be hoping that somehow Republicans are going to break with the official vote. But that's not going to happen, other than a couple of people who've said that they're going to do this.
He's fighting for something beyond the election, I don't think he's even fighting to win anymore. He's fighting to delegitimize the election and he's fighting to make himself a hero within the Republican Party in the next years to come.
CURNOW: Well, this is what's interesting. Because, in many ways, particularly the legal battle, it certainly has seemed like a dead loss legally for many experts when they assess all of these legal challenges.
But in many ways, it's created a momentum, a message, and potentially even a movement from Mr. Trump in these days and weeks since he lost. And, of course, a sizeable war chest of donation and dollars.
How do you see Mr. Trump, President Trump, channeling that?
ZELIZER: Well, one option is that he decides that he wants to run again in four years and try to return to the White House and use this controversy to argue he never lost. And to mobilize supporters that somehow they were robbed of a fair result.
And another is he doesn't want to come back into politics or he doesn't but he's using this to remain relevant within conservative circles, to remain relevant as a public figure, someone who's going to be feared and listened to.
Even if he doesn't re-enter the world of politics and goes into the media or stays into business.
It's a dangerous way to do this. He's doing this by attacking the legitimacy of the election and attacking the legitimacy of the results. And that's the thing we can't forget.
This isn't some kind of game, this is the president attacking our democratic process.
CURNOW: And while all of that has been happening, Mr. Biden, president elect, has been systematically, quietly to some extent, working and pushing ahead. Do you think this is indicative of how his presidency is also going to be?
[01:25:00] ZELIZER: I think so. I think it will be boring in many ways and I think that's what he's looking for. He just wants to focus on governing.
He wants to convey the image of a president who is going to govern rather than create chaos. And I think this will be what you see. Much less of a Twitter feed and more of a policy agenda, more of a focus on making governing decisions rather than campaign rallies.
So I think he's setting the tone and it's probably smart. Because President Trump has tried to disrupt this, President Elect Biden has just moved ahead, set up his team and started to lay out an agenda.
CURNOW: Julian Zelizer, thank you very much for joining us. Historian and professor there, at Princeton University.
ZELIZER: Thanks for having me.
CURNOW: Well, don't miss our special coverage of the electoral college vote starting at 11:00 a.m. Monday in New York, that's 4:00 p.m. for all you folks there in London. Right here on CNN.
And coming up on CNN. A closer look at the massive undertaking to ship and track tens of millions of COVID vaccine doses all across the U.S. We have that story.
Plus India's farmers are furious with their government but officials won't let them enter the capital.
We're live in New Delhi with the latest.
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[01:30:00]
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to all of our viewers all around the world.
I'm Robyn Curnow. You're watching CNN. It is 29 minutes past the hour. Thanks for joining me.
So more, of course, on our top story this hour.
A historic moment for the U.S. as the first shipments of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine begin making their way to all 50 states on Monday. Now, this relief really can't come soon enough with cases and deaths soaring to new records across the country. More than 30,000 Americans have died in just the first two weeks of this month alone. The U.S. also set another new record for COVID hospitalizations since the pandemic began.
Scientists are now pleading with Americans not to be skeptical of the vaccine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: So we need to have immunized around 75 or 80 percent of the U.S. population before herd immunity can really be established.
We hope to reach that point between the month of May and the month of June. It is, however, critical that most of the American people decide and accept to take the vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Well, the U.S. plans to distribute 40 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the year with a goal of having 100 million people vaccinated by the end of March. As the vaccine begins leaving shipping facilities on Sunday, some Americans stopped to just take in the historic moment. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh. This is like man on the moon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is like, where were you when?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just so excited. I mean we're watching on the news, and we quickly jumped in the car and said, we're going to get down here right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's all coming from west Michigan, woo-hoo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Dianne Gallagher has more on the logistics of this massive vaccine rollout, Dianne.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It was a flight that so many had been waiting for. Vials of that Pfizer vaccine loaded up onto a cargo plane here in Grand Rapids, Michigan set for Memphis Tennessee, the headquarters of FedEx, where they are going to divvy up those vaccines and then begin sending them to the western half of the country.
Now UPS did the same thing, flying to its headquarters in Louisville. It will handle the Eastern half of the country. Now, a lot is being discussed about the chain of control because these packages take a lot of effort. This is a complex, logistical operation.
Every couple minutes we are going to know what is going on. FedEx says that it received a transmission every two seconds on the location of these vaccine packages. UPS says it's using Bluetooth technology as well to make sure that it has precise eyes in real-time on where these packages are located.
