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U.S. Hits Worst Coronavirus Death Toll; United Kingdom Starts Vaccination Program; Ivanka Trump Deposed in D.C. AG's Inauguration Lawsuit; U.S. Probing Potential Bribery, Lobbying Scheme for Pardon; Source: Expect a "Flurry" of Pardons before Trump Leaves Office; BioNTech CEO: This is the Start of the End of the Pandemic; Frontline Health Care Workers Open Up About Struggles; South Korean Students Take College Exams; Source: Trump Advisors Say He Can Pardon Himself, His Family; Source: Trump Inaugural Event Under Discussion. Aired 12- 12:45a ET
Aired December 03, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi, welcome, thanks for joining me here at the CNN Center, I'm Robyn Curnow.
Coming up on the show, from bad to worse, the U.S. has its deadliest day yet, as a top medical official issues dire warnings for the coming. Months
As the U.K. prepares to begin COVID vaccination, some European officials are slamming that decision, saying it is all happening too fast. We have that story.
Plus Barr backlash: President Trump is reportedly livid with his attorney general for undercutting his claims of voter fraud.
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CURNOW: December has barely just begun but the coronavirus pandemic is already breaking new records here in the U.S. More than 2,600 deaths have been reported on Wednesday, the deadliest single day total so far.
For the first time also, more than 100,000 people in this country are now in hospital. The head of the Centers for Disease Control says the next three months will be the most difficult time in the public health history of the nation.
Dr. Robert Redfield says the U.S. could see 450,000 deaths before February. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. The U.K. has approved the first vaccine for use. It's made by Pfizer and BioNTech it should be available as soon as next week.
Meanwhile, here in the U.S., regulators have yet to authorize the use of any vaccine and experts say it may be next spring before most Americans can get one, as Nick Watt now reports -- Nick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A global first. The Brits just authorized the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, they might start vaccinating people next week.
UGUR SAHIN, CEO, BIONTECH: We believe that it is ready the start of the end of the pandemic.
WATT (voice-over): December 10th, an FDA panel meets. U.S. authorization could come within days and then --
GEN. GUSTAVE PERNA, COO, OPERATION WARP SPEED: Distribution to the American people becomes immediate within 24 hours.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We expect if all safety and efficacy approvals are granted, those doses will arrive on December 15th.
WATT (voice-over): Moderna's vaccine is about a week behind. The plan, vaccinate 20 million Americans in December, 30 million in January, 50 million in February, by March 1st --
MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF ADVISOR, OPERATION WARP SPEED: We will have potentially immunized a 100 million people, which is really more or less the size of the significant at-risk population.
WATT (voice-over): Refrigerators are ready at airports and hospitals across the country. Pfizer's vaccine must be stored at minus 103 degrees Fahrenheit.
First in line for the limited supply, medical personnel and residents of long-term care facilities. The CDC advisory panel just made that call.
DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We can do those via mass immunization events. We can't use mass immunization events for every person in the U.S.
WATT (voice-over): And it's two doses, not easy, going to take time, yes, this could be the start of the end, but it is not the end.
Tuesday, 2,597 lives reported lost in this country, the second highest total since all this began.
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DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: December and January and February are going to be rough times. I actually believe they're going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.
WATT (voice-over): Nearly 100,000 Americans are now hospitalized, an all-time high.
DR. SHANNON TAPIA, GERIATRICIAN: We might not show it if we're interacting with you, but it's so hard.
WATT (voice-over): Some hospitals now maxed out.
DR. JASON MITCHELL, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, PRESBYTERIAN HEALTHCARE SERVICES ALBUQUERQUE: We really are truly out of beds and it's not just the Intensive Care Unit, it's all the medical beds as well.
WATT (voice-over): How, why did we get here? Well in, part --
REDFIELD: This nation was severely underprepared for this pandemic. I think we have to call it the way it is.
WATT (on camera): Here in California, we were just told that the spread right now is terrifying and that the death toll will rise. California just set a new record. Since the pandemic began, they've added more than 20,000 new cases in a day -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CURNOW: As we mentioned, the U.K. is supposed to start vaccines next week. Salma Abdelaziz reports on how they got there.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): One big step for the U.K. and a giant leap for humankind. The first Western nation to approve a coronavirus vaccine will be rolling it out, starting early next week.
