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Pfizer to Seek Emergency Authorization for Its Vaccine Today; Long Lines, Delayed Results Plague Testing Across U.S.; GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Calls on Trump to Allow Transition Process to Begin. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired November 20, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

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[11:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Georgia's election audit is over, and the state is expected this afternoon to officially certify Joe Biden's victory. The result reaffirmed there was no widespread voter fraud. The updated totals now show President-elect Joe Biden beat President Trump by a little more than 12,000 votes.

CNN's Amara Walker, she is in Atlanta, she's been following all this and joining me now.

Amara, Georgia's secretary of state spoke out this morning. What did he say about this wild ride?

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just spoke with him about a half-an-hour ago one-on-one. And he said, look, on a personal note, it's still upsetting to him that his wife has been getting these death threats since the hand recount has been under way. But he did say on a positive note that three of his grown children have expressed that they're quite proud of him, the fact that he has defended the integrity of the election and the way that he handled all the pressure.

Secretary Raffensperger also saying that he will be certifying the final results of the election, which upholds that Joe Biden has indeed won Georgia sometime this afternoon, and he did hold a news conference this morning and he reiterated, look, I am a proud Trump supporter but I'm also an engineer by trade and the numbers speak for themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER (R), GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: I live by the motto that numbers don't lie. As secretary of state, I believe that the numbers that we have presented today are correct. The numbers reflect the verdict of the people, not a decision by the secretary of state's office or of courts or of either campaigns.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WALKER: So, once the secretary of state has certified the results this afternoon, Governor Brian Kemp, who we know is a staunch Trump supporter, has until 5:00 P.M. Saturday to certify the 16 Democratic electors here in the state. We've reached out to the governor's office to see if he does indeed intend to sign off on the certification, although, by law, he is required to do so.

I should also mention that Secretary of State Raffensperger is telling me he does expect President Trump to request a recount, he must do so by next Tuesday. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, it's over, and not over still. Sounds like 2020 all wrapped up in one sentence. Amara, thank you so much, I really appreciate it. But Joe Biden, still the President-elect, he still won Georgia.

Coming up, the largest vaccination distribution effort ever in U.S. history could soon be under way in just weeks. How is that going to work? How is it going to go? I'm going to talk to a key player in this massive effort, the chief medical officer for the largest drugstore chain in the country, CVS.

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[11:35:00]

BOLDUAN: Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, announced this morning they are submitting today for emergency authorization of their vaccine by the FDA. Earlier this week, the company released extremely promising data from the phase three trial, their phase three trial, that the vaccine was 95 percent effective in preventing infection. This is the first of the coronavirus vaccines to get to this critical step.

As this vaccine and potentially others seek approval, the focus must quickly turn to how to get these shots to Americans across the country. It is a massive logistical challenge, the likes of which the country has not seen in at least a generation. And the government is looking to the private sector for help. Listen to how one administration official put it.

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GEN. GUSTAVER PERNA, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: We knew if we brought Pfizer, Moderna, McKesson, UPS, FedEx, CVS, Walgreens and hundreds others together that we would come up with the best solutions.

We want the vaccines down at the places where the American people are comfort, at our hospitals, our doctors' offices, down at CVS.

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BOLDUAN: Joining me right now, Dr. Troy Brennan, he is the executive vice president and chief medical officer at CVS, the largest drugstore chain in the country. Doctor, thank you for being here. What does the rollout plan look like from CVS? How are you all specifically preparing for this massive effort to distribute vaccines?

DR. TROY BRENNAN, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, CVS: Well, thanks for having me Kate. We're busy preparing to provide vaccine. The first stage of the vaccination program will involve health care workers and first responders, as well as people in skilled nursing facility and assisted living facilities. And we're concentrating right now on the latter, how we get the people who are in skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, assisted living, vaccinations.

It's something we have a lot of experience with. We do thousands of these kinds of clinics every year for the flu vaccine. So we're quite prepared to take the new vaccines for COVID when they're available and get them into people's arms in those skilled nursing facilities.

BOLDUAN: You have got the systems in place, which is key with getting things under way. So, you think that's where CVS focuses first when you get the first doses, they will be going to skilled nursing facilities?

