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U.K. Administers First Doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine; New Restrictions in Germany as Cases Spike; U.S. Faces Vaccine Distribution Challenges; Shocking Conditions Uncovered Inside Venezuelan Hospitals; Chuck Yeager Who Broke the Sound Barrier Dies at 97. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 08, 2020 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: All right, back now to our top story this hour. The U.K. has started to administer the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine to its most vulnerable citizens. Across the country, hospitals are offering the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to people over the age of 80, those who work in care homes and health care workers at high risk. And just moments ago British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with some of the people who received the jab and spoke about the significance of this rollout. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It was very, very exciting just to talk to Lynn about the vaccine that she has just taken. She's 81. And really very moving to hear her say she's doing it for Britain, and that's exactly right because she's protecting herself but she's also helping to protect the entire country.

And across the whole of the U.K. this morning, that is happening in all Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, in England, people are having the vaccine for the first time. And it will gradually make a huge, huge difference. But I stress gradually because, you know, we're not there yet. We haven't defeated this virus yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And Dr. Peter Drobac is an infectious disease and global health expert at the University of Oxford. He joins me now live from England. Great to have you with us, doctor, on this monumental day.

DR. PETER DROBAC, INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: Great to be here, Rosemary, thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Absolutely. And of course, the world watching on as the U.K. rolls out its COVID-19 vaccination program starting with elderly. The U.S. will of course do the same in just a matter of days. They're looking for tips here. How thrilled are you about this? And what are the major challenges with this rollout? DROBAC: Well this is a tremendously exciting day not just for the U.K.

but for the world. I think it's going to be a historic day. And it's just the very beginning of finally beginning to turn the tide on this pandemic. This is going to be a massive effort. Probably the largest massive vaccination campaign in our lifetimes, and we have to remember that there are massive production logistical distribution challenges to make sure that everyone can actually get this vaccine safely. So we do have a long way to go. I think there are going to be some bumps in the road. We've already seen that actually the number of promised vaccines to the U.K. this year has had to be cut by manufacturing problems. So you know, it's an important step, but we do have a long way to go.

CHURCH: And doctor, we're already learning that the U.S. will not have enough doses in the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine, the health care professionals and the elderly, because according to "The New York Times," the Trump administration turned down an offer from Pfizer for additional shots about six months ago. So how should states decide who gets this vaccine in that first wave because of course the burden will fall on them.

DROBAC: Yes, what we know about this vaccine is that it's going to save lives. Right. It showed very strong efficacy in prevents symptomatic infection, preventing serious infection and death. We don't yet know how well or if the vaccine actually prevents infection and can prevent therefore transmission. So the focus really needs to be on saving lives, and that's why those at highest risk for death like the elderly and those with medical vulnerabilities need to be prioritized along with health workers.

In the U.S., our health care system is under such strain right now, and it's not just about lack of ventilators or beds, it's really about shortages of staff, so we need to keep our staff healthy. Those have to be the priorities. It's going to require real federal coordination to distribute this equitably across the country and also across the world.

CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. And then of course, top U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci warns that the middle of January could be a dark time for the U.S., and this country has not yet seen the full brunt of the Thanksgiving surge. More than a million COVID cases have already been reported in just five days in the U.S., and the surge is intensified.

[04:35:00]

So what do people need to be doing right now to ensure they stay safe while they wait for the vaccine?

DROBAC: The vaccine is a reason for optimism. It's not going to meaningfully change most of our lives for a matter of months and it's not really going to turn the tide in this pandemic at least for several months. And so, we need to remember now is that we're in an incredibly dangerous moment.

And so all of the things we have been hearing about, the importance of masking, of social distancing, of not making unnecessary trips out, especially gathering indoors, of avoiding those family gatherings where households are mixed are more important today and through this holiday season than they've ever been before. We can't let our guard down now because there are so many preventable deaths happening every single day.

CHURCH: That is very important advice. Dr. Peter Drobac thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

DROBAC: Thank you.

CHURCH: So many in Europe sure to be watching the vaccine rollout in the U.K. today. Vaccinations haven't started yet on the continent. And the need there has never been greater. Countries like Germany face new restriction and record high cases heading into the holiday season.

Our Fred Pleitgen joins us now with the latest from Berlin. So Fred, talk to us about what the situation is across Germany.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Rosemary. And it really is a situation where, you know, we've been talking about Germany for the past couple of months and how Germany has really done well in getting through the pandemic so far. The death toll here hasn't been as high as in many other countries. Also the number of cases hasn't been as high as in many other countries.

But it really seems as though, right now for this second wave of coronavirus infections that the measures that have been put in place by Angela Merkel's government simply aren't working as well as some of the things in other countries have done to try and get out or try and break that second wave if you will.

