Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

U.S. Electoral College to Begin Voting on 2020 Presidential Election; Pfizer Vaccine Shipped to States across U.S.; The State Capitol In Michigan Is Closed To Do A Credible Threat; The Electoral College Meets In 50 States In D.C. For Electors To Cast The Official Ballot For President; New York City To Launch A Vaccine Command Center This Morning. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 14, 2020 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Airports across the country. This is, of course, wildly welcome news, but it does not mean the end of the pandemic yet. And the death toll at the same time continues to rise. Today the United States will pass 300,000 deaths. When will that end? Well, the head of the government's Operation Warp Speed vaccine program predicts there will not be enough people vaccinated to approach herd immunity, which is what we need, until May or June.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What an incredible coincidence, by the way, that the day that Americans start getting the shots, the coronavirus vaccine, is the very day we're going to pass 300,000 deaths. It shows what an overwhelming accomplishment this is, but also the overwhelming need.

It is also the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, which means it's Electoral College day. By law, this is the day that electors meet in each of their states to cast the official votes for president. We will watch this distinct ceremonial and, frankly, bizarre process unfold all day on CNN. Joe Biden will win, again, just as he did on Election Day, just as he did in the Supreme Court on Friday. And while in some ways this is a formality today, it is hugely important historically and constitutionally, and it will provide senior Republicans, many of whom have stoked undemocratic, dangerous conspiracy theories, perhaps their best chance to acknowledge the reality of Joe Biden's victory. We will see if they stop lying today. It's had an impact. The Michigan House and Senate offices are closed today because of credible threats of violence.

Now, in the face of all these developments, we will hear from President-elect Joe Biden. He plans to address the nation tonight after the electors are done voting.

We're going to begin, though, with these vaccines which will be arriving in locations this morning, people getting shots as soon as this morning. Martin Savidge live from the Ohio State University hospital in Columbus, where the first doses, we understand, Martin, are about to arrive. MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, in fact, John, we anticipate that the first doses should arrive, 975 of them, at the Ohio State University Medical Center about an hour from now. They anticipated between 9:00 and 9:30. And then once they arrive, they figured it would take about an hour to maybe an hour-and-a-half to prepare, because there are some process that it has to go through. You have to thaw it because, of course, it comes at a tremendously cold temperature. And then you also have to dilute it before you can actually administer it.

There are 20 to 30 frontline health care workers that have already been selected, and they will be the first at this particular medical facility to receive this vaccine. And it comes at a time, actually, in a month where Ohio is expected to see perhaps the deadliest month of the entire pandemic, talking about December. It's a bittersweet moment because so much hope is riding on this, and yet we already know the tremendous cost of this pandemic as far as lives and those who continue to suffer. And as a nation, you just cannot let your guard down at this moment. But still, day one of what is going to be a monumental process of vaccinating every American, it is hoped. John?

BERMAN: Listen, Martin, let us know the moment that that truck drives by. We are watching every step of this process so closely --

SAVIDGE: You bet.

BERMAN: -- because it is historic. Thanks so much for being there.

The nerve center for this incredible logistical undertaking is in Michigan. CNN's Pete Muntean has had this front row seat at the Pfizer plant in Michigan. Pete, what are you seeing this morning?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This moment here, John, is still not over. We know that the trucks just moved back into position here at Pfizer's Kalamazoo, Michigan, vaccine facility, almost a repeat of what we saw yesterday. We know yesterday Pfizer workers packed extra boxes of vaccine to go out today. Yesterday the UPS and FedEx trucks carrying that first shipment of vaccine left here 8:30 in the morning on board 189 boxes of the Pfizer vaccine, about 1,000 vials to a box, that means just shy of a million doses are now going out to all 50 state.

Operation Warp Speed says it's going to 600 individual locations, places like hospitals and pharmacies, CVS and Walgreens. The deliveries are happening this morning, but the bulk of the shipments will really arrive tomorrow according to Operation Warp Speed. Pfizer says months of planning and practice and dry runs went into this incredible achievement.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

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 happy with the solution. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The trucks that are leaving here are under escort by U.S. marshals, and they're going to places like airports. Some of those vaccine flights are actually landing today. We've seen some land at LAX, we're expecting another one in Maryland. This is a massive movement, Alisyn. It all begins right here in Michigan.

CAMEROTA: OK, Pete, come back to us when you see the next step, because we are standing by for whatever happens this morning. Thank you very much.

