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Pfizer Announces 90% Effective Vaccine; Trump Continues Refusal To Concede; Trump Fires Esper; Virus Did Not Hold Its Breath For Election; Last Five Days Worst Five Days Of Pandemic In U.S.; Vaccine Hope Boosts Markets; Armenia And Azerbaijan Sign Cease-Fire; New Restrictions in Effect as Cases Rise in Europe; Unclear How Long Pfizer's Vaccine Protects against COVID-19. Minority Support for Trump; How Harris May Fill Historic Role in Biden Administration. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired November 10, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: In the midst of the darkest days of the global pandemic comes word of what could be the greatest medical advance in 100 years. A safe and effective vaccine for the coronavirus.
President Elect Joe Biden announced a new White House coronavirus task force, promises more widespread testing and a national mask mandate. And warns Americans of difficult days still to come.
And Donald Trump, who tried to ignore the coronavirus pandemic, now trying to ignore the outcome of the election. Playing golf, rage tweeting, and firing his defense secretary.
Well, almost a year into this coronavirus pandemic which is left more than 1.2 million people dead worldwide, there is word that a safe vaccine could soon be approved by the United States.
In a press release, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer claims its vaccine is more than 90 percent effective, much better than many expected.
But there are still unknowns including how long will immunity last and when will be the two-dose vaccine be available for widespread distribution.
We get more details now from CNN's Nick Watt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did the light at the end of this tunnel just get closer? Pfizer says its potential vaccine might be more than 90 percent effective. Well beyond expectations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERT BOURLA, PFIZER CEO: I think that likely based on impact that would be the greatest medical advanced in in the last 100 years. It's very important day for humanity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We may have doses that we're able to give to people by the end of November, the beginning of December.
We would be giving vaccines to people very likely before the end of this year. That is good news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: But challenges remain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-N.Y.): Just to put it in focus. We did 120 million COVID tests in this nation over seven months, scrambling, doing everything we can.
We now have to do 330 million vaccinations, maybe twice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Meantime, in the U.S., this virus is spreading at record rates. For the first time averaging over 100,000 new infections every day. And nearly 1,000 deaths. Rising but not as fast.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: We're going to have a record number of hospitalizations this week.
Now 56,000 people are hospitalized, 11,000 are in the ICU.
These are very big numbers nationally. And it's accelerating very quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: While attention was understandably elsewhere --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, CNN "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA: As election night in America continues --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: During what became election week in America, at least three quarters of a million caught this virus and it killed 6,571 people.
The administration will now change but one thing might stay the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: I have no intention of leaving. This is an important job, I've been doing it now for very long time. I've been doing it under six presidents.
It's an important job and my goal is to serve the American public. No matter what the administration is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Meanwhile, Utah now finally has a mask mandate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GARY HERBERT (R-UTAH): Masks do not negatively affect our economy. And wearing them is the easiest way to slow the spread of the virus.
We cannot afford to debate this issue any longer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: In Minnesota, more than 10,000 cases confirmed just over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAN MALCOLM, COMMISSIONER, MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: These rates of growth are truly chilling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: In New York City, they're nervous again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, N.Y.: Now, unfortunately we're seeing a real growth in the positivity rate in this city. And that is dangerous.
So we have one last chance to stop a second wave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: If you look at nationwide spread, these last five days were the worst five days of the pandemic. The next five might be even worse.
Nick Watt. CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, Donald Trump remains president of the United States for the next 71 days.
And a key model used by the White House predicts if the U.S. continues on its current path, almost 2,300 Americans will die from the coronavirus on the day Biden is sworn into office.
That's more than four times Monday's death toll.
Here's Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U. S. PRESIDENT ELECT: Please, I implore you, wear a mask. Do it for yourself, do it for your neighbor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Biden announced his 12-person coronavirus task force on Monday chaired by a former U.S. surgeon general. It includes a one-time commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration.
Another member, vaccine expert Rick Bright. He left the Trump Administration claiming his warnings about the pandemic were ignored.
CNN's medical analyst and professor of medicine at George Washington University, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, is with us this hour from Washington.
Dr. Reiner, good to see you.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: OK. I'd like you to listen to the CEO of Pfizer about this vaccine. And it seems there's good news but it comes with a "but."
Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOURLA: Ninety-percent is a game changer, 90 percent. Now you're hoping to have a tool in your war against this pandemic that could be significantly effective.
How long this protection will last is something that we don't know right now but it's part of the objective of this study.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:05:00]
VAUSE: So 90 percent effective, which is impressive. But at the stage we don't know how long that protection will actually last. So what's your hunch on all of this?
REINER: Well, we don't know. But this is a really good start.
I think if you asked a lot of people a few months ago, people were guessing that these vaccines might be somewhere between 50 to 70 percent effective.
Mind you, the influenza vaccine varies every year and in many years the influenza vaccine is only about 50 percent effective.
