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Moderna Announces Its COVID-19 Vaccine is 94.5 Percent Effective; Autumn Surge Brings Terrifying Jump in U.S. Cases; Biden Ramps Up Push for Administration Cooperation; Trump Refuses to Accept Outcome of Presidential Election; Trump Expected to Order More Troops Home; U.S. Secretary of State Visit Turkey, Won't Meet with Leaders; Dangerous Storm Iota Hits Central America. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired November 17, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The calvary is coming but the calvary is not here yet.
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CHURCH: A second coronavirus vaccine raises hopes around the world, but medical experts say public health measures are needed now more than ever.
Plus, President-elect Joe Biden issues a stark warning to President Trump, Biden says more Americans may die if a transition is delayed.
And a CNN exclusive, a look at the deadly toll coronavirus appears to be taking inside Russia, a toll the Kremlin doesn't want you to see.
Good to have you with us. Well, as COVID-19 cases climb around the world, we are following promising news about a second coronavirus vaccine. American biotech company Moderna says its drug is nearly 95 percent effective. It will join Pfizer in seeking FDA approval, and there is hope the first doses could be available next month. The news comes at a critical time here in the United States. More than 73,000 people are hospitalized nationwide with the virus, the most ever, according to the COVID tracking project. And CNN's Nick Watt reports on what kind of impact a vaccine breakthrough might have.
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DR. TAL ZAKS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, MODERNA: One of the greatest moments of my life and my career. NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Because Moderna just
reported early results showing its vaccine is 94.5 percent effective.
ZAKS: I think, by the end of the year, hopefully, we could start to vaccinate people.
WATT: No safety red flags so far. And, unlike Pfizer's offering, this doesn't need tricky deep subzero storage.
FAUCI: This is a really strong step forward to where we want to be. We project that, by the end of December, that there will be doses of vaccines available for individuals in the higher-risk category from both companies, we hope.
WATT: And we need a vaccine badly, because the death toll is rising, because inmates are now moving the dead into makeshift morgues in El Paso, Texas. Because more than 1 million new infections were logged in the United States in just the past week. Because more children have now been infected in all, according to two medical associations. And because for black and Latin X Americans, rates of hospitalizations are four times the white population, according to the CDC.
MICHAEL MINA, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: If bombs were getting dropped on United States and killing a thousand people every single day, we would be actively engage in defending ourselves and not just sitting around until the next product comes on the market.
WATT: But in South Dakota, both COVID and COVID denial are rampant, even among those dying of this disease.
JODI DOERING, REGISTERED E.R. NURSE: And their last dying words are, this can't be happening, it's not real. And when they should be spending time face timing their families, they're filled with anger and hatred.
WATT: The entire country is a hot zone. Two former FDA commissioners just wrote in "The Wall Street Journal," it's now up to governors to slow the spread. Kind of always has been, but with a lame duck Trump gumming up a transition, it's now more than ever. So, Michigan just closed movie theaters, indoor bars and restaurants, also in-person classes in high schools and colleges, and in Chicago, a new advisory, stay home for the next 30 days.
DR. ALLISON ARWADY, COMMISSIONER, CHICAGO DEPT. OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We've seen just in the last month our cases go up five times, our hospitalizations go up three times, our deaths go up three times and at least here in Chicago, we have recommended cancelling a traditional Thanksgiving.
WATT: Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CHURCH: We are about nine weeks away from the U.S. presidential inauguration, and President Donald Trump's failure to concede the election is hampering a smooth transition for President-elect Joe Biden.
[04:05:00]
On Monday, Mr. Trump once again tweeted multiple times, mostly to rail about the election. He also celebrated the U.S. market gains, associated with the Moderna vaccine trials. But he didn't seem to do much else on the pandemic front. And President-elect Biden says that inaction could have serious consequences. Here's CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: More people may die if we don't coordinate.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President-elect Joe Biden is raising his voice, saying allowing his team access to the Trump administration's coronavirus planning is not about politics, but a matter of life and death.
BIDEN: If we have to wait until January 20 to start that planning. It puts us behind over a month, month-and-a-half. And so it's important that it be done, that there be coordination now.
ZELENY: Along with rapidly rising cases of coronavirus, the nation's economic headwinds are among the monumental challenges he and vice president-elect Kamala Harris will inherit in just 65 days. Biden and Harris are trying to show they're moving ahead on both fronts, receiving a briefing in Wilmington from top American labor leaders and CEOs of General Motors, Microsoft and other companies.
Yet their transition to power is still being complicated by the Trump administration's refusal to acknowledge the outcome of the election.
BIDEN: I find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started.
ZELENY: Biden hinted at how he plans to work with cooperative Republican governors on the front lines of the fight with coronavirus, but said he remained puzzled at those who voiced concern about the wisdom of wearing masks or working with the new Biden administration.