HANCOCK: 2020 has been just awful and 2021 is going to be better and help is on its way. Help is on its way with this vaccine.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The super quick authorization came in part because Britain's regulators engaged constantly with Pfizer and BioNTech, according to experts. An initial batch of 800,000 doses will soon arrive from Belgium. That's enough for half as many people, given they need two doses 21 days apart.
Government guidance released today says residents in nursing homes and their caregivers should be given priority; the next, front line health workers and those over 80.
ABDELAZIZ: The real challenge will be immunizing the wider population. Health experts say two-thirds of people need to have immunity in order for the epidemic to be stopped. That means winning hearts and minds and persuading as many people as possible that the vaccine is safe and effective.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Regulators were quick to assure the public.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone can be absolutely confident that no corners whatsoever have been cut.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): On the streets of London, elation and relief.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Having been through this year and lost a lot of people to this horrendous illness, that has taken a lot of people's family, friends, co-workers, I think it has been quite a shocking situation. And we're very grateful to see the news today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps we are finally going to turn the corner. So it's wonderful.
ABDELAZIZ: I think there's a big smile on your face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess it would be nice to see how -- you know, how people receive it and whether it is safe. But, yes, I have reasonable confidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everyone has slight doubts, you know. It's been quite quick in the making. And then, you know, they're going to inject something alien into your body. So, yes, I'm a bit -- a bit skeptical. But things need to go back to some kind of normal.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The end of the pandemic is in sight, the final hurdle will be gaining the public's trust in the cure -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
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CURNOW: It's not just the public that might have some doubts about the Pfizer vaccine -- or any of them. Peter Liza (ph) is an E.U. lawmaker and a physician and he's calling the U.K.'s decision to authorize it, quote, "hasty and problematic" and recommends other European countries do not follow suit.
Then Germany's health minister says his country is looking and going for a longer approval process to create confidence and trust. The European Medicines Agency is supposed to publish its findings on the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine by December the 29th.
Moderna, meanwhile, says delivery of its vaccine in the E.U. could start in the first quarter of next year, if it's approved.
Dr. Larry Brilliant is an epidemiologist and CNN medical analyst, he joins me now from Mill Valley, California.
Doctor, hi, lovely to see you.
DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Hello, Robyn.
CURNOW: Good to see you again, I know you're an expert in all of this.
Why is the U.K. first?
I just want to get your perspective on that.
BRILLIANT: Well, I'm certainly not an expert in European politics, so to --
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CURNOW: No, that's, true none of us are.
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CURNOW: None of the Europeans are even.
But, no, just in terms of the way Pfizer has been given the go-ahead here?
BRILLIANT: I think it's very reassuring that the U.K. regulatory authorities are very well respected. It's the first national regulatory authority that has approved, even with an emergency use authorization, any of these vaccines.
The rest of us have seen the topline data; we've seen some of the reports out about efficacy. But presumably, the U.K. regulatory authorities have seen a lot more.
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BRILLIANT: I do understand the European Medical Agency taking a poke and saying it's a little bit fast. The structure, as I understand, it is only the European medical -- medicines agency can do formal approvals. But every country can make their own emergency use authorizations for use in their own country. I think that's really part of the story here.
CURNOW: We're also hearing Dr. Fauci seems to suggest the U.K. hadn't scrutinized all the vaccine data as well as anyone else.
Again, is that criticism valid?
Also in many ways this is just a week or two potentially ahead of everyone else, it's not that far ahead.
BRILLIANT: I think the bigger story here is that we've had vaccines made against a previously novel virus in as many days as it took the smallpox vaccine years before we were able to mount a global vaccine program.
I'm celebrating all of the agencies and watching to see what each one of them says. I'm not getting too bothered just yet. This is the beginning of a process. We know that, at the end of it, we're going to kick COVID into the dustbin of history.