Both companies say that they are also able to monitor those extreme cold conditions. We are talking negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit that they have to stay in so they can make sure that there is no sort of change in transit there.
Now, at this time, all 50 states are going to receive some vaccines. What is going to happen from there will differ depending on the state. But Pfizer says that it plans to send out an even larger shipment on Monday its facilities.
Dianne Gallagher, CNN -- Grand Rapids, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thanks, Dianne for that.
So California has now seen three straight days of at least 30,000 new coronavirus cases. Paul Vercammen is in L.A. to see how hospitals there plan to distribute the vaccine, Paul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The latest numbers out of Los Angeles County on the COVID-19 outbreak are ghastly -- more than 13,000 cases, and more than 4,000 hospitalizations. 101 of those hospitalizations for COVID-19 right here at the UCLA Medical Center where they are also bracing for the arrival they say in the next day or two of the vaccine.
They say shots will go into the arm of hospital workers. That is on Wednesday. But, how do you fight a pandemic as well as get your workers vaccinated? We talked to the chief medical officer here at UCLA.
DR. ROBERT CHERRY, CHIEF MEDICAL AND QUALITY OFFICER, UCLA HEALTH: There's years of emergency preparedness behind a lot of these efforts. So while we're taking care of our non COVID-19 patients as well as our patients that are COVID-19 as well, we are doing other things that we need to do to keep our health care workers safe including standing up a vaccination program for them.
We will have the staffing to be able to do this and people are pitching in to make sure it works well.
VERCAMMEN: Dr. Cherry says the priority here at UCLA to get vaccinations for those health care workers who are constantly around COVID-19 patients and close to those patients.
Now, he will not be one of those who gets the vaccine, and that is because he is part of the AstraZeneca clinical trial.
Reporting from UCLA, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:34:52]
CURNOW: Thanks Paul, for that. So tens of thousands of farmers in India are protesting new laws that they say will benefit big business at the expense of their own livelihoods. The farmers have been demonstrating for days, trying to make their way to New Delhi.
The prime minister says the reform could double the farmers income but protesters say the changes would allow private companies to exploit the entire agricultural sector.
Vedika Sud joins me now live from New Delhi with more on this. This is certainly a serious -- has implications for farmers. But what else are they saying?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: Good to be with you Robyn.
Well, let me just tell you about the latest is as of now. Today, over 30 farmer union representatives have gone on hunger strike for nine hours in solidarity with those tens of thousands of farmers across north India especially at the borders leading to Delhi, to oppose the three controversial bills.
Now what the problem really is with the bills as far as these farmers are concerned like you mentioned is they are worried that turning into free market the agricultural sector to (INAUDIBLE) the government had protected them from private players. But that's not the case this time with the introduction of these three bills.
So, we have these farmers at the borders, there've been multiple talks between the government and farmer union representatives, but there has been no headway, despite these meetings that have taken place.
The agricultural minister, India's home minister has spoken to farmer delegations, but no headway yet.
Just imagine for a moment, Robyn, you have tens of thousands of these farmers at Delhi's borders. It is wintertime here in India, north India gets extremely cold especially at night. They come with their families, left their farms and homes. They are sleeping under trucks. They are sleeping in tractors. They're sleeping out in the open in makeshift camps.
They want to march into the power (ph) center of India which is Delhi but they've been denied that by the security personnel who, of course, barricaded these borders.
Now, what we do know is that these farmers are not going to back down. The government as part of their initiative they're reaching out to farmers. They're holding press conferences to make sure that there is clarity over these agricultural reforms.
India's prime minister said the agriculture sector needs these reforms. He's also said in the long term this could benefit farmers. But the farmers are very clear, Robyn. It's going to be repealing of those three bills and nothing less for them leave these highways, Robyn? CURNOW: Ok. This is an important story. We'll continue to monitor it.
We'll come back to you for any new developments. Thanks so much, Vedika Sud there live in New Delhi.
SUD: Thank you.
CURNOW: Thank you.
So next on CNN, the president of the Ivory Coast is about to be sworn in for a 3rd term. He speaks exclusively to CNN about his controversial election victory.
We have that, plus another round of Brexit negotiation end without a deal. But both sides say they're still willing to work it out. We'll have the latest from Brussels.
[01:37:36]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: So in the day ahead, the president of the Ivory Coast is expected to be sworn in for his third term in office after winning a highly-disputed election marked by violence and political unrest.
Scott McLean has our report, and a warning: it does contain graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This video shows people in the Ivory Coast blocking a major highway last month to protest the reelection of the country's president. Sometime after the video ends, shots are fired.
