Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

CDC Advisers Expect FDA Authorization of Pfizer's Vaccine Before Saturday Morning; Biden Says There is No Political Influence on Vaccine; Millions on Brink of Financial Crisis as Stimulus Talks Stall. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired December 11, 2020 - 16:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:32:02]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: We're back with breaking news in our health lead.

Moments ago, CDC advisers say they expect FDA authorization for the Pfizer COVID vaccine before tomorrow morning. That is a crucial step, because as soon as the FDA makes this final decision, it will be the CDC that gives the final sign-off for Americans to be vaccinated as CNN's Nick Watt now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Any minute, the FDA could sign off on that historic thumb's up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we do have a favorable vote.

WATT: From their advisory panel.

ALEX AZAR, HHS SECRETARY: The FDA informed Pfizer that they do intend to proceed towards an authorization for their vaccine.

WATT: Medic shippers are ready for the most complicated and consequential vaccine roll-out in American history.

BRADY SCOTT, RESPIRATORY THERAPIST, RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: It's the beginning of the end of this crazy pandemic.

WATT: This weekend, the CDC will likely sign off on the vaccine and who gets it. Maybe Monday, shots in arms.

AZAR: We could be seeing people getting vaccinated, Monday, Tuesday of next week.

WATT: But it will be as early as the spring before most people can get a vaccine. The challenge, in the meantime, keeping as many Americans alive as possible. DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: Probably for the next 60 to 90

days we are going to have more deaths per day than we had on 9/11.

WATT: Already averaging well over 2,000 lives lost every single day, that will rise because we are also averaging well over 200,000 new cases every day and that number has never been higher. Los Angeles just smashed its daily case count high.

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES: In this year of constant crises, this is the greatest crisis we have ever faced.

WATT: In Virginia, an overnight curfew kicks in on Monday.

GOV. RALPH NORTHAM (D), VIRGINIA: If you don't need to go out, go home. This is just plain common sense.

WATT: New York City and all of Pennsylvania will close indoor dining -- again.

GOV. TOM WOLF (D), PENNSYLVANIA: We need to take further mitigation actions to protect Pennsylvanians and stop the spread of COVID-19. We all hope it would not come to this.

WATT: It has but at least there is now real hope.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If we have a smooth vaccination program where everybody steps to the plate quickly, we could get back to some form of normality reasonably quickly in the summer and certainly into the fall.

WATT: The economy back up and running and all kids back in school.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (on camera): And right now, Pfizer is studying its vaccine for use in the 12 to 16 age group. But remember, Pfizer is not necessarily going to be the only game in town. Moderna's vaccine is about a week behind that FDA committee will meet on that next Thursday.

So, Jake, maybe this time next week, we will have another vaccine to be all excited about. Back to you.

TAPPER: All right. Nick Watt, thank you so much.

[16:35:01]

Appreciate it.

CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins me now.

Sanjay, the White House is ordering the White House chief, Dr. Stephen Hahn, to authorize the Pfizer vaccine by the end of the day or else he has to resign according to Kaitlan Collins' reporting. CDC advisers think it will be authorized by the latest tomorrow morning at the latest any way. Do you share Dr. Moncef Slaoui's concern that this pressure by Trump

and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, might undermine confidence in the vaccine?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I really do, Jake. I mean, you know, I talked to Stephen Hahn a couple of days ago about this very issue. You know, remember he got a couple of summons to the White House to talk to Mark Meadows, even during the process a couple of weeks ago.

It was interesting because yesterday was a good day. It was a very transparent day. You got to see sort of the inner workings of the FDA advisory committee and people, you know, felt very comfortable. I talk to a lot of scientific colleagues, other people, to try and get a sense and people were pleased with that level of discourse and then the entanglement of politics again. It's a concern.

What Dr. Hahn told me was that they have a very strong regulatory framework here. They obviously got some questions they're trying to answer, some of the ones you just discussed with Moncef Slaoui.

They also got a robust legal framework by which they have to abide. It takes time.