But we also know, I think, we have to go through the gates of hell for the next three months, two months. That's the bigger issue for me right now. But I'm really anxious to see how all the other regulatory agencies respond.
CURNOW: It's an extraordinary human endeavor, just how fast we've seen these vaccines developed, so the big question is the rollout.
What are your concerns, what are you watching for?
Because obviously we know, as our reporters have said, some of these vaccines are two doses, they need a very cold temperatures like the Pfizer one, others not so much.
What do you make about how this is rolled out and what is the key point for you?
BRILLIANT: You know there is a wonderful British expression or English expression that I heard when I was studying in London, "horses for courses."
I think these vaccines are like that. We need to have a global vaccine that would preferably one dose, that would not require a cold chain, that is inexpensive and could be made locally in many countries all over the world.
We don't have that vaccine yet. We have the first vaccines. And like any endeavor, these vaccines will get better. I imagine that the Pfizer vaccine, months or years from now, will not require being kept 100 degrees negative, that cold. So we will improve them a little bit as we go.
But in order to really end COVID, we have to do it globally. If the virus is in any country, it is effectively in all countries. And all the work that we do requires us to eliminate it from all countries. So the vaccine that we need, that horse for that course, we don't have yet.
But the Pfizer vaccines and the Moderna vaccines use a registered revolutionary new technology, which may change the way medicine develops. This messenger RNA vaccine, it is not taking the virus and attenuating it and then giving you an injection with an attenuated or heat-killed virus; it's not taking a another virus and piggybacking proteins onto it the way J&J and the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine is.
It's brand-new. It's like putting a little bit of computer code into your arm, telling your body, make a bit of protein and then have that protein trigger an immune response. It's really breathtaking to have this new breakthrough technology so quickly. And I'm very optimistic about it.
CURNOW: That's great, news, thank you, thanks for joining us, Dr. Larry Brilliant, as always.
BRILLIANT: Thank you for having me.
CURNOW: So there is an awful lot to sort through this hour and, of course, we will answer your questions about COVID-19. We definitely want to give you this. Join Anderson and Sanjay for a new coronavirus town hall, it's called "The Vaccines."
That's on Friday, at 9 in the evening on the U.S. East Coast, 6 am on Saturday in Abu Dhabi and that's 10 am Saturday morning in Hong Kong, for all of you folks there. That's right here, of course, on CNN. Now as far as President Trump is concerned, his trusted attorney
general has come down on the wrong side of the election results. Where William Barr now stands in the administration, that story just ahead.
And the president's daughter, under oath on the use of inauguration funds four years ago. We also have that one.
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CURNOW: President Trump is reportedly livid with attorney general William Barr and is considering firing him. Barr told the Associated Press on Tuesday he had not seen fraud on a scale that would have changed the outcome of the election.
A senior administration official told "The Washington Post" the president might fire Barb, not only for undercutting his claims of fraud but also for steps Barr did not take in the probe of the FBI's investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign.
Meanwhile, the president's, daughter, Ivanka, has been questioned under oath about her father's 2016 inauguration funds. Lawyers questioned her in connection to a lawsuit alleging that the Trump Organization misused nonprofit funds for the inauguration to enrich the Trump family. CNN's Kara Scannell spoke to Anderson Cooper about the details of the lawsuit.
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KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was part of a lawsuit brought by the attorney general for the District of Columbia, essentially the top lawyer in the state.
He had sued the Trump Organization and the President's Inaugural Committee earlier this year, alleging that they had misused funds for the inauguration; specifically alleging they grossly overpaid for the use of event space at the Trump Hotel in Washington D.C.
So Ivanka Trump sat for a deposition yesterday. She'd been on emails where she was warned that the rates that were being quoted were quite high and that the optics wouldn't look good when this did become public.
And we've also learned, according to this court filing, that the attorney general's office has also subpoenaed the first lady, Melania Trump, for documents relating to the inaugural.
Now this investigation is a civil lawsuit. So the president's pardon powers cannot protect the family or the family business from this investigation. But it is yet another one of these allegations that have come out, where they're alleging that the president has improperly profited from his position. And it's another lawsuit investigation that will dog the president, his family and his business, even when he's out of office.