BIDEN: There's nothing macho about not wearing a mask. Do you guys understand this? Does anybody understand why a governor would turn this into a political statement? It's about patriotism. It's about being patriotic. It's about saving life, for real.
ZELENY: As some Senate Republicans have called for Biden to receive intelligence briefings, he noted that Harris already is.
BIDEN: The good news here is, my colleague is still on the Intelligence Committee. So she gets intelligence briefings. I don't anymore. I am hopeful that the President will be mildly more enlightened before we get to January 20.
ZELENY: Biden said he and family members were discussing how to plan for Thanksgiving as the pandemic intensifies. He offered guidance to all Americans.
BIDEN: There should be no group more than 10 people in one room at one time -- I mean, inside the home.
Look, I just want to make sure that we're able to be together next Thanksgiving, next Christmas.
ZELENY (on camera): Joe Biden clearly trying to use the mantel of the President-elect trying to talk specifically about coronavirus, holding up a mask and trying to tell Americans and indeed others around the world what they need to do to fight this virus. But he also was speaking in stark terms about the administration and how he needs their help as well. No question, in about two months' time, he owns this crisis. That's why he's trying to get his arms around it, and work with the Trump administration, as he says to save lives.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Well, I want to bring in Dr. Robert Wachter for more on the Moderna vaccine. He is the chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, and he's also the author of "The Digital Doctor, Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age." Thank you, doctor, for being with us.
DR. ROBERT WACHTER, CHAIR, UCSF DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE: Thank you.
CHURCH: So amid all the bad news of record COVID cases and hospitalizations, some good news at last with Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine candidate proving to be nearly 95 percent effective. Even better than Pfizer's proposed vaccine announcement last week. What is your reaction to this news of a second vaccine option on the horizon?
WACHTER: It's staggeringly wonderful. I think as a physician and a scientist, I'm supposed to be calm and dispassionate, but it almost makes you giddy how good it is. As of a month ago, we don't know for sure that any vaccine would work and that we were hoping the maybe they might prevent 2/3 of the cases. The fact that we now two vaccines that are at least 90 percent effective is just actually unbelievable.
CHURCH: And Moderna says they could start vaccinations by the end of the year for high risk categories, frontline workers and the elderly of course. How smooth do you expect that distribution process to be? And how different is Moderna's vaccine candidate to Pfizer's? I mean, we saw there on the chart the different in storage temperatures, that would certainly have an impact on that distribution wouldn't it?
WACHTER: Yes, that's the main difference. Otherwise they're familiar similar.
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But the Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored in a deep freeze, very different than what you have in your kitchen. Whereas the Moderna vaccine can be stored in a regular freezer. So, if you're in an urban hospital or urban setting where there are big hospitals around, there probably will be capacity to store the Pfizer vaccine, but trying to get it into less wealthy countries, into rural areas in any country I think is much more difficult.
So the Moderna vaccine is an option not only increases the amount of vaccine, so it will enable us to get more people vaccinated more quickly, but it's also going to be easier to distribute. How easy is it going to be to do? Well, we'll have to see. I'm more confident about that than I would have been before the American Presidential election, this new administration is going to take this matter very, very seriously, and I think set up a distribution system, but I'm pretty confident they'll be able to sort out at least in the United States.
CHURCH: Yes, and I do want to ask you about that because I wanted to find out how concerned you are about the blocking of the transition of President-elect Joe Biden's administration by Donald Trump. Could that interrupt the smooth running of any distribution process come the new year. Presumably, they will get it in motion toward the end of this year, so that could make things easier.
WACHTER: Yes, I hope so. It is going to muck up the transition in all sorts of ways. I have to say I have been highly critical of the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus. It's been actually quite awful but on vaccines they got it right. Vaccines, they invested early in companies. They made a big bet that vaccines were going to work, and they invested in the distribution channels, purchasing vaccines, going to make them available for free so, so far at least they have done this part right.
CHURCH: And our thanks to Dr. Robert Wachter.
Well, from the coronavirus to the economic crisis, President Trump's refusal to accept the Biden victory could hurt the incoming administration, and CNN has learned there are deepening divisions within his inner circle about whether to proceed with legal fights. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nine days after losing the election, President Trump is burrowing deeper into a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and lies as he fights to overturn the will of voters and refuses to allow the presidential transition to begin.
After briefly and perhaps inadvertently acknowledging reality with these two words, the President quickly retreated to his baseless allegation that the election was rigged. Tweeting, I concede nothing.
A social media barrage of grievances and falsehoods quickly followed. Trump's allies say there is no overarching strategy behind his refusal to concede, and people close to the President privately admit lawsuits won't stop President-elect Biden from being inaugurated in 65 days.
