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New Day

Race to Vaccinate Ahead of Variants Spreading; Bezos Stepping Down; Distrust among Blacks over Vaccines; Veteran Fights for Freedom in Russia. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 03, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

RICK BRIGHT, VIROLOGIST AND IMMUNOLOGIST: Just yet and know how effective the vaccines or drugs will be as these viruses continue to change. We need to scale up our efforts quickly.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: But, I mean, Rick, I hear your concern. But even if we could map the genomic sequencing and know about these new variants, what would we do differently? We only have a certain amount, only, as we see here, 52 million doses have been distributed of the vaccine. What could we do today differently?

BRIGHT: There's a number of things we can do. Number one, people can start wearing their masks more frequently and appropriately covering their nose. Upgrading their mask quality. So CDC is putting out additional guidance on the quality of masks that we need to wear. Double down on our other public health measures to keep distance so we don't get infected with the virus.

At the same time, we can track the changes to the vaccine quickly with the new technologies that we have, such as messenger RNA. We can already start making that next type of vaccine to work against the variants or maybe even considering an extra dose of vaccine that would give us more robust immune response against the variants. There's a number of things we can do, we just need that advance notice so we have time to do them.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Biden administration just announced it's shipping a millions doses of the vaccines to retail pharmacies. This is the first step, I think, to get vaccines directly to retail pharmacies so they can be a key player in administering them.

Why is this important? And that amount struck me. It's not necessarily very high given that we're vaccinating 1.3 million people a day as thing stand right now. So you're dispersing a million doses to vaccines (ph) all around the country. Is that enough?

BRIGHT: Well, the challenge we've had, John, is getting the vaccine to where it needs to go to reach the people who are most vulnerable. Big- box pharmacy chains such as CVS and Walgreens have been doing a great job in many of the larger cities. We need to open up that aperture and get the vaccine to more pharmacies in small communities and small towns, in grocery store pharmacies. These broader chains of pharmacies that are going to reach and penetrate into populations that are harder to reach. And that is what the Biden administration is doing now.

It doesn't sound like a lot of doses initially, but it's a smart strategy because we have to figure out the kinks. It's difficult to flood those pharmacies and those new outlets with a lot of vaccine and sort of crash the system up front. It's better if we turn on the spigot, test out the system, make sure everything's in place and robust and then start increasing the vaccine that's distributed to those outlets.

I think the ultimate goal is to have over 40,000 additional outlets across the country. We need to test the waters gently and then ramp up quickly once we know the systems are in place to handle the additional vaccine load.

CAMEROTA: Rick, I have one very quick development for you.

A former Biden transition adviser, I'm sure you know her, Dr. Luciano Borio (ph), she has said basically that the plasma, the convalescent plasma, which I guess is the antibody cocktail, right, that some people have been use -- is that the same as what they've used to treat as a therapeutic, that she fears there's an unintended consequence by using the convalescent plasma that we might be actually training the virus somehow to mutate faster.

BRIGHT: You know, Alisyn, that's something we need to look at very closely. I have seen some reports that indicate if we have partial immunity, if you don't have a really strong immune response against the virus, maybe if you're being treated with some convalescent plasma and it's not the right dose or too little of a dose, or in people who are immune compromised, so they have a weaker immune system as well, these are all ideal environments for the virus to replicate in and to mutate within.

So we need to look very carefully at how we're using the treatments and look at the consequence of those treatments and see if we need to adjust those treatments to safeguard against this. But if we get more data that shows that treatment with convalescent plasma is encouraging or creating an atmosphere for the virus to mutate more readily, then we need to really look closely at how we'd alter in that type of treatment.

BERMAN: All right, Rick Bright, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

BRIGHT: Thank you both. Good to see you.

BERMAN: So, you know, if you're one of the world's richest humans --

CAMEROTA: I can relate. Go on.

BERMAN: What do you do next? What do you do next?

CAMEROTA: Go to Disney World.

BERMAN: Well, I -- you can buy Disney World.