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CURNOW: And the attorney for the Trump Organization said Ivanka Trump's only involvement was connecting the parties and instructing the hotel to charge a fair market rate, which the hotel did.
Meantime, a White House insider says President Trump is considering heading off potential legal problems with a flurry of pardons before he leaves office. Here is Kaitlan Collins with that one.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With his time in office coming to a close, President Trump has discussed potentially pardoning three of his children, his son-in-law and his attorney Rudy Giuliani.
While their potential criminal exposure is unclear, sources tell CNN Trump has talked about pardoning those around him preemptively because he's concerned prosecutors will target them once he's out of office.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I have heard no mention of any pardons in any conversations I have had in the White House, other than the pardon of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn.
COLLINS (voice-over): Other allies are encouraging Trump to not only pardon his family, but himself.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: My question is, why wouldn't he just pardon himself and his family on the way out the door?
Because I think he would be right to do so, because these people are nuts.
COLLINS: The president hasn't commented, but he has dismissed a newly revealed Justice Department investigation into a potential bribery- for-pardon scheme as, quote, "fake news."
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COLLINS (voice-over): The investigation was confirmed by the Justice Department when a judge unsealed court documents last night, which are heavily redacted and reveal no names. No one has been publicly charged to date, and a Justice Department official said no government official was or is the subject of this investigation.
Although Attorney General Bill Barr was at the White House for over two hours yesterday, the press secretary couldn't say whether he met with Trump after disputing his election fraud claims or whether the president has confidence in him.
QUESTION: Does he still have confidence in Bill Barr?
MCENANY: The president, if he has any personnel announcements, you will be the first to know it.
COLLINS: Another official whose standing with Trump is in question is the FDA commissioner, Stephen Hahn, who was summoned to the White House again today for a second meeting with the chief of staff, Mark Meadows, after Trump complained the FDA wasn't moving fast enough on emergency vaccine approval.
The president made no mention of Hahn as he greeted his guests at a White House Christmas party last night, where he teased another presidential run.
TRUMP: It's been an amazing years. We're trying to do another four yours. Otherwise, I will see you in four years.
COLLINS: Reporters did not see President Trump in person on Wednesday. But he did record a 46-minute video that he published on Twitter and on Facebook, which is filled with the same lies and conspiracies he has been pushing about the election results for nearly a month now.
And as the president repeated then, he made clear, he has no intention of conceding this race anytime soon.
And he said his attorneys are going to continue file lawsuits, although, of course, several other things the president mentioned have been debunked by his own attorney general, by officials who used to work for him before he fired them and by Republican election officials in the states that he is trying to contest -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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CURNOW: Well, for more on all of this let's go to CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein.
Ron, lovely to see you. So the president is ranting untruth about the election and wants to blame his AG.
Why is this administration of this president not yet accepting reality?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: He has, you know, defied reality throughout his political career. He has found that it works for him, with his audience, to ignore the facts and create his alternative facts.
And, even in this case, 75 percent or 80 percent of Republicans are saying they believe the election was stolen or fraudulently won by Biden, even though the -- essentially every court in the country has laughed out of the courtroom the evidence produced or the claims asserted by the Trump campaign.
And I continue to believe, like from day one, a critical element in all of this is that so few other Republicans, other voices that would matter to his coalition, have had the kind of courage to step forward and really just say, the sky is blue, gravity exists, you lost the election, there was not massive fraud.
And that in many ways, is what is allowing these poisonous and corrosive fantasies to take root.
CURNOW: Let's talk about the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump. She is facing legal question or has faced legal questions.
How serious is this development in relation to inauguration funds?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I don't think we know exactly and particularly what her personal exposure would be.
But it goes into this broader question of how far will the president abuse the pardon power in his final weeks?
You know, we saw the CDC, as you probably reported in the last hour, say that the coming months could be the most difficult for public health in American history. It's possible these coming months may be the most difficult for the health of the democracy in American history.
