Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
U.K. Approves Pfizer/BioNTech COVID Vaccine for Use; First Shipments of Pfizer Vaccine to Be Delivered December 15 in U.S.; U.S. Hospitals Reporting Surge in Cases; Biden Taps Janet Yellen as U.S. Treasury Secretary; U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr Says No Widespread Election Fraud; Georgia Voters Weary of Political Ads Ahead of Runoff; What to Know About Getting the Vaccine. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired December 02, 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, breaking news today. The U.K. approves the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for use. More from London on that in just a moment.
This as the CDC firms up its priority list for who gets the vaccine first once it's approved here in the United States. The latest details ahead on that.
And Attorney General William Barr refutes President Donald Trump and said there is no evidence of widespread election fraud.
Good to have you with us. And we begin this hour with breaking news from the United Kingdom. The government has announced that it has accepted the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use. The U.K. regulator has concluded that the vaccine, quote, has met its strict standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness. A health department spokesperson said the vaccine will be made available across the U.K. starting next week.
So let's get the latest on this. Salma Abdelaziz joins us live from London. Salma, this is such exciting news. And all of these weeks, these months we've waited to hear this and it's in the United Kingdom that the first vaccines will start getting distributed and by next week. What more are you learning about this?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: It's extraordinary, Rosemary. And I can't over emphasize just how big of news this is. I mean, we have been talking about this deadly pandemic for months saying if a vaccine comes. If a vaccine comes. Now we can say when a vaccine comes. And for the U.K., that is early next week. Just a matter of days. Truly exciting news to be sharing this morning, and it couldn't come at a better time after such a tough year for everyone across the world.
Now the. U.K. is of course excited about this but is great for the world. So we're going to see the first role out of this vaccine happen here early next week. The U.K. has ordered 40 million doses of this Pfizer vaccine. But the initial batch would be 800,000. Now we're supposed to find out in a matter of hours who will get it first, but here's what is expected.
Now remember this Pfizer vaccine needs to be held at extremely cold temperatures, negative 70, negative 80. That means that hospitals are most likely to receive it first because they have the refrigeration capacity to hold the vaccine. So that means that among the first people we could see receiving this will be health care workers, which I know everyone around the world will be over the moon about. Everyone has seen the sacrifices that doctors and nurses and medical workers have made. How they put their lives at risk during this pandemic and now finally a bit of protection.
Now remember, it takes two jabs, 21 days apart, so it won't be immediate, but it is coming. And the other group of course the government is concerned about is the elderly people in care homes, the most vulnerable. An expectation as well that they will make an announcement on those people getting it.
But the Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeting out the news today, tweeting out the excitement. I'm going to read you what he wrote.
It is fantastic that MHRWK -- that's the regulator -- has formally authorized the Pfizer/BioNTech group vaccine for COVID-19. The vaccine will begin to be made available across the U.K. from next week. It's the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again.
And that's what we heard as well from the Health Secretary. Help is coming -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: Very exciting. It's so nice to have some good news for a change, isn't it? Salma Abdelaziz, many thanks for bringing us the latest on that.
Well, as COVID-19 cases surge across the U.S., a committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has voted on who should get the first doses of a vaccine once they're approved for use here in the United States. They want health care workers and residents of long- term care facilities to be first in line since they're most vulnerable to the disease. The advisers say the second wave should target essential workers like those in food production and emergency personnel. It may cover people at high risk of complications and death from underlying conditions.
And while Americans anxiously wait for a vaccine, we have learned the first shipments of Pfizer's drug are to be delivered on December 15th. That is according to a federal document.
[04:05:00]
Hospitals are already getting special freezers in place that can store the Pfizer vaccine at the required subzero temperatures. Moderna's vaccine shipments are expected to arrive on December 22nd.
These delivery estimates are based on both drug makers getting emergency use approval of course.
Now the U.S. Food & Drug Administration chief says he expects that decision won't talk long take long, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, COMMISSIONER, U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: It should be relatively quick afterwards but there could be issues that come up that we have to address. And one thing we can't do is promise something that isn't deliverable because of an issue that comes up regarding safety or effectiveness. But we absolutely have to do this the right way to get this done and get the answer that's appropriate for the American people and the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: While we wait on vaccines here in the U.S., the number of COVID-19 cases is accelerating rapidly. On Tuesday more than 98,000 COVID patients were hospitalized across the country. That is a new record and Johns Hopkins University reports a big jump in the daily death toll with nearly 2,600 deaths reported on Tuesday. Horrifying numbers there. That is the second highest single day COVID death toll ever in the U.S. CNN's Erica Hill has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A critical recommendation about who will receive the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine.