Jeff Bezos stepping away from Amazon. But what do we know about why and where he's going exactly? That's next.

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[08:38:33]

CAMEROTA: Huge news in the business world. Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, says he is stepping down as CEO.

Chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now with more.

What's going on, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Alisyn, he founded Amazon 26, 27 years ago in his garage in Washington state. And it started, remember, as an online bookstore and it became, obviously, a global powerhouse.

Bezos, really a tech trailblazer. He jokes that when he first started Amazon, people frequently asked him, so what's the Internet? Not anymore. Amazon now a $1.7 trillion retail giant, making Bezos one of the richest people in the world.

He's handing off the day to say operations and the CEO title to Andy Jassy, an obvious choice. Jassy a longtime member of Amazon's elite leadership group and now runs Amazon Web Services, its biggest profit driver. Jassy turned AWS into the world's biggest cloud computing provider.

Bezos told employees, this is not, Alisyn, retirement. He's going retiring. He's going to focus his energy on new products and early initiatives and spend more time on his space start-up Blue Origin and on his newspaper, "The Washington Post," as well as climate and education priorities.

Timing here? He announced the new role in the company's earnings release, which showed an epic quarter, an epic year for Amazon. In the era of COVID, it's online retail presence and cloud computing services have just boomed. The stock is up almost 70 percent over the past year. That makes Bezos even richer.

Important to note also, the change comes against the backdrop of intensifying regulatory scrutiny of all of big tech and accusations of some lawmakers of monopoly power over selling on its site and federal probes into allegations of anti-competitive behavior, which Amazon denies.

[08:40:10]

John, he will remain an executive chair of the Amazon board, but giving up those day-to-day responsibilities.

BERMAN: Romans, was there a birthday?

ROMANS: Yes, there was. I took Monday off for my birthday.

BERMAN: Happy birthday, Christine Romans.

ROMANS: Thank you. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We like -- we're observant, even if you're not.

ROMANS: Nothing gets by you. Nothing gets by you two.

BERMAN: No. I notice things.

ROMANS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Happy birthday.

All right, distrust of vaccines among African-Americans has a long history in the U.S. and has major implications in terms of fighting the pandemic.

CNN's Ryan Young live in Atlanta to explain.

Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, it certainly does.

Look, we're at a COVID-19 massive vaccination center. You can see the workers who are getting ready to do those vaccines a little later this morning.

But one of the things they've noticed so far is African-Americans are not really showing up in the numbers they would like to see and that's something they would love to see change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YANOUS WILLIS, ATLANTA BARBER: I do believe in COVID, yes, yes.

YOUNG (voice over): At Playmakers barber shop in Atlanta, the tight fades are blended with energetic and sometimes loud discussions about who's the greatest basketball player of all time.

WILLIS: My name was Yanous before the basketball player.

YOUNG: But now COVID-19 stimulus checks and the COVID vaccines are talked about just as passionately.

WILLIS: I really don't trust it because it actually came kind of fast.

YOUNG: Barber Yanous Willis feels strongly that the development of COVID-19 vaccines was rushed and comes with serious side effects.

WILLIS: People that take it, they have bell palsy.

YOUNG: Outside the shop, James Harris had other concerns.

JAMES HARRIS, ATLANTA RESIDENT: I know the doctor took it. It killed him. And his nurse, I know, it killed her.

YOUNG: While the CDC and FDA are looking into those and similar claims around the country, Harris and Willis' beliefs underscores a serious concern for Fulton County Health Director Lynn Paxton and her team who are fighting the misinformation online about as hard as they're battling the virus itself.

DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FULTON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH: This vaccine is very effective and very safe.

YOUNG: But it's not easy, especially when rumors spread on social media, like posts claiming baseball legend Hank Aaron died from the vaccine because he received his dose publicly days before passing away. He didn't. The Fulton County Medical Examiner says he died from natural causes.

But many in Atlanta's black community believe the claim, forcing health officials to speak out.

KATHLEEN TOOMEY, COMMISSIONER, GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I think it's just important that we quell these kind of rumors.