But, Jake, as you pointed out at the top of the show, it's pretty much clear that it's going to happen and probably before 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. That's what we're hearing.

TAPPER: Yeah, that's why this bluster makes no sense. It's just undermining the president's own achievement by approving Operation Warp Speed.

Sanjay, I want to ask you. There's this new study that uses genetic finger printing, suggesting that biotech conference in Boston in February that we covered at the time led to 333,000 -- 333,000 cases of COVID across the United States and Europe, making it one of the largest documented super spreader events in the U.S.

What does this say to you about the scale? And what we can be doing to make sure that doesn't happen again?

GUPTA: Yeah, I mean, this was -- this was stunning. I looked at the study, and it was using basically -- identified a very specific mutation and the virus was able to use that mutation to -- as a finger print to essentially trace. And they found that one person, one individual, likely led to 245,000 cases himself or herself, we don't even know. Another person probably led to another 88,000.

You know, just as a reminder, this was back in February. We obviously were still figuring a lot of things out by then. But that was the largest super spreader event. Florida, incidentally, has accounted for the most cases overall, but that was the largest super spreader event in Massachusetts.

What works, the things we've learned certainly overtime since then. When you look at the significant rates of increase, at a hyper local level like in Arizona, for example, you find that as the numbers went up in those places, when you started to put in these public health measures like people -- at least a mandate of masks for a period of time, no public gatherings, you know, creating physical distancing, you can actually bend the curve down fairly quickly within a few weeks.

That's the thing. You know, all the discussion about the vaccine, it is important. It is powerful. But it's going to take a while. Masks are surgical in how quick they can work, and we have seen that over and over again.

TAPPER: And, Sanjay, quickly, if you could, at least 200 hospitals in the U.S. are completely full. One-third of hospitals are at least 90 percent capacity. Should people be avoiding hospitals at this point?

GUPTA: Not yet, Jake. I mean, we have been talking -- obviously it depends a little bit on where you live, but I think for people who have certainly emergent or urgent issues, they should still be going to the hospital.

Telehealth is a great option for other things. I mean, this is -- telehealth has really grown over these last nine months. Set up telehealth now if you haven't done so. That can help take care of a lot of visits. The medical organizations are not advising people to skip going to the hospital, certainly, for urgent or emergent things at this point.

TAPPER: OK. We're not there yet.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Have a good weekend.

President-elect Biden trying to put out a potential fire that the Trump White House started just minutes before he took the stage.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:47]

TAPPER: Topping today's 2020 lead, President-elect Joe Biden introduced another round of cabinet and cabinet level nominees and top administration roles. As Jeff Zeleny reports, Biden kicked off the event by stressing the political independence of the COVID-19 vaccine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: As tough as things are now, I firmly believe better days are ahead.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President-elect Joe Biden heralding the vaccine for COVID-19 as a bright light during the time of dark sorrow and said politics should be set aside to guide America through the coronavirus crisis. He reassured the nation the vaccine was scientifically sound, soon to be fully authorized. BIDEN: We're just as grateful to the scientists and experts who

evaluated its safety and efficiency, free from political influence. I want to make it clear to the public, you should have confidence in this. There is no political influence.

ZELENY: Forty days before taking office, Biden introducing another round of cabinet picks today, and once again joining the trusted allies with whom he has long relationships.

BIDEN: They bring deep experience and bold new thinking. Above all, they know how government should and can work for all Americans.

ZELENY: Biden now settled on more than half of his cabinet, with several familiar faces from the Obama era. The latest wave -- former Obama chief of staff Denis McDonough as V.A. secretary, former Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack coming back for the same role, and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to lead the Domestic Policy Council.

[16:45:10]

But many are in new roles like Katherine Tai, the new U.S. trade representative.

KATHERINE TAI, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE NOMINEE: Trade is like any other tool in our domestic or foreign policy. It is not an end in itself. It is a means to create more hope and opportunity for people.

ZELENY: Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge is one of the new additions, nominated today as secretary of housing and urban development.