DR. AMESH ADALJA, INFECTIOUS DISEASES EXPERT: You want to end this pandemic, get back to normalcy, you have to use the vaccine strategically.
HILL: A CDC advisory panel recommending frontline health care workers and nursing home residents get the first vaccinations.
DR. ALLISON ARWADY, COMMISSIONER, CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We are ready to accept whatever amount of vaccine we receive. We have plans that will start with all 37 Chicago hospitals.
HILL: Two companies have requested Emergency Use Authorization for their vaccines. An outside advisory FDA panel meets to discuss Pfizer's application on December 10th, Moderna's is schedule for consideration December 17th. Once okayed, states will distribute the vaccine. There plans are due Friday.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: There may be certain groups that they tailor specifically, poultry in Arkansas or some of the meat-packing plants in the Midwest, or in the panhandled. There's going to be this balance between, one, trying to save as many lives as possible but also stabilize the health system. DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If you want to be part of the solution, get vaccinated.
HILL: Nationwide, COVID hospitalizations doubled in November.
DR. KELLY CAWCUTT, INFECTIOUS DISEASES CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN: We can only handle so much of the surge. The system is only made with so much capacity.
HILL: All but three states reporting an increase in new cases last month.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the worst spot we've been in since March.
HILL: Daily average cases surged from 82,000 to 160,000 in November, an increase of more than 95 percent. Average daily reported deaths rose more than 78 percent.
LIZANNE JENNINGS, ICU REGISTERED NURSE: Sometimes I'm grieving for my husband and then I realized my mom is gone, you know, that I'm grieving for my mom.
HILL: Florida just became the third state to log more than a million cumulative cases. California crossed that milestone November 12th. As its ICUs fill, the governor is now warning a new stay at home order may be next.
Meantime, the economic toll is growing.
DYLAN GARCIA, TEXAS RESIDENT: And what is the bigger risk, me going to work or us losing our house sort like what?
HILL: Millions of Americans struggling as Amazon reports record sales, a reminder of the sharp divide between Wall Street's gains and Main Street's reality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going from pantry to pantry trying to get something.
HILL (on camera): San Francisco may close outdoor dining as that city deals with its third surge. The Mayor London Breed noting they're now dealing with the most dangerous periods in the pandemic. Los Angeles County closed outdoor dining just last week.
In New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And when president-elect Joe Biden takes over the White House on January 20th, he will inherit a country struggling to recover from the pandemic. CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports on the team Biden just unveiled to help rebuild the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our message to everybody struggling right now is this -- help is on the way.
ZELENY (voice-over): With a pandemic deepening and financial pain intensifying, president-elect Joe Biden presenting his economic team tonight as a new lifeline for struggling Americans.
BIDEN: From the most unequal economic and job crisis in modern history, we can build a new American economy that works for all Americans, not just some, all.
ZELENY: Biden formally introduced Janet Yellen to be the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary.
BIDEN: No one is better prepared to deal with these crises.
[04:10:00]
ZELENY: A former chair of the Federal Reserve who also led the Council of Economic Advisers in the Clinton administration, Yellen pledged to help rescue families from a one-two punch of coronavirus and unemployment.
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: The pandemic and economic fallout fit together have caused so much damage for so many and have had a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable among us.
ZELENY: Yellen offered a stark policy contrast from the Trump era, saying structural changes to the economy are needed to address the urgent crisis of income inequality.
YELLEN: It's a convergence of tragedies that is not only economically unsustainable, but one that betrays our commitment to giving every American an equal chance to get ahead.
ZELENY: Joining Yellen is Wally Adeyemo as the Deputy Treasury Secretary, along with Neera Tanden at Office of Management and Budget, and Cecilia Rouse leading the Council of Economic Advisers. They did not mince words about the daunting challenges ahead.
WALLY ADEYEMO, U.S. DEPUTY TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: The American people can do anything when given a chance.
CECILIA ROUSE, U.S. COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS CHAIR NOMINEE: This is a moment of urgency and opportunity unlike any we face in modern times.
ZELENY: These barrier-breaking nominees face confirmation, which means, if Republicans retain control of the Senate, at least some bipartisan support will be needed. Tanden is already drawing fierce opposition.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): She's just been a, most of her professional life a hard-edged partisan. ZELENY: For now at least, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will play a key role on who makes it into Biden's Cabinet. One month after the election, Biden said this when asked whether he's spoken to McConnell:
BIDEN: Not yet.