YOUNG: Which is why Paxton's team is now distributing information in these communities.

PAXTON: Seek out trusted sources for information about the vaccine. FaceBook and your neighbor next door's postings are not trusted sources.

YOUNG: Health officials worry misinformation could complicate the process of getting shots in the arms of black and brown communities. New CDC data from the first month of vaccination shows black and Latino people lagging way behind in those states reporting racial breakdowns. So far, 60 percent of those vaccinated are white compared to 11.5 percent Latino and just 5.4 percent black.

BERNARD ROYAL, HEALTH CARE WORKER: You're not giving me the option. You're trying to dump it on me.

YOUNG: Misinformation isn't the only issue. History is also a major factor for some, including these black health care workers who are still on the fence about getting the vaccine.

JAMECKA BRITTON, HEALTH CARE WORKER: The hesitancy with the African- American community goes back to the willing malpractice on African- Americans, i.e. the Tuskegee experiment.

YOUNG: The awful decades long study where black men with syphilis weren't informed or treated now playing a role in the uphill battle health officials face in trying to convince an already skeptical community to get the COVID vaccine.

PAXTON: Let's face it, it was a crime against humanity what happened then. But that happened ages ago. And, because of it, it completely changed the landscape for research.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: John, you think about this in terms of those health care workers, who even they say they don't want to take the shot. Think about that conversation they're having with their families.

And this is a room that will be full of people getting shots this afternoon. What health care workers are so concerned about is, that population that's being hit by COVID so hard is the exact population that's not getting the shot. That's a tough conversation to have on a day-to-day basis, especially when we've been fighting this pandemic for a year. But you understand, you can't reverse years of mistrust in a few months.

John.

BERMAN: No. Look, the former surgeon general, Jerome Adams, he was working very hard to try to get the message out to as many people as possible. And this is a real struggle. It's important to address it head-on and acknowledge the history.

[08:45:01]

Ryan Young, thank you so much for this report.

So a Russian court just heard an appeal in the case of a U.S. Marine veteran being held in a Russian prison. We're going to speak to his parents about the case, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, live pictures from the Capitol Rotunda. The vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, and her husband, Doug Emhoff, paying their respects to Officer Brian Sicknick. He was the Capitol Police officer killed in the insurrection. He is lying in honor in the Rotunda at this moment. He, of course, lying in honor in the very building that he died defending. The vice president and her husband laying a wreath there this morning.

Also new this morning, U.S. Marine Veteran Trevor Reed fighting for his freedom in Moscow after he was sentenced to nine years by a Russian court for allegedly assaulting two police officers in 2019.

[08:50:03]

Charges his supporters and family say are unfounded and politically motivated.

Joining us now, Joey and Paula Reed, Trevor's parents, and his sister, Taylor. Thank you all so much for being with us. And we are sorry for what your family is going through.

Joey, can I just start with you.

He's been in prison since 2019. A long time. And it was some time before you were even able to communicate with him. You have heard from him recently. How's he doing? JOEY REED, FATHER OF U.S. MARINE VETERAN IMPRISONED IN RUSSIA: Thank

you for having us on the program.

Yes, he's been in there almost a year and a half and we started getting -- I visited him a few times and his mother and sister got to visit him once when his trial started in July of last year. And we started getting phone calls from him in the last two months thanks to the embassy.

And his health, he's holding up. He's had some medical issues and medical treatment within the Russian prisons is horrible. And -- but he's holding up well and the embassy is doing what they can to make sure he gets basic medical care.

BERMAN: So, Paula, we were speaking to you this morning. I understand that you were part of a conversation with the new U.S. secretary of state, Tony Blinken, yesterday, where he spoke to families who have sons, daughters, loved ones either being held hostage or imprisoned in various places around the world. And you said having that conversation was like having a weight lifted off your shoulders. Why?