This was the aftermath of what was supposed to be a peaceful protest. Victims lying motionless on the pavement. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that there were three people killed after Ivorian security forces opened fire.
The government says investigations are underway, but President Alassane Ouattara -- who spoke exclusively to CNN, has made up his mind.
ALASSANE OUTTARA, IVORY COAST PRESIDENT: No, this is a lie. I have given strict instruction to the defense forces not to use firearms, guns and no one shot among the defense forces.
JIM WORMINGTON, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: It's premature at this point to call that research a lie.
MCLEAN: The shooting capped off a string of pre and post election protests and violence. 85 people had been killed on both sides, hundreds more injured and more than 15,000 fled the country, fearing a return to the civil war violence that brought the President Ouattara to power almost one decade ago.
Opposition supporters say he should not have been allowed to run for a third term, since the constitution limits presidents to just two.
OUATTARA: It is a decision I am glad I took today because the country would have been in a mess if I had not been a candidate.
MCLEAN (on camera): Do you understand why some of your opponents and a lot of people in your country were upset by your decision?
OUATTARA: No. I think they just knew that they could not win. If they want to grab power without election, they're not democrats.
MCLEAN (voice over): While the Supreme Court allowed the president to run, the electoral commission barred 40 others from challenging it.
(on camera): Does that sound like democracy to you?
OUATTARA: Let me tell you democracy does not mean that anyone should come and run. We are a young country, a very fresh country, candidates should be able to say what we are going to do for the people and for the country.
MCLEAN (voice over): Those candidates, who were allowed to run, boycotted the election before the vote. And afterwards set up a parallel government to organize a new poll.
One exiled candidate went even further.
GUILLAUME SORO, OPPOSITION POLITICIAN: Mr. Ouattara is a con artist and a liar. He is behaving like a culprit. And a culprit should be jailed.
MCLEAN: But it was one of Ouattara's main rivals who was jailed, another was put under house arrest.
OUATTARA: Suppose that Donald Trump decided to form a government because Biden has won the election. He would be sent to jail right away. And this is what we are doing in Cote D'Ivoire.
MCLEAN: Election observers from the American Carter Center found serious concerns about restrictions on civil liberties, freedom of expression, and the right to vote and be elected which threatened to undo democratic progress.
But it seems the rest of the world is unwilling to make a fuss, not even France which has strong ties to its former colony.
KOBI ANNAN, ANALYST, SONGHAI ADVISORY: With the relatively recent instance of civil war and only 2010 and 11 in the country, and before the election there being a real possibility of returning to that, I think it was kind of seen as better to just accept what is and what people know.
MCLEAN (voice over): Democracy has been sacrificed in the name of stability.
ANNAN: I think it is fair to say, that yes.
MCLEAN (voice over): For now, at least, there is peace in Ivory Coast though the real war maybe with democracy itself.
Scott McLean, CNN, Man (ph).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:44:52]
CURNOW: The U.K. and the E.U. have once again failed to reach an agreement in their latest round of Brexit trade talks. Now the only thing both sides could agree on was to extend their self-imposed deadline passed Sunday.
They also admit a no-deal Brexit is now a likely possibility as Nic Robertson now reports, Nic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: with that phone call between Boris Johnson and Ursula Von Der Leyen, the European Commission president will leave some people undoubtedly feeling shortchanged on details.
A joint statement issued afterwards but no indication of how much longer, because they have agreed to continue talking, how much longer the negotiations should go on. This is how Ursula Von Der Leyen phrased it.
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Our negotiation teams have been working day and night over the recent days. And despite the exhaustion after almost one year of negotiations, and despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over, we both think that it is responsible at this point in time to go the extra mile.
ROBERTSON: So that joint statement seemed to offer a little bit more hope than there had been going into the weekend. There have been a gloomy mood surrounding the talks.
But Boris Johnson when he spoke a little later seemed to cast a shadow over it again talking about the possibility, the real possibility of a no-deal still being out there.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: But I will repeat the most likely thing now is of course that we have to get ready for WTO terms, Australia terms. And don't forget, everybody, we've made huge preparations for this. We've now been at this for four and a half years.
ROBERTSON: So no indication of how much longer the talks should go. And no indication of what possible political breakthroughs, understanding, small gaps, sort of narrowed, if you will. What nuances had really come out of the talks that's encouraged everyone to go forward.
Certainly a lot of pressure from E.U. leaders and from within Boris Johnson's own party and from the opposition here in the U.K. for the talks to continue.