ZELENY (on camera): Now Biden is calling on Congress to pass an economic relief bill yet in the lame duck legislative session yet this year, but he clearly said that is just the beginning. One of the key parts of his agenda in the first 100 days of his new administration is passing a larger stimulus bill. He said the American people need it urgently.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: From the Mueller report, to impeachment, to the run up to the election, Donald Trump could count on U.S. Attorney General William Barr being on his side. But now in the final days of the Trump presidency, Barr has broken with the President on the issue that could determine Trump's political future.
On Tuesday Barr told the Associated Press the Justice Department has not found any evidence of widespread fraud in the presidential election. That statement directly contradicts President Trump's claim that the election was rigged. Here is the latest from CNN's senior justice correspondent Evan Perez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Attorney General Bill Barr says that the Justice Department hasn't found any evidence to support allegations of widespread fraud that could change the result of last month's presidential election. Now this is a notable statement because Bill Barr before the election helped spread some of President Donald Trump's claims that voting by mail was susceptible to fraud. Something that top Trump administration officials and state officials in charge of securing the election, said simply wasn't true.
Barr said in an interview Tuesday with the Associated Press that the Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department have looked into these claims of fraud.
And he said, quote, to date we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.
Now the Trump lawyers that are still trying to push his baseless fraud claims strictly rejected Barr's assessment. They repeated the claim that, quote, ample evidence of illegal voting in at least six states happened, which they say that the Attorney General isn't privy to.
Barr's comments came the same day he publicly revealed he has now appointed Connecticut U.S. attorney John Durham to act as a special counsel. To continue looking into whether intelligence and law enforcement agencies violated the law in investigating the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. Now that essentially keeps this issue over the 2016 election alive well into the Biden administration.
Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: There's also word William Barr's Justice Department is looking into a potential pay for pardon scheme. Redacted court documents show an investigation into payments made to the White House for political committees in an exchange for the promise of a Trump pardon. The documents do not name anyone involved in the alleged scheme.
Speaking of pardons, sources tell CNN President Trump is talking to aides about pardons for his children and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The pardons would be preemptive because none of them are charged with a crime, something that's highly unusual.
And the sure to tune in to CNN as Jake Tapper sits down with U.S. president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris. Their first joint interview since they won the White House. And you can see it Thursday at 9 p.m. on the U.S. East Coast.
[04:15:00]
That's Friday at 10 a.m. in Hong Kong and 2 a.m. Friday for you night owls in London only here on CNN.
A Georgia election official has had enough of violent threats and is calling on Republicans to put a stop to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIEL STERLING, GEORGIA VOTING SYSTEMS MANAGER: All of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: More on his emotional plea when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: A critical Senate runoff election is just over a month away in Georgia, and a state election official is making a plea to the President and his followers to put a stop to dangerous rhetoric before it's too late.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STERLING: It all has gone too far. All of it. Joe diGenova today asked for Chris Krebs, a patriot who ran CISA to be shot.
[04:20:00]
A 20 something tech in Gwinnett County today has death threats and a noose put out saying he should be hung for treason because he was transferring a report on batches from an EMS to a county computer so he could read it. It has to stop.
Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Someone can get hurt. Someone's going to get shot. Someone's going to get killed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And with control of the Senate on the line, Georgia's Senate nominees are ready and willing to spend whatever they need to get their message to the public, but as CNN's Kyung Lah reports, Georgia voters are tuning out when political ads pop up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AD ANNOUNCER: Kelly Loeffler knows she's lying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raphael Warnock is a radical.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raphael Warnock even hates puppies. KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the hyper-partisan battle for the Georgia Senate seats, there is uniform agreement about this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're on, I would think, 75 percent of the time. Every commercial is an ad, a campaign ad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's too much. It is too much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God, it's -- I'm tired of it.
LAH: We can't even get through our interview.
(on camera): There's another one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's too redundant if you will. I mean, I get tired of seeing people bashing people.
LAH (voice-over): They should all prepare for more.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jon Ossoff has dedicated his career to fighting injustice.
LAH: Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff just released this new ad and listing the help of one of his party's most potent political forces.
OBAMA: If we vote like our lives depend on it, because they do, we will elect Jon Ossoff to the United States Senate.
LAH: It is the latest in a flurry of new ads on Georgia's airways. Ossoff's opponent is Republican Senator David Perdue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, POLITICAL AD: If Jon Ossoff wins, they control Washington, but Georgia can stop them.