So now we know that in this pivotal phase III trial, Pfizer's vaccine is 90 percent effective, nine out of ten patients.
Or in this trial, fewer than nine patients out of 94 patients who were infected had been vaccinated.
This is a spectacular result and pretty much close to what the measles vaccine does in terms of its effectiveness.
What we don't know and we won't know until we have longer term data is how durable the immunity is.
VAUSE: OK. Ninety percent effective means that you can actually have a lower percentage of the population get vaccinated.
REINER: Yes.
VAUSE: And that's going to be crucial here. Because, as effective as this all is -- and the Pfizer CEO says it's the greatest medical advance in 100 years -- it's not going to be very effective unless a lot of people can be convinced it's safe and effective and actually go out and get the shots.
But the higher this efficacy is, the lower that number is, right?
REINER: Right. So, again, in order to obtain vaccine-induced herd immunity, we probably need at least about 70 percent of the population to have neutralizing antibodies.
So if the vaccine is 90 percent effective in producing those neutralizing antibodies then we're going to need to vaccinate in this country about at least 80 percent of the population. So that's something like 250 million people.
We've never done that before in the United States. And mind you, this vaccine requires two doses separated by three weeks. So that's a lot of doses of vaccine.
It's going to be an enormous logistical challenge to vaccinate at least half a billion people, maybe more like 600 million people over the next, let's say, 12 months.
VAUSE: There are also issues with distribution. We heard from Dr. John Burkhardt, he's Pfizer's vice president of global drug safety.
He told reporters on Monday --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"We have to keep the product cold and shipped very much in sub- freezing temperatures, then there will be short-term instability, perhaps at refrigerated temperatures and that's going to be a logistical challenge."
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: And that seems to be a challenge which can only be solved with the direct involvement of governments at all levels.
So how does this play out during a period of transition when you have an outgoing administration which doesn't seem particularly interested, and you have an incoming administration which has a night and day point of view?
REINER: Pfizer's anticipated a lot of this. And they've created an impressive process to transport the vaccine around the United States using these what they called cold boxes which can keep the vaccine at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 days.
So they've developed this distribution plan and they're on it.
And it looks like if we're lucky and we have a vaccine that receives an emergency use authorization let's say sometime in the next four weeks, we could be vaccinating people in December.
Maybe with up to 40 million doses. And that's going to be a great start.
So things are pretty dark now and the numbers are really bad. But for the first time since this pandemic began, we have meaningful light at the end of the tunnel that's not an oncoming train.
VAUSE: Well, over the weekend while the outgoing president played golf and he rage tweeted about the election, the incoming president announced he would appoint a new coronavirus advisory board.
On Monday we found out who was on that board -- there's not one radiologist among them.
President Elect Joe Biden also had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: A mask is not a political statement. But it is a good way to start pulling the country together.
It doesn't matter who you voted for. We are Americans and our country is under threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He spoke to the country honestly and like adults. It was a real change from what we've heard from Donald Trump.
How long will it be before that starts seeping in, the country really starts understanding how dangerous this pandemic is and the reality of what it takes to controlling it?
REINER: Well, I think a lot of parts of the United States are fully engaged in this right now.
Hospitals are filling up rapidly in the Midwest. In the last week in the United States, we've added an additional 6,000 patients with COVID to hospitals in the United States.
[01:10:00]
We haven't seen hospitalization -- hospitals this filled with COVID patients since the middle of July. So things are getting bad and it's going to be impossible for people to ignore it.
But it's a remarkable breath of fresh air now to see a president that's talking to the public about shared responsibilities and shared sacrifices. And now reconstituting a task force filled with people devoted to science.
Dr. Reiner, as always. Thank you so much.
REINER: My pleasure, John.
VAUSE: Well, Pfizer's announcement of a vaccine combined with Joe Biden being declared president elect sent the markets soaring on Monday.
The Dow was up 1,600 points at the opening bell. That was before gravity took hold. Still finishing up more than 800 points.
Big gains as well for the S&P. But the Nasdaq dipped, tech companies now bracing for a possible wind down of working from home.
Let's take a look at the futures there. All down though across the board as they have been for most of the evening.
Let's go to John Defterios live in Abu Dhabi.
So when we look at what happened on Monday, John, how much of this is sort of a sugar high fueled by hopes and dreams, and how much is based on reality?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: That's a fantastic way of putting it, John.
It was a crazy ride, I would even say irrational exuberance based on the third stage trials that we're talking about here for Pfizer. And then a more sober assessment by the end of the day.
But you still had a three percent gain for the Dow industrials or nearly that which talks about this rotation into industrial stocks that have been isolated because of the pandemic.
So let's take a look at Asia. Again, it's mostly higher in terms of the big four markets but nothing out of the starting blocks like we saw on Wall Street yesterday with Shanghai down lower.