[08:05:06]

Joining us now is CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, I just want to get your thoughts on this morning. Obviously, we've all been together every morning for the past 11 months as we've been reporting on this horrible pandemic. And when we spoke to Dr. Reiner this morning, he was a little emotional, and he likened it to JFK's moonshot in terms of its ambition and speed, that what the United States has pulled off has been remarkable.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I've heard that from a lot of folks. I remember some of the folks with the University of Washington first talking about this vaccine a couple of months ago as it became increasingly clear that the data was going to be extraordinary, 90 percent plus efficacy. I don't think people really understand the context of this in terms of how just how challenging something like this is. There are vaccines that we still don't have. HIV/AIDS 40 years been working on a vaccine, still don't have one. Rotavirus vaccine, you have Dr. Paul Offit on the program all the time. He worked on that. It took a quarter century, and that was considered more typical.

So when people started talking about a year, 18 months even for this vaccine, people thought maybe that was just to try and provide some sense of hope in the middle of what was becoming an increasingly tragic unfolding of this pandemic. So it is remarkable. And keep in mind, the FDA would have accepted 50 percent efficacy for this vaccine. So these initial numbers came out, and they were 95 percent. The pace of medical innovation, and I think the way that we think about therapeutics and vaccines has forever been changed by what has happened this year. Post COVID, we're going to be a different medical society because people's backs were pushed up against the wall, and they responded, and it's going to make a huge difference.

BERMAN: Sanjay, we've seen all these trucks leaving for the last 24 hours or so. To the extent that we know, and there is some still unknowns in this, what are we going to see today? Are we going to see a truck pull up to a hospital, someone run out with a briefcase, run into a room, and then have a doctor take a syringe out and put it in someone's arm? This last step, what are you watching for today?

GUPTA: Yes, so the last mile of all this is, yes, the trucks are going to pull up. There's probably these areas within the hospitals or pharmacies that have designated. As you know, there's an immense cold storage challenge here, but they're going to stay in these thermal slippers, probably, so we'll see those as they're going into the hospital. And then we know in some of the places people will receive vaccines today, which means they will come out of the thermal slippers and you'll see these vials. They will be thawed, so bring town the down the temperature.

And then you'll see usually have many doses inside one of these vials, so you dilute out the various doses. Depending on which size vial it is, you'll have a certain number of doses. You'll see those loaded up into syringes with a needle. It's basic stuff at that point, and eventually, the shot goes into an arm. There is a process here, because of the cold storage, that you got to do these things in a pretty timely fashion. You can't just stick it in the refrigerator, wait for it for a while overnight, and then take it out. There's a timing to all this, which I think a lot of the hospitals have been preparing for. But that's what we're going to see, and it sounds like maybe within the next couple of hours we may see some of those shots happening fort first time.

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, last hour you had a chance to talk to the Pfizer CEO. You were the first doctor on network television to begin doing that. And so what was the headline to you. What did he share with you?

GUPTA: I think there was a couple things. One is that they're going to have 25 million doses available in the United States by the end of the year, 25 million doses will be available around the world, 1.3 billion doses Pfizer is going to plan on making, roughly 100 million doses a month, which is an enormous, enormous ramp-up in manufacturing, and they believe that they can deliver on that in terms of overall manufacturing the raw ingredients but also the quality controls. But of that, right now, only 100 million doses is guaranteed to be coming to the United States. So how that sort of plays out I think is going to be very important.

Also, I think critically important is that Mr. Bourla along with the FDA is saying that instead of giving as many doses as you can to everybody, because it's a two-dose regimen, instead of giving the 6 million or so doses they have available right now to everyone, they still want to hold half of those doses back to provide that second dose.

[08:10:00]

It's a point of debate. I think it will continue to be a point of debate. But when you think about the immediate effects of this vaccine, even after the first dose, it's pretty clear that it's going to have an impact on public health, probably bringing the death rates down first, followed by hospitalizations, and eventually infections.

BERMAN: One of the truisms we've learned during the course of the pandemic from experts like you, Sanjay, is that vaccines don't save lives. Vaccinations do. People actually have to get the shots. And there is what is called vaccine hesitancy. There are some people who might be nervous about this. And Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar addressed that today. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: This is a 94 percent effective vaccine. It's gone through every aspect of FDA process with integrity and transparent data. If you are recommended to get it and it's available for you, please do get it. Protect yourself and protect those around you, but please, get the vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So Sanjay, how do you think we can get this message out?

