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Embattled Budget Nominee Faces Vote; Concern over Variant in California; Inside Russia's Vaccine Factory. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 24, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:32:48]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden's pick to lead the Budget Office, Neera Tanden, face a key committee vote today as her nomination remains very much in jeopardy.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond live at the White House.

How long will the White House stay in this, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, we will have to see. Yesterday, President Biden making very clear that he wants to continue to push forward with Neera Tanden's nomination to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget. But her nomination, there is no question about it, it is hanging on by a thread after Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, announced that he was going to vote against her nomination. That means that the White House needs at least one Republican senator to vote in favor of that nomination. And, so far, that Republican senator has been hard to come by. Several of those moderate Republicans who you would expect to potentially be swing votes in this situation have already said that they also are opposed to her nomination because of some of her caustic tweets that she issued, criticizing both Republicans, as well as some Democrats during her previous role at the Center for American Progress.

Now, there is also the question of Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat from Arizona, who sits on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which is set to vote on Neera Tanden's vote in committee today. She has yet to announce where she stands. So today will be a key indicator of the prospects of that nomination.

Now, look, overall, President Biden has so far had nine out of his 23 Senate cabinet level nominations that require Senate confirmation already confirmed in the Senate. All of those have happened fairly comfortably. No real questions for the White House about getting those people confirmed.

But now we are starting to run into some of the -- into some road blocks at the White House. The White House not only facing these headwinds on Neera Tanden's nomination, but also questions about Congresswoman Deb Haaland, the nominee for the Department of Interior, as well as Xavier Becerra, the California attorney general who was nominated to lead the Department of Health and Homeland Security. Both of those nominations really have become in some ways proxy battles for some of the domestic policy differences between the Democratic and Republican parties.

With Haaland in particular, her progressive activism on the issue of climate change and her advocacy for ending the use of fossil fuels really has rubbed some Republicans the wrong way.

[06:35:08]

She faced tough questioning yesterday on Capitol Hill. And, again, she vowed that she would follow the Biden administration's policies, which, again, many Republicans still oppose, but perhaps not as left- leaning as Congresswoman Haaland's positions are.

Both Haaland and Becerra will face more rounds of questions today on Capitol Hill, including Becerra will be before the Senate Finance Committee where Joe Manchin sits. He has yet to weigh in on whether he will support Becerra and Haaland's nominations.

John. Alisyn.

BERMAN: Right.

Jeremy Diamond, thanks very much for that.

Researchers warning that the coronavirus variant first found in California is more contagious than other strains. So what does this do to the progress that we had been seeing? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news.

We want to give you an update now on Tiger Woods and his condition. He is, quote, awake, responsive and recovering in a Los Angeles hospital, we're told, after that rollover accident in southern California.

[06:40:05]

The first officer on the scene says Woods is lucky to be alive. Woods' doctor reports that he suffered significant injuries to his right leg and ankle, including a compound fracture in his lower leg. That injury has been surgically stabilized with a rod. Screws and pins were also needed to repair a shattered ankle.

BERMAN: Executives from Pfizer and Moderna telling Congress to expect a big jump in coronavirus vaccine deliveries over the coming month. The drug companies insist they'll be able to provide enough doses to vaccinate most Americans by summer. And that doesn't even include Johnson & Johnson, which the FDA could green light for emergency use as early as this weekend.

Joining us now, CNN contributor Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. He's an epidemiologist and a former Detroit health commissioner. We'll get into the vaccines in a second here, but you have concerns about what you're reading about California. The emergence or a couple studies, albeit not published yet or peer reviewed, but studies that indicate the California -- there's a variant in California that could be serious.

CAMEROTA: It's worrisome. So I'll just read a portion of it, Dr. El- Sayed, from this one doctor, Dr. Charles Chiu. He says, one specific mutation may enable the virus to dock more efficiently to cells. Our data shows that this is likely the key mutation that makes this variant more infectious. We observed increased severity of disease, including increased risk of high oxygen requirement. So that's the, you know, U.S. variant, the one that's being found in California, and that's worrisome.

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It is very worrisome. And it says two things. The first is that it explains a little bit, potentially, why the epidemic was so bad in those months between September and January, when they first started to see this variant and then it started to enrich itself because of its advantages when it comes to spreading vis-a-vis the usual coronavirus that we've been dealing with.