And this is perhaps because of the tensions between the United States and China that still exist.
And it's also, I think, fascinating to look at the winners and losers from Wall Street yesterday even after the spike up and then the more sober assessment as I was suggesting coming down. Delta Airlines because people could travel again, up 17 percent.
Carnival Cruise Lines -- the Saudi Arabian sovereign fund bought into it when it was very low -- again, this could reignite the sector that has suffered perhaps the most.
And then you see Disney. Again, a consumer stock, where people have discretionary spending, they'll go back to the theme parks again.
And then the losers. They've had fantastic gains -- but you can put Netflix in that category, down better than eight and-a-half percent. Clorox, because of all the disinfectants, it benefited from that, and Zoom which has had like a 300 percent gain in 2020, down 17 percent.
So what do we see here? It's everybody taking a step back and saying wow, can the consumer go back into the market and start purchasing outside?
I think it's premature but that's what we're seeing when I talk about this rotation.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUINCY CROSBY, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, PRUDENTIAL: The market, as you again pointed out, looks ahead. Looks ahead three months maybe even four months.
And that's why today you see the normal stocks, the sectors, getting a major boost.
You're seeing Disney, the consummate discretionary, consumer discretionary name, getting a boost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: And also, a discretionary name of course Disney getting that boost that I was talking about but oil prices shot up 10, 11 percent yesterday. They're down about one to one and-a-half percent.
But again, if airlines are flying, people are driving, trucks are delivering goods into the supermarkets again, John, that would benefit as well.
If this is the one dark cloud, can we have a vaccine or not and the clouds are starting to lift.
But I think it's a premature reaction to your original question in terms of that exuberance at the start of the day.
VAUSE: Because there's also political risk in the United States. That is not over, Donald Trump is refusing to concede.
He's firing his defense secretary, there could be more high profile firings on the way. That leads to a lot of instability. There's also a possibility of renewing this trade war, if you like,
between the U.S. and China. Beijing is refusing to recognize Biden as president elect.
So there's a lot going on here.
Is it possible that all that is being discounted in this bounce that we're seeing on the markets?
DEFTERIOS: Yes, I think so. I don't think investors are weighing the domestic risk in America nor the geopolitical risk that you're flagging.
Let's cover the domestic kind of waterfront, if you will.
Donald Trump clearly maneuvering to try to pull something off. But at the end of the day, the largest fund manager in the United States suggested to its investors this this could be carrying on for a month or so but they think that Donald Trump is out.
And they're kind of planning for the future with Joe Biden.
But what a burden on Biden, if you will, John. The first order of business is to get a stimulus package through congress. And then you see Mitch McConnell, the senate majority leader, kind of carrying the bags here for Donald Trump and kind of resisting the change. And telling him he can go to the courts and challenge it.
That's not a good start for Joe Biden and wrestling with the U.S. senate where he was in for better than 40 years.
[01:15:00]
Number two. Also, he has to kind of move the economy forward and one of those key benchmarks is U.S. China trade tensions.
He's talking tough on China, if you will, because he can't be seen as weak and has to protect the American workers, something that Donald Trump did.
And as you suggested, Beijing's kind of holding off decisions here.
So it's not going to be an easy start for Joe Biden.
He has to tackle the domestic issues, look internationally, U.S. China trade. Russia is a big issue. And then when does he decide to reset with Iran.
Again, this could rattle the oil markets if Iranian crude came back into the market.
But again, I think that discussion's premature, John. He's got a lot to fight back at home.
VAUSE: Makes the 2008 financial crisis look like a walk in the park in a way, doesn't it, John?
Thank you for being with us --
DEFTERIOS: Yes. It certainly does.
VAUSE: John Defterios there.
DEFTERIOS: Yes.
VAUSE: Appreciate it. Thanks, John.
We'll take a short break. When we come back. A path to losing, has the president finally embraced reality?
Details on what's happening behind the scenes at the White House.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: After another six weeks of intensive fighting, Armenia and Azerbaijan have signed yet another cease-fire agreement.
This comes just hours after Azerbaijan claimed to have captured a key city from its neighbor.
Armenia's prime minister conceded the military situation looked bleak. Called the cease-fire an extremely difficult decision.
This peace deal comes with the signature of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Peacekeeping forces will be deployed in the region.
Both sides have agreed to a prisoner swap.
Donald Trump kept a low profile on Monday; no public appearances, no tweet storms.
Maybe because as a Trump advisor told CNN, the president now sees a path to losing. And he's now talking about the possibility, yes, of running again in 2024.
But Trump is still settling old scores.
He fired his defense secretary via tweet on Monday. And that might just be the first of many officials to go.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins has details from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump terminating defense secretary, Mark Esper, in his first major act since losing the election.
Trump announcing on Twitter that Secretary Esper had been fired and a senior intelligence official will take his place for the next two months.
