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At This Hour

UK Investigator To Release Report On Lockdown Parties Soon; Fauci Discusses Efforts To Develop Universal COVID Vaccine; Second NYPD Officer Dies After Ambush Attack; Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired January 26, 2022 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Developing this morning, we're waiting right now for the release of a highly anticipated investigative report out of the U.K. looking into several parties held at 10 Downing Street during the height of COVID lockdowns. It's expected to be released today and could spell major trouble for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is live at the Prime Minister's residence right now for us. Salma, what is the expectation with this report?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: I think the staff behind me here in Downing Street, Kate are just wringing their hands waiting with bated breath because any minute now, we're going to expect that report. And what that report is going to do is give you a timeline, a blow by blow of what parties happened, who knew, and most critically, what did Prime Minister Boris Johnson know if anything at all?

But for opposition lawmakers, the deal is done. They want the Prime Minister out. He was back in Parliament today, defending himself against growing calls for his resignation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, UK LABOR PARTY LEADER: The reality is that we now have the shameful spectacle of a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom being subjected to a police investigation, unable to leave the country, incapable of doing the right thing, and every day his cabinet failed to speak out, they become more and more complicit.

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Many people may want me out of the way. But I tell you the reason why he wants me out of the way is because he knows that this government can be trusted to deliver.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, when that report comes out, Kate and again any minute now we're expecting it, it's the Prime Minister's own lawmakers. It's his own party that are going to be parsing through that details -- to those details because remember, there's this growing rebellion against him. It is absolutely the conservative party that has to make the decision, does he stay or does he go, Kate. BOLDUAN: Salma, thank you so much. Also happening at this hour, the Federal Reserve is meeting right now to discuss a potential interest rate hike, which would be the first since late 2018. Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell, he's expected to hold a news conference later today outlining the agency's next steps. And it could affect everyone whatever he discusses Matt Egan Joining me now for more on this. Matt, this is an important moment here.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Kate, this is a pivotal meeting for the Federal Reserve. You know the Fed is really in the hot seat.

[11:35:00]

EGAN: It's under pressure from both Wall Street and Main Street. It's clear that Americans are very upset about the high cost of living right now. And remember, it's the role of the Fed to maintain price stability and prices have been anything but stable.

Now, investors have also been unnerved by the prospect of the Fed going from emergency mode to inflation-fighting mode. We've seen a lot of turbulence in the stock market in recent days. The Dow is up today but remains down for the year. The NASDAQ is down about 15 percent from its highs, it's actually on track for its worst month since 2008.

Now, the Fed is not expected to say goodbye to zero interest rates just yet. Today is more likely about setting the stage for rate hikes, as you can see just a 5.6 percent chance of a rate hike today, but that jumps up to 97 percent at the next meeting in March. So what does all this mean for Main Street?

Well, each time the Fed raises rates, that means the cost of interest, the cost of borrowing is going to go up and everything from mortgages to credit cards, auto loans, student loans, it'll still be cheap to borrow, but just not as cheap. We've already seen mortgage rates move up to the highest level since March of 2020.

So, Kate, the Fed has this very difficult balance here. They need to try to cool off inflation but without short-circuiting this recovery or freaking out Wall Street or both. It's not going to be easy.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And as always, everyone will be parsing very closely whatever Jerome Powell says later today. It's good to see you. Thank you, Matt. Appreciate it.

Coming up --

EGAN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Dr. Anthony Fauci talking about a universal COVID vaccine. Now, a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Panel joins us next.

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[11:40:00] BOLDUAN: New in the fight against COVID, Dr. Anthony Fauci is discussing efforts to develop a universal COVID vaccine that can cover well, any and all variants. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I don't want anyone to think that pan-Coronavirus vaccines are literally around the corner in a month or two. It's going to take years to develop in an incremental fashion. Some of these are already in phase one clinical trials. Don't forget, however, that our current vaccine regimens do provide strong protection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: This also comes as nearly 2300 Americans are dying from COVID every day. This is the highest seven-day average of that since last February. Joining me now is Dr. Paul Offit. He's a member of the FDA's vaccine Advisory Committee and honestly, a member of so much more as well. Dr. Offit, what do you think of what Fauci is saying about this universal Coronavirus vaccine, is one needed?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, MEMBER, FDA VACCINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Well, I think the last thing that he said was most important, which is when you think about it, and it's amazing is when these vaccines were made, whichever vaccine, Moderna, Pfizer, J&J, they were all made against that original strain, the so-called ancestral strain in Wuhan. That's not the virus that left China.

The virus that's left China was the first variant, which was replaced by the Alpha variant, and the Delta variant now the Omicron variant. In all cases, these vaccines which were made to protect against really that original strain have continued to protect against serious illness, so right now, what you -- when you should worry, is when these vaccines are not protecting against serious illness.

We have to take a step back. We get an influenza vaccine every year. Because if you've been immunized or naturally affected the previous year, you're not as well protected against severe disease the following year, that's why you get a yearly vaccine. That's not true with this virus so far. So far, these vaccines are holding up in the long term for protection against serious illness.

BOLDUAN: You know, one of the scientific miracles that have come with this pandemic has been the success of mRNA, right? Does that change anything for you just in like in concept if you think like a pan -- a pan-COVID vaccine is possible?

OFFIT: Sure, I think it's possible. I mean, this virus, SARS-Co-V2 is really the ninth Coronavirus. I mean we had SARS-1 in 2002.

BOLDUAN: Right.

OFFIT: We had SARS in 2012. We have four human strains of Coronavirus that circulate every year. I mean a pan-Coronavirus vaccine would be great. It is highly aspirational. I can tell you I trained in an influenza lab in the 1980s, and at the time, they were working on a universal flu vaccine that was more than 40 years ago. So it's hard to do these things.