And the second point is it reminds us that this virus has the capacity to continue to evolve. And so, you know, we keep looking at these variants as they pop up. But the big picture, when you zoom out of the microscope, is that this virus can evolve really quickly. And the more warm bodies that it has to infect, the more it has the potential to evolve its own capacity to spread faster, which is, of course, what a virus wants to do.

And so it should remind us that we are in an arms race between the virus and our ability to vaccinate and shut down the avenues that it has to continue to evolve, to continue to try and invade our immunity.

BERMAN: There is an elements that's backwards looking to California that might be a little bit glass half full, which is that this variant might be what caused these numbers to swell so much in California over the last few months, and what they've been able to suppress fairly successfully over time, until now. There is some evidence things may be flattening out in California.

But this does show what we can do with mask wearing and social distancing and being careful and the amped up vaccinations. And, clearly, we are increasing the numbers of vaccines shipped and produced, and that will go up over the coming weeks.

EL-SAYED: That's right, John.

Look, the point here that we have to remember is that the good old- fashioned public health approach that we have taken, wearing masks, physically distancing, washing our hands, those things are powerful against coronavirus, whichever variant you're talking about. And so these things work and that you can bring this pandemic under control.

Now, vaccines are, you know, the most important tool in our arsenal, but it doesn't mean that vaccines alone can do it. We need to put vaccines among the other tools that we continue to use. And what they've shown in California, of course, is that you can beat these variants. And we can beat these variants. We've just got to do the things that we can.

And it's great news that there are more vaccines coming along that Pfizer and Moderna are going to push up and bump up their production, but also that we potentially have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine coming onboard. And when you hear these numbers about doses, remember, Johnson & Johnson is a one-dose vaccine. So you can go ahead and basically either double the numbers of doses that you're thinking about or compare it to half the number of Pfizer and Moderna doses, because once and done, and that person picks up that immunity.

HARLOW: Well, that's good, except that the number of doses that J&J keeps promising is a moving target. Do you understand why they publicly promised $10 million, OK, so that would -- for this month, by the end of this month, so that would be 10 million people, as you point out.

But now, yesterday, they said it would be $4 million. So, do we know, is something going wrong? What's happening?

EL-SAYED: You know, that is really frustrating. And, you know, it somewhat explains this moving target number that we keep seeing out of the administration as well because they're hamstrung by the capacity for the suppliers to manufacture their vaccine. A lot of it is just that there is a global race for all of the components of making any vaccine right now because, you know, as different as the stuff inside of them may be, it's kind of the same stuff. And you require the same basic tools.

[06:45:04]

And as we've had from the very beginning of this pandemic, there has just been a short supply of the basic things we need, whether it's PPE or the components of a test or now the components of a vaccine. And so they're trying to manufacture as much as they can, but they're also trying to manage expectations. You know, there's a -- there's sort of an old-fashioned trick in management and manufacturing, where you under promise and over deliver. And so, you know, you've got to take these numbers with a grain of salt. And at the same time, recognize that there is a limitation on supply.

All of that said, it doesn't excuse it. I mean we knew that there were going to be vaccines coming along way back in the middle of 2020. And the fact that we have not gotten our stuff together to mass manufacture this is a real problem.

BERMAN: Dr. El-Sayed, thanks very much for being with us this morning.

EL-SAYED: Thank you.

BERMAN: So protests overnight in Rochester, New York, after a grand jury decided not to indict the police officers involved in the death of Daniel Prude. We have new details, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:01]

CAMEROTA: Developing overnight, dozens of protesters gathering on the streets of Rochester, New York, hours after a grand jury voted not to indict any of the police officers in the death of Daniel Prude. Prude, you'll remember, died last March after officers put a spit hood over his head and held him down naked and handcuffed in the street. Prude was taken to a hospital before being declared dead.

The day before, Prude's brother had him hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation, but he was sent home.

BERMAN: Also developing overnight, five top board members of the Texas utility operate ERCOT resigning after the power outages left millions without electricity for days in the freezing cold. Those outages then led to widespread water shortages. The president and first lady will travel to Houston, we are told, on Friday.