The move was announced suddenly though it was months in the making.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mask Yesper, did you call him Yesper?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Esper.
TRUMP: OK. Some people call him Yesper.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: On his way out, Esper took issue with that description.
He told "The Military Times":
"Who's pushed back more than anybody? Name another cabinet secretary that's pushed back...
Have you seen me on a stage saying 'Under the exceptional leadership of blah blah blah, we have blah, blah, blah?'"
Esper and Trump clashed this summer over the president's attempts to use active duty on American streets to control protests against police brutality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ESPER, ACTING U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:20:00]
COLLINS: But Esper may not be Trump's last firing.
Sources say Attorney General Bill Barr, FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel could be next to go.
Esper's firing amounted to President Trump controlling what he could, while contesting what he can't.
He's refused to concede the election to President Elect Joe Biden and spent the election out of public view with the exception of two trips to the golf course.
Some in the president's inner circle are delicately pushing him to come to grips with reality and concede while others are telling him to keep fighting and even suggesting running again in four years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC) (VOICE OVER): Grover Cleveland came back. Donald Trump should think about it if he falls short.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence have called Biden or Senator Kamala Harris.
Today Pence tweeted that he told his staff, quote: "It ain't over till it's over and this ain't over."
On the day Biden announced his transition task force on the pandemic, Pence met with the one that he leads for the first time in nearly 20 days.
The meeting happening the same day news broke that another person in Trump's orbit has contracted COVID-19.
HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson tested positive today after attending an indoor election night party at the White House with hundreds of others where few were wearing a mask and none were social distancing.
And Ben Carson is not the only person in the president's inner circle that has tested positive.
We've now learned that David Bossi, who was recently put in charge of coordinating the campaign's legal efforts to contest the outcome of the election, has also tested positive after traveling extensively, being in the campaign office and, of course, meeting with top White House officials as well.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Washington now. And Noah Birman, White House reporter for the "Los Angeles Times."
And it's good to have you with us.
And what we have here right now; we have 71 days until Joe Biden is inaugurated. And until then, Donald Trump, he retains the full power of the presidency, the authority of the office.
In the past, there were always these traditions and norms which would constrain an outgoing president but Trump, over the last four years, he's shown all of us he has no regard for tradition and norms.
So instead of describing him as a lame duck right now, would a better description, from what we've seen already, be more like a wounded animal?
NOAH BIERMAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Yes, I think that's a perfect description. And it started even sooner than I think many of us imagined it would.
And it's another example but really a prominent and very important one, where we in this country thought that a lot of the norms were enshrined some way, in ways that couldn't be violated.
In fact, they were really just agreements of people to behave in a certain way.
And so immediately, we've seen the president begin firing people, prominent people in the administration -- Esper, in this case the defense secretary -- but we've also seen him refuse to concede.
And begin to use the levers of his office to try to undermine confidence in the election.
VAUSE: And while Donald Trump refuses to accept the outcome, so to his most loyal supporters like these guys.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It's legal for them to count votes in Pennsylvania two days after the election on November 3rd?
REPORTER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You're wrong. Go. I don't even want to talk to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I've seen too much pieces of different evidence so far that shows that, at this point, I would be okay with a revote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, where are all the Trump ballots that were mailed in? Why are we finding them laying around in different places?
REPORTER: But Trump was telling everybody not to mail it in, right? That's why there's so much more mail-in Democrat votes.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Ah, that's -- no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You can never confront a Trump supporter with reality.
But on Monday we heard from Attorney General Bill Barr -- he's also on Trump's naughty list, by the way -- for insufficient loyalty.
But he did give approval for federal prosecutors to -- "pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities."
That all sounds official and like a real investigation but it's based on nothing, it'll have no impact on the election outcome.
But it will have a big impact on Trump's base. And not in a good way, right?
BIERMAN: Yes. I think that's right. What we're seeing is -- again, and as you pointed out, Barr has done this before.
He has helped the president to create a narrative that's believed by a certain part of the country. And in this case it's that these fraud allegations have merit, that they're worth investigating.
When in fact, this is an election that -- I covered the Florida recount of the year 2000, that was a close election, that was five or six hundred votes. This is multiple states, tens of thousands of votes.
Biden has a bigger lead in the states where he's leading than Trump had four years ago, an election that he has falsely called a landslide.
This is not a question, really, that needs litigating in the court of public opinion.
[01:25:00]
But unfortunately, it's really going to hamper not only Biden but long term the ability of people to be able to have confidence that we have a fair election system here.
Which is obviously the bedrock of a democracy.
VAUSE: There's also the delay in just the transition. The general services administration is refusing to authorize the money needed for a transition.
Which means, in practical terms, Biden isn't getting the PDBs, the presidential daily briefs.
So that has a huge potential knock on effect for a whole lot of things.
BIERMAN: Yes. And these things become national security issues as well.
