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Florida's Top Doctor Defies Health Standards On Containing Measles; Collages Grapple With DEI Efforts Amid Political Backlash; Vice Lays Off Hundreds Of Staffers, Stops Publishing Its Website. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired February 23, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
LT. COL. ALEXANDER VINDMAN, FORMER DIRECTOR FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: And were seeing some signs of that again in Moldova today. It's because the Republican Party, which holds a lot of power, is unprepared to hold Putin accountable.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Colonel Alexander Vindman, appreciate the perspective. Thanks for being with us.
VINDMAN: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, a Florida elementary school is fighting to keep a measles outbreak from spreading. So why is the state's top health official defying science-based recommendations to try and stop it? We'll explain when we come back.
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SANCHEZ: Florida's top health official is coming under fire for his advice amid a growing measles outbreak at an elementary school in the Fort Lauderdale area.
Despite six confirmed cases of measles at Manatee Bay Elementary School, the states surgeon general failed to urge parents to vaccinate their kids or keep unvaccinated kids at home.
[14:35:10]
Instead, writing that the Health Department is, quote, "Deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance."
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics says that this is a decision that runs counter to its policies, to its recommendations from the CDC as well.
And joining us now, we have Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He's a CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University also.
Dr. Reiner, first off, let's just talk about measles and how contagious measles are.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes. So measles is probably the most contagious pathogen on the planet.
If you take -- you put 10 people who have not had measles and have not had the vaccine and put them in a room with somebody who has active measles, nine out of those 10 people will contract. Incredibly transmissible.
And it's remarkably preventable. The vaccine that we've had since 1963 is 98 percent effective at preventing vaccine -- preventing measles infection.
The virus itself causes severe illness. And prior to the advent of vaccines, hundreds of thousands of Americans would get measles.
Right now, if you look at the -- what happens if you get the virus, but one in five people will need to be hospitalized. About one in 10 people get pneumonia. One in 1,000 people getting syphilitic, which can result in deafness, intellectual disability, seizures.
And kills -- it still kills quite number of people, mostly outside the United States. And the tragedy is that it's preventable.
In 2000, it was declared that basically measles had been eradicated from the United States. But in recent years, we're seeing more and more of these outbreaks, largely caused by parents making a decision not to vaccinate their kids.
SANCHEZ: Doctor, what do you make of the superintendent saying that they're doing a lot of cleaning and changing air filters at the school. I imagine that's not quite as effective as the 98 percent effectiveness you pointed out that the vaccine has.
REINER: So here's -- here's the thing. First of all, this virus sort of lingers in the air for a couple of hours. So if an infected person has been in a room and has left, you can become infected from being in the same airspace after they had -- after they've left.
People who are infected with measles are transmissible. They are contagious four days before they develop the characteristic rash. And four days after the rash finally leaves.
If you've been infected, the incubation period, meaning the period from which you are infected until you actually develop symptoms of the disease, can range from seven to 21 days.
And this is why the recommendation is for an unvaccinated person who has potentially been exposed to this virus to not go to school for up to 21 days.
And this is what Dr. Ladapo has basically refused to urge parents to comply with. Because you can be infected and develop the disease up to 21 days after being exposed to it.
KEILAR: That's a long time.
Tell us about measles activity here in recent years. We've been seeing it rise. We've been seeing people resisting vaccinations, obviously, as well.
REINER: Right, so there was an outbreak in Ohio in 2022 and about 85 kids became infected with the virus. And they were all essentially unvaccinated.
And this -- what bothers me greatly is that, largely now, the people who are being infected and suffering the consequences of infection are not making the decision themselves not to get vaccinated. That decision is being made by their parents.
And in recent years, we've seen this dramatic growth of the anti- vaccine movement, largely fueled by prodigious misinformation being -- being spread around the country and being spread by social media and being spread by very vocal people, some very, very prominent people.
And the consequences are that parents assimilate this information and then decide that a vaccine, which has been available for 60 years in this country, proven to not just be safe, but which is phenomenally effective -- it's one of the most effective vaccines ever developed -- not to give this to their children.
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And there are consequences for making that decision. And occasionally, those consequences can be quite dire.
KEILAR: Yes, they certainly can.
Well, Dr. Reiner, thank you so much for taking us through that. We appreciate it.
REINER: My pleasure.
KEILAR: Still to come, once worth billions, it is now laying off hundreds of employees. What went so wrong at Vice?
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KEILAR: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, ideas that you'd think would be welcome at places like businesses and universities.
So why is DEI coming under fire? In fact, critics have called DEI programs fundamentally un-American, inherently racist even.
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Let's bring in CNN national correspondent, Athena Jones, on this story.
Athena, you've talked to people on both sides of the issue. Tell us what you're learning.
ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. Well, we visited the campus of Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. Officials there remain committed to promoting DEI values and say critics are distorting their goals. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to figure out DEI, how to do it the right way and not the wrong way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to stop sending six-figure salaries to DEI staff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida.
JONES (voice-over): Universities across the U.S. are facing intense scrutiny over efforts to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion -- DEI, for short -- with critics blasting DEI initiatives as unnecessary, harmful, discriminatory, even racist.
Since 2023, more than 70 bills targeting DEI in academia have been introduced in more than two dozen states, becoming law in six states.