LAH: The other Republican incumbent, Kelly Loeffler is fiercely attacking her opponent. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reverend Warnock is a radical. He's wrong and he's dangerous.
LAH: Reverend Warnock and Alvin the beagle responded.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I think Georgians will see their ads for what they are, don't you?
LAH: Total ad spending, including reservations through the January 5th runoff crossed $300 million. Spending by the incumbents and Republican backers topped the Democrats by $50 million. The Georgia runoffs are far and away the most expensive Senate races of the 2020 cycle.
BRENDAN FISCHER, CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER: Money absolutely matters.
LAH: But the Campaign Legal Center's Brendan Fischer offers this warning with Georgia's ad war.
FISCHER: Voters are exhausted. They have just been through a hotly contested presidential race. They just voted in November. And they may not be motivated to vote again in January.
LAH: Especially says waitress Kayleigh Waters when she's just trying to survive financially during COVID.
KAYLEIGH WATERS, GEORGIA RESIDENT: It doesn't make sense. We're in the middle of a pandemic, like to come home from work and watch TV and see that. It's just kind of like even more depressing and it's so polarizing.
LAH (on camera): Well, Jon Ossoff in speaking with reporters said, that he fully expects to be out spent in the ad war, but he does intend to win at the ground game.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And young voters could tip the scales in the outcome of the Georgia runoff. A new study shows 20 percent of Georgia's votes cast in the presidential election were from people under the age of 29. And earlier I spoke with Edward Aguila who created an organization to get more young people to register and vote ahead of the runoff.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EDWARD AGUILAR, STUDENTS FOR TOMORROW: Originally, we built this platform because we felt that a lot of students were disillusioned with the entire voting system. A lot of people would look at students and say, like you know, they're apathetic. They really don't care about what's going on.
A lot of them really don't feel like that their vote really matters at the beginning of the day. That's why we built the system that can literally increase the power of your vote by over a 100 times, depending on where it is that you chose to vote, right.
So, initially -- yes, you're going to have a lot of pushback, people don't think that it's, you know, it's really worth it. Then they stay at home and then they like, hey, I really don't to be a part of this.
But then if you see like, OK, you're vote really can make a difference. Especially in places like the Georgia election, where this election could be determined by few thousand votes.
You see people suddenly becoming a lot more motivated to kind of put their two cents in. You know, because in Georgia we're going to have a very special election where, just a handful of people will be able to decide it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The Georgia Senate runoff is scheduled for January 5th just over a month away.
And still to come, vaccine approval is inching closer in the United States. But what do we need to know before they become widely available? And in the U.K. approval of a vaccine has just taken place. We are live in London for the latest on that exciting news.
[04:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Well, we are now finding out who will be the first in the United States to get the long awaited coronavirus vaccines once approved. A group of CDC advisers say health care workers and long- term care facility residents will be first in line. So what will the vaccines look like for everyone and what are the concerns? Brian Todd tries to answer some of those questions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The anticipation and anxiety surrounding the coronavirus vaccines are unmistakable as Pfizer and Moderna prepared to roll out the first doses.
DR. RUTH KARRON, CENTER FOR IMMUNIZATION RESEARCH, JOHNS HOPKINS: I think there is both anxiety and I think there's great hope. Because I think people do recognize even if they're hesitant that vaccines are the way out of the pandemic.
TODD: Among the key questions people are asking, given that they were rushed into production, are the vaccines safe?
DR. BARTON HAYNES, DIRECTOR, DUKE HUMAN VACCINE INSTITUTE: Yes, we think the vaccines are going to be safe, and here are the caveats. These are new vaccines, but they have been rigorously tested in clinical trials. And these are not trivial clinical trials, there are 30,000 to 60,000 people.
TODD: But Dr. Barton Haynes says it's important for the public to know there will be long-term monitoring for safety for months and years after we've been immunized. Another important question, what side effects can we expect when we get the vaccine? One volunteer in the Moderna trial talked about his side effects.
MICHAEL ROUSE, MODERNA VACCINE TRIAL VOLUNTEER: The side effects were nausea, body aches, muscle aches, headaches, fatigue, chills, it's like diarrhea.
TODD: The chief scientific adviser for Operation Warp Speed says most people who get the vaccine will have much less noticeable side effects and they won't last long.
MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: I would classify them as maybe 10 percent, 15 percent of the subjects immunized have quite noticeable side effects that usually lasts no more than 24 hours, 36 hours.