We have, obviously at any moment, we have international issues that a president needs to be fully aware of to be able to make very important life or death decisions.
We obviously have the COVID pandemic that's going on worldwide and there are issues that a new president needs to understand.
Biden, of course, has been there before, he was vice president. So he understands a lot more than a typical new president would understand but he doesn't have the facts on the ground that he needs.
VAUSE: We also heard from the Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican, who delivered his first remarks since Biden was declared president elect.
Notably, those remarks did not offer congratulations, refused to acknowledge that Biden had won.
Instead McConnell defended Trump's right to take legal action. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), U.S. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Let's not have any lectures, no lectures about how the president should immediately, cheerfully accept preliminary election results from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So I guess the bigger question is what sort of relationship will there be between Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell, are they going to be able to work together?
BIERMAN: Well, that's a big question. Biden's whole theory of the case was that he could come in and he has relationships with these members of the senate, members of the Republican Party, including McConnell.
And here's McConnell doing something that would normally be pretty shocking -- although we've already seen it a lot during this administration -- which is to be a part of this sort of fantasy of what's going on with this fraud.
And helping Trump to undermine this election and to hamper the transfer of power.
So it's really emblematic of the way that the party has behaved around Trump, nobody has wanted to challenge him and we see it here with McConnell.
I don't know how it will affect his relationship with Biden.
Although one of the important things is that McConnell has shown that he probably doesn't want to do a lot of compromising with Biden anyway. That was very much a strategy he pursued during the Obama Biden administration that helped him politically, was not to compromise.
VAUSE: Yes. From day one, if I recall. Noah, we're out of time. But it's good to see you.
Thank you. Welcome to the show, good to have you with us.
BIERMAN: Thanks for having me. Great talking to you.
VAUSE: Cheers.
In Myanmar, the ruling party is claiming a resounding victory in parliamentary elections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CROWD: (Chants)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The vote is widely seen as referendum on the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
While her party, the National League for Democracy, is very popular at home, it has faced international condemnation for the attempted genocide of the minority Rohingya population.
The military handed power to civilian rule four years ago but still controls about a quarter of the seats in parliament.
Well, still to come. With a second wave of the coronavirus sweeping across Europe, pandemic restrictions are once again ramping up as Europeans grow weary of life under lockdown.
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOURLA: Ninety percent is a game-changer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Good news to be sure. But there are still a lot of questions.
And after the break, CNN's Sanjay Gupta goes one-on-one with the Pfizer CEO to get some answers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:20]
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We might be tired of COVID-19 but it's not tired of us. Yes. it preys on those in weaker health but it preys on other weaknesses too -- inequality, division, demand, wishful thinking and willful ignorance. We cannot negotiate with it nor close our eyes and hope it goes away.
Our only hope is Science, solutions and solidarity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: That's the head of the World Health Organization talking about the need for global unity if there is to be any hope of slowing the spread of COVID-19. Worldwide more than 50 million have been infected since the beginning of this pandemic. Almost 1.3 million have died according to Johns Hopkins University.
In Europe many countries are ramping up with coronavirus restrictions as authorities try to stall a second wave. CNN's Scott McLean has more now reporting from London reporting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, although the news cycle may have passed for the last week to focus on the U.S. election, but here in Europe the coronavirus is showing no signs of slowing down. With cases rising and hospitals filling up, many countries are resorting to the blunt instrument that they have so desperately hoped to avoid. National lockdowns.
Countries like England, France, Austria, Greece and Latvia are all right now in some version of a national lockdown. So is Belgium and the Czech Republic, which have two of the highest infection rates anywhere on earth and are struggling to make room for a new coronavirus patients arriving at hospitals that are already bursting at the seams.
If there is good news it's that both countries have seen their infection rates drop after national measures were put in place.
But there are no signs of slowing in Italy. That country's doctors association is urging the government to implement a nationwide lockdown. But so far, the health minister is intent on sticking with the regional approach.
Meanwhile in Denmark, officials there are expressing concerns about vaccine development as they confront a mutated version of COVID-19 linked to mink farms that is now showing up in humans.
A World Health Organization report found that the mutated virus has moderately decreased sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies, but that more research was needed to fully understand the implications.
Scott McLean, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seemed upbeat on the news of a possible vaccine. At a news conference Monday at Downing Street, he talked about plans for distribution but added this note of caution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I must stress that these are very, very early days. We have talked for a long time, or I have, about the distant bugle of the scientific cavalry coming over the Brow of the Hill. I can tell you that tonight that toot of that bugle is louder, but it is still some ways off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: There was a similar message minus the bugle from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Canada signing a deal with Pfizer in August, to secure millions of the vaccine. Right now though, Trudeau is promoting patients.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: We see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are hopeful we are getting there, because our scientists are working incredibly hard. But we need to do our part. We need to stay strong and hang in there a few more months. Maybe more than that, but we can see it coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:35:04]
VAUSE: Even Pfizer acknowledges distribution for example will be an incredibly logistical challenge. Just one of many questions and issues which CNN's chief medical correspondent, Doctor Sanjay Gupta raised with the drug maker's CEO.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERT BOURLA, CEO, PFIZER: 90 percent is a game changer. 90 percent now, you're hoping to have a tool in your war against this pandemic that could be significantly effective.