Even some former supporters of DEI say contemporary DEI is too focused on an oppressor-oppressed-us-versus them framework.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are 3,200 marchers --
JONES: Rather than the values championed by civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr.
(on camera); What do you want to see happen?
ERIC SMITH, RESEARCH FELLOW, CATO INSTITUTE: I want a DEI that is emphasizing the protection, right? And the fair and equal implementation of classical liberal values, like individuality and the quality, right? Free speech.
JONES (voice-over): But leaders who embraced DEI say their approach does just that.
DR. SHIELA CALDWELL, CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY SYSTEM: Our framework is a result of founding documents like the Constitution, like the Bill of Rights, like the Declaration of Independence. We seek to fulfill those promises made to groups that have been historically denied.
JONES: Dr. Sheila Caldwell is chief diversity officer for the Southern Illinois University System, whose Edwardsville campus has been recognized by "Insight into Diversity" magazine for its commitment to these ideals 10 years in a row.
(on camera): What made you want to speak with us?
CALDWELL: But I see that there is a false and incomplete narrative circulating about the work that DEI leaders do across the nation. We are the good guy.
JONES (voice-over): She sees a link between the anti-DEI campaign and efforts to ban certain books and to limit the teaching of race and history in K through 12 classrooms. CALDWELL: And if we don't talk about the failures (ph), we can't talk
about the victories.
JONES: At SICU, promoting diversity encompasses not just ethnic background, but characteristics like sexual orientation, physical ability, and political beliefs
BRANDI SPAN, SIUE JUNIOR: Any type of social change. There's always backlash. But I think the direction where headed in the future, this is necessary for that.
HANNAH LEDFORD, SIUE JUNIOR: It's so important to be able to be around people who are different from you and especially to be able to work with people that are different than you.
JONES: Data shows efforts to increase equity at SIUE Edwardsville are paying off. A new initiative increased first-to-second year retention rates for black students by 10 percent. And for Hispanic students by nearly 4 percent.
And though they were not targeted, retention rates for whites rose, too.
DAN MAHONY, PRESIDENT, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY SYSTEM: We want to make sure that every student who comes here has a chance to be successful. And we think that's really important to point out is a focus on DEI anywhere in society usually helps everybody.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JONES: Now supporters of DEI initiatives say the goals must be well- defined, measurable, and have genuine buy-in from university leadership.
In reporting this story, I reached out to some two dozen colleges and universities that have been recognized for their commitment to DEI.
And in what was perhaps a sign of how controversial these initiatives have become and these school's fears of negative national attention, only a handful agreed to discuss the issue with me and just one agreed to a visit -- Brianna, Boris?
KEILAR: So interesting. They don't want to be targets. And even talking about it might make them one.
Athena Jones, thank you for that report.
[14:49:05]
Still ahead, University of Georgia police have now identified a person of interest in the on-campus death of a 22-year-old nursing student. What we're learning about her death and the investigation.
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[14:53:40] SANCHEZ: It was once valued at billions of dollars and its digital format at one point threatened to upend the media landscape. But now Vice Media is the latest digital startup to shutter. It's laying off hundreds of employees and it will no longer publish content online.
CNN senior media reporter, Oliver Darcy, has been following all of this.
Oliver, what happened to Vice Media?
OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: It's a tragic story. Boris. Like you said, this is a company that was once worth billions of dollars. It inspired fear in legacy media rivals like "The New York Times."
And now it's basically shuttering, as we know, and pivoting to his studio business. The company is laying off hundreds of people had said yesterday as it really reorganizes.
You know, they sold last year to a private equity for $350 million. Again, this is a company that was worth billions of dollars not too long ago. And they've been really struggling ever since in the last year.
And so now you're seeing them completely re-pivot their business. They're saying they're going to be like a studio, no longer publish their own contents, but basically make content for other larger media organizations.
And, Boris, this is really a trend we're seeing in digital media over the past few years. It's been really tough for them.
The digital ad market has been cornered by Google and Facebook or Meta, I should say, and the referral traffic these Web sites used to get from places like Facebook has really plummeted.
[14:55:09]
And so it's spelled really a doom and gloom scenario for a lot of digital media companies.
This year alone, you've seen the Messenger shutdown that was resulting in several hundred job cuts.
You saw this week Buzzfeed slash the workforce 16 percent. And now you're seeing Vice lay off hundreds of employees as they pivot their business.
SANCHEZ: Oliver Darcy, a sad update for some of our colleagues in the press.
Thanks so much, Oliver.
SANCHEZ: From hosting the Super Bowl to wowing audiences with its futuristic new venue, the Sphere, Las Vegas is a must-see city. And so is this new CNN original series, "VEGAS, THE STORY OF SING CITY. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pure entertainment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show boys, show girls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be a headliner in Vegas, that's what I want to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had the biggest entertainers in America.
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elvis was an alien-like thing. He was so charming and so hot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Rat Pack was at the top of their game in Las Vegas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would you want to see Liberace while the gamblers want to gamble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has become home. Didn't get better than these guys.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pure entertainment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The city has had a lot of booms.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were building fantasies. Let's run around in togas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Las Vegas really becomes the place where people in America went to party. And the only way you find that what you can't do is if you do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's unlike anywhere else in the world.
ANNOUNCER: "VEGAS, THE STORY OF SIN CITY," Sunday at 10:00 on CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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