PAULA REED, MOTHER OF U.S. MARINE VETERAN IMPRISONED IN RUSSIA: Well, it was very refreshing because we hadn't had any contact with higher level of the government in the prior administration. And the fact that Secretary Blinken was proactive in making the call to all of the families of the hostages in -- wrongfully detained within six days of his new appointment was just -- it was awesome. We really, really appreciated it, and it showed a good-faith effort in keeping the lines of communication open, which hadn't always been the case before. So we were very thankful.

BERMAN: I'm curious about that because the past administration was quite boastful about the work it had done with people who were either being held hostage or in custody around the world.

P. REED: Yes.

BERMAN: But maybe not so much with people being held in Russia. So I'm confused by the fact that they didn't address it to a way that satisfied you or you say even speak your son's name out in public. Why do you think that was?

P. REED: I'm not really sure. We have a couple of theories. I'll let Joey address that.

J. REED: Well, first of all, we think that if you talk about all the dozens or maybe even over 100 Americans held hostage in other countries, it might look you -- make you look weak. And to only talk about really the cases that you get the hostages brought home, you know, it's -- you know, they're all wins. And we think that may be why they weren't mentioned.

And, of course, in the Russia situation, there were all types of international and then internal politics as far as dealing with Russia. So -- but we did feel also that we were fighting against our own government. We were afraid to say certain things or talk about certain things that our son had in his military history that might have offended the administration. And we now feel like that's been lifted and we can speak openly.

In fact, Secretary Blinken said they want to hear all complaints all the time and they'll take all of that into consideration.

BERMAN: It was interesting, and, Paula, you can address this, he said, we want to hear all complaints and speak, criticize us. Say whatever you want. We may do things that are in national interest that you may not think are in your family's interest, but that doesn't mean we don't want to hear from you. So how did that land with you?

P. REED: It was great because I felt like -- like Joey said, we felt like our hands had been tied before. And now I don't feel that. And I also felt that Secretary Blinken was very empathetic and sincere. I get -- I got the feeling that he really cared about everyone's family members and that this is a very important -- that point to him that we are able to communicate openly and freely.

BERMAN: And, Joey, another interesting point, timing point here, which is that Alexey Navalny, this Russian democracy leader, this dissident, sentenced to prison yesterday, you don't think this is disconnected thematically. You think this is part of the same theme from the Russian leader. What do you mean?

J. REED: Well, first of all, that, you know, his arrest and then the misuse of the judicial system is exactly what's happened with our son and Paul Whelan, the other American, former Marine, held by Russians. It's a -- the judicial system just backs up law enforcement. And then they do the bidding of the government. And so in that way they're similar.

And what -- we've kind of spoken out because there had been a lot of speaking out by our government for Navalny and by officials in the prominent people in the United States and yet our son's name wasn't even being spoken. And so we felt like, well, if we're going to ask for the release of a Russian from Russian prison, we should be asking for the release of innocent Americans that were falsely convicted, probably because they are United States Marines.

[08:55:01]

BERMAN: Taylor, I don't know if you can hear us or speak. I don't know if you're miced. But how can -- how can the rest of us help your brother? How can all of us help Trevor right now?

TAYLOR REED, SISTER OF U.S. MARINE VETERAN IMPRISONED IN RUSSIA: Just to -- raising awareness. We're trying to get his name out there in the news and try to get as much support as we can.

We do have a Twitter account going. It's Free Trevor Reed --

J. REED: Dot com.

T. REED: Dot com -- or is our website and then we also have a Twitter page. We also have a GoFundMe. It's gofundme.com/f/freetrevorreed. And we're

just trying to get some donations going for that for all of his legal expenses.

BERMAN: Well, Taylor, Paula, Joey, thank you very much. We are thinking of your son, Trevor Reed, who has been in prison for more than a year now, sentenced to nine years. We hope you get the help you need from the U.S. government going forward.

Thank you for being with us.

J. REED: Thank you, Mr. Berman.

P. REED: Thank you for having us.

BERMAN: All right, meanwhile, we've been looking at live pictures from the U.S. Capitol. Officer Brian Sicknick lying in honor in the Rotunda, in the very building he died protecting.

Our coverage continues, next.

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