REP. MARCIA FUDGE, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY NOMINEE: We will help people believe once again that their government cares about them, no matter who they are.

ZELENY: Yet some of these flashbacks are stirring criticism from various corners of the Democratic Party, particularly from progressives. Biden is not feeling defensive over his selections, aides insist, saying they're experienced, crisis-tested and diverse. One top Biden ally telling CNN, are familiar faces so bad after the last four years?

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris also being named the "Time Magazine" Person of the Year, a nod at her historic rise as the first woman to be a heart beat away from the presidency. It's the first time a vice president-elect has been chosen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (on camera): Now, Biden has not said when he plans to take the vaccine. He was asked that directly today, Jake, and he did not answer. His aides say they're going to wait and see how this authorization proceeds over the weekend, but he could take it as early as next week.

Meanwhile, the president-elect was asked for the first time about Hunter Biden and that federal investigation, he did not comment, simply saying, "I'm proud of my son" -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.

Millions of Americans are, frankly, on the brink.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need help. It's the first time I've said it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We're going to talk to the head of one food bank who says they're nowhere close to meeting the intense demand.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:40]

TAPPER: Breaking news in our money lead.

The U.S. Senate has approved a one-week, one-week stop-gap spending bill diverting a government shutdown for now and giving Congress additional time to end this months long stalemate over much needed pandemic relief for the American people. Stimulus talks, however, are stalled and there remain major sticking points.

CNN's Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill.

Manu, the American people are desperate. Where do negotiations stand right now?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, unfortunately, they are still stuck and it's uncertain whether or not they'll be deal that we reach next week, it's now become the pivotal week.

The Senate and the House are gone until Monday. Key negotiators and a Senate group are trying to come up with a $908 billion deal have not been able to do so because they're stuck on two key sticking points. One, for state and local aid, money that Democrats say is desperately needed. Republicans argue they want liability protections for businesses and other entities that could be hit by a wave of lawsuits during the pandemic, but that liability protection language has not yet been agreed to, and it's threatening to tank the entire proposal.

Now, Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, has suggested moving forward with a narrow package absent those two sticking points. Democrats however are still pressing for that state and local money. But, Jake, the Democratic leaders have not yet sat down with Mitch McConnell to discuss what they can ultimately agree on to pass and ultimately it will be their position.

Now, what is expected next week is key decisions to be made and what can be incorporated in a bill that would keep the government open past next Friday. But the two sides are loggerheads about the size and scope of the provisions. It's uncertain what ultimately will be decided, whether it will be an extension, jobless benefits, whether more business loans, or whether it will be money that is needed for the vaccine distribution for COVID-19.

All of those are on the table right now, but will they actually get through or will we be back here next Friday when the next deadline comes on and whether they be stuck in uncertain. So many people wait for action, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Manu Raju, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Twelve million Americans could lose crucial unemployment benefits just after Christmas unless Congress acts. I want you to hear from one of these people.

Angela Kearney, mother of five, she was furloughed for her job as a paralegal in March. She's been unable to find another job during these very difficult economic times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA KEARNEY, FURLOUGHED FROM JOB DUE TO PANDEMIC: I promised them we would get a house. I promised them that they would be normal children, and then the pandemic hit. And I can't keep those promises anymore. I have to take the bills and pick the ones and hope they total the amount that I have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It's a widespread problem. This was the scene yesterday at one Los Angeles food bank. They had food prepared to give away to 1,800 families in need in just one day.

I'm joined now by Derrick Chubbs. He's president and CEO of the Central Texas Food Bank.

Mr. Chubbs, you've been working to meet the increasing need caused by the pandemic. Tell us what you're seeing there on the front lines?

DERRICK CHUBBS, PRESIDENT & CEO, CENTRAL TEXAS FOOD BANK: And thank you, Jake, for the opportunity to be here.

What we're seeing is unprecedented demand, particularly now during the holidays.