You have to think of the trajectory that the president has been on, from extorting the government of Ukraine to weaponizing the Postal Service to trying to tilt and destroy the census bureau, to his intervention in criminal cases involving Roger Stone and Michael Flynn.
There is really no way to have a sense of what the outer boundaries are on what he might try to do in these coming weeks.
And one thing we know, is that, again, there is no barrier there from Republicans in Congress, who continue to be silent as he spins these fantasies and also as he walks away from the country with the coronavirus surging to almost unimaginable levels.
CURNOW: We are hearing about this flurry of potential preemptive pardons for the Trump family and possibly even the president himself.
Is it even constitutionally possible to pre-pardon someone or one's self, isn't that in admitting that you've done something wrong or criminal if that is what you are pre-pardoning?
I mean, it just seems --
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BROWNSTEIN: You probably have legal experts who are more kind of attuned to the details of the law. I believe this pardon power is very broad for others. The big question is whether he will be able to pardon himself.
And if he does pardon himself, what exactly is he saying about his own potential culpability? [00:25:00]
BROWNSTEIN: He will certainly spin it if he does so as he is simply defending himself against the depredations of blue America, out to silence you, my supporters, by going after me.
And, if you think about the totality of what you've been talking about this broadcast, we're talking about incompetence on the coronavirus, corruption on the inauguration and on many other fronts, the chaos of potentially more firings in the final weeks and disdain for the rule of law.
And yet for all of that, there is something like 45-46 percent of America that is OK essentially with this package, particularly, with all this disdain for the rule of law that we have seen.
And I think that's bringing American politics into a stage and an era that we have not seen before. This coming decade, I think, is going to see challenges to our fundamental institutions in a way that we have not previously experienced, maybe not since the 1860s.
CURNOW: OK, Ron, always good to get your analysis and your expertise. Thanks so much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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CURNOW: President-Elect Joe Biden gave small business owners and workers hit by the pandemic some words of encouragement during a virtual roundtable on Wednesday. Jeff Zeleny reports the incoming president is also busy on many other fronts.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: President-Elect Joe Biden is urging Congress tonight to offer immediate relief to Americans struggling with economic pain from the deepening pandemic.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: My hope is that we'll be able to help in a short order. But that depends a lot on our friends in Congress.
ZELENY (voice-over): After naming his economic team, Biden listening to the stories of workers and small business owners being crushed by hardship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The unemployment helped so much when we had the extra money, who wants extra money without this downhill from there (ph).
ZELENY (voice-over): Tonight, Biden is also focusing on building out his cabinet with the Department of Health and Human Services coming into sharper focus. CNN has learned New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is a leading contender for HHS Secretary, a pivotal role at the center of the coronavirus fight and the vaccine distribution.
GOV. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM (D-NM): While I'm incredibly honored and flattered that my colleagues can see the work that I'm doing on the ground and know that I've got 40 years in comprehensive health care experience, I'm focused on making sure that I'm saving New Mexico lives.
ZELENY (voice-over): Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo has also interviewed for the post, CNN has learned, a sign that Biden is looking for governors on the front lines of the pandemic. But Biden is under pressure to make good on his pledge to build a diverse cabinet.
In a letter obtained by CNN, more than 30 Hispanic lawmakers in Congress are urging him to consider Lujan Grisham for the post, saying, "She has the vision and drive to see through large projects and effectively lead large organizations and brings the necessary skills to serve our country as Secretary of Health and Human Services."
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are also lobbying Biden to consider a Hispanic candidate for attorney general. NAACP president Derrick Johnson tells CNN the civil rights group is also requesting a meeting with Biden to ensure proper representation in the cabinet.
The first wave of Biden's nominees and top advisors have been filled with barrier-breaking choices. Yet civil rights leaders are calling for more diversity in the top cabinet posts, namely attorney general and Secretary of Defense.
ZELENY: Now Biden officials are saying the full diversity of the cabinet will become clear once everyone is announced and it is premature to judge it now.