How long this protection will last is something that we don't know right now. But it's part of the objective of this study.
We will follow up the 44,000 people that they received, they are part of this study for two years. And during this follow up, obviously we will be looking also at the durability of the immune responses.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, one of the things that comes up is that, obviously, a lot of people who get exposed to this virus recover on their own anyway or have mild disease.
What can we say about the protection of this vaccine? If anything, what can we say about protecting against serious COVID disease versus medium, moderate, versus mild disease.
BOURLA: I think we will know all the census when the study finishes, which by the way I expect to be completed with 164 cases likely this month.
Right now, the independent committee that is reviewing the data have disclosed to us only the efficacy in non-previously infected patients. But we have a secondary -- we have a second primary point, but it's taking also people -- or people irrelevant if they were previously infected. We have a secondary influence (ph) about severe diseases. We have also secondary about efficacy of 14 days.
So we will know a lot of this information when the study this is complete and of course, when we submit data to the FDA.
DR. GUPTA: There're sort of three ingredients as you've talked about in order for this vaccine to work.
You got to show that it's effective. We've talked about that. Safety data. You have a better idea by the end of this month. And then obviously people have to get it.
And there's two issues there, one is distribution of the vaccine and the second one is trust I guess of the vaccine. When you talk about manufacturing and distribution, I read your comments there. I think you said there's hundreds of thousands of doses that have already been manufactured, maybe tens of millions by the end of the year. 100 million by March. Who gets them?
BOURLA: We are in good situations to have app to 60 million for 50 million doses this year globally. AND I believe we are in a very, very good situation to have 1.3 billion doses globally, again next year.
Who will get this vaccine? We have to separate manufacturing lines. One It is in the U.S. but involves manufacturing sites -- in (INAUDIBLE) in Andover in Massachusetts and in Kalamazoo in Michigan. Told there were reproducing mainly for America, and then we have a second one, but the manufacturing side in Germany and Belgium and they were producing for the rest of the world.
I hope that other vaccines will become successful as well because as I said, the demand will be much higher than we can ever produce.
But also given the very, very high levels of efficacy of this vaccine, which frankly surprised me how high the efficacy is, we are revisiting plants now to see how much more if any we can produce next year.
DR. GUPTA: Should we read anything into the fact that this got announced right after the election?
BOURLA: Yes. But Science brought it exactly this time. We announced it the moment we learned about it. And I said multiple times that the election for us is an artificial timeline.
I was predicting that this will happen before the end of October. That's where it happened a week later because this is when science brought it to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, when silence speaks volumes.
China declines to recognize Joe Biden as president elect. So what will that mean for relations between the world's top 2 economies in this post Trump era also.
Donald Trump did better among minority this election than he did in 2016, so how can any of that caused that shift? Or what could have caused that ship. That's next.
[01:39:49]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Silence can often speak volumes. And some world leaders, notably strongmen are yet to congratulate the incoming U.S. President Joe Biden. That includes the Russian president Vladimir Putin -- who congratulated Donald Trump four years ago within hours of winning the presidency.
Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro, the man known as the Trump of the Tropics also quiet on Trump's loss and despite an often rocky relationship between the Trump administration and Beijing, China's president Xi Jinping is yet to officially welcome a Biden President.
CNN's Ivan Watson has more now on why China is taking the cautious approach to Biden's win.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Throughout the Trump administration U.S. China relations have been on a rollercoaster. President Trump was elected in 2016 after campaigning against China, accusing it of manipulating its currency on the world market.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't continue to allow China to rape our country, and that is what is they're doing.
WHITFIELD: During his first years in office Trump also celebrated his close personal ties to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
TRUMP: We had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you have ever seen and President Xi was enjoying it.
WATSON: But by the last months of his presidency, Trump has been openly blaming China for the deadly pandemic raging across the U.S. and the world.
TRUMP: It was China's fault. China is going to pay a big price for what they've done to this country with even to this country. China's going to pay a big price for what they have been to the world.
WATSON: The past tumultuous four years have seen trade wars, military muscle flexing. The tit-for-tat shuddering of consulates, and an attempted U.S. ban of the Chinese social media app Tiktok. Leading some Chinese officials to talk of a new cold war.
WILLY LAM, PROFESSOR, CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: In the last several months, relationships between the world's 2 biggest economies has been toxic.
WATSON: Days after Joe Biden declared victory in the presidential election, Beijing is reacting to the news with caution.