[16:55:06]

Prior to -- prior to COVID here in Central Texas, we were distributing food to approximately 200,000 on a monthly basis.

Since COVID, during the month of November, we were very close to 400,000. So that's almost a 100 percent increase post COVID. The numbers just keep climbing and during this holiday season, we expect them to climb even more in the January, February months to come. TAPPER: And according to the latest census data, nearly 26 million

adults reported not having enough food to eat as of mid-November. Is it getting worse as we head into the holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas?

CHUBBS: Well, from a food bank perspective, Jake, the holiday seasons were typically large -- were typically major distribution periods for us any way. As we know as a culture, food is around so much. We have food around so much in our discussions during the holiday season. But you take that and you put the pandemic on top of it and we're finding for some really challenging times.

And these are families, so many of them are coming to us for the first time. We're hearing families who are telling us now that they are in positions where they have to sell personal items just to make ends meet. And they're coming to us so we can at least provide them with the food that they need during this season.

TAPPER: Two weeks ago here on CNN, you estimated you were 30 percent short of meeting demand. How are you doing now? Can you meet demand?

CHUBBS: We're still running about 30 percent short of that demand, and as the number keeps growing, I think in September, we were 297,000, 343,000 October, and over 380,000 in November, and we haven't closed the numbers yet.

My hope is that we are doing everything that we can do to scale. You know, we're doing more distributions. We're talking to our partner agencies to see if they can increase their capacity. And we will continue to provide food for as long as we can as much as we can.

I think our largest challenge at this juncture is how we change or shift our distribution models for our infrastructure in order to adjust to this new environment that we're facing.

TAPPER: And you put out calls for more volunteers. The cost of food, I should note, is rising. What do you need right now? How can people help?

CHUBBS: What we need and what food banks need across our 200 food bank network for Feeding America, we need monetary donations. I'll use the Central Texas Food Bank as an example. Pre-COVID, we would spend about $100,000 per month purchasing food. Based on the new demand, the increased cost for food, based on increase cost for transporting that food, we're spending 10 x now, as in $1 million a month now just to purchase food.

So, in order to continue to continue to make this demand that's not going any place any time soon, monetary donations would be very valuable. Additionally, we still need volunteers. We're having to do additional shifts in order to maintain social distancing to minimize risks, and the more volunteers we have, I think the better off we are. This isn't going to change any time soon.

TAPPER: Is there -- where should people go? Is there a website people can go to make donations? CHUBBS: For the Central Texas Food Bank, centraltexasfoodbank.org. You can go and make a donation right there. If you're not in the Austin area, FeedingAmerica.org will also help you find where your local food bank is.

TAPPER: FeedingAmerica.org. FeedingAmerica.org.

CHUBBS: FeedingAmerica.org.

TAPPER: All right. Mr. Chubbs, thank you so much for the work you do. Stay in touch. You want to keep on top of this story.

CHUBBS: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: We want to take time to remember some of the lives lost to coronavirus.

Today, we're going to remember Rich Martin. He was a therapy dog handler from Illinois. He devoted his life to making others feel love and comfort in their times of need.

He travelled the country on behalf of Lutheran Church Charities with his wife and their golden retriever, comfort dogs during some of our nation's greatest tragedies, including the Boston marathon bombing, the Sandy Hook shooting, the Pulse nightclub shooting, the El Paso shooting. He did this in order to provide victims a moment of joy and happiness and comfort during these very dark days they went through.

Rich was 68 years old. He passed away after a nearly two-week battle with COVID. He's survived by his wife, his daughter, and of course his beloved comfort dog Ruthie. May his memory and the memories of all the victims in this horrific pandemic be a blessing.

Be sure to tune in to CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" this Sunday morning. I'm going speak with FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn. I have interviews with both Bill Gates and former Vice President Al Gore, as well as Republican Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, and Democrat Stacey Abrams from Georgia. It's all at 9:00 a.m. and noon Eastern on Sunday.

Our coverage on CNN continues right now. Thanks for watching. I'll see you Sunday morning.