In fact, today, the German version of the Center for Disease Control, the Robert Koch Institute, came out and said that the number of coronavirus infections per 100,000 inhabitants has hit a record high. It's at 147.2 per 100,000, and just to give you a reference, Angela Merkel has said that it needs to be at 50 per 100,000 for Germany to think about easing some of the restrictions that are in place.

Now of course, like all other countries here on the continent and presumably the United States as well, what Germany right now is working towards is Christmas. They want to see whether people can have at least a semblance of Christmas. And they had said, look, we want to ease some of these restrictions around Christmas, but there are already a lot of politicians and also state governors here in this country are saying if things continue the way that they are, those easings simply are not going to happen. In fact, tougher restrictions could be in place. They could see, for instance, the closure of stores, and also, for instance, for school holidays to be extended -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, it's so tough because Germany did such a great job in the initial stages. It's hard to see this happen. Frederik Pleitgen, joining us there live from Berlin. Many thanks.

Well, in the U.S., it's shaping up to be a crucial week for vaccines. The country's Food and Drug Administration is set to meet Thursday to discuss authorizing the Pfizer vaccine. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order today. Officials say it will prioritize vaccine shipments to Americans before other countries. But it's not clear how exactly it will do that. Our Pete Muntean takes a look at some of the distribution challenges facing the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is widely agreed upon that frontline health care workers and those living in long-term care facilities should get vaccinated initially. But what's so interesting is that we're learning from states that they may not get enough vaccine to cover that top tier right off the bat. Now they will have to prioritize within that subset.

The conditions are really stark in a place like California which we're learning will only get enough vaccine to cover roughly one in every ten frontline health care workers right away. It is a rollout, and what remains to be seen is whether or not this will be smooth and quick or slow and rocky. States insist that they will keep vaccinating that top tier as they get more vaccine shipments in, but it is a process.

Transporting the vaccine will also be tricky. American Airlines says it has a plan in place to begin transporting the vaccine within 24 hours of emergency FDA authorization. The challenge here is keeping the vaccine cold, in some cases, super, super cold. We know that the Pfizer vaccine needs to be negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit as it is being transported. Airlines insist that they are up for the challenge, and they have special equipment in place. It is airlines that could be transporting the vaccine the furthest.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Nicolas Maduro says Venezuela's health care system is winning the war against the pandemic. But that's not what CNN found in Caracas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:40:00]

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is an intensive neonatal ward. And the reason I'm holding up this light right here is because there is no electricity in this hospital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Coming up, CNN's exclusive report from inside two Venezuelan hospitals.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: In Venezuela, years of government mismanagement have crippled the health care system. The government says fewer than 1,000 people have died from COVID-19, but doctors tell CNN the situation is much worse than the official account.

CNN's Isa Soares got exclusive access to two of Venezuela's largest hospitals. Her report reveals the nation's shocking state of health care.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES (voice-over): In Los Magallanes public hospital in Caracas, remnants of this once wealthy nation lies strewn on a death floor. It shackles wards hiding what the Venezuelan government doesn't want us to see. Here, COVID-19 has unmasked Venezuela's open wounds. And practically every floor this hospital is empty tells me this hospital worker who prefers to remain anonymous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (text translation): It's empty because there's nothing here. There are no supplies. There is no way to treat patients, no lights, no working pipes. The baths are clogged, and there's no water. If patients don't die of their disease, they die of contamination.

SOARES: It's a risk only a few dares to take. This is the COVID-19 ward. Only this part of it is functional. The rest is completely rundown after years of mismanagement. So, it's no surprise many would rather face the pandemic outside these walls. Choosing instead their homes over these decrepit rooms where darkness has literally taken over.

[04:45:00]

This is the intensive neonatal ward. And the reason I'm holding up this light right here is because there is no electricity in this hospital. Have a look around. Bare bones. And what I've been told by doctors around Caracas and outside of Caracas, is that this is the situation day in, day out.

Even in the morgue, death comes with shortages. There's no pathologist here, and with intermittent electricity, the stench is unbearable.

Now imagine having to face a pandemic in these conditions. It's why doctors like Gustavo Villasmil are no longer afraid to speak out.

"I have friends of mine who have been criminally charged," he says. "Why? For protesting the conditions in which they have been forced to practice.

So, he doesn't hold back. In Venezuela, he tells me, there are only as many recognize COVID cases as the regime wants. We're testing limited to three government-controlled labs."

Villasmil says it's impossible to paint an accurate picture.

"With regards to COVID," he says, we don't know where we are."

The government however claims the pandemic is under control. Saying its strategy has worked. A government minder shows us inside a hotel where suspected infected patients are kept in quarantine for up to 21 days. It's a lockdown strategy employed by China, which the government of Nicolas Maduro has been keen to extoll.