WANG WENBIN, CHINESE MINISTRY FOF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: We have noticed that Mr. Biden has announced his successful election. We understand that the outcome of the general election will be determined in accordance with the laws and procedures of the United States.
WATSON: Biden is no stranger to China. As a senator and vice president, he traveled repeatedly there, negotiating face to face with Xi. But as a presidential candidate, Biden adopted a hard line.
Joe Biden presidential -- When I'd make China do is play by the international rules. We need to be having the rest of our friends with us saying to China, these are the rules.
You play by them or you're going to pay the price for not paying by them, Economically.
Chinese state media is warning relations are unlikely to improve under President Biden. Acknowledging that both Democrats and Republicans share suspicion of China.
[01:44:56]
WATSON: But the state run "Global Times" also writes Biden is expected to appoint more professional officials to his diplomatic team, and so it will be possible for U.S.-China tensions to take a brief time out.
China expert Willy Liam says Chinese officials are wary of Biden's multilateral approach to diplomacy.
LAM: They are also very nervous about the fact that Biden will be much more efficient and successful in putting up a united front against China by working together with (INAUDIBLE) traditional allies in Europe and Asia.
WATSON: At the very least, Biden may bring a changing tone to the simmering rivalry between these 2 nations.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, the surprise outcome from the presidential election is the share of the minority vote which went to Trump, up 4 points on Black and Latino compared to 2016. That's according to CNN exit polling.
For more on this now Segun Oduolowu, he's the host of the Emmy-award winning show "The List". He's the best from Phoenix in Arizona. It is good to see you.
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, HOST, "THE LIST": Good to see you John.
VAUSE: ok. Well, for the past four years we've heard the narrative that politics is a game of addition, and because Trump was just doubling out on division, racism and bigotry, he was not growing his base and that was a recipe for defeat.
Turns out it's also a recipe for an extra eight million votes for Trump and that includes an increase in African American votes and the Latino vote compared to four year ago. So what are we looking at here? What does this say about this country right now?
ODUOLOWU: So while it says that it's a country divided and I have to quote one of my personal mentors like Mike Dean out of New York. Don't ask me why stupid people do stupid things cause I'm not a stupid person.
And those increased numbers of black and Latino voters, this is a man who was dog-whistling White Supremacy groups So I can't understand how these people of color could vote in this amount of numbers.
But let's understand ourselves for a moment. We are looking at 8 percent of the black vote went to Biden and Harris that were men. 9 out of 10 black women voted for Biden and Harris.
So the numbers that we're talking about are slightly up, but they're not that high in all honesty.
VAUSE: But it is kind of part of a trend. And Biden notably, he publicly recognized how important the black vote was to his success. Here is.
BIDEN: African American community stood up again for me. You always have my back, now I will have yours.
VAUSE: That was after he won. Here's Trump appealing to black and Latino voters during the campaign Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Black and Latino Americans are rejecting the radical socialist left and they are embracing our pro job, pro worker, pro police. We want law and order, we have to have law and order, and pro-American agenda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, I hear from a lot of black voters and other minorities who said, at least Trump tried to win them over. You know, I think it was a state of the union this year, it looked like awards night on Black Entertainment Television, you know, compared to the Democrats who take, you know, minority support for granted.
ODUOLOWU: Well, I don't think it was like the Democratic Party takes minority support for granted. I think that the Democratic Party does terrible job in the way that they present stuff.
The Democrats presents a gourmet meal in the lip of a trash can, while the Republicans are serving you junk food on fine China.
They're talking about a $500 billion platinum plan. That's why the Little Waynes and the Ice Cubes were quick to jump in bed with Trump.
I mean it shouldn't surprise people that men who made millions of dollars saying misogynistic rhetoric would jump in bed with another man who (INAUDIBLE) misogynistic rhetoric.
But in all fairness when you're talking about things like defund the police, that sounds scary to certain people. As opposed to we're going give you $500 billion dollars and you're going to have ownership. That's the way the Republicans talk.
But the real facts is these black voters had look was for every dollar of accumulated wealth that a white person has the average black person has one penny to that dollar. So when you were talking about the wealth that you are trying to accumulate, 50 Cents is worth over hundred million dollars. Biden's tax plans is not going to cripple 50 Cents.
It's not going to cripple most black American's. It's a falsehood and it's misinformation. It's trusting a man who said he was going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. Do these Black voters really think that $500 billion is going to come in to a platinum plan when they cannot get he money across in Congress now for the pandemic relief.
Which do we think is doing to come first that they put in with a person that who has lied at every turn.
[01:50:01]
ODUOLOWU: Well as my friend Mike says, don't ask me why stupid people do stupid things, because we're not stupid here you and meet John. We're not.