That is not stopping civil rights groups for calling for a meeting with President-Elect Joe Biden to discuss all of this. Seven civil rights groups, including the NAACP, have asked for that meeting. And so far, one has not been scheduled -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
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CURNOW: Be sure to tune in to CNN on Friday, as Jake Tapper sits down with the U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris. It is their first joint interview since they won the White House and you can see it on Friday, 10 am Hong Kong, 7 am London, right here on CNN.
Coronavirus has been spreading around the world for more than a year now. And frontline workers in the U.S. are near breaking point. We'll hear how some are trying to cope with the stress, the pain and the heartbreak.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We've been waiting and hoping for the day when the searchlights of science would pick out our invisible enemy and give us the power to stop that enemy from making us ill. And now the scientists have done it.
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ROBY CURNOW, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So that's British Prime Minister Boris Johnson just hours after his country approved the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. A safe and effective vaccine could, of course, prevent more people from losing their lives to this virus.
Well, Johns Hopkins University has the global number of cases at almost 65 million, with nearly 1.5 million deaths so far. Cases in the U.S. are nearing record levels, and Wednesday saw the most COVID deaths in a single day since the pandemic began.
BioNTech CEO spoke to CNN's Fred Pleitgen about the big vaccine news in the U.K. and what it means for the next year. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UGUR SAHIN, CEO, BIONTECH: It will be the first time that people outside of clinical trials will get access to our vaccine. And we believe that it is really the start of the end of the pandemic if we can -- can ensure now a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) out of our vaccine.
Of course, it's the first campaign to -- to enable an authorization, and others will probably follow. But it's a good start. So if everything goes well, I expect that the first people could get the first vaccinations beginning next week.
I personally believe there's a number of companies now reaching, reaching, reaching the approval in the next few months. We might be able to deliver a sufficient number of doses until the end of summer 2020-2021, to reach the 70 to -- 60 to 70 percent coverage, which could give us the relief to have enormous detriment to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
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CURNOW: Well, hospitals in Colorado under huge, huge pressure right now. And some frontline doctors and nurses are really struggling. Well, CNN spoke with one doctor getting therapy to help with the pain of just seeing so many patients die alone, as well as a nurse who was urging everyone to just wear masks. Here's Lucy Kafanov.
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DR. SHANNON TAPIA, GERIATRICIAN: We might not show it if we're interacting with you. It's -- it's so hard.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The words of a Colorado physician who's had enough. Dr. Shannon Tapia is one of thousands of healthcare workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
TAPIA: Sleep is on short supply right now.
KAFANOV: A geriatrician and a single mom who works for the elderly, she switched to telehealth to keep her patients and herself safe.
(on camera): What do you want people to know about the experience of these frontline healthcare workers, including yourself, under COVID?
TAPIA: We might not talk about it, because we know people don't want to hear it. We know everyone is struggling. We know COVID changed everybody's lives. It's just -- it's hard. And I don't want to say it's been harder for us than it has for everybody else. But the truth is, it has. It has.
It's -- it's not the same. It's not the same when you feel responsible for peoples, whether it be their life or their quality of life. Because you care.
[00:35:05]
KAFANOV: Colorado is in the midst of its third pandemic surge. Cases and hospitalizations have been breaking records.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What matters now is in Colorado, one out of 41 people are contagious. So it could be anywhere.
KAFANOV: More than 14,000 Coloradans have been hospitalized since the pandemic began. Among those facing the brunt, doctors and nurses like Alison Berner (ph).
ALISON BERNER (ph), NURSE: As an E.R. nurse, I haven't cried a lot on the job. You hold that back, and you -- you know, you want to stay tough for the family and stoic. And there has been a lot of tears shed in E.R. rooms during COVID, because we are treating that person dying like our loved one dying. Because they don't have anyone else. And they need that grace. And they need that human touch, and they need someone to be there when they're taking their last breath.
KAFANOV: Before the pandemic, she said work had never caused her to lose sleep. Now, she regularly has nightmares.
(on camera): How has the COVID impacted nurses and yourself on a personal level. I mean, you're seeing this day in and day out?