[11:40:05]

BRENNAN: That's what we've worked out with Operation Warp Speed. We've been -- they provided us a very specific information. We're now getting the exact skilled nursing facilities that we will do, Walgreens will be doing some as well. And we're preparing our logistics for that. There's a lot of people that are working around the clock to be prepared when the vaccine is available.

BOLDUAN: Well, that's, of course, the key point, right? How soon after approval do you think CVS will have vaccines in your possession?

BRENNAN: Well, once the approval takes place, I think the Operation Warp Speeds means to begin shipping vaccines immediately. So I think we're talking only two or three days. So I think everyone is looking forward to the advisory committee meetings.

They are taking place at the beginning of December and a final decision from the FDA after that once it's released. And almost immediately we'll be available to begin having these clinics and get needles into people's arms right away, I'd say mid-December.

BOLDUAN: Mid-December, that is a very promising, promising news for so many people.

So you have got Operation Warp Speed, right? Then mid-December is still Operation Warp Speed led by the Trump administration, of course. But this vaccination effort is going to continue into the next administration. That's something that's become large focus in this transition period. Have you, as a company, been in touch with the Biden transition team?

BRENNAN: Well, we're working primarily with Operation Warp Speed. And, remember, Operation Warp Speed is basically the career people at the CDC, people who worked for years in biotech and pharmaceutical agencies and then the logistics branch of the U.S. military.

So we're working with professionals there. We have every reason to believe that no matter what the administration, these are the people you choose to be leading the effort. So, we're confident that the people we're working with now are likely to be the people who we're working with going forward.

Obviously, the Biden team has an advisory board. We know those people well. Public health is actually a pretty small place. A number of those people are colleagues, friends, some of them were even former students, I hate to say. So we've obviously had conversations with them and been in touch of them about what our plans are for distribution.

We'll plan to do our part in stage one with regard to the skilled nursing facilities, as I said, and then we'll turn relatively rapidly over to offering vaccines in our retail stores. We'll offer them in all 10,000 of our retail stores. We plan to gear up quickly to provide really substantial volumes of vaccinations to the people in stages two and three as we get into that in the latter part of the winter.

BOLDUAN: When do you think that happens? When do you think Kate Bolduan can walk into a CVS, make an appointment to come in for that first and second dose?

BRENNAN: Well, a lot turns on what the FDA does and how quickly the FDA acts with this information. But if the stage one operates as it should, we'll have to be back in to do a second vaccination, obviously, the booster, 21 to 28 days after the initial vaccination, depending on which of the vaccinations come to us, Moderna, as opposed to the Pfizer vaccine.

So we anticipate that that's going to take a two to three-month period of time but we'll begin to offer, as there is availability of vaccine -- vaccinations in stores, I would hope by the end of February, beginning of March and then we think we can move rapidly. We're prepared to do -- we have a capacity to do 20 to 25 million vaccinations per month in our fleet of stores alone.

So, if you take the other major retailers doing the same thing, you can see that, very quickly, we can build numbers through the spring in terms of the number of people who are vaccinated.

BOLDUAN: Just got to hold on, everyone has got to hold on and be careful until then. Doctor, thank you for coming on. Thank you for your work. The country will be leaning, as it often does on CVS, but leaning on CVS more than ever in this effort ahead. Thank you very much and good luck.

BRENNAN: Thank you for having us, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

Still ahead for us, long lines like this, we're going to show you right here, are happening at COVID testing sites across the country. Ten months into this pandemic, why can't the system keep up? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:45:00]

BOLDUAN: There may be no better snapshot of the current coronavirus surge in the country than the lines that you see across the country. We've talked about the lines we're seeing at food banks but also the lines at testing sites from coast-to-coast. Somehow, all these months later, the demand for testing still outpaces supply and the capabilities of the testing labs.

Just look at these pictures from outside Chicago, and this is just this morning, long lines and long wait times for people trying to get a test. And that's starting to once again lead to days' long waits for results.

The state's governor, Illinois' governor, calling the Midwest the epicenter of the biggest COVID-19 surge to-date, and here, you can see why.