And I know it sounds bad to call them stupid, but when a white supremacist group makes a t-shirt based off of what the president says when he won't condemn them, I don't care how much money you make, there has to be dollars there has to be decency over dollars and people over profit. And anybody who voted for this man that looks like me, or is a couple of shades lighter than me, you dig your people a
VAUSE: We don't have the monopoly on being self interested in selfish and greedy when it comes to voting. You know, no again, you know, you're going to stocks and all that kind of stuff.
I want you to listen to Stacey Abrams. She's a Democrat who ran for governor of Georgia in 2018. She's lost, she went on to establish fair fight. This is a group which enrolled thousands of new voters in Georgia. Here she is.
STACEY ABRAMS: We began early on saying that this is not about black and white, this is about pulling together coalitions of people of color, of the poor, of the disadvantaged, of the marginalized, and being consistent with our engagement. Not waiting for an election to meet them. And certainly not waiting until the end of an election to acknowledge their value.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Very quickly, does this explain why Democrats won Georgia and yet unexpectedly lost Florida where they didn't have this sort of organization. Will there soon be a time when there's no point breaking down voters in terms of color?
ODUOLOWU: Yes. because color is not monolithic. The real heroes are the Stacey Abrams, the Keisha Lance Bottoms that galvanized black voters, in cities like Atlanta, in Philly, in Milwaukee: Phoenix, Milwaukee where I am currently.
But you will tell me who is the Latino or Latinex, Latin man, Latin woman, who was going to do or doing that in Florida that has that type of platform. People of color think differently, just because we have more melanin
doesn't mean we all think the same way, and the Democratic Party is going to have to learn to have to appeal to everyone that is of a color in their unique way and stop the misinformation that keeps coming from the right in waves and droves.
And if you really want to fight it and stem the tide, speak to people in a language that they can understand. Don't speak over their head, don't try to cater them in a way that is degrading or demeaning, speak to them honestly, that's what Stacey Abrams did. That's what we said selected.
VAUSE: Honestly and directly that is good advice and we are out of time. It's good to see you.
ODUOLOWU: Thanks.
VAUSE: Thank care.
ODUOLOWU: Always a pleasure.
Thanks Man,
VAUSE: Well, the next U.S. vice president represents an historic breakthrough in terms of race and gender.
When we come back, how Kamala Harris and her unique background could help solve some very old problems in the U.S.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well the historical election of Kamala Harris as U.S. vice president is inspiring for many, especially women and little girls as well those people of color.
Given her background and resume, Harris stands to be a major player in crucial moments that are still to come for the Biden presidency.
CNN's Brian Todd reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kamala Harris, making history and a confident declaration.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.
TODD: Harris will be the first woman, first black woman, and first person of Indian descent to be elected to the vice presidency.
A lifelong friend tells CNN that Harris' life journey led her to this point.
[01:54:59] STACY JOHNSON-BATISTE, LIFELONG FRIEND OF KAMALA HARRIS: Kamala is
representing young girls, women across this country, across the world. She's representing immigrants. She is representing black women, and I'm going to get emotional but
And I'm going to get emotional but I don't think we have been recognized for being the backbone of this country going all the way back to slavery. So she represents all of that.
TODD: And while she's doing, that analysts say Kamala Harris will very likely be taking on significant responsibilities. Joe Biden himself has said he wants someone next to him to fill the kind of role he had for Barack Obama.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT: You have to be willing to have someone with you who will tell you the truth that they think you're wrong.
TODD: That means Kamala Harris could be the last voice in the room when the biggest decisions are made, a rule Biden had demanded that he be given with Obama.
And that could start during the transition. Given her experience as California's and as a high-profile U.S. Senator, analysts believe she could have a strong voice in the selection of the U.S. Attorney General, and cabinet positions.
BRITTANY SHEPHERD, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, YAHOO NEWS: I definitely think that Harris will be the one in Biden's ear, letting him know who she thinks will be perfect for those roles. I mean Harris was going to be working with all of those cabinet workers in tandem along with Biden.
TODD: Harris is experience on the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary observers say could be something Joe Biden leans on
DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Maybe helping pick a future Supreme Court nominee if democrats win control of the senate, and there is a Supreme Court vacancy. Maybe she will be in some ways like vice president Biden was in the Obama Administration, sort of almost the second secretary state going abroad.
TODD: But analysts believe Kamala Harris could also be a uniquely positioned leader for this extraordinary period That she's a person in the next administration who can take the point on issues of racial justice, and helping Joe Biden navigate through the next potentially devastating months of coronavirus surge.
That means coronavirus mitigation efforts, perhaps she be able to communicate to black and brown communities, to places that she is heavily focused on a senator. SHEPHERD: Analysts told us that in addition to being Joe Bidens bridge
to those minority communities in America, that it's also likely that he'll count on Kamala Harris at 56 to be is bridge top younger Americans that will also help position her for the office that shew might see after the Biden administration.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. My colleague Rosemary Church. We have a lot more news from around the world at the top of the hour.
Stay with us, you're watching CNN.
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