GUPTA: Well, I do think that the consistently reinforcing what the process has been, it's been a really fast development of a vaccine, but the process by which you determine something is safe and effective, those benchmarks have been met. And we've seen that and tried to report on that every step of the way. I've looked at the data. Lots of people have looked at the data outside of federal government now to the extent that there was some hesitancy because the FDA had authorized other things, like hydroxychloroquine, and I think that eroded some of the trust. But for this vaccine, there have been so many different organizations involved, I think it makes a difference.

But I'll tell you, as you see health care workers start to get this vaccine today, and you're going to see this over the next days and weeks, I think that's going to make a difference. Health care workers who are people who put a scientific eye on this, they look at the data, they go ahead and roll up their sleeves themselves, I think as more and more people see that, also are reminded that it is 90 percent plus effective, I think that will make a difference.

One thing I will say in terms of getting to that herd immunity, right now, as you point out, 60 percent of the country says they'd be willing to take a vaccine. We want closer to 70 percent. Well, on the right side of the screen, you're reminded that 16 million people have been confirmed to have been infected as well in this country, the number may be two to three times higher than that even. Even though that's not the way you want to get immunity by getting natural infection, that will also add to the overall level of people who actually have antibodies.

So I'm becoming increasingly confident. It's going to take time but I'm becoming increasingly confident we will get to those desired numbers of 70 percent of the country or so having immunity to this virus.

CAMEROTA: If you're confident, we're confident. So that's great to hear. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, also the Electoral College begins voting very soon to cement Joe Biden's presidential victory. Will this be the day that President Trump actually accepts the outcome?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [08:15:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Developing this morning, the State Capitol in Michigan is closed to the public after a credible threat was received. Today is the day the Electoral College meets in 50 states in Washington, D.C. for electors to cast the official ballots for president. It's that strange constitutional quirk, but it's very important and it is historic.

Joining us now CNN White House Correspondent John Harwood, also with us Natasha Alford, she's the Vice President of Digital Content and Senior Correspondent at the Grio.

John, Joe Biden won the election on Election Day. He won in the Supreme Court last week and today he will win yet again, when the Electoral College, these 538 people none of us have ever met, most of whom none of even know will cast the official ballots for president. It's a formality, but this year may be especially important because it's an off ramp for those Republicans who've refused to acknowledge reality. What do you expect to see?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I would expect some people to take that off ramp. I don't think it's going to be like turning a switch on and off and a lot of very ambitious and cynical Republicans who don't have much attachment to principle continue to have the incentive to make noise all the way up till January 6, when the Congress meets and certifies the Electoral votes to pretend that they can somehow overturn it, make noise, get quoted in the newspaper, get on television.

But, I do think that some of the more influential Republicans may begin to start to recognizing reality. I would put Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, in that category. He has been saying we have a process, we're following the process.

This is a very big moment in that process and I think if Mitch McConnell in any way meant what he said about following the milestones along the way, this might be the day where he strikes a different tone and recognizes that Joe Biden's the President-elect.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And yet, Natasha, there is stuff that happens in Congress and then there's stuff that happens on the streets in the United States and this weekend saw these, you know, big pro- Trump rallies and counterdemonstrations. Some of them escalated into violence. There was a big one in Washington, D.C., there were -- they were in state capitals across the country.

In Olympia, Washington, somebody got shot. And so the -- the problem is, is that, as you know, where everybody's in the echo chamber and some people are only hearing that, you know, somehow President Trump is convinced despite having lost 55 court cases, that this was stolen. And that's why when somebody on Fox TV like Karl Rove says that that's B.S., it's helpful and here is Karl Rove on Fox News Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KARL ROVE, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: I think in the long run he's not helping himself or the country. America likes comebacks, but they don't like sore losers and he is on the edge of looking like a sore loser and probably will look like it after January 6.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Do you think that today will change anything in the minds of real people who think that this isn't over?

NATASHA ALFORD, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT AT THEGRIO: Well look at that, some common sense on the airwaves. You know, I -- I think that there were people who were committed to spinning and promoting this false narrative and they have to keep it up, that is part of what is driving President Trump, having a story and staying relevant even after President-elect Joe Biden is, you know, inaugurated on January 20.

[08:20:10]

So -- and I think that we saw more and more fringe voices coming to -- to speak out on behalf of President Donald Trump even after it became clear that Joe Biden won this election.

So, actually I don't expect there to be any change from many of these fringe voices, I'm thinking of Giuliani, I'm thinking of Steve Scalise, you know, saying let the legal process play out as if it hasn't already played out.