Joining me right now is Kevin Jaques. He is a communications director for H.R. support, the company running the Illinois COVID testing project, a project that runs ten testing sites and eight mobile testing sites across the state. Thank you for being here.

We just saw those images out of the Chicago area. How do you describe what you've been seeing at your testing sites, the lines you're seeing and, unfortunately, the wait that people that are -- the wait times that people are having to see?

[11:50:04]

KEVIN JAQUES, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR COMPANY RUNNING ILLINOIS COVID TESTING PROJECT: Hi, thank you for having me, yes. So in all of the sites that we managed here in Illinois, we have seen that increased demand for testing. And that's really all throughout the nation that we've seen. We have lines -- wait times usually last about an hour at some sites, up to three to four hours. Yes, it is unfortunate that the wait times are that long. I agree.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Maybe it's not any wrongdoing on your team's part, it is the demand. There aren't -- the demand that there is for testing across the state, and Illinois is especially hard hit. I mean, we have seen a surge of cases in recent weeks across the country. When did you start seeing kind of this explosion again at your testing sites?

JAQUES: Yes. So it first began back in October, in the beginning of October, when President Donald Trump was tested positive for COVID-19. We saw an increase in our numbers the days right after that. Then we saw another wave of the increased demand in the beginning of November as well.

BOLDUAN: And now, it is -- who knows how long this will last, of course.

How are you all handling the demand? Is every car that gets in line able to get tested? How is it working?

JAQUES: Yes. So, that's the goal. The goal is that whoever is in line, we want to get them tested. But there are many factors to realize how many people we can get tested, so from staffing to the labs that we work with. So these factors are affected by increased demand that we have been seeing and, in part, it does make people wait more in lines. It delays testing the results as well. But we are trying to get everyone in the lines tested.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And your teams are working overtime, but as demand is only going to increase for, I mean, at least the next few weeks if people would really start clamping down now.

Knowing that, I mean, what is your greatest concern? What are you afraid of seeing in the next weeks?

JAQUES: With the holidays coming, Thanksgiving next week, one of the biggest concerns is the lack of following, you know, CDC guidelines, isolation, social distancing, wearing face masks or coverings. These are things that really, really help lower the numbers and decrease one's likelihood of getting it. And we're concerned that during the holidays, people won't be following the guidelines as much and, in part, increasing the cases of positivity of COVID-19.

BOLDUAN: And then that means longer lines at your sites across the state. Kevin, thank you for coming on. Thank you for your work. I appreciate it.

JAQUES: Yes, thank you. I appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next for us, the number of Republicans now speaking out against President Trump's effort to overturn election results, the number is growing. We are live on Capitol Hill.

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[11:55:00]

BOLDUAN: More Republicans are speaking up, criticizing President Trump and his team for pressuring state and local officials to try and overturn the election results. Senators Mitt Romney and Ben Sasse were the first. Romney saying, it is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by an American president.

CNN's Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill with more on this. Manu, who is speaking up now and what are they saying?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. These are mostly senior Republicans, people who have served in this body of the House and the Senate some time, raising concerns about the president's tactics here. One of them, Fred Upton of Michigan, told me yesterday that it is time for the president to concede. He said, all of those allegations of voter fraud in Detroit simply are not there. Others also echoing concerns or at least saying it is time for the transition process to begin. Senator Lamar Alexander, who chairs a key Senate committee, made clear that at least they should allow for this vaccine -- discussions over the vaccine distribution to begin, saying if there's any chance whatsoever that Joe Biden will be the next president, it looks like he has a very good chance. The Trump administration should provide the Biden team with all transition materials, resources and meetings necessary to ensure smooth transition so that both sides are ready day one. That especially should be true, for example, on vaccine distribution.

Now, I also caught up this morning with Kay Granger. She's a Texas Republican, top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, served in Congress for quite some time. She has told me that she has, quote, great concerns about the president's tactics, says, I think it is time to move on. I think it's time for him to really realize and be very clear about what's going on.

And, Kate, one other Republican, Steve Chabot, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, told me that the president's legal strategy, quote, sort of sucks.

[12:00:04]

BOLDUAN: To sum it up. Good to see you, Manu. Thank you so much.

Thanks all for joining me. I'm Kate Bolduan.