Dr. Rodriguez shares a similar pride.

"Venezuelans have showed an immunity to the virus," he says.

The families of those who have died on the front lines may see it differently. Two hundred seventy-two health care workers have lost their lives in Venezuela as of November the 30th. At hospital Vargas in Caracas you can see why. They are overworked and unprotected.

So, it's one nurse for this whole area here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (text translated): We don't have masks. We don't have gloves. They turn on the water one hour in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night. There's nothing. There's no broom, no mop, no cloth.

SOARES: This is evident all around. And as I walk this ward, I stopped to speak to a patient's daughter. She tells me her frail 69-year-old father is here because of malnourishment. The same state in post- malady that we've seen across Venezuela. His immune system is compromised, yet he shares this ward with a COVID patient.

His daughter tells me he needs iron supplements that the hospital simply doesn't have.

(on camera): Have a look at this. I mean, this is what -- this is what they have to work with here, nurses and doctors. Syringes. It's astounding. They've got nothing.

(voice-over): There's a vast emptiness all around. And a sense of disillusionment and surrender. Painful no doubt for those who saw this once oil-rich country as one of the wealthiest in Latin America now teetering on the brink of survival.

Isa Soares, CNN, Caracas, Venezuela.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And CNN reached out to the Venezuelan government for comment on the conditions seen in these hospitals in Caracas, and also on the criticism by health care professionals shown in this piece. To date, we have yet to receive a response.

Well, in southeastern India, a mystery illness has sent more than 500 people to the hospital and left at least one dead. And it is not COVID-19. Patients have been suffering seizures and nausea and losing consciousness. Authorities are now testing food, water and blood to try and learn more about this.

And still ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.

From World War II ace to shattering the sound barrier, Chuck Yeager was the pilot with the right stuff, and we look back at his life and legacy.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Even in the middle of a pandemic, those monoliths we have been hearing about certainly get around, and yes, there's another one. This time in Britain, off England's south coast. Similar structures have recently appeared in a Romanian forest, on a California mountain top, and in the U.S. state of Utah, as you can see here. They don't hang around long, often disappearing shortly after they've arrived. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation, right?

A U.S. air force officer often referred to as the fastest man alive has died at the age of 97. Chuck Yeager became a household name with the book and movie "The Right Stuff." Yeager's wife tweeted that the World War II flying legend died on Monday.

CNN's John Berman has more on Yeager's life and legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): General Charles M. "Chuck" Yeager, was the very embodiment of the right stuff. He will forever be known as the first man to break the sound barrier.

Born in 1923, in rural West Virginia Yeager says he was not a born pilot.

CHUCK YEAGER, PILOT: I didn't know anything about flying because I've never been in an airplane in my life.

BERMAN: Yeager joined the army as an aircraft mechanic at the start of World War II. His first airplane ride didn't go so well.

YEAGER: I puked all over my airplane. I said to myself, man you've made a big mistake.

BERMAN: Pressing on, Yeager took advantage of an army program that offered enlisted men the opportunity to become pilots.

YEAGER: I remember March 4th, 1944, on my eighth mission I shot down an enemy 109 right over the middle of Berlin with the Mustang. Next day I got shot at.

[04:55:00]

BERMAN: When the war ended, Yeager returned to California to marry his sweetheart, Glennis Dickhouse. Yeager later became a research pilot at Edward Air Force Base making dangerous test flights civilian pilots couldn't or wouldn't do.

YEAGER: It's like combat, you know, you either get killed or you don't. Well, if you have no control over it, don't worry about it.

BERMAN: That's how he found himself 45,000 feet above Rogers Dry Lake in California, on October 14th, 1947. Breaking the sound barrier, a feat many believed could not be done.

YEAGER: I don't look at things, you know, as being scary or not, you either do or you don't. And if you live, you've done your job.

BERMAN: Yeager eventually returned to combat flying and retired from active duty in 1975 as a brigadier general. "The General" as he preferred to be called, became a household name in the eighties with the book and movie, "The Right Stuff."

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: You like watching someone else play you?

YEAGER: Yes, Sam Shepard did an excellent job.

KING: Sam Shepard did it.

YEAGER: Yes.

BERMAN: Through it all, Yeager remained airborne. In 2012 at the controls of a borrowed Air Force F-15, an 89 year old chuck Yeager, broke the sound barrier again. 65 years to the minute after his first sonic boom.

Yeager's logbook documented more than 10,000 flight hours over 60 years in 350 different kinds of planes around the world. Always a pilot, with the right stuff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A life well lived there.

And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN. Have yourselves a wonderful day.

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