You can certainly read this as this is still a negotiation and both sides pushing their cases down to the wire.
Nic Robertson, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: And best selling spy novelist, John Le Carre has died. In a career spanning six decades, he wrote 26 books published in over 50 countries and in over 40 languages. Some like "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", "A Constant Gardener", and "The Night Manager" were turned into acclaimed movies and TV shows. Le Carre also served in British Intelligence during the Cold War, the inspiration for most of his spy stories.
His real name was David Cornwell. And his family said he died from pneumonia. His literary agent described him as the undisputed giant of English literature. John Le Carre was 89 years old.
[01:47:52]
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CURNOW: A Chinese probe is one step closer to home after collecting rocks and soil samples from the moon. The probe left the lunar orbit on Sunday, and will make the final journey to earth soon. China will become just the third country in the world to retrieve scientific samples from the moon if this mission is successful.
And then cities in Italy are coming back to life after weeks of harsh COVID restrictions. Risk levels in five regions were downgraded over the weekend, which means that most of the country woke up on Sunday in the yellow zone, which is the least restrictive.
Bars and restaurants in those areas can now reopen. But they have to close by 6:00 pm. A nightly curfew remains in place throughout the country. But none of Italy's regions are now under the red zone.
Coronavirus vaccines are now also on the way to the U.S. But there's hope and then also hesitancy. So how do you know what is fact?
Well, TikTok of course, is coming to the rescue in only way it can.
Here's Anna Stewart with more on that -- Anna.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Explaining how a vaccine works isn't easy, so these TikToking scientists have got creative. Answering all sorts of questions to allay vaccine concerns, and promote confidence. They are part of Team Halo, an international group of experts put together by the U.N. And they've generated more than 20 million views on TikTok.
PAUL MCKAY, VACCINE RESEARCH SCIENTIST, IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON: Here we've been working almost exclusively on making a COVID-19 vaccine.
STEWART: A vaccine research scientist for 30 years, Paul McKay is working on a COVID 19 vaccine candidate being developed by Imperial College. And he's creating TikTok videos on the side.
(on camera): You're not just tackling the antivaxers or the anti-vac sentiment, you are tackling people who just aren't sure and have questions.
MCKAY: You have the right to ask questions. You have the right to know what goes into your body.
STEWART: You're now a bit of a TikTok star.
MCKAY: I wouldn't say star.
We come out and we say vaccines have been, you know, the single greatest health benefit since clean water. It's saved more people's lives than any other medical intervention.
STEWART: Team Halo is using social media to bolster vaccine confidence. Of course, that's also where rumor and misinformation spreads. In the U.K. just 63.4 percent of people surveyed said they would definitely get a COVID-19 vaccine. After viewing this information online, that number dropped to just 54 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am very cautious. With anything I don't really know or understand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hopefully research and everything are going through trials so.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we trust the scientists I guess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to take a leap of faith for the greater good of society, you know. If you don't do that and nobody takes it then it's not going to work.
STEWART: Health experts warn that the vaccine will need to be accepted by at least 76 percent of the population to provide herd immunity, and perhaps more.
[01:54:53]
MCKAY: I'm just giving people facts and information. I'm not trying to change their minds. I'm not trying to make them think differently or change their lifestyles.
I'm just trying to give them the information that they don't have access to. So I'm not against them. I'm wanting to work with them.
STEWART: Anna Stewart, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: At times of serious disease, a sense of humor, of course, is essential and "Saturday Night Live" is back with a CNN parody including our very dear colleague Wolf Blitzer and even Dr. Fauci too. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are doing this vaccine World War 2 style. We made England going first to see what's what and then we swoop in at the end and steal the spotlight.
Tom Hanks will make 10 movies about it and when it's all over you can kiss any nurse you want.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That sounds good to me. Who will get the first vaccine here in the United States?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's how we're going to do it. First health care workers -- (INAUDIBLE) what have you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And next, we have anybody named Mildred, Forest, Blanche, Mabel or Walter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about super seniors. Anyone who pays for Red Lobster with a Diner's Club card.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then after the elderly we'll move on to prisoners, then teachers, then sick people, than everyone else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, right. and that will be July 20 --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's quite a while to wait. What do you make of the overall federal vaccine plan?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I try not to comment, but this president has done about as good a job with this rollout as I did throwing out that first pitch at the Nationals game.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I believe we have a clip?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have to show it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now what exactly happened there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to talk about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's ok little guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Thanks for watching CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow.
My colleague Kim Brunhuber will be up with more news after the break.
[01:56:59]
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