And their narrative is that they are trying to restore trust in Democracy for the Americans who voted for Donald Trump who fell disenfranchised, when in fact they are disenfranchising the millions who voted for President-elect Joe Biden.

So, I think they're going to stick to the script, but again, once January 6 hits game over.

BERMAN: Big difference between Giuliani and Mitch McConnell, Natasha. I -- I do think this is an opportunity for Mitch McConnell, one that he might -- might be willing to take. He's been -- I'm not -- and look, I'm not giving him a medal for being a profile in courage here or what he's done the month or so, but the way he has spoken over the last week indicates that he's been looking for a chance to turn the page.

ALFORD: Yes, and I think that, again, when you have these -- you know -- you were talking about this being a formality, something that the average American maybe didn't pay attention to, it's a really important moment, this Electoral College vote today and again that joint session that's going to happen on January 6, because it allows leaders like Mitch McConnell to again to point to the process, to point to democracy at work, to point to this being about the law and not necessarily political loyalty.

And we saw this will William Barr as well, who -- who sort of spoke to the limits of what he could do based on the law and based on these intuitions that are meant to protect us. So, I -- I agree, I think that this could be a moment for Mitch McConnell, for others who are looking for -- for that escape route, but I think the -- the -- the ring master and his circus will continue on the side and we'll have to see how that affects future elections.

CAMEROTA: John, as you know, President Trump has long trumpeted his presiding over, you know, this booming economy in the United States, he's taken complete credit for that, and you say when you look at the numbers it's actually the opposite.

HARWOOD: Well, he has a very poor economic record overall once we get to the end of his term. Now obviously there are two different phases of his term. There's the first three years and there's this year.

In the first three years he was constantly lying and saying I've created the greatest economy in the world. That was false. He inherited trends of recovery from the Obama Administration, and again, presidents don't create the economy. Presidents can influence it somewhat and have some affect on it, but the economy moves according to its own rhythms.

President Obama took some actions to get us out of the Great Recession, those had some beneficial effects. The economy has been in a long recovery, Trump continued that. Unemployment rate going down, not because of what Donald Trump did but because that was the trend in the economy.

The two big things that Donald Trump did economically, tax cuts had very little lasting effect on the economy, brief short-term boost. And the China Trade War harmed the economy, that's why he called it off before his re-election year.

Then when you get to 2020 you had the pandemic, which of course devastated economic activity and what a president can do in that situation is respond to it and try to mitigate and control and ameliorate the problem. The president's response to the coronavirus was bungled, that means that we had an extended and continuing still to this moment terrible set back for the economy.

We expect in December because the Trump Administration has failed to control the coronavirus, they politicized it, they ensure the we had a muddled, disorganized response on testing, on masks, on all sorts of things, we expect that in December will shed jobs, stop recovering, but actually shed jobs.

And in the first quarter of 2021 as Joe Biden takes over, J.P. Morgan says that Donald Trump's going to hand Joe Biden a shrinking economy, that is a bad record if you look overall the 13 presidents since World War II Trump will have presided because we're -- the economy's going to shrink by a substantial amount this year, Donald Trump will have presided over the smallest economic growth of any of those 13 presidents and he's the only one of them who will leave office with fewer people employed than the day he went into office.

BERMAN: One thing that could mitigate that is if Congress gets something done this week with some kind of relief bill. We are waiting to see if there's any progress there. John Harwood, thank you very much. Natasha Alford, great to see you as well. Thanks for being with us.

[08:25:00]

What does it take to distribute and vaccinate millions of people maybe in a matter of days? Closer look at one city's plan next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:29:20]

CAMEROTA: New York City launching a vaccine command center this morning to handle the logistics of getting people vaccinated and to try to win the public's trust through community outreach.

Joining us now is New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Good morning Mr. Mayor.

BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Good morning Alisyn. How are you doing?

CAMEROTA: I'm doing well. What -- what a day. I mean, this is a historic day, even -- you know -- amidst all of the sad and tragic news about the hospitalizations and the deaths, this is a moment that we wouldn't have imagined. You know, obviously just a few months ago. And so, just give us some of the nuts and bolts here. Do you know what time the first person will be vaccinated in New York?

DE BLASIO: Well Alisyn, I just have to say at the outset, we have been through so much in this city, we were the epicenter of this crisis. I mean, this is an amazing day, this is a day we have waiting and praying for. And -- and the vacc -- it's -- it's not just a vaccine, it's a shot of hope.