And Dr. Fauci alluded to that when he said that it was not right around the corner. That's true, but sure, it would be -- it would be a value to have something like that. But for right now, you should worry when a variant arises where the vaccine does not protect against serious disease, and then we're going to need a variant-specific vaccine. Right now, that's not apparently, in the often.

BOLDUAN: Thank goodness for right now. You know, Dr. Ashish Jha, he had an interesting take this morning, just on how at this point, how we maybe should start looking at COVID and how we can live with COVID. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN MEDICINE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We got to get out of the prediction business of knowing which variable hit us when none of us have been able to do that very well. And so instead, let's relax things when infections get better, signal to people that if we see another surge we're going to need to go back and put some more public health restrictions in place and less prepare for future surges, and if they never come, terrific. But the bottom line is we need to have a much more aggressive preparation mentality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:45:00]

BOLDUAN: What do you think of that?

OFFIT: You know I think that's right. I think it -- here's the key thing. In Provincetown, Massachusetts, on July the fourth, there was an outbreak of COVID and there were 350 men roughly, who despite being vaccinated, got COVID, four of them were hospitalized. That's a hospitalization rate of 1.2 percent. That's great. That means the vaccines working.

What worries me is there's going to be a variant that comes into this country where that's not going to be 1.2 percent of people who are vaccinated are hospitalized, but 5 percent, 10 percent, 15 percent. So I think what Dr. Jha is alluding to in part, is we need to have great surveillance across this world to see when that kind of variant emerges so that we can quickly try and combat it because if we don't, if we let our guard down, then we could be in a much worse situation than we are right now.

BOLDUAN: Yes. It's great to see you, Doctor Offit. Thank you.

OFFIT: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, shocking video out of New York, City carjacking in the middle of the day, just one incident in a city fighting against a surge of violent crime right now. A top city official joins us next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

BOLDUAN: A Heartbreaking development here in New York City, where the second police officer has now died after an ambush attack last Friday. 27-year-old Wilbert Mora is now being remembered as a hero, and for his dedication to his job. Mora, as well as his partner, 22-year-old Jason Rivera, were both shot while responding to a domestic violence call when a gunman opened fire. That gunman was also killed by a third police officer who was also responding to that call.

Joining me now is Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, thank you for being here.

MARK LEVINE, PRESIDENT, MANHATTAN BOROUGH: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: You were at the hospital Friday night where the officers were first taken. It is tragic enough that Officer Rivera died and now, you have officer Mora. I mean, this has hit a nerve in the city and around the country. What is going on here?

LEVINE: It really has. It has been such a difficult January for Manhattan, for New York City, seems like every day there's another heartbreaking incident. We're, of course, mourning the loss of two officers who themselves, were kids who grew up uptown, one of this Harlem officer Mora, one in Washington Heights, Officer Rivera.

There is now a united front among all of us in leadership, that we must stop the epidemic of gun violence. I haven't seen this level of unity in a long time among leaders. There are debates on the details of how to do that which we can talk about. But the goals are clear, we have to do more to keep young people from going down that path to pick up a gun in the first -- in the first place.

We need to invest more in youth programs and after school. We have to make it less easy to get a gun in New York City. And that means stopping the flow of weapons up I-95 from the southern states. And yes, we do have to get the guns that are already on the streets off. And that means targeted, sensible, proportionate enforcement that goes after the guns without repeating some of the mistakes of past decades which but overly enforced -- overly aggressive enforcement on young people of color.

BOLDUAN: And you're talking about is some of the blueprint laid out by Mayor Adams. How long do you give this to show results? There needs to be a measure for whether the steps that have been laid out are working.

LEVINE: Look, we need immediate action. We've already had double the number of shootings in Manhattan than we had last year. That can't continue. Some of these fixes are long-term. I think we can move immediately to begin to support young people in their communities to interdict guns that are flowing into the city.

And yes, also to be on the street and seizing some of the guns that are already out there with sensitivity to not repeating the mistakes of the past. The mayor said we have to start showing immediate results. And we do. But this is also a long-term fight that's going to require investments in the kind of programs that won't yield results for months and years to come.

BOLDUAN: Look, there has been a spate of violence, carjackings, blatant theft, five NYPD officers have now been shot since the start of the year, a woman shoved to her death on the subway tracks in Times Square. I mean, the mayor says and you're -- you've said it's been a very rough January. But what do you say to people who now think that New York City just simply is not safe? Do you think it is?

LEVINE: Well, this is not the 1990s, again, thank God. But yes, most categories of crime are increasing now and people feel unsafe. And that also has to be taken seriously. And it's not only shootings, I think we all agree that guns have to be a top priority, but also we have a crisis of mental health that has led to some horrible incidents like the pushing of Michelle Go to Times Square about a week and a half ago.

We also have to go after the mental health problems in the city. We have to help people who are struggling, get into the treatment they need, the housing they need. That also requires investments. We can do this. We will do this.

To people who are doubting I'll say that the leadership of New York City is united, that we have to address the mental health crisis, the epidemic of shootings, and we're going to fight over some of the details but we're going to do this, and it's going to have an impact. I'm confident. We are committed to solving this on behalf of New Yorkers.

BOLDUAN: Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, thank you so much for coming on today.

[11:55:00]

LEVINE: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, so we are moments away from Secretary of State Tony Blinken holding a press conference on the crisis in Ukraine. You see live pictures there from the State Department. We're going to bring that to you, a very important moment here in this crisis that is unfolding. I'm Kate Bolduan. Thank you so much for being with us. INSIDE POLITICS with John King will begin right after this break.

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