But even as Trump refuses to acknowledge defeat, he's rushing to complete a drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan before he leaves office. Two U.S. officials telling CNN the President is expected to issue a formal order as soon as this week, bringing the total number of U.S. troops in each country to 2,500 by January 15th, but the transition still stalled.
FAUCI: That transition process that we go through, that time, the period is measured in several weeks to months is really important in a smooth handing over of the information.
DIAMOND: Health experts are beginning to sound the alarm, warning that delays could hurt the coronavirus response including vaccine distribution.
FAUCI: The virus is not going to stop and call a time out while things change. The virus is just going to keep going. The process is just going to keep going, so hopefully we'll see that soon, and transitions are important.
DIAMOND: While the President is happy to take credit for a coronavirus vaccine developed in partnership with the federal government, he's ignoring the dangerous coronavirus surge gripping the U.S. right now. In his preferred coronavirus adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas, a radiologist with no public health expertise is urging people to rise up against new coronavirus restrictions imposed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who the target of a right wing kidnapping plot that was foiled last month.
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D) MICHIGAN: Well we know that the White House likes to single us out here in Michigan, me out in particular. I'm not going to be bullied into not following reputable scientists and medical professionals.
DIAMOND: Atlas later said he was not advocating violence. Also in limbo, national security briefings for the President-elect. The White House still refusing to provide Biden with top level intelligence briefings, but National Security Adviser, Robert O'Brien now admitting Biden is likely to be inaugurated.
ROBERT O'BRIEN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: If the Biden/Harris ticket appears to be the winner, and obviously, things look that way now, we'll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council. There's no question about it.
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DIAMOND: As for former President Obama, his message to Trump, it's time.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My advice to President Trump is if you want at this late stage in the game to be remembered as somebody who put country first, it's time for you to do the same thing.
DIAMOND (on camera): And just as we learned on Monday that President Trump is expected to issue an order as early as this week to begin drawing down more U.S. troops in Afghanistan, bringing that number down to 2,500 before he leaves office in January. Sources familiar with the matter also telling CNN that the Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, who was fired last week by President Trump, that he warned the President and the White House in a memo earlier in month against doing exactly that. Warning that it was the consensus of the U.S. military chain of commands that no more troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan until specific conditions were met on the grounds in Afghanistan. And that it was the assessment of that chain of command that those conditions had not yet been met.
Those sources also saying that they believe that Esper's memo to the White House warning against a further troop draw down was one of the key reasons President Trump fired him last week.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.
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CHURCH: Well, many top Republicans are coming under criticism for their refusal to speak out against President Trump and acknowledge President-elect Joe Biden's victory. But Georgia's Secretary of State says longtime Republican Senator Lindsey Graham went one step further. Brad Raffensperger is also a Republican and Georgia's head of elections. He says Graham implied he should throw out some mail-in ballots with a recount underway. Raffensperger shared his side of the story with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, take a listen.
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BAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: He asked if the ballots could be matched back to the voters and then I got the sense implied that then you could throw those out. I mean really would look at the counties with the highest frequent error of signatures so that's the impression that I got.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to be clear on this, Mr. Secretary, you say Senator Graham wanted you to find ways to get rid of legally cast ballots because CNN asked him about these allegations. He denied them. He says that's ridiculous. His words. That's ridiculous.
RAFFENSPERGER: Well, it's just an implication that look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out, and I think that they're looking at that as part of a court case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, unofficial results show Joe Biden managed to eke out a victory by roughly 14,000 votes. The state flipped from Republican to Democrat for the first time in decades.
Right now, we are tracking an extremely dangerous storm. Hurricane Iota is slamming into Central America at this moment, and it's hitting some of the same places still reeling from the last catastrophic storm. This record breaking hurricane season still going strong. That's next.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, Donald Trump has two months left in the White House, and he's evidently looking for ways to make a big impact before he goes. The U.S. President reportedly asked senior advisers last week what options he had for attacking Iran's main nuclear site. "The New York Times" reports Mr. Trump asked about potential strikes after international inspectors reported a significant rise in Tehran's nuclear stockpile. But several top officials reportedly talked him out of it warning a military strike could turn into a broader conflict in the final weeks of his presidency.
Well, the U.S. Secretary of State is in Turkey for a brief visit that notably does not include any meetings with political leaders. Mike Pompeo will be spotlighting the issue of religious freedom instead and Pompeo criticized Turkey during a stop in Paris saying it recent actions had been quote, very aggressive.
So let's get more from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. She joins us live from Istanbul. Good to see you, Jomana. So the outgoing U.S. Secretary of State arriving in Turkey to meet with no one. What's going on?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big question. We don't really know what's been going on behind the scenes, Rosemary. You know, what we do know is that this is probably the strangest stop of this seven country tour for the Secretary of State. He is meeting with the political leadership in each of these countries where he's stopping exempt except for Turkey, where he's not going to the capital, Ankara, as would be the diplomatic norm really. He is coming here to Istanbul.