So CNN takes you inside a former Cold War weapons center, now being used to produce Russia's coronavirus vaccine. This is a CNN exclusive, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:19]

BERMAN: This morning, global demand for Russia's coronavirus vaccine is surging.

CNN's Matthew Chance got exclusive access to one of Russia's new vaccine manufacturing factories, where he was able to obtain a dose himself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The site was once a Cold War biological weapons center, secret, remote, and closed. But CNN has gained exclusive access to the high tech facility where Russia now makes Sputnik-V, it's controversial, but effective, COVID-19 vaccine.

DMITRY POTERYAEV, CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER, GENERIUM PHARMACEUTICAL: The next important part is to get the extra-pure, clean, and sterile water.

CHANCE: Every step in the large-scale process had to be carefully calibrated, the chief scientist tells me, delaying mass production of Sputnik-V, approved in August last year, until now.

CHANCE (on camera): And have you already made that step? Are you already now producing millions of vaccines, millions of doses every month?

POTERYAEV: Yes, we are producing several millions of vaccines every month. And we are hoping soon to get even higher amount, maybe like 10 million or 20 million per month.

CHANCE (voice over): With those numbers, Russian officials now say any healthy adult here who wants Sputnik-V can have it, opening pop-up clinics like this one in a Moscow mall, encouraging shoppers to get vaccinated, offering a free ice cream with every jab to sweeten the deal.

Even the secretive Russian lab that pioneered Sputnik-V has opened its doors, offering the vaccine directly, as it were, from the source.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More.

CHANCE (on camera): OK, I'm rolling up. Like, I'm not that nervous about having the Russian vaccine, because, (INAUDIBLE), because, you know, it's had large-scale clinical trials and has been peer reviewed in a major journal and has been found to be very safe in 91.6 percent effective, which is very good. Anyway --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking in foreign language).

CHANCE: (speaking in foreign language).

Anyway, it's, too late now because it's -- it's been done. The interesting thing, though, is the fact that I can get a vaccine here in Russia at all given I'm not in a vulnerable category.

CHANCE (voice over): The fact is, a country with one of the world's highest numbers of COVID-19 infections also has one of its highest vaccine hesitancy rates. Fewer than 40 percent willing to have the jab according to one recent opinion poll.

You'd think Vladimir Putin would step forward to allay public fears. Unlike many other world leaders, the Russian president has yet to take the plunge. The Kremlin says it will announce when a presidential vaccination takes place, but in a country that looks to its strong man for the lead, his vaccine hesitancy is doing nothing to bolster confidence.

POTERYAEV: Yes, we -- our packed and labeled vaccine is stored before being distributed to the patient (INAUDIBLE).

CHANCE (on camera): Now, this is -- this is how they're distributed. How many doses in this box?

CHANCE (voice over): Still, more than 50 countries have now ordered Sputnik-V, according to the RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund. Russians may still be shunning their vaccine.

POTERYAEV: The same boxes are going to Argentina, Brazil, and other countries.

CHANCE (on camera): Right, (INAUDIBLE), wherever it goes in the world.

CHANCE (voice over): But global demand for Sputnik-V continues to surge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Well, this morning, John, the Russians are trumpeting the fact that tens of thousands of doses of Sputnik-V have been delivered to Mexico, the first country in North America to get the Russian jab. Officials tell me, symbolically, that's important because it's as close as they've got so far to the United States.

BERMAN: Matthew, any reaction to the dose that you got?

CHANCE: Oh, no, not at all. You know, I think it's fair to say I feel like a million rubles. There has been no adverse effects so far that I've detected. But, obviously, it was a balance of risks. You know, I had to, you know, weigh out the fact that it had this peer-reviewed efficacy of 91.6 percent against the risk of actually getting the virus here in Russia. And so that was a decision I made.

BERMAN: Yes, I don't know the exchange rate that -- it could be like 35 cents as far as I know.

But, Matthew Chance, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

CHANCE: Yes, it's $4,000 (ph) here.

BERMAN: I'm glad you did get the first dose.

CHANCE: Yes.

BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a rollover with someone trapped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I immediately recognized him. He seemed as though he was lucid and calm.

[07:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's now awake, responsive and recovering in hospital.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You always just have to assume that there may be other injuries given the mechanism of the accident.