BERNER (ph): Yes, on a personal level it's hard. You know, we lean on each other. It's -- the holidays have been rough for a lot of us. We're not seeing our families. We're doing everything we can to keep the public safe, and so it's extremely frustrating for us, when people are not doing that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here on the front lines --
BERNER (ph): -- this virus is incredibly real.
KAFANOV (voice-over): With cases climbing, her employer, Centura Health, released this PSA.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, let's have each other's backs.
KAFANOV: A message Dr. Tapia shares. She's seen firsthand the devastating toll on residents of long-term care facilities, who account for 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the country. Many die alone.
TAPIA: It's so hard on their loved ones and their families, because they can't grieve it the way they should be able to.
KAFANOV: She's found new ways to cope: a puppy, therapy and antidepressants. But with the virus raging unabated, she worries how much more she and other frontline workers can take.
TAPIA: I think there's going to be a huge reckoning, when things calm down and people get to really process what's happened to them.
KAFANOV: Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: And Iran is taking steps to potentially pull back from its commitments under the five-year-old nuclear agreement.
The country's parliament has approved a bill to boost enrichment to pre-2015 levels and block nuclear inspections if sanctions against it are not lifted.
Iran's more moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, has opposed the bill. But the country's hardline-dominated Parliament approved it with a strong majority.
This comes after one of Iran's top nuclear scientists was killed last week, while Tehran blames Israel for his death.
And just ahead here at CNN, South Korea comes to a virtual standstill as half a million students take their all-important college entrance exams. We're live in Seoul after a short break.
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CURNOW: So the coronavirus pandemic is forcing students in South Korea to take new precautions as they take their college entrance exams. Now, the potentially life-changing test has already been delayed by two weeks, and authorities have nearly doubled the number of testing sites. As Paula Hancocks now reports live from Seoul.
So just why is this so crucial, and what is the impact?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has always been one of the most important days, Robyn, on the South Korean calendar, the national college entrance exam. And it's a day where, really, the whole country is involved in some way or other. Businesses start work an hour later. The stock market opens an hour
later in a regular year, so that there's no rush-hour traffic for the students to contend with.
Flights are suspended partly during the day, during the English listening part of the exams so that people are understood. So it really is taken incredibly seriously here, which is why the government decided that, even though there is a pandemic, it does have to go ahead.
So almost half a million students are currently sitting this exam. It goes for nine hours, from about 8:40 in the morning to 5:40 in the evening. A number of different topics.
But of course, it is very different this year. There are temperature checks as you walk into the testing centers. Everybody wears a mask. There's hand sanitizer everywhere. Socially-distance desks and also plastic barriers between each desk.
And students that we've spoken to say that it does put more pressure on them. This is obviously an extremely stressful day for them at the best of times, but this is added pressure.
But the government insisted they've done all they can to try and make sure that this isn't going to exacerbate the situation.
Even those test takers who have tested positive for COVID will be carrying out this exam. We know a few dozen will be -- will be sitting in hospital taking these exams. The government gave a simulation video of what that would look like, and you have a moderator in full PPE, bringing the test in and then taking it away when it's finished, putting it in a plastic sleeve and leaving it for a few days, to make sure there's no live virus left on the papers before it is marked.
A similar situation for dozens, in fact more than 400, who are currently in quarantine. They're in separate test centers taking this test, as well.
So this is just an example of how seriously South Korea takes this particular day. They believe that it's 12 years in the making, from elementary school up until this important test.
And I spoke to the education minister last week, and she said to me, Well, we've shown that we can carry out an election during a pandemic, so why not a national exam -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Paula, thanks for that update there in Seoul. Thank you.
Well, former French president Valery Giscard D'Estaing died on Wednesday at his family home in France. His foundation wrote on Twitter that his state of health had worsened and that he had died because of COVID-19.
He also said that he will have a private family funeral, which is what he wished for. Giscard became president at the age of 48 in 1974, the youngest one of the 20th Century. He had won against his socialist rival to whom he lost seven years later, when he ran for reelection. He's remembered for his reforms and for his strongly pro-European presidency. He was 94.
So thanks for watching CNN, I'm Robyn Curnow. WORLD SPORT is next, and then I'll be back in about 15 minutes' time.
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