And it's very strange when you consider the kind of relationship that the two allies, the United States and Turkey have. They do have a long list of disagreements and issues. They've had a rocky relationship over the past few years, and especially recently you've got the United States criticizing Turkey for its support of Azerbaijan and then Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. You've got them criticizing Turkey for its actions in the eastern Mediterranean and its relationship with Russia and the purchase of the missile defense system.
But all of that aside, Rosemary, they still do have a good working relationship between the Trump administration and the Turkish government. But what really seemed to have irked the Turkish government is the purpose of this visit, that statement that was made by the State Department saying that the Secretary of State was coming here to Istanbul to meet with the ecumenical patriarch, the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox who is based here in Istanbul to discuss religious freedoms in Turkey and the region.
And we've only heard there briefly from the Turkish government, one very strongly worded statement that they released last week. Saying basically that all international leaders, officials are welcome to Turkey to meet with anyone they want to meet with when it comes to religious leaders here.
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But the United States basically doesn't have the right to criticize Turkey saying that quote, it would be more suitable for the United States to first look in the mirror and show the requisite sensitivity towards human rights violations in the country, such as racism, Islamophobia, and hate crimes.
Now there were reports, Rosemary, that Turkish officials, the President Erdogan, the Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, that they were basically snubbing the Secretary of State on this visit. They've not really addressed this publicly. We've not heard from the Turkish government other than the statement from the foreign ministry last week.
But U.S. officials, the State Department officials are insisting that the reason he's not meeting with Turkish officials is down to scheduling. That it just did not work out with his schedule. Very tight window, he couldn't go to Ankara, and the schedule of the President and the foreign minister. But we have to point out, Rosemary, he did arrive in Istanbul yesterday evening, early evening and it didn't seem like he had much on that schedule.
CHURCH: An interesting stop along the way. Jomana Karadsheh joining us live from Istanbul, many thanks.
And right now, an extremely dangerous storm is hitting Central America. Hurricane Iota made landfall in Nicaragua as a powerful category 4 storm just a few hours ago. It is now a category 2 but still brings strong wind, torrential rain, and life threatening waves.
Iota is just the latest major storm in a record breaking busy hurricane season. And it's bearing down on many of the same areas that are still recovering from the devastating effects of hurricane Eta. So let's turn to our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri. He joins us now with the very latest. So, Pedram, what are you seeing?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Rosemary, this has weakened fortunately down to a category 2 but of course Iota now our 30th named storm of the season, historic season to say the least, 28 being the previous record, 12 being the average number of storms you see in any given year. And again, we're at number 30. 31 potentially in the works over the next several days.
But this is to make landfall, it crossed that northern and northeastern portions of Nicaragua with 155 miles per hour winds. Of those 30 storms, this is the strongest right here, came to shore as a strong category 4 just 3 miles per hour shy of being category 5, which it had attained earlier in the day.
But what's most incredible is this precise region, just 15 miles apart and to the north was where hurricane Eta made landfall two weeks ago today, and that was a category 4. Again, hurricane Iota comes ashore as a category 4. Statistically, category 4s impact Nicaragua once every 37 years. And again, 14 days apart, and 15 miles apart is where these two storms came ashore. And anytime you're talking about category 4s, the National Hurricane Center designates this as catastrophic damage potential and impact.
And of course, you know why. This region is very impoverished. They're already coming off the heels of a major hurricane in the last two weeks, and now another major hurricane makes landfall in a similar spot.
But still looking at a category 2 with winds gusting over 125 miles per hour at this hour. Now the previous storm left behind nearly $200 million in losses in Nicaragua, nearly 5 billion to the north there with landslides and mud slides in Honduras. You'll notice storm surge threats diminishing, down to 10 feet here, was as high as 20 feet, the height of the storm, and fortunately, the mountains of this region will break this system apart rather quickly. Unfortunately to do that though, they'll essentially squeeze all of the moisture out on top of these communities. And anytime you're talking about the elevates terrain of this region, landslides and mud slides become a major concern, and as much as two to three months' worth of rainfall, Rosemary, in the forecast here with what is in store with this round rainmaker and then beyond this, 40 percent chance for Kappa, which will be our next storm, and the great half of that's develop -- to develop here in the next few days.
CHURCH: They keep coming. Thank you so much for keeping such a close eye on all of this. Pedram Javaheri joining us there.
Well, after a series of post-election legal losses, President Trump is pushing ahead with unfounded conspiracy theories, and Rudy Giuliani is leading the charge. We will take a closer look at just how dangerous that campaign is. Do stay with us.
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